I have two boys, aged 6 and 2. When they know a secret, like what their brother’s getting for his birthday, it’s painful for them not to tell. I’m much the same: I’ve been excited about sharing the news of Finale 2012 for some time, but unable to—until now.

Whew.

Of course all the details can be found at finalemusic-com.go-vip.net, but for me the biggest news is the ScoreManager. I’ve waited my entire musical career to have a personal manager who will take care of all the aspects of performing that I’d rather not mess with. You know, stuff like booking, transportation, load-in, setup, sound check, tear down, load-out—essentially everything but making music. 

While that hasn’t materialized yet, I now have the ScoreManager to handle staff appearance and playback for me. Every aspect of how my staves look, from transposition, clef, names, numbers, order, and more is handled—intelligently—in one place. What’s more, everything about how my staves play back is taken care of there too. I no longer have to assign MIDI channels or navigate separate players. In short, the ScoreManager lets me focus on making music.

But I’m rambling—I do that when I’m excited. The video above demonstrates Finale’s ScoreManager in action; please check it out. Better yet, download Finale 2012 today—for free. Not only is Finale downloadable for the first time, we’ve replaced the Finale demo with a free trial version that works for 30 days. Then, once you purchase Finale 2012, you simply authorize the “trial” software already on your computer.

Get started with Finale 2012 today and share your experience by clicking on “Comments” below.