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Help Guides / Replicating Finale in MuseScore 3 & 4
« on: December 19, 2022, 02:25:11 AM »
The goal of this thread is to get your MuseScore sheets to look like Finale-made sheets that are on the site. This is not a thread about converting MuseScore files to Finale ones (for that see cacabish's work).
I focus on MuseScore 4, as it is the newer MuseScore version, has more advanced engraving settings, and most importantly it has Finale's Maestro music font. However, I have provided downloads for MuseScore 3 files as well, all linked below..
For archival's sake, here's the link to my previous findings on MU4. In it, I mostly explain the different features of MU4 and Finale, comparing them side by side and explaining what's possible, what's not, and what can be worked around. This was more a proof of concept, released around the time of the MU4 beta.
Here's an example of the template compared to the real thing: Finale v MU4 (template v1.1)
The template file is best kept under './MuseScore X/Templates', where it will then show up under 'Create from Template/My Templates' (or, in MU3, on the second page of the score creation wizard). The Style file is best kept under './MuseScore X/Styles', where it can be loaded by right clicking on a sheet's page, or from 'Format/Load Style'.
The style file is more lightweight and contains engraving rules and some page settings. It has the advantage that it can be applied to an existing sheet at any time.
The template file on the other hand contains more detailed elements and is easier to make new sheets from. It doesn't include formatted composer/arranger text or a pre-positioned BPM marking, so if you want those you should create your sheet from within (a copy of) the template file itself.
Both template files are set to US-Letter page size, but loading an A4 style file over it will change it
Additionally I wrote a plugin that generates the copyright/URL text, since making that multi-line in MuseScore is always pretty annoying.
I advise you look around my GitHub profile, I have various other plugins that might be of help (such as beaming over rests or a Finale-inspired tuplet creator)!
[Download Page]
I focus on MuseScore 4, as it is the newer MuseScore version, has more advanced engraving settings, and most importantly it has Finale's Maestro music font. However, I have provided downloads for MuseScore 3 files as well, all linked below..
For archival's sake, here's the link to my previous findings on MU4. In it, I mostly explain the different features of MU4 and Finale, comparing them side by side and explaining what's possible, what's not, and what can be worked around. This was more a proof of concept, released around the time of the MU4 beta.
1) Display and Page Sizes
The Staff Space
Finale displays sizes in your preferred units system™, whereas MuseScore uses a mix of both units systems and 'staff spaces', i.e. the distance between two staff lines. The latter system is often more helpful in context, but makes converting sizes and standardising them quite tedious. The first step was to define MU4's staff space, and thus its staff size. In the NSM 2019 Template file, a staff is 0.25694 inches or 6.5264 milimetres tall. Dividing by 4 gives us a MuseScore staff space of 1.632mm, or 0.0642 inches.
This means the conversion factor between programs is: Finale units / 0.0642 = MuseScore units).
(Note: For some reason certain items (such as staff spacers)' staff space is double that of the regular one, so you may have to halve or double the values you want depending on the situation. I'm not entirely sure why.)
Page Margins
The generally recommended page margin sizes are 0.5 inches (12.7mm) on all sides, and to account for the piano brace if needed. While these values are unenforced by the updating team, they are the ones present in the NSM template file and are thus used most often.
In MuseScore, these values can be carried over 1:1 (as page settings are in absolute units), and are present in the template files.
Finale displays sizes in your preferred units system™, whereas MuseScore uses a mix of both units systems and 'staff spaces', i.e. the distance between two staff lines. The latter system is often more helpful in context, but makes converting sizes and standardising them quite tedious. The first step was to define MU4's staff space, and thus its staff size. In the NSM 2019 Template file, a staff is 0.25694 inches or 6.5264 milimetres tall. Dividing by 4 gives us a MuseScore staff space of 1.632mm, or 0.0642 inches.
This means the conversion factor between programs is: Finale units / 0.0642 = MuseScore units).
