Finale SongWriter lets you hear your music play back, print sheet music, share songs with the free downloadable Finale Reader™ and save MP3 files for your iPod.
SongWriter is perfect for songwriters, band and choir directors, church musicians, students and other musicians. Spend more time making music and less time learning software.
Experiment with Melodies
- Click notes onto the staff and hear their pitches drag notes up and down to find the pitches you want.
- Play a MIDI keyboard and see the music appear instantly.
- Import and export MIDI and MusicXML files.
- Add multiple lyric verses.
Explore Different Arrangements
- Try any tempo.
- Transpose to any key.
- Type a chord name to hear how it sounds and see its guitar fretboard.
- Select automatic drum grooves for different styles.
- Add automatic harmonies.
Experience Your Songs
- Print great-looking sheet music.
- Save MP3 files to create audio CDs or to play on an iPod.
- Hear your songs with a professional software synthesizer and over 128 sounds – no hardware required!
- Use Human Playback™ to make songs sound like they’re performed like live musicians.
- Share your music with others using the free, downloadable Finale Reader™.
Features:
Getting Started
Finale SongWriter’s Launch Window saves you time by putting everything at your fingertips. Choose to open an existing file or create a lead sheet with up to 8 staves from scratch with the Setup Wizard – which configures things like instrument transpositions so you don’t have to. Use the textured paper background to make your on-screen page easy on the eyes and apply document styles to personalize the look of your scores. Don’t like manuals? SongWriter’s QuickStart Videos guide you through the process of putting your music on the page.
SongWriter Launch Window
The SongWriter Launch Window saves you time by putting everything at your fingertips, including easy access to the Installation and Tutorial Guide.
Setting Up Your Lead Sheet
Just answer a few questions: What instruments or voices do you want? What key? Time signature? SongWriter will set up your lead sheet, complete with staves in correct order and displaying title and composer.
Textured Paper
SongWriter now features a textured manuscript paper background so your on-screen page is easy on the eyes and aesthetically pleasing.
Entering Notes
- Enter notes with your computer keyboard and/or mouse and hear their pitches. Click notes onto the staff or enter notes with the numeric pad and keys ‘A’ ‘B’ ‘C’ ‘D’ ‘E’ ‘F’ and ‘G.’ Drag notes up and down to find the pitches you want.
- Play your MIDI keyboard (or any other MIDI device) and see the notes appear instantly. Use your MIDI keyboard in combination with your computer keyboard and mouse to enter notes and chords.
- Import MIDI files.
- Import MusicXML 2.0 files – Unlike MIDI files, MusicXML allows you to transfer the sounds and graphical elements in your file to other applications including older versions of SongWriter.
Adding Markings, Lyrics, and More: Going beyond notes
Lyrics
SongWriter allows multiple lyric verses and automatically spaces the lyrics to match the notes they’re attached to.
Guitar and Bass Tablature
SongWriter’s Set-up Wizard includes Tablature (in standard tuning) for Guitar and Bass. Tablature can be generated automatically by dragging standard notation onto a Tab staff, or you can create it from scratch by typing numbers directly into the Tab.
Chords – Improved in SongWriter 2010
- Enter chord symbols by typing in their names or playing them with a MIDI keyboard.
- Change or delete notes without changing your chords.
- Enter chords before entering notes and easily create chord-only charts.
More
All notes space themselves automatically as they're entered and you can add dynamics, tempos, chord symbols and rehearsal marks to your lead sheet. SongWriter also automates other entry tasks like repeats, codas, and tuplets.
Percussion Notation – Improved in SongWriter 2010
Whether you’re an expert user customizing percussion scores, or not sure where a bass drum goes on the staff, SongWriter gets your percussion notation to look and sound perfect in no time.
New in SongWriter 2010
MakeMusic has simplified the process of getting notes on percussion staves to look – and playback – exactly the way you want them to.
Easy to Enter & Automatic Playback
- Simply drag the cursor over the staff and on-screen feedback indicates whether you’re about to enter a snare, bass drum, or other percussion instrument – and displays the appropriate notehead.
- Dragging notes up and down the staff scrolls smoothly through all available instruments.
- Automatic playback configuration – your snare will playback with a snare sound – and so forth – without any manual intervention.
- Seamlessly copy music back and forth between percussion and standard notation staves.
