14 DAY TRIAL // I doubt that if Mozart or Beethoven lived today, all the machines we use day by day would make their music much different, but in the society we're living in would. After all, music is not about the tools you're using to create it, but about what's inside you and how you see the outside world. Of course this is only my opinion, so you don't have to take it for granted.
One sure thing about today's music is that composing and arranging complicated works is much easier than before, and this is where the ubiquitous computer enters the scene. One of the tools designed to help educators, performing musicians, composers, arrangers, worship directors and students, called Finale Allegro, got an update just yesterday.
MakeMusic released Finale Allegro 2007 as a Universal Binary application that is able to run natively on both PowerPC and Intel based Macs. Priced at 199$, this software application allows its users to enter musical notes using the mouse, computer keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, as well as by playing a woodwind instrument or a brass, helped by the MicNotator feature.
Offering the same scanning capabilities as Finale 2007, Allegro can import and export your work using the MIDI and MusicXML file formats. The orchestrations that can be created with this program can have up to 32 staves, and each of these staves can be transposed in an instant to any key and for any instrument.
Educators will find the Exercise Wizard tool to be a trustworthy companion that can help them create warm ups for an orchestra, choir or band in a snap. Allegro is fully compatible with the freeware application Finale Notepad and allows its users to share music online and create MP3 files or burn audio CDs easily.
Finalle Allegro 2007 for Mac requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, minimum 256 MB of RAM and 800X600 display resolution, and a demo version can be downloaded from Softpedia here.