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I converted to Notion 6 for Desktop by Presonus
I’ve had N6 for years. The included VIs are nice but incomplete. I’m not a fan of the workflow but I used it with one of my clients until he finally upgraded his copy of Sibelius earlier this year. Now we use MusicXML 4.0 and I do his work in Finale 27.
On the Mac, Notion 6 cannot use 64bit only VIs and so many of my libraries and instruments no longer support 32/64. Fender promised Notion 7 “coming soon” November 2021 but I’d settle for an update to 6 that adds 64 bit binary support. Heck, if LilyPond freeware could do it a month ago, surely Fender can, right?
I’ve had the Notion apps for iOS and iPadOS since the beginning when they were the same. They are updated regularly as of last week but it’s looking to me that Fender is not seeing a future in desktop notation. If I’m wrong, I’ll be glad to try Notion 7 if it ever exists but I am not holding my breath.
A long, long time ago… Finale could open MT and Encore files—I go back to those days. Otherwise, I converted my MusicTime files to Encore decades ago. Last I checked, Encore on the Mac still opens them—I think but won’t swear to it.
Being a Print Music owner, you can take advantage if the $149 crossgrade offer to Dorico. This includes a license to Finale 27 with MusicXML 4.0 and a year of tech support. 27 will open your Print Music files and save copies as .musx, the Finale format introduced in PM/Finale 2014.
For Mac, it is 5.0.7 but there are a number of builds. The correct build reads 5.0.6 m1333 in the About window.
If the model year of your Mac is 2012–2018, you can add an APFS Volume in Disk Utility and install Mojave. This is the best way to run Encore 5.0.7.
Apple has support documents on how to do this and a Mojave Installer can still be downloaded from the App Store.
Add, delete, or erase APFS volumes in Disk Utility on Mac
APFS Volumes are similar to Partitions but they share empty drive space and are much easier to create and delete.
With VST/VST2 now depreciated by Steinberg, no point in offering any version other than VST3. When, if….
Songwriter was last offered in 2012, correct? A friend of mine still uses it over Windows 10. Since I have PrintMusic and Finale 2014.5, I can run them on my Mojave Mac, the same one I use for Encore 5. Although Finale 27 also runs on that MacBook, why 2014.5? The 32bit versions of Finale have the Band-in-a-Box plug-in, a huge timesaver for infomercial scores on a deadline back when those were a thing. I may have to run it again someday.
I have Dorico Pro 5, Finale 27 and a bunch of other apps. Finale does all my heavy lifting, something that Encore could never do.
Having had it since v.2 in 2018, I’ll be exploring Dorico to see if I get used to it. It tries to force you into Elain Gould’s rules as laid out in her 702 page book, Behind Bars…. By version 5, it’s fairly elegant once you get used to the workflow. You can change everything in Layout Mode.
I still want Encore 6, dammit. Nothing is as fast or easy for my church and lead sheet work. If the printed output didn’t look so bad, I would still be happy with Encore 5, frankly. Ties look good on the screen but slurs don’t and both suuuuuuuuuck!!!! when printed in a way that is absolutely unacceptable. I’m even ok with the MusicXML 1.3 output though xml 3.0 is much, much, Much better.
It depends. Encore 5 for a lot of my church work but its amateurish printout is unacceptable for publication.
I’ve been using Finale since 1988 for heavy lifting, publication and large works. I’ve had Dorico, MuseScore, Notion 6 and Overture 5 for many years. Now that Finale is EOL, time to explore Dorico Pro 5 seeing that I own a copy.
MuseScore 5 will be big but it isn’t here yet. They want it to be the de facto notation app for Hal Leonard Publishing, acquired by Muse Group 10 months ago. Whether 5 allows me to take it seriously remains to be seen. MS4 is not very good but it is no longer horrible, IMO.
There are two versions of the last build of Encore 5.
There is a demo version of Encore 5 cannot be unlocked—weird but true. The shipping version can be unlocked with your serial number but runs in demo mode otherwise. In About…
It is 5.0.6 m1333 (or something like that).Both Andre and I have copies of this correct version. It runs best on any 2012-2018 model Mac booted into Mojave. There are GUI problems in High Sierra and earlier that cannot be fixed.
