Klarinet Archive - Posting 000050.txt from 1997/01

From: Martin PERGLER <pergler@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Music notation programs
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 00:58:42 -0500

Gary van Cott asks about music notation programs.

There is Mozart, which is shareware for Windows; good, but limited in
features.

He says he has tried demo versions of Encore and Finale. These are the
two commercial heavyweights, both with list prices of $500-550, street
prices about $400 (I think), for Windows or Mac. Substantial discounts
available for students, educators, and churches, about $250 street price.

Other high-end packages include Mark of the Unicorn's Mosaic and Nightingale,
both I think (but am unsure) for Mac only. Comparable prices to Encore
and Finale. Both of these have adherents, and are better at some things,
but have fewer adherents. There is also something super-marvelous
called Sibelius, but it runs only on a computer called the Acorn, which
is apparently not uncommon in the U.K. but unknown in America.

Finale seems to be most popular and most flexible of all of these, in
particular can handle not-quite-standard (for instance 20th century)
notation. It seems to dominate the lead-sheet-type-commercial and
educational markets. (The educational dominance may be in part since a few
years ago, full-price Encore was less expensive than full-price Finale,
but educator- price Finale was less than educator-price Encore; I think
this is no longer the case, though). Encore is perhaps easier to learn
and use, but more limiting. None of these packages is (I have heard) up
to engraver standard....apparently many of the publishing houses use some
antiquated IBM PC program which generates nicer output, is very expensive,
and hard to use. I don't know its name.

Both Finale and Encore have junior siblings, Allegro for Finale and
Rhapsody for Encore(??). Encore has an even more watered down sibling
called MusicTime, cost around $100, I think. The Encore siblings have
educator discounts, Allegro (I believe) does not.

I've been using Finale (as an amateur, infrequently) for about 2
years...bought it at the student rate. Gary, you're right, the online
help is horrible. The printed documentation, however, is excellent and
extensive. There is, nevertheless, a fairly steep learning curve. You
can do almost anything, however. "Almost" is the operative word...Finale
does try to do a lot for you, so if you want something off-the-wall, you
often have to use subterfuge.

If you want something free,and powerful, where you can place any musical
symbol anywhere you want, there is MusicTex, a macro package for Donald
Knuth's technical-word-processor-cum-programming language, TeX.
This is available on the net at ftp.gmd.de. TeX itself has a steep
learning curve, and MusicTex has an arcane syntax and steep learning
curve also, so I was not sufficiently masochistic to seriously try it.

A good web site for music notation program information is
at http://www.computersandmusic.com I think it's a store in
California somewhere.

Hope this helps. When I reread it , it sounds very authoritative,
more so than it is. I'm just an amateur and student who looked at some
of this stuff myself before buying.

Martin

-------------------------------------------------------
Martin Pergler pergler@-----.edu
Grad student, Mathematics http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~pergler
Univ. of Chicago

   
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