Finale SongWriter Review

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(More customer reviews)...in his head! (Well actually he probably had the several hundred dollar professional version of Finale). This is fantastic software, perfect for the beginner or amateur songwriter or arranger. The only drawback for me is the limit of 8 staves, but that would not be a problem for your typical band, only if you want to try orchestral composition and arranging (you would need the professional version). The Human Playback feature is great, it truly sounds realistic, not like MIDI. I cannot recommend this software enough!

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While Finale SongWriter makes it easy to create great sheet music at an affordable price, that's just the beginning. Finale SongWriter allows you to enter notes from a mouse, computer keyboard, or midi keyboard. You can add chord symbols, fretboard diagrams, and multiple verses of lyrics. Finale SongWriter can automatically add two and three voice harmony to your melodies and instantly add a drum part. The music you create sounds great through your computer's speakers thanks to Human Playback and 128 professional sounds. You can import and export MIDI files, create MP3 files, and save your work as a standard Finale file which can also be shared with users of Finale Notepad (a free download). If getting music on the printed page is part of your songwriting project, Finale SongWriter is the perfect collaborator.

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SmartScore X Midi Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this MIDI version (very unique software). It does one thing -- convert sheet / book music to MIDI format file. I then use the MIDI file in Band In A Box and that is why the SmartScore software shines in my book.
It takes some self-learning. The documentation is terrible and written by a 3rd-grade non-American using severely broken Engrish. You can figure it out if you have the persistence. It really has more settings than you need as far as I'm concerned (feature-bloat) -- seems like the settings could be done on the 'finished' MIDI side instead of making it a 'requirement' before scanning your music.
All in all -- I'm satisfied except for the documentation.

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Scan & Play! There is simply no faster way to get printed music into your computer. Scan in sheet music with up to four staves per system (4 joined parts), play back then save the MIDI file. SmartScore's SmartScan interface operates almost any scanner and adjusts each setting automatically. No guesswork or expertise required. SmartScore recognizes more musical symbols more accurately and more quickly than any other music-scanning product. Nuances written into scores are accurately captured resulting in astonishing playback realism. Use the fully integrated notation, MIDI piano-roll and MIDI list editors to correct mistakes and easily make changes to your music. Instantly add or create multiple drum patterns with the Auto-Drum Groove to enhance the playback. Recognize PDF files from the Internet and send finished MIDI files to your favorite notation, sequencing package or to your friends. SmartScore MIDI Edition is more than a powerful tool; it's also a lot of fun!

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IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik Orchestra Virtual Instrument Workstation Review

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(More customer reviews)I am really happy that I bought this program as a plug-in for Pro-Tools. The sounds are really great. Most are perfect. My nephew who plays bassoon at Julliard thought the low woodwind samples were extremely accurate.
I am not as thrilled with the piano samples as I am with those I use in Reason, and there are no saxaphones. The combination of Reason and Miroslav give you an incredible package for classical and jazz work.
I use a GR-33 guitar synth and keybd as controllers. The GR-33 tracks beautifully with the synth engine. Not all programs can say that.
Buy it. You will not regret. If I could give it 4.9 stars, I would.

