2/25/2023 0 Comments Noteabilitypro![]() After completing "Dream Dance" (which is mentioned above) in Finale, I ended up using nothing but Finale for the last several years. I'm not sure if Sibelius has changed their "by subscription only" model, but I don't think so, according to what a couple of students have told me.ģ. Finale has continued to produce updates, but they no longer appear to be yearly (which is a good thing, IMO upgrades cost a lot).Ģ. , and you can still buy the software outright (academic price: US$350).]ġ. Both Sibelius and Finale release yearly "upgrades" and charge fairly hefty upgrade fees for them. And, in addition to now being free, Notability Pro does not charge for upgrades. Basically, if Keith says his programme is both easy to use and the most sophisticated music notation software out there, then I'll take his word for it.Īlso, as I mentioned above, some composer friends of mine swear by it (not at it, which is something I occasionally did while learning Finale), telling me it is better, and easier to learn, than both Sibelius and Finale. ![]() ![]() Keith Hamel, an outstanding composer and professor at the University of British Columbia, and he happens to be a friend of mine. However, in this case, I am more inclined to believe it than not, because the product was developed by Dr. Sounds pretty impressive, does it not? You may be thinking, 'but why believe the hype on the company's web page?" Mostly, I feel the same way be wary of hype! "If you have been frustrated by the awkwardness and inflexibility of other notation programs, or by the time it takes to learn them, then you definitely should have a look at NoteAbility Pro.".Notate anything from simple melodies to complex avant garde orchestral music, play the score on your MIDI synthesizer or using Quicktime Musical Instruments and print a publishable copy of your score on any OS-X compatible printer." NoteAbility combines both musical intelligence and graphical flexibility in a direct and intuitive graphical user interface. "easily the most sophisticated music notation software available on any platform.It only works on Mac OS X, but it is now FREE (it was not free originally)! Most people, when they see that something is free, conclude that it isn't a high-quality product, but I am told that, not only is it of high quality, but some of my composer friends say it is superior to Finale or Sibelius. Incidentally, one programme that really intrigues me is Notability Pro. But I think that would be true of any notation programme. I know a lot of people insist that it's easier to use than Finale, although in my very cursory attempts to do anything with it I still found it less intuitive and more inflexible than I was hoping for. I should probably give Sibelius a try too. Not to say that Dream Dance wasn't ambitious what I mean is that, having muddled my way through the process of using Finale to notate a fairly lengthy solo piano piece, I think I may be ready to try writing chamber music with Finale next. Nevertheless, having learned Finale well enough to have completed one piece, I am ready to try a more ambitious composing project with Finale. Obviously, at some point this will no longer be an option - all computers die eventually - so, I bought Sibelius and Finale a few years ago, intending to try both to see which I liked better, and then stick with that one.īut the frustration of having to learn a new notation programme while keeping the creative flow going, AND while trying to meet commission deadlines, is huge… So far, I have written one piece in Finale ( Dream Dance, which Kristina Szutor played in the 2008 Newfound Music Festival), and I feel I am slowly getting the hang of it, although the number of times I have to go to the manual to look up how to do something really basic is ridiculous, and a real inspiration killer. This means that I have to keep an ancient computer around for the sole purpose of running Mosaic, because it doesn't run under the current Mac operating system (OS X). Unfortunately, MOTU stopped supporting Mosaic in 1997. But, because I'm usually composing to meet a deadline, the thought of having to learn new notation software AND meet a deadline is pretty daunting and stressful. As you might imagine, I feel extremely comfortable with it, even though it is a more limited programme than Sibelius, Finale, or Notability Pro. The notation programme I have used for the past 15 years or so is called "Composer's Mosaic," by Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU). Once again, this post is based on a response I made to a student's journal/blog entry…
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