Music Composition Software?

Subject: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 09:42 AM

I'm wondering if anyone here has had personal experience with really good music software. (Actually, I'm sure some of you have as I've been to several of your websites.) The daughter of a friend of mine wants to start being able to compose music on her computer which she can then eventually have on her own webpage.

I'd appreciate any advice you might have on the best kind of software for her. I don't imagine she wants to spend a fortune but if you know what's a good starting program that if she then wanted to add on to as she progresses, would not be too difficult.

I'd be most appreciative for your suggestions.

Thanks very much!

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 09:46 AM

My suggestion would be to start with NoteWorthy Composer. In my opinon it gives the most "bang for the buck".

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Chris Green
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 04:44 PM

The best one I've found is Sibelius by Steinberg. It's about £600 (dunno what that comes to in dollars) but cracked copies (so I hear!) aren't too hard to come by. It's actually quicker and easier than handwriting scores!

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: pavane
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 04:58 PM

My program HARMONY might be an option.

As it is shareware, it doesn't cost you anything to try it.
It will add chords and harmony lines to a melody, and can even create original tunes.

I am trying to make it as easy as possible to edit tunes.

Download from www.greenhedges.com

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 07:35 PM

We need more information. How old is she? How much music education has she had?

Unless she has done college work in music, I think that Noteworthy Composer would be workable and affordable.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 07:35 PM

Sibelius is pretty well accepted as the "standard" for sophisticated users, but if you get a the "accessory" Phot0Score the list price was close to $800 US about a year ago. The PhotoScore gives you the ability to "OCR" scanned images of scores and convert to Sibelius files.

If you qualify for the "educational price" it's half that or even quite a bit less. Sibelius won't tell you what the "educational price" is unless you prove you qualify, but some resellers offered the "ed" version, with Photoscore, for about $390 about a year ago.

While I certainly support giving a break to students, the extreme difference in pricing sort of makes me believe the Sibelius people don't really want people to use the program, they just want to sell a lot of them to students and teachers.

Most larger music stores should have the "demo" version, which should be free. You can also download the demo from the Sibelius site, but it's a rather large load. The demo that installs is the full program, and you can get an "unlock" code - for the retail price of $600 - $800. The demo will only print one page of anything, with a "watermark" on it; but otherwise does everything except 1)print and 2)save and 3)let you look at the Help file to learn how to use it.

(Giving away a demo, so you can decide whether to buy, and then disabling Help in the demo so you can't tell whether the program does what you want, seems like these people aren't very bright IMHO. That may have changed in latest demo versions, but was true for the CD version I have.)

If you're interested in the program, a possibly "bootleg" copy of the Users Manual for the demo was posted at
Sibelius Demo User's Guide recently. It's not too hard to crack into the help on the demo CD (select a tool and hit F1 for "context sensitive help" and if you find a tool that opens the help file you can navigate in it from there) but the .pdf is a lot easier to poke around in.

The closest competing program, if you want a "full-feature" setup, is probably Encore. I don't have much in my notes about it, since it lacked a couple of rather arcane features I thought I wanted the last time I looked seriously; but for most users it would be a "full-feature" program. My recollection is that the list price was somewhat less than for Sibelius, but not a lot.

Neither of these programs can be called "affordable" unless you have a "professional/student" need and discount qualification. There are numerous programs around, either freeware/shareware or shrink-wrapped smaller packages that are generally more appropriate for most of us, and you should be able to get something reasonably usable for free or less than about $60-$80 (US) if you shop around.

The Overture program, from the CakeWalk guys, is reasonably full featured, but is really more aimed at the MIDI side than at notation. If you want to work MIDI, it has a lot to offer.

Recommendations are sure to follow. If you want to poke around a little, key words for Google could include "Cakewalk" "Rhapsody" "Sibelius" "Encore" "Overture" etc. Several of these will tell you about the "full feature" programs, but also offer lesser programs that you can compare. I'd suggest at least a brief look at what the "full feature programs" are claimed to do, and then look for a cheaper one that does what you want it to.

There have been quite a few threads on the subject, but most of them are a year or two old by now. You'll need to set the time back a bit to search the 'cat for the best of them.

