Music Notation Software

Subject: Music Notation Software
From: Bruce Johnson
Date: 01 Nov 97 - 08:03 AM

I had downloaded a trial version of some software named Muse from a net site in Europe as I recall. I was about to register it, being pretty impressed with it's capability to produce guitar tab as well as standard notation, but decided to have a look at NoteWorthy Composer first. This is another nice package but lacks the tablature feature. Now that I've decided on Muse, I've lost the address. I'm pretty sure it was here that I first learned of it, so maybe someone can point me back at the right site.

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Nov 97 - 04:50 AM

How's this, Bruce?
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/members/laurie.griffiths/features.html
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Nov 97 - 04:58 AM

Hey, Bruce - after you've used it for a chile, how about giving us an evaluation? I'm leaning toward Noteworthy, or maybe Cakewalk (if I can find Cakewalk cheap enough).
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: alison
Date: 02 Nov 97 - 05:43 PM

Hi Joe

I tried Cakewalk before and found it very difficult to use, I use "Musicator" and find it very easy and extremely useful.

slainte

Alison

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: Sharon
Date: 02 Nov 97 - 07:31 PM

I use Musictime and am very pleased with it - easy to use. But....... no feature for tab, unless you enter in in the lyrics lines. I have done that with satisfactory success.

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 02:49 AM

Hi All - Have already replied to this once but looks like it's gone for ever.

Great tips from all concerned - I've been struggling to make headway on this subject and have downloaded lots of stuff. In the end I think I have succeeded only in confusing myself, but I'll keep trying.

Some questions and feedback:

- The price of Muse was a pleasant surprise, but got a bit of a shock when I saw the price of Musicator. Looks like I may have to upgrade to Win 95 in order to use Muse - I gather that there is NOT a Win 3.1 Version?

- I paid the bucks for Band In a Box c/w Music Tracks Pro (I may have the second title wrong) but I haven't made much headway. Will be glad to report in due course but I get the impression that it may not be the easiest of notators.

- Has anyone tried MUSIC-G-Tab for printing guitar tabs? I haven't used tablature much for guitar picking, but this program looks interesting.

Happy experimenting. I must admit that I have been spending too much time looking at software and too little time actually playing. Intend to address this imbalance tonight.

Regards John

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: Jon W.
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 10:53 AM

I downloaded a tab program called Pluck or something like that - haven't really used it though so can't give an evaluation.

I got Noteworthy Composer almost a year ago and paid the $40 - I like it fine for what I do with it (enter simple tunes & lyrics, print them out, play them).

I downloaded Muse and used it once or twice so far - I may use it more in the future but probably not. Seems it didn't handle something right in an ABC file I fed it.

Most recently I downloaded ABC2Win. I found it surprisingly easy to enter a couple of tunes in from sheet music using ABC notation - probably easier than entering standard notation in Noteworthy. It's also a good excersize in sight reading skills (mine are minimal) because you have to identify the notes by letter. It's $20 to register, then you get to print the scores. The drawback is that it just plays the tunes through the PC speaker/beeper. I haven't tried anything but one-part tunes so far. It also has a problem in not playing back repeats (with alternate endings) correctly. I got it at Henrik Norbert's site<\a>. He's also got a zillion Irish/Celtic dance and session tunes in ABC notation (several hundred anyway).

I also downloaded a demo version of MIDISCAN, a program that allows you to scan music in with a scanner and then it "recognizes" it and converts it to notation and MIDI. Sound pretty slick, huh? Well it's really picky and at best it's about 95% accurate - you have to go through and compare measure by measure to find recognition mistakes and correct them. They have provided a lot of tools to do that but the user interface is pretty idiosyncratic. Their tech support (via email) staff has been very concienscious in answering my questions even though I only have the demo version. The price is, well, pricey: $99 for a version that handles two staves (called PianoScan), and $299 for the full fledged version that handles up to 16 staves/MIDI tracks. If that doesn't scare you off, check out www.musitek.com. The limitation on the demo version is that you can only convert files to MIDI 10 times, and can't save the MIDI files at all (you can save the image and notation files, though).

Alan of Oz sent me the address (in Germany) of another scanning program called MUSICSCAN but I haven't found them on the web and haven't got around to writing them either. If anyone wants to try, here's the address:
HOHNER MIDIA
Schwabenstr. 27
D-74626 Bretzfeld/Schwabbach
Germany

Alan said it's a quarter of the price of MIDISCAN.

I did notice a MacIntosh program called NoteScan that works with Nightingale to do the same thing - one of you Maccers out there ought to evaluate it and let us know.

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: Jon W.
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 11:11 AM

sorry, here are those links again:

Henrik Norbert's

Musitek (MIDISCAN)

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: Jon W.
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 11:15 AM

one more time:

Musitek Scan

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: alison
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 07:50 PM

Hi

Quite like "Band in a box", it's dead easy to put in guitar chords and it sorts out the rest. Alan and I have used it as backing tracks on a few occasions. I still prefer Musicator for just transcribing melodies and guitar chords.

slainte

Alison

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: rosebrook
Date: 12 Dec 97 - 11:06 AM

Hello!

I'm looking for software that can translate MIDI and ABC files of traditional celtic music into sheet music notation, is affordable, and is very easy to use.

Any suggestions?

Rosebrook

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: Jon W.
Date: 12 Dec 97 - 11:54 AM

I have used ABC2Win to translate from ABC to sheet music, it's $20 to register (which I haven't done yet--sigh). The unregistered demo version will translate to sheet music on screen but won't let you print it. I have found it to be quite easy - the best way of entering music note by note I have found so far. Easier even than scanning it in and going back to correct errors using Musitek's MIDISCAN (see above in this thread). And if you've already got ABC files it's as easy as falling off a log, but a lot less painful.

But if you're a Mac user, look at my post of a few minutes ago on the "Internet Music 101" thread for a link to a site that has some Mac ABC programs.

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: judy
Date: 12 Dec 97 - 02:47 PM

Thanks, Jon I'll check them out judy

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: Bruce Johnson
Date: 12 Dec 97 - 09:34 PM

I couldn't find this thread when I went to give the feedback that was requested, so I ended up starting another thread. So now there are two active threads on the subject, and I don't know how to link them or point to the other thread from here. Maybe one of the other respondents can do it for the rest of us. At any rate, you need to see the other thread to see my comparison of Muse and NoteWorthy, and several other postings of interest. I'll post a quick note to it to bring it to the top of the thread listings.

Subject: RE: Music Notation Software
From: GUEST,John Johnson
Date: 22 Jul 00 - 04:44 AM

I am looking for a template for guitar tab. Anyone out there have a file that I can download?