Switching from Finale to Dorico: Issues and solutions during migration (2) Symbol Migration Failure

Expressions, articulations, smart shapes, chord suffixes, and other symbols entered in Finale can be transferred to other software, including Dorico, to a certain extent via MusicXML, but at least at present, there is a lot of information that cannot be transferred.

In order to understand what problems actually occur, we created a file in Finale with these symbols lined up, exported them in MusicXML format, and experimented by importing the file into Dorico and Sibelius.

(※After importing, we made minimal page layout adjustments. The positions of the symbols remain the original, just after the importing.)

Symbol import results

This is a bit subjective evaluation, but results that we felt were “almost usable as is” are shown in blue shading, results that we felt were “usable with a little modification” are shown in yellow shading, and results that we felt were “major modifications are required, caution required” are shown in red shading.

	Dorico	Sibelius
Dynamic (20 types including f, p)	・There is no problem with basic f and p symbols. ・sf, sfzp, sfpp, sfp, and rf are replaced with other symbols.	・There is no problem with basic f and p symbols. ・sfpp and sfp are replaced with other symbols.
Tempo marks (Presto♩=176, etc.)	Generally migrated, except for ones specific to the Rentaro font such as swing symbol.	In addition to the results in Dorico, if a letter is followed by a parentheses, information after the parentheses will not migrate.
Tempo Alterations (rit, a tempo, accel, rubato, etc.)	・The text is migrated, but italics are canceled, and a dotted line is automatically added to rit and accel. ・The input position may change depending on the position of surrounding symbols.	The transition is almost perfect, including the font style and input position.
Expressive Text (dolce, legato, etc.)	・The text is migrated, but italics are canceled. ・The input position may change depending on the position of surrounding symbols.	The transition is almost perfect, including the font style and input position.
Technique Text (8va, col legno, etc.)	・Font style is transferred almost accurately, except for parts using Rentaro font, 8va and 8vb. ・The position is shifted slightly upwards.	・Font style and position are transferred almost accurately, except for parts using Rentaro font, and 8va / 8vb.
Rehearsal Marks	Depending on the position of the surrounding symbols, they may be moved to an impractical position.	Some position adjustment is required, but they are generally migrated at a practical level.
Smart Shapes: slurs, crescendos, etc.	Slurs and crescendos are migrated, but tr's wavy lines and bracket tools are not.	Same as Dorico.
Smart Shapes: Guitar Bends	Migrated as MIDI data, but it's not migrated as a bend notation.	Guitar bends are migrated, curved arrows are converted to angle slurs.
Smart Shapes: Lines	Alignments other than rit. are not transferred. Some symbols, such as down bows, are not transferred at all.	All linearities are not transferred. Some symbols, such as down bows, are not transferred at all.
Articulation	Some symbols such as bowing and snap pizzicato are not transferred.	Some symbols such as snap pizzicato are not transferred. Fingering numbers are not transferred at all.
Articulation stacks	Articulation stacks are recreated, but fingering numbers are merged.	Articulation stacks are recreated, but fingering numbers do not transfer at all.
Stacked articulations + slurs	Fingering numbers are merged, but collisions are automatically avoided.	Fingering numbers are not transferred at all, but collisions are automatically avoided.
Chord Suffixes	・Stacked tensions are preserved, but are rewritten according to Dorico's interpretation. ・The position of each element will change. ・Only C+(add#9,b9) is not recognized as a chord suffix.	・Stacked tensions are preserved. ・Transferred generally as in Finale. ・The position of each element will change. ・Only C+(add#9,b9) is not recognized as a chord suffix.

Of particular note in the above is that dynamic symbols, which may appear to have been imported correctly at first glance, may actually be converted into a different symbol. If you are not aware of the above issues, there is a high risk of overlooking these.

Differences in results depending on music font

The standard music font for the Japanese version of Finale is Kousaku, but v27 comes with the newly designed Finale Maestro, which is a SMuFL font.

Dorico, like Finale v27, is also a product that supports SMuFL fonts. Therefore, we looked to see if there was a difference when switching the music font from Kousaku to Finale Maestro before exporting from Finale v27.

In conclusion, it seems best to export files created with Kousaku as they are, rather than converting them to Finale Maestro. The following differences occurred in the test files used this time.

◆Expression mark in Technique Text (“8va” and “8vb”)

• In Kousaku, 8va becomes a different combination of musical symbols.

• In Finale Maestro, everything becomes normal text.

◆Articulations

• If you convert a Kousaku file to Finale Maestro and then migrate it to Dorico using MusicXML, the standard fingering numbers will not be migrated.

• Times New Roman italic fingering numbers will be migrated.

Differences in results depending on the MusicXML version

Finale v27, which is equipped with the latest MusicXML 4.0, may produce better export results than Finale v26, which only has MusicXML 3.1 or earlier.

However, when it comes to these symbols, the results of exporting the same file from v27 and v26 in MusicXML and importing it into Dorico were exactly the same.

Differences in results depending on the MusicXML format

In Finale, you can choose from three formats for exporting MusicXML: compressed MusicXML file, uncompressed MusicXML file, and XML file.

In our test file, the results of importing the three types of files into Dorico were exactly the same. Therefore, we recommend choosing the compressed MusicXML file, which is the newest format available and has the smallest file size.

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BTW we also are testing MuseScore, but although we highly value its performance, we have doubts about its reliability and future impact on the music notation software industry and society, so we do not recommend MuseScore as a migration path from Finale, at least for business use.

For that reason, we don’t cover MuseScore in this article, but will report only that the test results were comparable to, and sometimes even surpassed, Dorico and Sibelius.