Klarinet Archive - Posting 000018.txt from 1997/01

From: Gary Van Cott <Gary_VanCott@-----.COM>
Subj: Notation Programs
Date: Wed, 1 Jan 1997 22:50:58 -0500

Gary VanCott = NHIN
01/01/97 08:50 PM

It is probably a bad time to ask about musical notation programs
since most of our academic types are on vacation (lucky dogs). However,
there hasn't been anything on the list lately.

I downloaded Mozart, a shareware musical notation program, a few weeks ago.
It has a really great, easy to use interface. You can enter music very
rapidly with it. The price is right, too, only $49.95 or so. Unfortunately,
it is missing a lot of basic features like slurs, grace notes, dynamic
markings, etc. It also didn't work right when I tried to do something in
12/8 time.

So I downloaded the Encore and Finale working demos. I didn't think much of
Encore and gave up on it quickly. (I don't have midi on my system and it
gave me constant error messages.)

Finale, which I gather is the most popular program, seemed to be ok.
However, I thought the online help was really bad. It took me about 10
minutes to figure out how to put in accidentals (not listed in help at
all). Page formatting seemed unfriendly as well with my first efforts
having a single measure with only a rest filling an entire line. Anyway it
seems to be able to do most everything and I suppose I could get used to
it. (I am a computer professional with 18 years of experience.)

Is there anything else I should look at?

Gary
Las Vegas, NV

Gary_VanCott@-----.com