John

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 07:59 PM

As I understand it, Finale and Sibelius are the two "professinal" music software packages. They have every feature you could imagine. I have Finale, but I have to admit I don't use it veyr much and I haven't mastered it. I use it merely to help my stepson's violin teacher when she has problems with the program - but my 15-yr-old stepson seems to be able to do a lot with it.

There are big student discounts on both Sibelius and Finale. If you want to do serious composing, it's certainly worthwhile to look into these programs.

I have been using Noteworthy Composer for years, and it does everything I want it to do. Therefore, I've been too lazy to learn Finale or Pavane's Harmony program.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: frogprince
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 08:42 PM

I had one decent program that cost about 40 bucks; naturally it wouldn't run with the next edition of windows. I use Voyetra Music Write now; not bad for writting midis and printing sheet music, not too expensive. It's from Voyetra Turtle Beach, or Turtle Beach Voyetra.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 09:39 PM

I use Print Music, which is from the Rhapsody guys (they're now out of business, I think, so am not sure about availability of Print Music these days). The program cost me about $50 and I've been very pleased with all the things it can do. My SO calls it "mickey mouse," but he knows and wants much more theory than I do.

Lin

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 09:54 PM

At the cheaper end, Melody Assistant and Harmony Assistant from Myriad are also worth a look. Personaly I think Melody Assistant at $20 offers "more bang per buck" than Noteworthy and can handle many more file formats but that's not to say Noteworthy is not also worth a look - it's quite popular with a few here.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 10:51 PM

PrintMusic is still available from Finale. It's a fairly solid program. It's reasonably priced and makes a fairly nice score. It can also save as MIDI to playback what you've scored. If you want a reasonably capable basic notation program it's not a bad choice. There are free/shareware programs available with about the same capabilities, if you can figure out which one(s) actually do what you want.

I have/had a very nice little program called "Rhapsody" but one of the big guys bought them up and took the program off the market to kill the competition with their "bigger" program. The bigger program is so big it's clumsy; and unfortunately the old Rhapsody was never fully converted to current Windows compatible so it doesn't really run - it just lurches - on WinXP. There is, apparently, a "new" program called Rhapsody, but it has little similarity to the old one so far as I can tell.

John

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 02:17 AM

This is just what I needed! I'll pass along all of this (actually, I might just tell her to go to his site herself so she can use the Blue Clickys).

I've never actually met her daughter, so I dont' know how old she is, or what her exact experience is either, though her mother said she learned how to use some very technical sounding 14 track music thingy (you can see I know a lot about this stuff) just by reading the manual, so it sounds like she's not a novice.

I'm meeting her later this afternoon, so I'll know more and pass on all of your wonderful suggestions.

Thanks so much!

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,Mark Clark
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 02:41 AM

Given that she's a young person who wants to compose music on the computer, not just represent it, it might be important to know what instruments she plays. For example, a pianist might want a MIDI keyboard for composing with the ability to save the developing MIDI file on the computer. If that is the case, then any software should have the ability to create a score from a MIDI file.

If your friend's daughter is very computer savy, there is free software that will make beautiful looking scores and let you start with a MIDI file. The best of these is LilyPond but it also requires the most computer expertise to be used successfully.

As Joe and others pointed out, Finale is so difficult to learn and master that the only people who actually use it for very much are professionals. I have owned the full Finale product for many years but almost never use it anymore. Once you get so you can make it work, they update the software and change the interface to something you don't know how to use.

I think perhaps Sibelius is easier to use and has a much nicer Web publishing capability. Their free Sorch viewer can be used to view published scores and the scores are visible right on the Web page. To see this in operation, visit Doc Watson's Web site and view some of the scores with guitar tablature that are published there.

If your friend's daughter plays guitar and is more interested in popular music, perhaps a copy of the TablEdit Tablature Editor or perhaps the free Power Tab software would be suitable since they are often used for publishing "tabs" of popular music on the Internet.

