I hope there wasn’t a discussion about this topic already.
I would really like to use the Finale Maestro font. Its clean look is perfect for use in contemporary music engraving. The problem is that Maestro has a lot of missing glyphs and in that regard Bravura is just a superior font (even though for the use of contemporary music notation is to me not so aesthetically pleasing). Not to mention that the Finale Maestro text font is basically unusable, since it doesn’t have the right proportions not the placements of glyphs, so whenever I use Maestro in Dorico, other symbols derived from the music text font are Bravura’s and look different.
Has any progress on this topic been developed that I have maybe missed (maybe some Dorico-friendly bundle of Maestro fonts?).
Should I just give up and start using Bravura for everything?
I actually added hundreds of missing glyphs to the Finale SMuFL fonts for my own personal use. Unfortunately, I can’t share them because I don’t own the rights to the original fonts.
Extending the Maestro SMuFL fonts is a substantial amount of work. If MakeMusic (or whoever now owns the Finale font assets) ever decided to commission such a project, I’d be happy to do it so the entire Finale community could benefit from properly updated fonts. Until then, my enhanced versions will have to remain for personal use only. I am sorry.
It’s not exactly what you are asking for, but switching your music font does not have to be an all or nothing endeavor. You can switch any individual glyphs to Finale Maestro if you want in Music Symbols. For example, my default actually uses four different fonts for the main four clefs. There’s no reason to make a complete switch to an entire set of glyphs if you don’t want to. You can use Finale Maestro for whichever glyphs you’d like and fill in the missing glyphs with Bravura or another font.
I use FontCreator. It’s really excellent and user-friendly (in my opinion). It works best on PC but also works quite adequately on Mac; I believe the creator has been working on the Mac version for some time, and it is almost completely caught up with the PC version.
Thanks! I suppose this is a way of working around it.
Although there is still the issue of a faulty music text font, where text based graphics cannot be in the Maestro typeface (unless doing extreme workarounds). Ex.: If you use Maestro, the “flat” sign in Clarinet in B-flat will still be Bravura etc.
Well, Dorico uses the “wrong” flat for that by default anyway. There’s an entire SMuFL range designed for mixing accidentals with text as opposed to music, but Dorico doesn’t use it.
I think the bottom one matches the text font better. I can’t remember if I tried hacking where Dorico looks for that glyph with a doricolib file though, or if that’s even possible.
@Brinovec_m have you looked at the wide range of fonts created by NorFonts? All SMuFL. You’d be better off with those than trying to hack something from Finale, much as you may be attached to it.
What is it that you think makes a modernist font? I set all modernist music. I use Soli from NorFonts.
I do think the font that the accidentals are paired with obviously is an important factor. With my standard text font, I think the x-height and contrast between thick and thin make the accidentals in the top pairing below much more compatible than the bottom.
I thought the Finale fonts were released under the open font license? Doesn’t that say that while you can’t sell your changes (unless you bundle it with a larger software project) you could give them away, maybe even ask for a donation?
He can’t use the same name though. He could release his modified version for free under a different name, but that might just be muddying the waters a bit. (And releasing another free competitor to his own fonts might not make the most business sense, LOL) Ideal solution would be for MakeMusic to go back and update them in coordination with Steinberg to confirm compatibility, but I doubt that’s gonna happen.
I agree it probably doesn’t make any business sense to release it for free. I’m not sure I would. I wasn’t sure if I was right about the license and thought it might be worth mentioning in case someone else wants to take on a similar project.
Yes, glyphs are missing in the actual font, and also there is a “Bravura Text” for text based features (instrument transpositions, tempos, harp pedaling etc.) but no “Finale Maestro Text”. Well, there is, but not in the actual sense for use in Dorico.
MakeMusic are of course still the owners of their fonts, even if they are under an open source licence.
It would make sense for the Dorico team to become the “custodians” of the SMuFL fonts, with rights to maintain and update them, but that’s a decision that MM needs to make.
As I understand it, MM’s web-music thingy still uses Maestro (and Garritan samples).