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The Miroslav Philharmonik orchestra workstation from IK Multimedia combines the legendary Miroslav Orchestral and Choir sample collection masterpieces with a dedicated virtual instrument plug-in specifically tailored toward classical sounds and arrangements. Miroslav orchestral samples are some of the most playable and inspiring sounds ever produced for symphonic arrangements and composition. They've set the atmosphere of hundreds of movies and productions and have become the tool of choice for many Oscar winning composers. This sound collection contains some of the most beautiful and lush sounding orchestral samples ever recorded, with plenty of feeling and emotion. Miroslav was able to bring out the rich character of symphonic music with a special sound that is unique and powerfully expressive. For incredible acoustic realism, the string, brass, and woodwind sections have been captured in the proper acoustic orchestral positions inside one of the world's most famous symphony halls, Prague's Dvorák Symphony Hall. No need for simulation with panning, just call up the elements of the orchestra and instantly sound like a symphony. These sounds have a texture, warmth, and beauty that is unique in the sample world. The Miroslav Philharmonik's virtual orchestra plug-in is based on an enhanced version of the SampleTank workstation architecture, offering 16 multitimbral parts, with full control over the tempo and pitch of the sounds. Each of the 16 multitimbral parts can be loaded by selecting one of more than 1,300 orchestral instruments included in Philharmonik. All of the virtual instruments can be easily found in neatly organized folders within the browser window. The multitimbral parts can also be saved as combi ensembles, allowing you to load an entire orchestral set with one click. Additionally, each part also offers up to 50 sound-shaping controls, for maximum flexibility over sound sculpture.The IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik also offers a master effec

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Guitar Pro 6 Review

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(More customer reviews)Hey music lubbers. I wanted to write this review anyway but even more so that GP6 has received some tough criticism. Much of the dissatisfaction is from owners of previous versions of Guitar Pro. Since I'm new to the product I have a different perspective, one not colored by certain expectations. By the way, I'm also a software developer so I can add that to the equation as well.
From my "dual point-of-view" GP6 is both a great musical tool and a well-done piece of software. The slams it's gotten for being unresponsive, hard to use, buggy, etc. are a bit exaggerated. I believe those who have trouble with it don't have computers with the required firepower; it does ask for a fairly modern machine and it's not kidding! Though I've had it crash a few times, this is certainly no worse than Firefox; moreover, the program does very frequent updates that happen hemidemisemi-automatically.
It has a rich and satisfying palette of tools for painting your musical masterpiece. It has a plethora (oh yes El Guapo...a plethora!) of RSE2 instruments to fill up your canvas. Some of them sound great (fine oil paint), some are "good enough" (acrylics) and some are like throwing a crayon into the dryer (uh, don't try this!) Strangely, the best sounding ones are guitars and similar stringed instruments; oh wait, this is *Guitar* Pro, not Bassoon Hero!
I also love the effects/amps you can use to shade and enrich your tableau. They really make a dramatic difference to the sound, just as they do in the real world. You can try out effects you don't quite understand instead of "Daddy, what does a phaser do?" "Well son, it's used to kill Klingons." Yeah, dad's a trekkie, not a musician.
You probably already know that there are thousands of GP-based tab/chord downloads out there; unfortunately, it's hard to find sites that use the new .gpx format at this time. Regardless, GP6 can import all of its predecessor formats and others such as Power Tab. It also does a nice job with many ASCII tab files, which surprised me somewhat.
As nice as all of these features are, composition/playback is the heart of the package. Let's just keep it simple here. You can represent just about any musical notation and the scores are easy to manipulate. You'd likely go bonkers trying to figure out how many possible built-in scales there are, and what each term means; learn Latin and Italian if you really want to know what these are (c'mon, you really just wanna impress chicks--I know you!) The playback will let you set each track individually so you can use it for backing while you play...say...your bagpipes. And if you want to input via something other than a computer keyboard, voila, summon the useful (albeit slightly hokey) virtual fretboard/keyboard. Better yet, attach a MIDI piano/synth and do a live 'captcha'.
Anyway, you can find all of this out yourself, I'm just letting you know what I find impressive about Guitar Pro 6. Get a copy and let's all paint some great scores together!

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Guitar Pro 6, a Win/Mac hybrid, is the ultimate toolbox for the guitarist! It includes all the tools you need to improve, compose and accompany yourself on the guitar. This simple and intuitive multitrack tablature editor is specifically designed for guitar, bass or other stringed instruments.