The possibilities are manifold and it helps to have a really good idea of what she wants to do and how she wants to work. Whether the chosen software is expensive or free, the real investment is in the time needed to gain proficency with it.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 02:55 AM

In the Sibelius/Finale field (I'm a Finale user myself) both have a lower priced product nominally aimed at the guitar market, but in fact general purpose notation packages, containing all the features you'll be using most of the time. These are Sibelius' G2 (I think that's the title) and Finale's Guitar program (this is intermediate between the Print Music program mentioned above and the full Finale product). Reviews I've read comparing the two generally rate Finale Guitar as the best value for money notation program (In the UK it retails at £60-£70 I think). Before upgrading to the full Finale product I used Finale Guitar and can testify that it does have pretty much everything you want. The Sibelius G2 is similar, but IIRC about twice the price. The advantage of getting a product from one of these manufactuers is that they are the industry standard and you get full support from them.

Mick

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 03:28 AM

As I said before, but maybe you didn't read my post but just added your own expertise, which is fine, I'm pretty sure she's not a young girl but a young woman, and I don't know what her music ability is of this moment. I'll find out more when I meet her this afternoon.

But again, thank you all so much (and anyone else who wants to add their comments) for your suggestions. I'll pass this thread along to her so she can read it herself. Maybe she'll even post. I'll tell her what a friendly (and knowledgable) bunch of folk you all are!

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: s&r
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 03:41 AM

Sibelius G7 not G2. This works on several levels to produce notation including TAB. The manual is better than the Help utility, and it works well enough. Cost (UK) about £120. My favourite is Finale, but there is a penalty - because it does everything you need in a notation program, there are hundreda of menu options. To use it in a basic fashion takes a couple of hours. Early editions had printed manuals, which were great. Currently the manual is pdf which is wretched to use (the help utility refers you to the pdf manual) One day when I've got a week to spare I'll print the whole damn thing out and bind it.

Stu

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: pavane
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 03:42 AM

I agree with Joe - If you have something that meets all your needs, there is no need to look for anything more powerful and (probably) complex.

My program HARMONY was designed for a specific purpose (adding chords to a melody), and does as a consequence have some restrictions compared with Finale or Sibelius. The main one is that polyphonic voices are not supported. For polyphonic tunes, you have to create a number of separate voices. MIDI import is supported, but with the same restriction.

But it also has facilities which they do not provide.

For example, has anyone tried the Note Styles? You can add attributes such as Bend, Modulate, Ramp (volume) to individual notes.

All musical output from HARMONY is done by creating and writing MIDI files, and Note Styles can be created which implement any MIDI functions, or combinations. So you could, for example, make a style which increases the volume AND pitch at the same time.

HARMONY was never intended to be a full scoring package, but I am working on MusicXML output, which is implemented by many of the main programs, and will allow a fuller score to be produced.

Download a trial copy here

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,Ellenpoly
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 07:29 AM

Her name is TJ, and she's bright as a tack. She's going to come here herself and ask whatever she needs to ask.

(and she's no child, but a gorgeous young woman...simmer down, boys!)

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: pavane
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 08:22 AM

You can post pics here in the member details, you know...
For obvious reasons, some don't!

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Swave N. Deboner
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 09:56 AM

Ellenpoly,

I dabble at music composition, and I use a program called Mozart. I've found it to be the easiest to use among those programs I've tried. It helps to possess basic knowledge of music theory, notation and terminology, but the online tutorials and user's manual will develop one's understanding well enough to use the program proficiently. TJ can download a 30-day evaluation copy of the software at the Mozart website link below, if she's interested. Prices for retail versions are on the site (UK and Stateside). Very reasonable.

http://www.mozart.co.uk/

SND

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 10:23 AM

Thanks for the info. I'm hoping that she'll come here herself soon and read the thread. She is waiting for a computer being given to her by a friend, but seems to be a very quick learner. It sounds like she is quite proficient already in music, so I'm sure she'll take a lot away from this thread.

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Frankham
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 11:24 AM

Ellenpoly,

Want to put in a word for Encore. It's been taken over by another company (G-Vox) but it's still sold. It's extremely user-friendly. It won't print the highly polished scores that Sibelius and Finale do, but it doesn't look bad. I use 'em for lead sheets and arrangement sketches. I am not good technically and rely on user-friendly and Encore does that.

Frank

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: pavane
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 07:22 AM

Of course, what we software writers want to know, is What do you WANT composition software to be able to do?

Is it?

1. Just to write down/import the full score of a tune which you have already conceived and can play on an instrument. Nothing but a musical typewriter on which you can type notes, edit and play.

