The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Susan
Date: 2000-10-18 18:31
I am looking for a simple and inexpensive music software program. What I would like to be able to do is transpose Bb clarinet music for a Eb and then print the music out or print out music for simple songs. Anyone have any suggestions?
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Author: beejay
Date: 2000-10-18 19:16
Noteworthy Composer does all the things you need, it is inexpensive, and you can download it from the Internet for a free trial.
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Author: Mike Hancock
Date: 2000-10-18 21:30
I second beejay's comment. I have been using Noteworthy Composer for several months and am quite satisfied with its operation. Transposition for instruments in other keys is very easy and the printed output looks very good.
Mike Hancock
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-10-18 22:32
I would agree with the other posters that for your purposes, Noteworthy Composer is an excellent choice.
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2000-10-19 00:16
From what I find there is a "shareware" version of "NoteWorthy Composer" that one can download for a trial period with a view toward purchase. Please remember that IT IS NOT FREE.
Also, if one has questions you might wish answered by user's rather than the maker,there is a discussion list (similar to "Sneezy" one can subscribe to for answers to pratfalls/pitfalls and tips } Put "subscribe" in the subject line and "subscribe notewothy FIRST NAME LAST NAME in the message body. Send to: {listserv@1611KJB.DYN.ML.ORG.
IMHO It might be well to subscribe to that for a week or so before one makes up one's mind as to whether a purchase should be considered.
Sounds like a winner to me.
Bob Arney
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2000-10-19 00:50
OOps :'} Guess I should have tried the e-mail address prior to posting. I cannot get it to work. Maybe someone has an update or more information.
Bob Arney
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Author: Allen Cole
Date: 2000-10-19 02:16
One more plug for Noteworthy Composer. It's great and it's cheap. I use it on my website and encourage my students to get it.
Allen Cole
allencole@richmond.com
http://allencole.tripod.com
http://www.jamschool.net
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Author: BAC
Date: 2000-10-19 12:45
How do you enter the music into Noteworthy? Can you scan in a sheet of music, or do you have to enter each note in one at a time? I asume it take midi files as input as well.
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-10-19 15:14
You have to imput each note. You can you the enter key and direction arrows from your computer keyboard or if you have midi you can enter on that. You typically use the mouse to get rhythms in although the keyboard short cuts are much faster if you learn them. It takes midi files and converts them to notation also.
The best thing is playing it back. I have been known to use it to learn difficult passages, by playing along.
Ginny
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Author: Roger
Date: 2000-10-20 09:39
Is there a programme that can scan a sheet of music in for transposing?
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Author: Bill
Date: 2000-10-20 11:19
Author: Roger (202.81.120.---)
Date: 10-20-00 05:39
Is there a programme that can scan a sheet of music in for transposing?
----------------------------------------------
Look here:
http://www.musitek.com/
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Author: Jim
Date: 2000-10-20 21:51
I use a program called "ScoreWriter" put out by Cakewalk Company, it cost me $65, last year plus a scanning program called SharpEye, which cost me $50...Between the two programs, I have copied at least 50 pages of things to play duets, trios etc for any combination of instruments with my clarinet..You can look up SharpEye on your search program and down load a trial version...I scan stuff from trombone books, violin books , cello books flute books etc...
Jim
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Author: Nate Zeien
Date: 2000-10-21 15:12
I myself am a faithful user of Finale. I don't believe that this has a free trial, and I don't think it's too cheap. I haven't checked prices recently. -- Nate Zeien
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-10-21 16:47
Nate Zeien wrote:
>
> I myself am a faithful user of Finale. I don't believe
> that this has a free trial, and I don't think it's too cheap.
> I haven't checked prices recently. -- Nate Zeien
Full list price is still about $500 with discounters selling for around $300. That's far too expensive for this person's stated purpose. It has a "little brother" called PrintMusic! that's only about $69 but shares the same steep learning curve as Finale. They now also have a "freebie" called Finale Notepad but it is severely limited in its features. For example, you cannot change either the time signature or key signature within a piece with FinaleNotepad.
Noteworthy Composer is less expensive and easier to learn than even PrintMusic!
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-10-21 16:51
I use Finale, too, but I never, ever recommend it to a casual user. It is:
1) Complicated
2) Way too complictaed
3) Expensive for a student
4) Way expensive for a non-student
5) Non-intutive
6) Really, really complicated to do simple things
Why do I use it?
1) Coda music gave me a copy once gratis. I asked nicely - it was to do some work here on the site and they were most friendly.
2) I've been using it for 4 or 5 years now & know how to do most thengs.
3) It has some very professional output - not perfect, but not too bad (the ties/bezier curve integration at the tie ends could really benefit from tweaking)
4) Once you own it the upgrade prices aren't exorbitant.
5) The company has been helpful to me when I've had some technical problems
6) The user group for it is very knowledgable
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Author: Daniel Bouwmeester
Date: 2000-10-21 22:02
I use Cakewalk Overture,
It's a pretty expensive software... BUT I never used anything as simple, and the result is great.... For example just for a joke I copied a page from the "Edition Peters" Weber's concertino..... and looking at both you could think it was a photocopy...
There's a lot of interesting function, especially for arranging for instruments. You can for example memorise some characteristics of instruments like the tessiture or some impossible note transitions..
Anyway..... Chick Corea uses this software for his compositions and seems totally satisfied..
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-10-21 22:22
My only complaint about Noteworthy composer is that I can't (or don't know how to) select how many measure go on a stave. I really prefer to have an eight measure phrase complete in either one eight bar line or two four bar lines. I don't know any easy way to force this on noteworthy.
If anyone does I'd love to hear about it.
Ginny
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Author: Nate Zeien
Date: 2000-10-21 22:49
Mark and Dee are right. Noteworthy Composer would be your best bet. It was a bit hasty of me to suggest Finale. It is expensive, and an immense pain in the neck, until you figure it out. I have tried out the 32 bit version of Noteworthy Composer, and found it to work quite well. I gave it a challenge with a BIG score, and it lived up to my expectations quite well. It is many times easier to use, with directions in plain English, rather than all of the technical jargon of Finale. Chances are, when I was starting out, I would have went with this rather than Finale. Finale has more features and other plusses, but Noteworthy Composer is an excellent choice! Go for it, you won't be disappointed - I wasn't. -- Nate Zeien
PS - Mark, you can adjust the ties and notes to make them look better, although there is only so much you can do.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-10-22 00:41
Nate Zeien wrote:
> PS - Mark, you can adjust the ties and notes to make them look
> better, although there is only so much you can do.
I used to do the low-level software programming for CAD/CAM systems and I'm really picky about spline curves & surfaces. I've written to Coda a couple of times asking them to switch the NURBS curves instead of the simple bezier they currently employ.
Not yet ...
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Author: Nate Zeien
Date: 2000-10-22 01:12
Mark, Good luck in your efforts. This is a problem that kinda bugs me, too. No matter how much tweaking one does, you just can't seem to get it looking nice. It's a shame really. I'd draw them in myself, but I can't do much better. :-) Oh well, I just have learned to live with it, I guess. That brings up another good point about Finale. You can spend hours of tweaking notes, stems, etc. on a piece, just getting it to look nice. Maybe I'm a perfectionist, but I like the printed music to look as much as possible like that of a music publisher. -- Nate Zeien
PS - I'm sure all of us Finale users could go on about the quirks and pains of using Finale, but I don't think Mark would enjoy coming up with more disk space for all of the postings. :-)
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