Guitar Pro 6 features the newest in playback technology including RSE - Realistic Sound Engine. RSE gives you real time playback of your scores with realistic sound samples taken from high quality guitars and real time effects such as wah-wah. Advanced notation features add drum notation, vocal notation and tablature support for any stringed instruments with four to seven strings. The newest version, Guitar Pro 6.0, includes over 40 new features while improving on those that have made it the most popular guitar tablature editor available.

Known for its ease of use, Guitar Pro allows you to enter notes by using keyboard keys, mouse clicks on an on-screen fretboard or directly through a connected MIDI device, all in just a few minutes. This revolutionary software can handle up to 256 tracks and you can switch from tablature view to standard notation for viewing or editing scores. With automatically calculated rhythms, Guitar Pro works out the note durations for you, and when you play the score, the music scrolls along with you, rendering guitar-specific effects like bends and slides.

Also included in Guitar Pro are a digital guitar tuner, a chord diagram engine, and a scales tool. You can easily import and export MIDI and ASCII tab formats allowing Guitar Pro to be used with a limitless number of songs. Tens of thousands of Guitar Pro format files are available on the Internet. The WAVE Export allows you to convert a Guitar Pro file into an audio file which is playable without Guitar Pro and can be burned onto an audio CD.

With its ease-of-use, versatility and variety of tools, Guitar Pro will have you creating music in no time! Features:

Multitrack/monotrack display, horizontal or vertical scrolling, the screen display adjusts to your preferences and score types.
Chord Diagram editor allows you to easily add chord diagrams to your score. Ask for any chord in any tuning and Guitar Pro will show you every diagram possible.
Scales Tool allows you to view and listen to a large number of scales, from the most common to the most exotic.
Digital or MIDI Tuner allows you to tune your guitar for every tuning possible, from 4- to 7-strings.
Fretboard (or Keyboard) allows you to view and enter notes on the score. It is able to show the notes of the current beat, but also the notes for the next beat, the complete bar or the selected scale.
Metronome gives the tempo while playing a score or even without playing it.
Professional Quality Paper Printings can be monotrack or multitrack. This way you can print several views of the same score, perfect for a band.

New Features for Guitar Pro 6:

Over 50 pedal effects and numerous sound banks (guitar, bass, drums, piano, orchestral etc.)
A New MDI User Interface (including full screen mode)
Piano Grand Staff
Rhythm slash
Simile marks
Multi-rest
Concert tone
Parametric equalization on each track
Configurable tones
Tap tempo
Jazz fonts
Anacrusis

Guitarist Magazine: "Guitar Pro is an intelligent, simple, clear and precise tool … the standard of its field."

Guitar Part: "Complete and easy to use … for a very low price considering its possibilities…"

RIFF Magazine: "Guitar Pro is unquestionably the best that can be found in the field of tablature editing for the PC."

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GenieSoft Score Writer 4 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Score writer 4 is an awesome computer sheet music program! I was throughly suprised just how easy and fun it was. In the first evening that I got it, I picked it up completely. Before, I was sketching out my music by hand and playing each note out on my piano to see how it sounded. It took long hours and was very tedious. Then, I'd have to get the ruler out and try my best note by note to rewrite my messy sketch. Now at the touch of a button you can add notes, groups, articulations, expressions, and so much more. You can also set up your score on a variety of instruments. It also plays your composition back for you perfectly. And it comes out as high quality professional sheet music!! I was never really good at the specifics of writing pieces before thats why this has really helped me. I didn't have the kind of money to purchase those high expensive programs like Overture, but once I saw this I thought I'd give it a try. I was so pleased by it that I'd rather spend my time and money on this easy program, than have to spend hours reading a manual learning how to use a higher program. It really has everything you need to put in a composition. If you have any worries about it I guarantee the minute you try it they will all disappear! I would highly recommend it to anyone who just wants to throw the cd in and be jump started on their way to making a masterpiece.