2. To assist in CREATING a composition

To implement guidelines for creating a melody in a particular style

For example, the structure of a jig is fairly standard, in terms or repeating phrases and of intervals used. A hornpipe is also well-structured, but tends to use different typical intervals.

To suggest suitable chords

To convert chord names into full chords, in appropriate forms and inversions for the selected instrument

3. To assess a composition for adherence to rules, perhaps of structure, melody or harmony?

An example could be to check that all the bars correspond to the stated time signature. (HARMONY does this)

To implement or check against the rules of harmony would need a rule-based engine. Also note that the traditional rules taught for years have recently been shown to be incorrect!

4. Orchestration : To establish whether the tune is playable on the selected instrument

5. To assist in converting a tune from one format to another.
An example is the facility in HARMONY to convert a melody into a round.

6. To provide 'brainstorming' features to try to enhance your own creativity. HARMONY can play tune backwards, and can also create totally new, randomly generated, tunes which are guided by the structure of a selected style, e.g. jig, reel, hornpipe. These can then be modified as needed.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Grab
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 07:35 AM

I'll second Melody Assistant. It's not perfect for tab, but it's still pretty good, and it's cheaper than most. The main thing it's lacking is good handling of chords - it can recognise them OK if you enter every note yourself, but you can't just say "play D here, and C7 here, and strum with this rhythm".

Graham.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 08:12 AM

Probably not interesting to the originators of this thread, but a recent encounter with an eager begining banjoist found that one of the banjo tab programs that was formerly a shareware has been "abandoned to the public" by the authors. It seems they lost their web site, so they posted it as a freeby at Bluegrass Banjo.

The little bit I know about it was posted in another thread at:

TABrite NOW FREE

I believe it's a "tab only" program, but claims to handle at least banjo, mando, and guitar tab, possibly others.

I don't use tab much, so I haven't tried it out.

John

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: pavane
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 09:20 AM

HARMONY will put in the notes if you just give it the chord name.
It can also PLAY the chord based only on its name.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 03 Apr 05 - 07:10 AM

Refresh (The daughter hasn't got here yet, but I'd like to leave it on the first page for her to find easily.

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 03:23 AM

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Wrinkles
Date: 04 Apr 05 - 07:26 AM

I've found the Freeware programme Anvil Studio meets all my needs, including composition

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 03:57 AM

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: pavane
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 04:15 AM

Should we clarify which operating system(s) are supported - this may be relevant. I know that some are MAC only, some, like mine, are Windows only, and some are LINUX.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 04:26 AM

Pavane and others, I will be seeing TJ again on Thursday. At that time I'll see whether she's come to look at this post or not. If she hasn't, I might try to print it out for her so I won't have to keep on refreshing the thread so it doesn't fall off the first page.

Thanks again for all your postings.

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 04:31 AM

I had assumed Win PC but the ones I mentioned were Myriad's Melody Assistant and Harmony Assistant. There are versions for Win (95 upwards), Mac OS 8/9 and Mac OS/X.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 08:01 AM

Ellenpoly -

One of the bennies of being registered is you can click on the "Trace" at the right end of the threads listing on the main discussion page and put a link in your "Personal Page." Then you can call it up on demand when she gets here.

It's also simple to "de-Trace" to avoid cluttering up your personals when you're done with it.

John

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 03:59 AM

I forgot about the Trace button. I'll try to do this. I'm not quite sure about how to "put a link in your "Personal Page" but I'll try to figure it out. Thanks!

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 04:00 AM

Just did it! Well that was easy....muchos gracias again.

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 04:09 AM

No harm in keeping the thread refeshed for a reasonable time. Someone might stumble in with something helpful. But if you miss the refresh just once, it's handy to have the trace so you don't have to remember how you misspelled the title in order to search for it. (My usual problem, not yours.)

John

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 05:46 AM

I have enjoyed the ease and power of CAKEWALK on a PC.

However, for folkies with a "plug and go mentality using a Mac product - then GarageBand http://macaudioguy.com/gbb/ is highly recommended and has wonderful reviews from even non-musicians.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 06:12 AM

Music Notation Software. Gives links mostly to commercial programs. No significant discussion of what the programs do, but a good place for an overview of what programs are (commercially) available.

It should be clear, just from the number of programs listed, that you probably will want to get a demo version of one or two to try them out before decided on your final choice(s), or start with the cheapest (or free) and work your way up to something that works for you.

