In Finale, IWBNI it were always true that:

1. The space between each staff line were the same for every staff of a given size, and

2. The vertical position of a note of a given pitch were the same in all staves of a given size.

As it is now, this is not the case.

Here is a 1200 dpi GIF file showing an example of this:

The above GIF file was created using the following steps:

1. Select File>New>Default Document.

2. Select View>Page View.

3. Select the staff tool.

4. Select Staff>New Staves and in the News Staves dialog box, enter "1" for Number of Staves and "-288" for Topline to Topline Distance. Now there should be 6 equally space staves.

5. Select the resize tool and use it to resize the page to 75%. Also, resize each staff to 78%.

6. Select the simple entry tool and use it to enter a quarter note A above middle C in each staff.

7. Select the graphics tool and use it to export a single tall and thin 1200 dpi TIFF file that contains the opening G-clef, "C" time signature and quarter note for all staves.

8. View the TIFF view in a graphics program and observe that the space between staff lines is not constant and the position of the font characters (i.e. the clef, time signature and quarter note are positioned at a different vertical location on each staff). On some staves, all music characters will be too high by the same amount while on other staves all music characters will be too low by the same amount, and some staves will fall between these two extremes.

This is not just seen in TIFF files. It is also apparent on scores printed on a 1200 dpi printer.

Also, one does not need TIFF files, GIF files or a printer to see this behavior for it may be seen on the screen from within Finale. Repeat the steps given above and go into page view. Then set the view percentage at 1000% and observe the difference between the vertical position of the quarter note in each staff. When a quarter note A above middle C appears on a G-clef staff, one would like to see a small white triangular region at the top right of the notehead that is bounded by the notehead, stem and middle staff line. It is clear that the size of this triangle is different in each staff.

This behavior is also apparent to the eye in other situations. For example, when one places anything such as a staccato dot or tenuto line between two staff lines, it is easy for the eye to detect these inaccuracies in vertical positioning that are inherent in Finale.

Note: One probably would not see the problem on a 300 dpi printer and might not see it on a 600 dpi printer as these inaccuracies are "quantized away" by such low resolution printers.

Created: October 26, 1999
Last Updated: December 1, 1999
Version: Finale 2000b