Klarinet Archive - Posting 000647.txt from 1997/03
From: Dick Walters <waltersd@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Music Time Deluxe
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 1997 00:30:07 -0500
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Virginia Scarfino wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>I just thought I'd share my experience in purchasing
some music notation
<BR>software.
<BR>
<BR>I recently purchased a spiffy new computer that is fast, has lots of
RAM,
<BR>and lots of hard-drive space. It replaced an old 386 machine.
So, I was
<BR>finally able to start thinking about purchasing some music notation
<BR>software.
<BR>
<BR>>From previous posts to the klarinet list, it sounded like Finale and
Encore
<BR>were the two programs that were most highly praised. I went surfing
one
<BR>night, and through simple web searches I found the sight for CODA
products
<BR>that had a downloadable demo of Finale, and PASSPORT products that had
a
<BR>downloadable demo of Encore.
<BR>
<BR>I downloaded Finale first, and boy did I have a lot of problems with it
-
<BR>I'm sure its a great program if you have the manuals to help you figure
out
<BR>how to use it, but without that it was quite difficult to assess the
<BR>package fairly.
<BR>
<BR>Next, I downloaded Encore, and it completely blew me away! It
was
<BR>extremely intuitive, and the download itself came with oodles of
examples
<BR>showing exactly what it could do. I had a piece of music entered
into the
<BR>demo version in no time!
<BR>
<BR>Given that I wanted a program mainly for arranging music for small
chamber
<BR>ensembles, and for transposing, I figured I'd rather have the more
<BR>intuitive package, even if there were more subtle things that perhaps
<BR>Encore couldn't do that Finale could.
<BR>
<BR>So, the following day, I got on the phone to a local music store that
sold
<BR>music notation software. I found out that this particular store
didn't
<BR>sell Finale (because "you have to be a Systems Engineer to figure
out how
<BR>to use it" according to the sales rep), but it did sell Encore - for
about
<BR>$800 CDN. Ouch! But the sales rep then informed me that there
are other
<BR>packages available, and he suggested Music Time Deluxe at $139 CDN.
He
<BR>told me that it was also made by PASSPORT products, but that it only
<BR>handled up to 16 staves, instead of the 64 that Encore supports (and
also
<BR>didn't support guitar tablature whereas Encore did). Furthermore, if I
<BR>bought Music Time Deluxe, and then decided I'd rather have Encore, I
could
<BR>apparently upgrade for about $300 CDN and I'd still be further ahead
than
<BR>purchasing Encore outright.
<BR>
<BR>I thanked the sales rep very much, got back on the web, went back to
the
<BR>Encore sight, and downloaded Music Time Deluxe. Except for one tool
bar, I
<BR>couldn't tell the difference between the two! I went ahead and
purchased
<BR>Music Time Deluxe, and have been happy as a lark ever since!
<BR>
<BR>For those of you that would like to download some of these demo
programs
<BR>(and there are other ones as well), here are the sites:
<BR>
<BR><A
HREF@-----.com/Finale
page.html</A>
<BR><A
HREF@-----.netb
istro.com/georgemusic/passport.html</A>
<BR>
<BR>Also, I would like to make a suggestion for people with Music Notation
<BR>Software that are making files available on SNEEZY. It would be
really
<BR>nice if along with the files specific to the software being used, if
midi
<BR>(.MID) files could also be provided. This might make it easier for
people
<BR>with different software to take advantage of the music files being
<BR>provided!
<BR>
<BR>Ginny Scarfino
<BR>scarfinv@-----.net
<BR>Waterloo, ON
<BR>Canada
</BLOCKQUOTE>
I've been using Encore for about 6 years and it is a good s/w
package.
I'm a bit surprised at the price they quoted you. Last time I checked
it was slightly under $400. Misic Time does come close, however,
and may even be better if you don't need all the power of Encore.
They are coming out with a new version this Spring, written for Win95 that
recognizes the new universal midi notation format I understand is lurking
about. Only problem I've had is that the enc file extension conflicts
with an mpeg file and confuses Win95 unless you go in and change the viewer
options. It's a great program and very easy to use.
<BR>
<BR>Dick Walters
<BR>
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