John

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:39 PM

CMEA Bay Section discusses some programs commonly used in music education. I haven't looked very deeply into this site, but there may be something of interest to those with the "right connections."

Note that some of these are popular with educators because of extremely deep discounts to "educators," and may be unaffordable for mere mortals. A few that I noted have seemed to be distributed only via "educational channels" and it sometimes may be difficult even to find sellers outside academia. Several "common" programs that are more-or-less affordable and easily obtainable are also listed.

John

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:54 PM

I like Cakewalk too. I suppose it does raise the question as to what is meant by "composition software". If one took it to mean sequencing and aranging a tune for performance on a MIDI device(s), Cakewalk would be an excellent choice. It's not too strong on notation though.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 03:41 AM

Band in a Box is also one you may want to look at.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 03:42 AM

Well, I've got this thread traced now, but as it's Thursday, and I'll be seeing TJ later this morning, I'd like to have it on the first page. Also, I see that there are still folks out there adding info, so I guess refreshing this isn't such a bad idea.

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: M.Ted
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 01:41 PM

On reading the initial post, I also thought what Jon thought, that she wants to create a music performance to post at a website--this doesn't even need to be midi sequencing anymore--USB and firewire devices like MBox (and a number of others) allow you to plug your guitar, keyboard, and/or a microphone directly into your computer--you can record directly, input MIDI into a sequencing program, or do both into the same file. I've seen devices that convert analog to digital and also manage midi input for as little as $150(MBox is about $400)--software included.

These things input into a laptop, which is great, and many, if not most are both Mac and PC compatible--so the good news is that the inexpensive laptop recording studio is finally here--the bad news is, the more stuff there is to do, the steeper the learning curve--

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 01:56 PM

It is my understanding that Sibelius is the standard at this time but Sonar/Cakewalk will be taking computer music and recording studios into new realms in the coming decade.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 03:00 PM

At least thus far:

Sibelius is a notation program, with midi abilities added in.

Cakewalk is a sequencing program, with notation abilities pasted on.

Take your pick, but realize that adding full capabilities for both functions in either program is most likely going to make a dancing walrus.

John

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,José Alfredo
Date: 08 Apr 05 - 05:30 AM

Hoy por hoy, el mas recomendable de los programas de notación musical es Harmony Assistant. Las prestaciones de este maravilloso programa, no están en consonancia con el precio de la licencia, que es irrisoria (70 EU). El manejo de las inumerables opciones es tan intuitivo y fácil, que hasta parece su uso, una diversión. Te deja participar en sus funcionalidades para un uso muy personalizado. El módulo adiccional Virtual Singer, canta las letras que escribas en varios idiomas. El programa es multilíngüe. Permite todo lo que quieras hacer. Tiene todos los servicios y asistencias que cualquiera de los "montruos carísimos de la notación, que no valen lo que cuestan. El problema es que éstos llevan un montón de años en el mercado, tiendas, centros de enseñanza etc. Hay muchos intermediarios "chupando" de la venta del producto. Este no es caso de Harmony Assistant, que vende las licencias (de por vida), con todas las actualizaciones gratis, por internet. Creo sinceramente que no hay mejor opción que ésta. Es sencillamente ESPECTACULAR.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 08 Apr 05 - 05:44 AM

Here is a bablefish translation. Overall, it seems to have come out well:

. At the present time, but the recommendable one of the programs of musical annotation is Harmony Assistant. The benefits of this wonderful program, are not in consonancia with the price of the license, that is irrisoria (70 EU). The handling of the inumerables options is so intuitive and easy, that until it seems his use, a diversion. It lets participate to you in his functionalities for a very customized use. The adiccional module Virtual Singer, sings the letters that you write in several languages. The program is multilíngüe. It allows everything what you want to do. It has all the services and attendances that anyone of the "most expensive montruos of the annotation, which they are not worth what they cost. The problem is that these take a pile of years in the market, stores, training centers etc. There are many intermediaries "absorbing" of the sale of the product. This it is not case of Harmony Assistant, that it sells the licenses (of by life), with all the updates free, by Internet. I create sincerely that there is no better option than this one. He is simply SPECTACULAR

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: pavane
Date: 08 Apr 05 - 06:01 AM

'Horses for Courses'

Everyone has different requirements and preferences. There is NO WAY that one music program can provide all possible functionality, you just have to find the one that does what you want.