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The affordable way to create and print sheet music. GenieSoft Score Writer is the affordable notation software that makes recording, editing, arranging and printing your music easy, fast and enjoyable. You can quickly enter notes on-screen with your mouse or computer keyboard, or record a MIDI performance. Score Writer's intuitive interface puts powerful editing tools and symbol palettes at your fingertips, so you spend time composing music instead of searching through menus. For band and small orchestral arrangements, lead sheets, choral parts or even simple notation examples, there's no easier way to create professional notation than Score Writer. The score window in Score Writer allows you to notate your music quickly and easily. You control all notation elements with the mouse or computer keyboard. Extensive text handling functions make it easy to add or edit lyrics, page text, measure text and rehearsal marks. Move staves on the page with a click of the mouse -- even resize the music on the page.

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Finale 2010 Review

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(More customer reviews)I've used Finale since 1995, producing hundreds of arrangements and compositions, engraving music for other composers and arrangers, and even creating a theory textbook. Generally speaking, Finale has been an excellent product, and I've never found anything that couldn't be notated using this program. However, recent updates have become less and less stable as the program has gotten more complex. Even with a new computer, Finale 2008 and 2009 were having trouble playing back large scores and would occasionally crash for no reason. Finale 2010 reorganizes many notational inputs and is much smoother graphically, but after a few months' use, I found a terrible problem: Finale 2010 would crash when I tried to open complex files created on earlier versions of of the program! That means I can't access some of my older work to make changes or even print out a new copy. After the crash, Finale 2010 wouldn't start again until I restarted the computer.
I contacted MakeMusic about this and sent them one of the files that wouldn't open. They agreed that Finale 2010 crashed when trying to open the file and acknowledged that the file still opens well in Finale 2008. Their advice was to identify all files with this problem, export them as XML files and import them into Finale 2010. The problem is that I have so many files (thousands!) that it would take weeks to attempt to open every single file, especially if the program keeps crashing and I have to restart the computer over and over. The other option was to keep older versions of Finale on the computer, but that would take up a lot of hard drive space and file managing could get problematic. So, at the moment, I'm considering downgrading to Finale 2009 and never updating again!
Since the Sibelius notation software has emerged as competition for Finale, my impression is that MakeMusic is releasing more and more "upgrades" that aren't thoroughly tested, and this issue is simply a deal-breaker. In concept, the program is still very good, and if you're just getting started, it's still the standard in notation software, but I cannot recommend this version of Finale to longtime users.

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The best tools are designed by the people who use them. Introducing Finale 2010 – theworld standard in music notation software. Compose, arrange, notate, and print engraver-qualitysheet music that plays back with world-class sounds. Finale continues to lead the way, helping you reach perfection faster. - Streamlined user interface is more efficient, intuitive, and consistent - Setup Wizard configures your score beautifully in seconds. - Enter your music into Finale using a MIDI keyboard, computer keyboard, mouse, mic, or scanner. - Scan existing sheet music directly into Finale. From there you can change the key, edit, and save as a Finale file. - Linked Parts – intelligently links your score and parts to save you time. - More than 300 customizable and printable Music Education Worksheets. - Video Support – import video, plus send and display SMPTE time code. - TempoTap' – conduct your own tempo changes. - Playback – here are just a few reasons why Finale's sound is unsurpassed: - Record or import an audio track for unprecedented realism. - More than 350 world-class Garritan instrument sounds – and more. - More than 100 sounds from the acclaimed Tapspace Virtual Drumline. - Human Playback makes your music sound like live musicians are playing it – even if you entered your notes with a mouse! - Integrated Garritan Aria player. - Full support for VST/AU instruments AND effects. - Powerful Mixer (real-time control of volume, panning, patch, and more). - Save Audio Files (including .MP3) to create CDs or save to an iPod. - Document Styles let you instantly personalize the appearance of new documents. - Colored Noteheads and integrated Boomwhackers tuned percussion tube sounds.

