# Sequencer to Finale?



## brewmeister (Mar 28, 2007)

As I have a few pieces under my belt, I'm starting to consider other methods to create sheet music. One interesting feature that I found in Finale's guide is the ability to import sequencer files directly into Finale and have it automatically converted into notes.

Has anyone done this? Is it effective? Is it a pain in the butt to use? Does everything convert accurately? Would you recommend this method? Would this speed up my work flow? 

The sequencer that I'm planning to use is Cubase 4. 

Thanks!


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## sinkd (May 25, 2007)

Hi. Just found this part of the forum.

If you want to move files into Finale for printing, first make a copy of your sequence and quantize it. Second thing is to make sure you have corresponding quant settings in Finale.

Finale also might not get score order, etc. the way you want, so you could make a master Finale score (with the setup wizard) and then copy lines over to it with Mass Mover form the first Finale file.

DS


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## rgames (May 29, 2007)

It's a bit tricky (as is everything in Finale) but it is very commonly done. I've done it a bunch in SX2 and just upgraded to Cubase 4 a few weeks ago, so I haven't had the opportunity to do it with that setup yet but I imagine it is much the same.

As DS said, you'll probably want to quantize everything in Cubase first. I don't think Finale can actually read the .CPR file so you'll need to save it as MIDI (can't recall if it's type I or II). Once you do that and open the file in Finale, it will ask you if you want to create staves based on channels or on tracks (probably tracks). Then you can define which staves are split (e.g. for piano parts), where the split point is, etc.

Then, after you do that, you go back and fix everything that Finale screwed up. I've never had any moderate- to high-complexity piece come through 100% correctly. I'm not convinced it's Finale, though - it might be that Cubase just puts out funky MIDI files. At any rate, it usually gets it about 90% right.

Whether it'll speed up your workflow, I don't know. Are you using the score editor in Cubase? I would never give Cubase's score output to a group of musicians - it's not even in the same league as Finale in terms of capability. But that assumes you have music of some complexity - if you're just writing chorales or something with minimal notation requirements then it's fine.

Here's an example of the clarinet part from an arrangement I did:

http://www.briarwoodarts.com/audio/TheChopinProject/Ames_ChopinNocturneOpPosth_ClarAndStrings_AClar.pdf (http://www.briarwoodarts.com/audio/TheC ... _AClar.pdf)

It began in SX2 as a sequenced arrangement (to do the accompaniament) and I exported the MIDI data to do the score and parts in Finale.

Just give it a shot and ask questions along the way - you can also go to the Finale forums and ask there, they're a very helpful lot.

Best,

rgames

P.S. Here's the recording using Opus 1/2 solo strings and live clarinet:

http://www.briarwoodarts.com/audio/TheChopinProject/Ames_ChopinNocturneOpPosth_ClarAndStrings.mp3 (http://www.briarwoodarts.com/audio/TheC ... trings.mp3)


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