Finale 2010a, a free maintenance release for all Finale 2010 owners, is now available.

One of the many things I love about MakeMusic is the way our development team never stops fine-tuning and refining everything they do. With hardware, operating systems, and technology in general changing faster every day, I imagine their work as being like trying to paint a still life on a moving canvas! Yes, they typically release a major upgrade to Finale once a year, but they also produce free maintenance releases as well.

Let me repeat then: Finale 2010a, a free maintenance release for all Finale 2010 owners, is now available for download at /Finale/Update.aspx. Like most updates, this addresses recent changes in computer operating systems and hardware, and fine-tunes existing issues (fixes bugs) found in the software since release. Here are a few examples of these types of improvements found in 2010a:

• Full support for Macintosh OS 10.6
• Support for multi-processor Windows computers
• Improved user manual access for Windows 7 and Vista users outside of Admin mode
• Improved Mac startup and rock-solid stability when resizing the Mac’s main tool palette

While you can view a complete list of what’s new, you get the idea. It’s free and it fixes stuff. Cool. But wait, there’s more.

There’s also some new functionality in Finale 2010a. For example, you can now create customized Percussion Maps for ultimate control over the sounds your percussion staves play back. Similarly, Linked Parts have been expanded with enhanced integration of Staff Styles: Today you can apply Staff Styles to only the part or score you are viewing, and easily update Staff Styles in a score to match its part and vice versa. Remember, this is free and new to all of us with Finale 2010.

Like a good-looking, complimentary food tray in the green room, the decision of whether or not you’ll partake is already a no-brainer. But, at least for my music educator friends, I’m saving the best for last. Check out tomorrow’s blog for more new, cool, free stuff in Finale 2010a.