Repeats
Adding repeats is easy and they automatically playback. Select the measures that will appear in the first ending. Select "Create first and second ending." You're done.
SongWriter automatically does the rest of the work for you:
- All numbers and brackets are automatically entered and lined up.
- Repeat numbers are automatically followed by periods.
- Backward Repeat Bars or Repeat Endings can be defined to find their targets automatically.
You can specify whether repeat text and brackets appear in all staves or just the top staff.
Create Codas
SongWriter automatically creates space, text, and symbols as well as controls playback.
Tuplets
Default positioning looks great, even when the tuplet begins with rests. Tuplets automatically reposition when notes are raised or lowered on the staff. Tuplet brackets avoid rests and staff lines. Brackets follow the angle of the stems when on stem side and follow the angle of notes when on the note side. It’s automatic!
Hearing Your Music
Over 128 sounds included FREE!
Hear your songs with a professional software synthesizer – no hardware required! These sounds have minimal system requirements (compatible with nearly any computer) and offer consistent playback when your SongWriter files are heard in NotePad and other MakeMusic products. Add this to SongWriter’s Human Playback™ and the results are astounding.
Human Playback™
Your music deserves to be heard with all the feeling, phrasing, and nuance you felt when you wrote it.
The Human Playback feature will play your music as you would want it to be performed, even if you enter notes with your computer keyboard or mouse. And you can choose a variety of musical styles.
Mixer – New in SongWriter 2010
Integrated controls for each staff enable you to set volume and panning as well as choose to mute, solo, or record. Adjust parameters for all staves using convenient knobs and faders for each staff – all in real time during playback.
Reverb Options in Playback
Customize the room size and reverb level to control the overall reverb effect in playback. Plus you can audition real-time changes to volume, panning, and instruments with controls added to the Instrument List.
Sharing Your Music - Printing and more
With Finale SongWriter you can:
- Print professional-quality sheet music.
- Create .mp3, .wav. or .AIFF files – press one button and save your SongWriter files into an audio format for recording onto an audio CD or save as .MP3 to play on an iPod.
- Export MIDI or MusicXML files.
- Post your music at the Finale Showcase, a free site hosted by MakeMusic where people can see, play, and print your music.
Composing and Arranging Tools
Experiment with melodies. Explore different arrangements. Finale SongWriter takes the work out of composing and arranging and lets you concentrate on the inspiration. Transpose to any key and try different tempos. Type a chord name to hear how it sounds and see its guitar fretboard.
Idea-generating Tools
Running low on inspiration? SongWriter offers composers and arrangers idea-generating tools to save time and suggest creative options.
- Band-in-a-Box Auto-Harmonizing – Automatically turn your melody into two or three voice harmony.
- Drum Groove – Easily add custom drum parts in a variety of styles. Add to the list of available styles by placing any MIDI file into the Drum Groove folder.
Don’t like something you tried? Multiple Undo lets you reverse any number of changes you made in the current session (even past the point you saved your score).
What differences are there between SongWriter, Print Music, Allegro and Finale?
Have a question? Our tech specialists are here to help you and
usually respond on the same business day!
Want answers now? Try our on-line chat, or
call 1-800-510-4385. (Our average hold time is less than 15 seconds!)
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PC
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Mac
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- XP/Vista/Windows 7 (64-bit compatible)
- Monitor with 800X600 resolution
- CD-ROM drive
- 256 MB RAM recommended
- 240 MB hard drive space required for software and user manual
Optional
- MIDI interface
- MIDI input and/or playback device
- Printer
Authorization
SongWriter requires that you authorize the software within 30 days after installation. You are allowed to install SongWriter on one operating system.
File Compatibility
Finale family software can open files in the same or newer software version, but files created in a newer version cannot be opened in an older version unless converted via MusicXML.
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- G4 or higher recommended. OS 10.4 - 10.6 (Mac-Intel or Power PC)
- Monitor with 800X600 resolution
- CD-ROM drive
- 256 MB RAM recommended
- 226 MB hard drive space required for software and user manual
Optional
- MIDI interface
- MIDI input and/or playback device
- Printer
Authorization
SongWriter requires that you authorize the software within 30 days after installation. You are allowed to install SongWriter on one operating system.
File Compatibility
Finale family software can open files in the same or newer software version, but files created in a newer version cannot be opened in an older version unless converted via MusicXML.
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Notation & Scoring
