Finale Notepad- Free Music Software

If you are searching for a good music notation software, look no farther than the Finale Notepad program offered by Finale. I love to write music, but the process of meticulously handwriting out every note is very time-consuming. After doing some searching on the internet, I found the perfect solution in Finale Notepad.

The software is very easy to use, and I can write a five-minute piece of music in only a few hours (in contrast to a few days). Almost every type of musical notation is supported; you can playback your song- with a wide variety of virtual instruments- to hear what it sounds like; and you can print out your music and use it (which obviously is the whole point of writing it out). Best of all- and perfect for my tight budget- it is absolutely FREE! Yes, after you download it, Finale may e-mail you a couple ads, but they do it very seldomly. Probably about the only thing that I don't like about it is that it does not allow you to change key signatures or time signatures halfway through a song. Since I love to change keys when I play (and write) music, this presents somewhat of a problem for me, but I have found ways to work around it. I can also manually record the music onto my computer (through the microphone port) and use it as accompaniments for solos that I play.

Of course, you can also upgrade to another version of Finale's notational products (down below I will detail some of the extra features that they include), but if you're just starting out writing music, or if it is simply a hobby you have, Notepad is the perfect choice. I cannot express how much I have enjoyed using this software. Visit www.finale.com to download Finale Notepad for yourself! Also, visit www.finalemusic.com/showcase to share your music with the world!

Finale also provides the following four products. If you are a musician desiring to expand your capabilities beyond what Notepad has to offer, you might consider one of the following. I have listed some of the more notable features that each one includes.

Here are some of the features of Finale SongWriter that are not included in Finale Notepad:

-Key changes can be placed with songs

A step up from Finale SongWriter is Finale PrintMusic. Here are the additional features that it has:

-Up to 24 staves of music can be written simultaneously (Notepad and SongWriter allowed a maximum of 8)

Finale Allegro offers the following features that are not included in the three previous software programs:

-Unlimited staves are allowed simultaneously

Finale 2008 is one of the top music notation programs available. The following features can only be found in this program:

-You can design your own Document Styles

You can do absolutely anything and everything imaginable with this notation software. It is extremely powerful, versatile, and compatible with almost anything related to music. Unless you are a very serious musician and score writer, you probably do not need Finale 2008; one of the other softwares would serve you just find. But if you're looking for the ultimate music writing experience, you can't go wrong by investing in Finale 2008.