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Finale SongWriter 2010 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)They call it Finale Songwriter, and that's who it seems to be aimed at; I bought it to do charts for a friend who is a singer/songwriter, and I found it to be quite up to the task.
I got tired of updating the full Finale program, which I purchased back around 1995; the last update I bought was Finale 2001; updating every year was expensive, some $100 for each year's new update; and it was annoying, too, since each new version seemed like it had to be learned all over again; so I finally stopped getting updates and stayed with my 2001d version. Since I don't do much music charting, it was pointless to keep shelling out money for new updates.
Now, here we are in 2010; I'm using a newer Mac with OS X, and the few times I have to do notation, I have to run Classic Mode in order to use my ancient 2001d version of Finale, and already, the updates are requiring a later version of the OS than I have... so I checked out the various versions of Finale, and found this one; Songwriter 2010 is (I think) the last of the Finale programs that will still work with 10.4... and it's also the least expensive, so I thought I would check it out. There is a fully-functional 30-day trial version available to download, so I tried it out by charting a few of my friend's songs with it.
Even with Songwriter, there is a bit of a learning curve, since music notation is a bit of an involved, detailed process. But I found that all of the important functions are easily accessible, and once you get the hang of what menu they're under, it seems to flow pretty well. All the important functions are present; what seems to be missing is all the customizing capability of the full Finale, such as all the little variations of the Repeat signs. It has Simple Note Entry, which is just grabbing a note with the mouse and placing it on the staff; this can be streamlined quite a bit if you have a MIDI keyboard: you use the numeric keypad to select a note value, and play a note on the MIDI keyboard to place it on the staff. I was thrilled to discover that Songwriter also has the Hyperscribe feature, which starts up a metronome, and lets you play a part into the program in real time. All the important text functions and spacing and layout controls are available too, so you can get a chart looking just right. It is limited to 8 staves, but for ordinary song charting, I can't imagine needing more than 3 or 4.
In my opinion, Songwriter is more than adequate to most basic charting needs, and Finale has an upgrade policy if you should ever need more capability. Best of all, you can try the program for 30 days to determine if it will suit your needs.

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While Finale SongWriter makes it easy to create great sheet music at an affordable price, that's just the beginning. Finale SongWriter allows you to enter notes from a mouse, computer keyboard, or midi keyboard. You can add chord symbols, fretboard diagrams, and multiple verses of lyrics. Finale SongWriter can automatically add two and three voice harmony to your melodies and instantly add a drum part. The music you create sounds great through your computer's speakers thanks to Human Playback and 128 professional sounds. You can import and export MIDI files, create MP3 files, and save your work as a standard Finale file which can also be shared with users of Finale Notepad (a free download). If getting music on the printed page is part of your songwriting project, Finale SongWriter is the perfect collaborator.

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SmartScore X Piano Edition Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this Smartscore X Piano Edition after some researches. I'm disappoited. This software can't recognize well if the music is at intermediate or advanced level. As a result, it can't play back well. For example, i have a piece of music called "A Comme Amour." This software recognizes only about 70% correctly. When it played back, it skipped a buch of notes on the left hand. I can't edit and fix it as the editing tools that are available are very limited. If you want a software to recognize and play back a piece of easy music, then this software might be OK.

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The perfect practice tool for the pianist, both professional and student.SmartScore Piano Edition captures nearly every detail of printed piano scores for playback, transposition, reformatting and re-printing. SmartScore's SmartScan interface operates almost any scanner and adjusts each setting automatically. No guesswork or expertise required. SmartScore recognizes more musical symbols more accurately and more quickly than any other music-scanning product. Nuances written into scores are accurately captured resulting in astonishing realism in playback. Transpose and print your piece in a new key. Audition piano arrangements and practice along at various tempos. Save scores as MusicXML files and open them in Finale, Sibelius or other notation program keeping all page formatting and layout intact. Output to PDF, MIDI and audio (.WAV) file formats. Recognize most any PDF file from the Internet.

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