KVR Audio

Rellik · Post by **Rellik** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:17 pm

It doesn't necessarily have to host VST or anything, but I feel this topic pretty squarely goes in the Hosts category, seeing as its a music-making application.

Anyway, I have one of my orchestral pieces all cleaned up and ready to be imported into a notation editor so I can experiment with making it readable and plausible (have to add dynamics and instructions and I have to separate out each polyphonic track into separate monophonic parts

and I have to cover more instruments and bring together different articulations under the same part and then vary the actual articulation... well, it's going to be interesting).

My question is: any good ones for free? All I really need, I guess, is all the basic musical functions and the ability to load midis, as well as the ability to print. I've been searching around, so far no luck. Maybe I'll have to invest in one of those Miniature-Finale-versions, if nothing good pops up. Any suggestions are appreciated

thanks!

C00kie · Post by **C00kie** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:09 pm

Try this one: http://www.anvilstudio.com

Rellik · Post by **Rellik** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:32 pm

Something of a pain to work with, but worked better than the Notewory Composer demo. Thanks!

What I'm doing is making all my edits in Anvil and then preparing to print in Noteworthy (Anvil wont print

unless you pay...). Thanks for the suggestion, though!

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 2:45 am

I'm a very long time Finale user, and I'm very loyal to Finale. So normallly I would recommend the free version, Finale Notepad.

However, for free, there is nothing better than Melody Assistant. It's actually shareware with no restrictions. And if you do want an official license, it's only $20. Or for $80, you can get the even better older brother(which doesn't offer too much more on the notation side.). Get it here:

http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/melody.htm

It's so much more than notation. Check it out, there's a mixer, and so much more. I still use Finale, but I have this. There's is a TON of features and so much power with Melody Assitant. Try it out, I think your search will end.

I hope this helps.

Koolkeys

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 2:51 am

I don't see an $80 older brother. Which product is the sibling product?

Greg

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:11 am

Melody Assistant is the younger one(less featured). Harmony Assistant is the bigger one. However, I don't see too much extra value in the larger one. And in my opinion, it doens't add too much extra in the notation area.

Sorry, I linked to the single product. If you go to the home page, you'll see Harmony Assistant.

Koolkeys

jPod · Post by **jPod** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 7:17 am

How about Finale's Notepad? The basic version is register-ware and there's a $25 "Plus" version that does midi import/export.

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:09 pm

I mentioned Notepad above, but forgot to give the link. It's

www.makemusic.com

I love Finale, and as I said, I'm a very loyal user. And Notepad is great, but I just feel that Melody Assistant has so much to offer for free. Both of them will get the job done and more. So it's really a preference.

Koolkeys

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:42 pm

Can any of these output to midi in realtime? I'm interested in composing using the score editor and outputting what I'm playing directly to a softsynth using a midi router (or at least being able to play back what I make that way).

ceenda · Post by **ceenda** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:55 pm

koolkeys: Melody Assistant is great!

I overlooked it until I read this thread and then decided to check it out. To be honest, I thought it looked a bit cheap (as in GUI, not price).

It's actually incredibly powerful. It seems to understand well a whole range of classical parameters like glissando, crescendo etc.

Just listening through all the demo songs. Sure, it ain't Nuendo

, but it's great for previewing before moving to another package to 'fill it out'.

aMUSEd: It looks like it can output to 3 different MIDI channels, just took a grab from the hardware config section:

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:46 pm

Thanks

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:41 pm

I'm pretty sure that you could MIDI Yoke the MIDI signal to a sequencer of choice.

Glad this helped!

Koolkeys

dramsenik · Post by **dramsenik** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 6:31 pm

koolkeys,
I've had some interest in HA for some times now and am just curious about a thing:

what features Finale has that HA don't have (or the opposite)?

can you enlight me please

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 2:21 am

The amount of customization features in Finale is unreal, and surpasses ALL notation software. Anything can be placed anywhere, and in any size, any color, upside down, ANYTHING. Also, with playback and being able to create your own items and symbols, plus using it as a teaching tool, with exercises and all, there is so much that I can't even begin.

Plus, there are hundreds of little features that make it worth it. I don't have the specs list here in front of me, but trust me, it's far above HA in features. If you do want more info, let me know and I'll get it. But if you're going to spend the money, Finale is by FAR the best. I only suggested MA or HA because they are free/cheap. It's very worth the money for FInale. Hey, I've been a paid user with each upgrade for years now. Nothing will change that, as I'm confident that I use the best in notation.

Koolkeys

Rellik · Post by **Rellik** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 3:03 am

Hey, thanks for the tip with Melody assistant! If it really has no limitations, it looks great!

I tried Finale Notepad first, of all the ones I found, but its limit to the amount of tracks allowed was WAAAAAAAAAAY too small (like

.

By the way, in Melody Assisstant: is it possible to automatically change the time signature for ALL tracks, instead of just one at a time? Same with key signature? And not just change globally, but add modulations of time and key signatures within the timeline, for all tracks at once? WIth a lot of tracks it gets annoying to have to go through and change everything

Downloading Melody Assisstant now

Best free notation editor/printer