Need music software....

fkatzenb · #1 04-02-2005, 02:15 PM

Hi.

I was wondering if you all could help me find some freeware or regular software that would allow me to write out music for piano, etc and it play it midi style. I cant remember any names, etc of software. I think it would be nice to have something to see how music flows too before....

Thanks,
Frank

Alvaro Martín Gómez A. · #2 04-02-2005, 02:34 PM

Hi.

The leaders in the market for that kind of software are Finale and Sibelius . I work with Finale and it's an excellent piece of software. Sibelius users tend to hate Finale because, according to them, Sibelius is easier to use. I haven't checked that because never tried to learn Sibelius (well, I tried once without the user manual, but when I found the first unsolvable question at the moment, I thought "Why should I puzzle myself trying to learn this if I already know the other one?").

MakeMusic! (Finale's developer) offers a free basic alternative to Finale: Finale NotePad. Very crippled version of Finale, but maybe useful for you.

Hope this helps.

fulcrum · #3 04-02-2005, 02:38 PM

Ah they're both bloody difficult... the learning curve was ridiculous back in 1998 when I last used Finale, and in 2003 when I last used Sibelius; so it must be astronomical now.

That said, the end result is worth the effort-- it does what it says on the box. The problem is getting there.

Alvaro Martín Gómez A. · #4 04-02-2005, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fulcrum

Ah they're both bloody difficult... the learning curve was ridiculous back in 1998 when I last used Finale, and in 2003 when I last used Sibelius; so it must be astronomical now.

That said, the end result is worth the effort-- it does what it says on the box. The problem is getting there.

Finale 98 was a real nightmare, but the latest (2005) version is very user-friendly, IMO. At least in comparison.

BassManJim · #5 04-02-2005, 05:17 PM

I have Finale Notepad. It seems really simple to me, drag and drop etc.. Not bad for a total freebie, it gives you several composing options and sets up the staff for you in the proper clefs, and you can compose for several "voices" at once, it will also transpose for horn parts.

As for MIDI thats an upgrade that I think is about 25 bucks. Check it out on their website.

......Jim