Notation programs are constrained by the requirements of traditional score format. They may not be able to provide the full range of dynamics for audio output, nor provide facilities for sampling.

Tablature programs have to be specific to an instrument or type of instrument.

Sequencers are aimed at audible output, and are not constrained by score format, but cannot necessarily score the result.

Samplers may provide facilities to reassemble or edit sampled music, but not scoring or (full) sequencing capabilities.

Music Capture programs allow capturing of a performance, usually in MIDI format, which is THEORETICALLY possibly to import into a notation program, but in practice not very useful.

And no doubt there are other types of composition software which do not all into these headings

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,José Alfredo
Date: 08 Apr 05 - 06:50 AM

Hola:
Claro que un programa no puede hacerlo absolutamente todo. Yo estaba contestando de una forma genérica y global. He sido usuario de Sibelius y tengo instalado Finale. Al descubrir Harmony Assistant, he tenido la sensación de estar ante un programa con un presente y un futuro, que puede resultar demoledor a sus "competidores". Los   costos de la gente impruductiva, en Miryad no existen. Por eso pueden ofrecer un producto tan fenomenal a un precio tan bajo.Con unos programadores muy trabajadores y esforzados, estan consiguiendo ganar usuarios muy satisfechos cada día, y que además, como yo, les admiran y les agradecen el poder disfrutar de una herramienta tan buena y de precio mas que esequible. El interfaz es indscriptible. Es potente y completísimo. Invito a todos los que componen a que prueben las funcionalidades de esta JOYA.   www.myriad-online.com.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,Babel Fish
Date: 08 Apr 05 - 10:49 AM

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Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: M.Ted
Date: 08 Apr 05 - 06:14 PM

I use Overture, which has moved, once again, and is now supported by GenieSoft--Overture has full midi sequencing capacity, and full orchestral notation capacity--a lot ofprofessionals who do soundtracks, show scores, and studio background tracks use it for this reason.   It allows you to create a layer that uses standard musical conventions to notate the MIDI, without altering the MIDI performance.   This means that you can notate jazz eight notes (which are played dotted eighth /sixteenth) as eight notes(which is how they are written) without changing the underlying MIDI capture--

This is very, very, very, important, because, as you know, nowdays, a lot of recordings combine a MIDI capture with real instrumental tracks, and the composer has to retain the underlying track(and, yes, I know, it often is more complex than simply a MIDI capture) and also provide a full Orchestral Score.

For this reason, you need to have a program that is both a full capability orchestra notation program and a full capability seqeuncing program. The Overture program now is available for both
PC and Mac, and the OSX--

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: shepherdlass
Date: 09 Apr 05 - 04:57 PM

Cakewalk's OK but it used to have problems (which may have been ironed out - it's a while since I programmed) such as not being able to specify a certain number of bars per stave, which is so useful if you need to give out the dots for quick sightreading. The ideal situation that gives you the best of all worlds and quick results is to program with a midi sequencer like Cakewalk or Cubase and then shift the finished product over to Sibelius for tarting up as a score - cost-wise, I noticed someone has already mentioned that there are cracked copies available, not that I'd know anything about that...

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 21 Apr 05 - 12:50 PM

Bringing this back up to the top because I just found out that the girl in question is getting a MAC. Will this make any difference to what software she can get to go with it?

Thanks!

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 21 Apr 05 - 01:00 PM

Well ...

It will make it easy for her to eliminate a lot of the programs that have been suggested ...

Most - or at least many - of the commercial programs have Mac versions. For freeware/shareware it's usually easy to tell which system they're written for.

John

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 21 Apr 05 - 01:47 PM

Of the shareware, Melody and Harmony Assistant remain options.

abc and lilypond can be done on just about anything providing one can use tools such as a C compiler. Barfly is a nice abc program written for macs.

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Apr 05 - 09:32 PM

We need a link to tie this thread to the later: Music Software for Macs.

John

Subject: RE: Music Composition Software?
From: GUEST,Tommy
Date: 21 Sep 05 - 08:26 AM

Has anyone got any veiws on lilypond?