I've been happily living in my Sibelius bubble for a while, but on more and more projects I'm working directly with Finale users and we have to share scores back and forth frequently.
I've heard that MusicXML (at least as of the 1.1 standard) is a relatively usable export from one program to another, but when I actually looked into it I saw that all either program can do is import it (Finale via a free plugin, and Sibelius 4 & 5 do it natively).
To actually export to MXML you need a plugin which is currently running $129 (ouch). With an upcoming upgrade to Sib5 I don't necessarily want to shell out that money for an occasional need.
So what do people usually do in this situation? Deal with midi/eps export, use an alternative MusicXML plugin, or bite the bullet and pay for the plugin? Just curious what some people with more experience in this issue are doing.
And in an unrelated note I have to say I'm a little unnerved with the questionable juxtaposition of a company who both develops and evangelizes an open standard for music representation, yet charges a pretty penny for software that utilizes it. I suppose if Sibelius and Finale weren't so competitive and would release their file formats to each other the world would be a better place, but oh well there's bucks to be made. :P
Finale actually includes a Music XML Export feature, though I believe it's something of a ";lite"; version of it. Still, it's worked pretty well for me in the past. I wish Sibelius offered something like that as well. In a similar predicament a few years back, I begrudgingly kicked down for the Dolet plug-in, and it worked pretty well.
L
Legacy Forum Post
said
over 17 years ago
Finale has had Music XML Export since Finale 2004 on WIndows and Finale 2006 on Macintosh. It has been IMPORT/EXPORT since the onset of being included in Finale. THe Dolet PLugIn for FInale allows users to go back to Finale 2000 on WIndows and 2004 on Macintosh. AS Jim states this is not a full version and the full DOLET plugin may yield some better results but the version included in Finale does a pretty good job.
The DOLET Demo from Recordare is also a 30-demo I belive and you can use it for 30-days without limitations.
Legacy Forum Post
I've heard that MusicXML (at least as of the 1.1 standard) is a relatively usable export from one program to another, but when I actually looked into it I saw that all either program can do is import it (Finale via a free plugin, and Sibelius 4 & 5 do it natively).
To actually export to MXML you need a plugin which is currently running $129 (ouch). With an upcoming upgrade to Sib5 I don't necessarily want to shell out that money for an occasional need.
So what do people usually do in this situation? Deal with midi/eps export, use an alternative MusicXML plugin, or bite the bullet and pay for the plugin? Just curious what some people with more experience in this issue are doing.
And in an unrelated note I have to say I'm a little unnerved with the questionable juxtaposition of a company who both develops and evangelizes an open standard for music representation, yet charges a pretty penny for software that utilizes it. I suppose if Sibelius and Finale weren't so competitive and would release their file formats to each other the world would be a better place, but oh well there's bucks to be made. :P