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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.
>but converting a program from 32 bit to 64 bit I’m sure can be done relatively quickly.<
If you say so.
The Mac version of v.5 doesn’t do this very well at all. Copying and pasting often works but, when it doesn’t, there’s no easy workaround.
“I used it very rarely, but I remember that Encore 5.x has a sort of VST host that allows to open virtual instruments of third parties and assign them to the staffs. Did you ever try it ?”
This broke somewhere in v.5.
Encore 6 is not expected to support 3rd party VIs at first according to an earlier post by Don.
Not all Intel Macs will run Encore. The 2020 iMac definitely won’t (we have one) and neither will the 2019. Neither will the Mac Pro 7.1 or any other Mac introduced new in 2019 or later. All ship with 64 bit operating systems.
MacOS 10.14 Mojave is the last OS that can run Encore 5.0.7 and it works better than any other MacOS. The 2018 Mini was the last Mac that shipped with Mojave. If you need to run a later MacOS, configure a Mojave bootable APFS Volume and Option-Boot into it when you need to run Encore—a bootable external drive works, too. Those Macs with T1 and T2 chips will need theit security settings changed in the Repair Partition but again, Apple has Support docs on this.
I like the screen sharing idea though I do monitor sharing instead. My iMac Pro is gone and the 13″ & 15″ screens on my 2012 MacBook Pros are just too small for these old eyes. It’s 27″ or nothing for me these days.
The problem with MuseScore is that it’s not very good and the workflow is terrible, both things readily conceded by MuseGroup in a recent Scoring
Notes article. Yes, v.4 looks much better but so few of those posting scores know how to lay out a page of music so that it can be read easily. Finale, Sibelius, Overture, Notion and even Encore are far superior in this regard. Encore’s workflow is elegant by comparison—too bad that printed scores are unacceptable for publication.I have a couple of Christmas books out there that I did using screen shots instead of the Print commands. On screen, Encore 5.0.7 looks a lot better, especially note heads and slurs.
Not all Intel Macs will run Encore. The 2020 iMac definitely won’t (we have one) and neither will the 2019. Neither will the Mac Pro 7.1 or any other Mac introduced new in 2019 or later. All ship with 64 bit operating systems that cannot be downgraded.
MacOS 10.14 Mojave is the last OS that can run Encore 5.0.7 and it’s the best one. The 2018 Mini was the last Mac that shipped with Mojave. If you need to run a later MacOS, configure a Mojave bootable APFS Volume and Option-Boot into it when you need to run Encore—a bootable external drive works, too. Those Macs with T1 and T2 chips will need their security settings modified in the Repair Partition but again, Apple has Support docs on this.
I like the screen sharing idea though I do monitor sharing instead. My 2017 iMac Pro is sold and the 13″ & 15″ screens on my 2012 MacBook Pros are just too small for these old eyes. It’s 27″ or nothing for me these days.
