Finale NotePad vs. Finale SongWriter

Jack Clark · #1 12-30-2009, 06:08 PM

Has anyone upgraded from Finale NotePad to Finale SongWriter? If so, what additional features in SongWriter did you find worth the upgrade?

Jack Clark · #2 01-12-2010, 06:31 PM

Well, nobody responded so I went ahead and sprang for the Finale SongWriter 2010. So, I guess I'll answer my own question:

I've only been using it a couple of weeks, off and on, but it does have a few features that NotePad 2009 lacked that may have made it worth the money: Unlike NotePad, SongWriter can handle pick-up measures and mid-tune key signature changes, and it can tie chord symbols to a particular note. You can also edit various things that you could not do with NotePad, including any instrument names entered at the top of the score system. And some things that NotePad could do by work-around, SongWriter can do directly and much faster.

I caution that I'm comparing Finale NotePad 2009 to Finale SongWriter 2010. If there is a NotePad 2010 I don't know what features it has.

BigOldHarry · #3 01-12-2010, 06:34 PM

you can download songwriter for free to check it out - - it seem MUCH more robust to me (I just went through this about 2 months ago). I ended up guying Songwriter - - it's pretty cool.

MonetBass · #4 01-12-2010, 06:44 PM

Good info - thanks for sharing. I have an old copy of Finale Allegro that doesn't work on Windows 7, so I've been checking out the other Finale products.

Jack Clark · #5 01-22-2010, 08:32 PM

The more I use SongWriter, the more I see how much more powerful it is than NotePad. Add staves with more instruments. Make staves with slash notation. Fix the number of measures per staff line at four (or whatever you want). Record and save as .aif files--choose which instruments you want to record each time. And just a whole lot more of notation flexibility to begin with.

1st edit: I couldn't find an Aebersold or Leonard play-along for "Just In Time," so with SongWriter I made one myself with a vanilla melody on tenor sax and very simple piano comp. Could not have made this play-along with NotePad.

2nd edit: Of course, as soon as I labor over that play-along project and mention it here, I learn that Hal Leonard's new 20-tune Jazz Play Along, Vol 118, includes "Just in Time." :-|