(Note: For some reason certain items (such as staff spacers)' staff space is double that of the regular one, so you may have to halve or double the values you want depending on the situation. I'm not entirely sure why.)
Page Margins
The generally recommended page margin sizes are 0.5 inches (12.7mm) on all sides, and to account for the piano brace if needed. While these values are unenforced by the updating team, they are the ones present in the NSM template file and are thus used most often.
In MuseScore, these values can be carried over 1:1 (as page settings are in absolute units), and are present in the template files.
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2) Engraving settings
To get the Finale look and feel in MuseScore, we need more than just Finale's music font. Adopting these settings allows even MuseScore 3 (without Finale Maestro) to look pretty darn close to an NSM-looking sheet!
To do this, I transferred settings from Finale's Document Options to MuseScore's Style window, again based on of the NSM Template File. Due to differences in settings these values aren't just copied, but analysed and adapted to ensure the most accurate result.
That said, MuseScore's style options are significantly less advanced than their Finale counterparts. Finale still is the more customisable program, even if not by much.
Below I talk about some engraving options, but this is by far not all of them!
Anything not brought up should work without any noticeable difference in behavior.
Color Code
Not a problem, I just wanted to bring it up
There is an easy workaround available that gets the job done
There is a workaround/option available, however it is either annoying to do or not 100% accurate
There is no workaround available. We have a problem.
To do this, I transferred settings from Finale's Document Options to MuseScore's Style window, again based on of the NSM Template File. Due to differences in settings these values aren't just copied, but analysed and adapted to ensure the most accurate result.
That said, MuseScore's style options are significantly less advanced than their Finale counterparts. Finale still is the more customisable program, even if not by much.
Below I talk about some engraving options, but this is by far not all of them!
Anything not brought up should work without any noticeable difference in behavior.
Color Code
Not a problem, I just wanted to bring it up
There is an easy workaround available that gets the job done
There is a workaround/option available, however it is either annoying to do or not 100% accurate
There is no workaround available. We have a problem.
- (Sub-) Beam Distance
In MU4, there is currently no way to precisely change the distance between a beam's primary and secondary/tertiary components. The program offers a 'regular' and 'wide' setting, with the wide option being the closest fit to Finale. However, there are minor differences upon close inspection. - Courtesy Clefs
There is no way to automatically place a courtesy clef on the left side of a repeat barline, MuseScore's engraving system places it to the right. Thankfully, MU4's spacing system allows for a workaround, which isn't too complicated but does take a fair amount of messing with. - Flags
Aside from choosing between the traditional and straight options, flags in MuseScore are currently not customisable. That said, I can't make out a visual difference between the flags of either notation program, so Finale's settings seem to partain to spacing, which can always be changed manually, on a case by case basis. - Grace Note Placement
MuseScore doesn't allow for customisable automatic placement of grace notes, so this isn't set to the Finale Standard. If you want 100% accuracy then you would have to adjust this every time, if not MU4's automatic placement system is pretty good (significantly better than MU3 - Rest placement
Rests in multi-layered measures appear one staff space higher/lower in MuseScore than in Finale, with no customisable default for the former. This is an easy manual fix (and something changed often in Finale as well). - Lyrics
Both softwares use non-comparable lyrics systems. Keep an eye out for differences when working with them. - Tuplet Placement
Tuplets, in particular their brackets, aren't as versatile in MuseScore than in Finale, but MU4's system is good enough and allows for easy manual adjusting. - Piano Brace
Finale allows you to shape and customise the piano brace, whereas MuseScore only lets you reposition it. This is probably the most noticeable visual inconsistency between the two programs, and one that I'm not expecting a fix for. - Voltas
MuseScore doesn't automatically break voltas, and the easy workaround from MU3 is not yet integrated in MU4, meaning you have to workaround the workaround which is far less clean. I'm expecting the old workaround to work again in a future release (probably 4.1). They also aren't right aligned the way Finale defaults to, so that would have to be done manually each time (though I don't really like the Finale way of doing this, the MuseScore way is more legible). - Slurs & Ties
MU4 has a completely redone system for automatically placing slurs and ties, now the placement takes into account accidentals, other ties, and barlines. However, they are still less curved than in Finale and than is usually desired, so they will frequently need to be adjusted. Additionally, I couldn't find the value in Finale for the slur's thickness, so the current thickness in the MuseScore templates may be a little off. Finale's thickness seems to be more modular than MuseScore's one, leading to slightly nicer results for smaller ties. - Ottavas
- Text and line don't align nicely, and there is no way to change this default. You will have to fix this every time under Properties/Ottava/Text and mess with the vertical height values.
