With some software tools, less is more. When it comes to the complexity and breadth of music notation tools, though, more is often more, because everyone’s needs are different. If the “pro”, “high-end” tool happens to do exactly what you need to do efficiently and quickly, that’s the tool you’re most likely to use — even if your notation needs are “modest” in your own eyes. In other words, if you use only 10% of the capabilities of the tool, but everyone’s different 10% is included, you’ve got a winner. And that’s probably part of why two major rivals continue to dominate mindshare in notation, Finale and Sibelius. Finale is on an annual release schedule, compared to Sibelius’ semiannual appearances. 2007 is one of the years the two coincide, with releases shipping almost exactly simultaneously next month.

We took a first peek at what’s new in Sibelius 5: massive plug-in support, an ideas hub, and other enhancements. Here’s what’s doing in Finale 2008 (keeping in mind Finale spreads new features out across annual releases):

It’s already near-impossible to find a new computer that doesn’t have Vista already installed on it. As I’ve noted here, hardware driver compatibility can be a bumpy road. That’s the bad news. The good news is, application compatibility for Windows Vista is often not as big an issue. Music notation software, for instance, largely works, with a couple of additional notes regarding installation and registration.

Vista Compatibility for Notation Products [Finale / SmartMusic customer support]
Windows Vista compatibility [Sibelius]

These links come via a promising new blog/podcast for music educators, Music Tech for Me.

Both Finale and Sibelius (and various other tools from SmartMusic and Sibelius for education) are listed as “compatible” with Vista. There’s even a promised update specific to Vista from Finale for the summer. The only hitch is User Account Control (UAC) for software like Sibelius under Vista. Fortunately, disabling UAC isn’t so bad.

As a quick recap, some applications may actually perform more smoothly under Vista. Cakewalk SONAR, for instance, has robust support for the new WaveRT audio system (if you have a PCI audio card that supports it) and MMCSS scheduling. Be aware, though, that those marginal improvements can be quickly erased by driver issues elsewhere in the system, which have a tendency to domino when it comes to both stability and performance.

We could debate this all day, so I’ll just say this: there are still a number of cases where you would “downgrade” (upgrade?) a new Vista computer to XP, even if it means ponying up for a boxed copy of XP, and as with any major OS update on any platform, I wouldn’t even think of installing without a backup and rollback plan to the previous OS. If you can, test on a dual-boot system; it’ll make uninstalling easier.

For those of you anxiously awaiting new software to ship, here’s the latest on our radar:

Digidesign has announced Pro Tools HD 7.2 is shipping immediately, bringing new video support (QuickTime features and AVID integration), a new signal analysis/metering plug-in, and features for multi-channel field recorders. That’s all well and good, of course, but what we’re really waiting for is Intel Mac support as with LE; the prerequisite remains an Intel-based replacement for the Power Mac G5.

Incidentally, you don’t have to own HD to take advantage of the nifty new metering/analysis plug; there’s an RTAS version, too — see the free SignalTools download.

While the big news this week was Avid/Digidesign acquiring rival Sibelius, Finale 2007 now has an official launch date of Monday, August 7. New in this version: linked parts and scores, keystrokes for quickly changing expressions and articulations, Intel Mac support, and integrated video.

Any upgrades or new products that you’re waiting for? Let us know, and we’ll see if we can find out when you’re getting your love.

Rivalries are good: they keep software developers competitive, leapfrogging each other in features. They keep the pressure on, and having seen what happens when one company gets a monopoly (Microsoft Office, I’m looking at you), progress generally slows. Notation users have benefited from the Finale/Sibelius rivalry, and that competition continues to produce better and better notation software. Finale 2007 looks like it will continue that trend.

Now, I’ve gotten in trouble before when I’ve said Finale was blatantly copying its music notation rival Sibelius. But I don’t think anyone can argue with me this time. The major features in Sibelius 4: parts linked to full score, and integrated video support and film scoring features. The major features in Finale 2007, based on a marketing email I just got from Finale:

1. Parts linked to full score
2. Integrated video support and film scoring features
3. Intel Mac native support

Sounds familiar, huh? Now, honestly, these were really features that both packages would inevitably add, so I’m glad to see Finale continuing to level the playing field.