FYI,

Finale 2011 is now available for pre-order.  This upgrade fixes the percussion staff style/instrument change problem from 2010, along with a number of new and enhanced features.

[url=http://finalemusic.com/Finale/New.aspx]http://finalemusic.com/Finale/New.aspx[/url]

-Justin

That's great news, Justin. Thanks for sharing the announcement!! The percussion staff style feature should be a great improvement for VDL users!

Thank, Justin and Jim.  I got the pre-order notice via e-mail yesterday.  I looked through the new features for 2011 but I hve to say I didn't see anything that jumped out at me and said ";pay the $100"; as I did with 2010.  I did see the new staff style for percussion and the percussion font.  The upgraded Aria player looks nice too, but always use KP2.  I guess my question is, am I missing something really important to percussion arranging that is included?  Thanks.

Todd

This upgrade is geared a bit more to the lyric and engraver types new feature wise, but most should see some major improvements in their workflow.

The Staff Tool and music spacing enhancements are pretty dramatic however.  If you've ever tried to manually move staves around or optimize a score in 2010 and previous, 2011 will be a big breath of fresh air.

If you're an educator, the classroom tools and worksheets are even more expanded, including jazz improv worksheets that playback in Finale/the free Reader, Bach Inventions, more games, etc.

Check out the demo when it's posted, which sound be close to ship time (mid-June).

Finale 2011 is shipping now.

Hey Jim, any idea when the VDL template for finale 2011 will be available for purchase? or if there will even be one?

Quick question for Justin (or if anyone else knows)....

First of all, thanks for letting us know that the percussion staff style/instrument change is fixed in Finale 2011. 
So does that function work like it used to in pre-2010 versions?  Or are changes to the staff styles/instruments done differently?

My workflow is fine the way it is.  I write quite a lot, and I really do not want to deal with learning how to use the function again. 2010 slowed me down, and it was very frustrating to eventually learn that changes to staff styles weren't possible in that version...which means I pretty much upgraded for nothing.

Thanks, Justin, and hope to hear from you.

It's basically the same as 2009 and previous, except for one little change (step 3).

For example, here's how to change from a Marimba to Rack Combo in 2011:

1) On Marimba Staff, add a Staff Style to change to a Non-Pitched Percussion stave, selecting the Rack Combo Layout under Notation Style.

2) Add an Expression with a playback effect to change the Channel/Bank (make sure a Rack Combo instrument is loaded in Kontakt).

3) Add an Expression with a playback effect to change the output map

I typically use the same instrumentation with minor changes for certain scores, so I have a Multi preset with all of my instruments and banks.  I then save my Expression and Staff Style libraries so I can bring them into new scores.  Once I create a new ";change";, I save the library and never really have to do it again (since the banks never really change).