- Parentheses don't hug the ottava as nicely as in Finale (same with BPM text), and there isn't really a fix for that at the moment.
- Tempo Markings
Tempo is aligned to the time signature (if present) rather than the note it's placed on, so that will need to be adjusted each time. (setting default values misplaced a bunch of other stuff). If you add an expression to your BPM marking, that should be size 12 and bold (the rest should stay 10pt/regular). Recommended values for first BPM: horizontal 3.5sp, vertical -3.0sp. - Page Numbers
These templates use 14pt font size for page numbers, as per the Formatting Guidelines. However, many sheets submitted use 12pt instead (probably due to a change in Finale standard). - Repeat Dots
MuseScore currently displays the repeat dots a little too low, which just means needing to adjust that each time you add a repeat (this issue is already fixed, just hasn't been rolled out yet (expected: 4.1)) - Beaming Over Rests
MuseScore doesn't have an option to automatically beam over rests. This may possible change in a future release. For now, manually changing the beams works fine, and if you're lazy I wrote a plugin to do it (see below). - Staccatos on stem side
Marked orange because it's just annoying to change this so many times. Staccatos center themselves above the stem, not the notehead (except for the cases where it's wrong to do so). You will have to change every staccato marking manually. Currently articulations aren't really accessible through plugins, so there's no solution I can make for this either. I have made a feature request and might try adding this to MuseScore myself.
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3) Downloads and Installation
Here's an example of the template compared to the real thing: Finale v MU4 (template v1.1)
The template file is best kept under './MuseScore X/Templates', where it will then show up under 'Create from Template/My Templates' (or, in MU3, on the second page of the score creation wizard). The Style file is best kept under './MuseScore X/Styles', where it can be loaded by right clicking on a sheet's page, or from 'Format/Load Style'.
The style file is more lightweight and contains engraving rules and some page settings. It has the advantage that it can be applied to an existing sheet at any time.
The template file on the other hand contains more detailed elements and is easier to make new sheets from. It doesn't include formatted composer/arranger text or a pre-positioned BPM marking, so if you want those you should create your sheet from within (a copy of) the template file itself.
Both template files are set to US-Letter page size, but loading an A4 style file over it will change it
Additionally I wrote a plugin that generates the copyright/URL text, since making that multi-line in MuseScore is always pretty annoying.
I advise you look around my GitHub profile, I have various other plugins that might be of help (such as beaming over rests or a Finale-inspired tuplet creator)!
[Download Page]
Changelog
- Copyright Plugin (02/26/23): Generates copyright text in the NSM format
- v1.6 (02/16/23): Readjusted stave size
- v1.5 (02/04/23): Improved first system indent, complete replacement of musescore-only text fonts, automatic ottava bassa hooks.
Tempo markings now include a pre-formatted expression option, and volta text now works in the MU3 templates. - MU3 (02/03/23): Added templates for MuseScore 3
- v1.4 (12/23/22): Overhauled text positioning system, various other engraving adjustments
- v1.3 (12/22/22): Page numbers are now automatically the correct size
- v1.2 (12/20/22): Improved page margins + accompanying text positions, cleaned up the sheet's metadata to allow for a smoother import
- v1.1 (12/19/22): Incorporation of staff size, page settings & engraving settings
- v1.0 (10/25/22): Basic formatting adjustments and use of Finale Maestro music font
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