What opportunity? Desktop notation as a moneymaker hasn’t been a lucrative business opportunity for years. Finale has barely been a decimal point on Peaksware’s $45B bottom line and MakeMusic has renamed SmartMusic, its cash cow, to MakeMusic Cloud.
Users who want to continue with Finale will be able to continue doing so for years. If you need to purchase newer hardware to ensure longevity, you have a long time to do and can transition until the day that the license servers no longer remain online. Those with 27 have another year of tech support.
MuseScore and Dorico have been loud about continued development and Dorico will gain more Finale-like features—Daniel has said so. One can assume that Sibelius will continue as well.
For decades, I used Encore for my church work and Finale for heavy lifting and publication. Encore’s ease of use outweighs its amateurish look when printed. It has also been dead over a decade but I can still use it to edit my old work if needed. it runs on any Mac first made 2018 or earlier but best on those from 2012–2018 that can boot in Mojave. I have all sorts of options regarding those files but the simplest one is to just do nothing. All were saved to pdf and xml seven years ago if I change my mind.
Don’t get m wrong. I still want Encore 6 for my church and studio work. The ability to open my old work and have it look good when printed would be a boon to me. Nothing has ever been faster for creating “down and dirty” lead sheets, praise band charts and 4-part choral arrangements. To open those files in Overture 6 would be great, too.
I don’t like MuseScore or Dorico but I’ve had both since 2018 use them as needed. This will likely change as both get better until that day when I create new work in one or the other — but I’m not in a hurry and there’s no need to rush things. I see no reason why the major works that I began in Finale won’t be completed in 27 assuming that I ever get them done.
People tell me not to count out Notion — 7 is coming as has been promised since 2021. Sorry, when Fender didn’t update 6 to handle 64bit only VIs, I lost interest. Dolet 8 for Sibelius ensured that i never needed Notion again. The iPad app is very good, exports MusicXML 3 and is updated regularly but is not dependent on the desktop version at all.
I might as well cry over DMCS being incompatible with System 7.1 (I was able to hack the license to get it working in 7). Well, those files did open and Save in Opcode Overture and I was able to convert them later to pdf and xml. You figure it out and do what’s necessary.
I agree with Mick and Keith:
“You can’t always get what you want. … but if you try sometime, you get what you need. Oh yeah!”
I’m in the hate MuseScore camp but it’s been good to me lately. A few publishers have found out that I know how to take MuseScore downloads and correct them in Finale.
“You should try version 4, on Mac it’s not bad at all.”
You are entitled to that opinion but I disagree. I will admit that MuseScore 4 is no longer horrible — except that horrid Edwin font that makes so much of the lyric content on their download pages unreadable. Fortunately, it is easily replaced in Finale by Minion Pro, a free Adobe font that installs with Acrobat Reader and is legible down to 6 point. Minion Pro works in Encore 5, also.
“2) it exports existing Encore files as Music XML properly”
At least MusicXML 3.0. Very few apps have incorporated v. 4.0 from 2022 or the 3.1 stopgap from seven years ago.
I’m attending an event in a few weeks with Michael Good, the retired inventor of MusicXML. It will surprise me if the subject comes up at all during the course of the evening.
Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra was released a long time ago.
“If the same person is developing Overture and now (again) Encore, and updates are being programmed for both, how would the two programs be different? Why market two?”
Don Williams was the original developer of Encore but hadn’t been involved with it for decades. My understanding is that Encore 6 and Overture 6 will share a number of features. They may even become as one but that is supposed to happen down the road — if it happens at all.
Encore 5.0.7 for Mac needs the correct installer and your serial number.
The correct installer is named e507m_full.dmg and is 73.7 MB. Andre and I both have it. The demo installer will not do what you need.
There is another way by copying all of the directories from one Mac into another including your fonts. I that list somewhere. Much better to run the installer if possible.
You can drop a note to me and I can send you a Dropbox link to the file.
m i k e (a t) h a l l o r a n m u s i c (dot) com
As has been mentioned, 5.0.7 works well over macOS 10.4 Mojave only. It has problems over High Sierra and earlier; likewise it will not work over Catalina and later.
