Subject: RE: Tech: Noteworthy still the best?
From:
JohnInKansas
Date: 24 Oct 08 - 09:44 AM
Sibelius, unless you can get a "student discount," runs pretty close to $1,000 (US), so for most of us it's "not the perfect program" - unless you're inclined to "steal it," by hacking the sampler as some have done.
Compared to many reasonably priced programs that are available, Noteworthy is a bit "clumsy" and requires more learning curve than the better commercial entry- to intermediate-level programs to get really clean printed scores. There are some limitations on format and layout that make it difficult to print "publisher quality" prints from Noteworthy, although for most of our people it makes fully usable prints.
Noteworthy does have the advantage of being used by a fairly large number of mudcatters, and that alone probably makes it worth having since a common program facilitates communication here. If you can satisfy your other requirements with it, there's little reason to look for something else to replace it.
Almost all notation programs include import/export of midi files, and most will produce simple printed music. I consider the midi in/out feature pretty much essential, although sophisticated midi editing isn't one of my requirements. If the midi in/out is important, your program should allow "multiple voices" (which may require multi-staff capability) if you want more than the absolutely-most-basic one-liner midis.
Almost all midi editing programs include some ability to print music "scores," and some are fairly sophisticated.
Slightly more advanced programs commonly allow you to insert (in notation) grace notes and other score notations, but not all will "play them back." If this is important, you may have to dig pretty deeply - or get a "free trial" program before purchasing - since few programs tell enough before you buy to let you know about such details.
Many programs have an "on screen keyboard" where you can click on the keys to put the dots into the score. Most allow keyboard "code" entry where a particular key prints a particular note. Most let you click on the score to insert a note. Many programs let you "play into" a score from a midi keyboard, and most of these will let you enter "one note at a time" from the midi keyboard.
Most programs that are past the most basic level allow multi-staff layouts, but some of the simpler ones limit the number of staves. If you're intending to produce choral or orchestral scores, you probably want to be sure you can print 16 staves. (A program with 8 staff maximum might be "good enough" to allow 8 midi voices, if that's a consideration.) For most people, a piano with vocal (3-staves) will be about the most you'll use, and a lot of us will almost never use more than a single staff.
Any useful program will allow verses linked to the notes but you likely will want one that allows multiple verses eventually. Not all of the freeware/shareware programs have this capability, and it's seldom documented, so again you may want to look for a "try before buy" option.
Programs vary a lot in the ease of inserting "chord notations." Few, except the most sophisticated or "most specialized" will "play back" these, but that's not something most would want the program to do. You may want to be able to put in the notations (C, Am, C7, etc) above the staff, and you might want to print the "fret symbols" that some programs offer (although I'm told none of my friends ever use those chord fingerings).
Most programs allow you to notate repeats, Coda and DS symbols, but quite a few ignore them in playback (and hence don't "play them" into the exported .mid files).
Many otherwise sophisticated programs (and I think Noteworthy may be one?) make it difficult to notate "pickup measures" at the start of a song/verse. Your "first measure" must contain rests to "fill it all in" or the score/playback/midi is "out of synch." Some programs allow "pickup measures" and omission of "the rest of the measure;" and some require you to put in the full measure but let you "hide the inital rests" in the printout. With some, the rests must be printed. This isn't much of a problam for individual use, but may make the printout look a little "less than professional" to some.
There are relatively few programs that produce both good clean notation and good tab notation from the same program. If you want to make good tab you may want a separate program for this (probably one that also gives you crude standard notation), and something else for "standard notation" (which may also give you crude tab). (I haven't seen a cheap/free program that does both well in the same program, although there may be one out there somewhere. I don't really do enough tab to have looked very hard.) If you want good tab for anything other than a guitar you may have to look "extra hard."
If you can decide specifically what you want to do and look for a program that does it, you'll likely have better success than just asking "what's a good program." There are too many "good for some but not for me" programs to get much of an answer from the latter approach.
John
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sj
