Written Music Using The Computer

[Dirge]

I've been realising more and more that to get the music I want I need to start doing my own arrangements. The trouble is that I'd rather play the 'box than spend hours writing things out long-hand; it's not very legible and gets less so the moment I change something.

 

Is there a program (preferably free; I don't know how much I'll use it 'til I try) that allows you to click onto a given blank stave to put in a note? Click, click, click, and it's written three nice black notes where you positioned them? Then perhaps you select 'minim' and click on all the notes you want shown as minims, and so on. I'd like to be able to sit in front of the computer, try a few things, think 'that works' and transfer it straight to written music (before I forget it) and print the completed sheet to learn properly.

 

I tried searches, both generally and here, and only came up with abc but couldn't see that it did this.

[PeterT]

I tried searches, both generally and here, and only came up with abc but couldn't see that it did this.

I think that ABC works fine. Take a look at the following link for hints on programming:

 

http://www.walshaw.plus.com/abc/

 

Regards,

Peter.

[Spectacled Warbler]

I use Noteworthy Composer - about 39 U.S dollars I think. Allows you to click black notes of different durations onto a stave, plays back the music you've written, transposes, edits. Staff and note sizes can be changed to fit onto your paper - reasonably flexible if you don't want to pay big money for professional level software. It's reliable - no computer freezes on my PC with Windows. Initial learning curve's a bit steep, but no more than other music notation programmes, after that it's fairly simple to use. Instructions / helpfiles are reasonably comprehensive and there's an online support group / knowledgebase with hints and tips which is useful at times.

 

There's a free trial version - just stick Noteworthy Composer into Google.

 

Joy

[m3838]

I tried searches, both generally and here, and only came up with abc but couldn't see that it did this.

I think that ABC works fine. Take a look at the following link for hints on programming:

 

http://www.walshaw.plus.com/abc/

 

Regards,

Peter.

 

ABC vs. graphic notation is like sticking to Lynux and avoid Windows. Thing of the past. In few years Max are going to be way faster than Lynux and perhabs as expencive. Why learn something that is already obsolete?

Such music writing program will indeed be desireable. No fancy stuff, just writing it down. A play back would be OK, but really, I'd go without it. Anybody knows of such?

[m3838]

May be this?

Finale Notepad?

https://www.finalemusic.com/store/products.aspx

[Leo]

Dirge

 

I haven't used this one before, but it looks promising:

http://musette.canzona.com/

 

Or maybe one of these:

http://www.freebyte.com/music/#free_notation

 

Thanks

Leo

[Dirge]

Thanks folks; that's all really helpful and I'll have a look at it all in a quiet moment. I'll report back if I find something good!

[stuart estell]

Noteworthy is certainly pretty good. It doesn't have the more sophisticated notation options that something like Sibelius does, but for the money it's really excellent. Plus, you only ever have to buy it once, then you're entitled to free lifetime upgrades.

[JimLucas]

Noteworthy is certainly pretty good. It doesn't have the more sophisticated notation options that something like Sibelius does, but for the money it's really excellent. Plus, you only ever have to buy it once, then you're entitled to free lifetime upgrades.

Seems to me that they could go into bankruptcy if medical science solves the immortality problem.

 

But I guess they could just stop producing "upgrades", and if they wanted to create something more sophisticated they could give it a different name and consider it a completely new product, not an "upgrade".

 

Getting more serious, I think one problem with music notation programs is that music written in one can't be read/displayed by another. (Often one can generate a midi file in one program and then import that into another, but you can lose a lot of important display detail.) One advantage of Finale Notepad is that it reads and writes the same format as the more advanced Finale products. While that still doesn't let you convert to the formats of other notation programs, it does provide the possibility of starting with a free product, then later upgrading to something more sophisticated without having to re-enter all your work. Another advantage is that anyone else can read and print your tunes/arrangements by downloading Notepad for free, rather than having to buy a program. (I think some other notation programs -- e.g., Mozart -- also have free "read only" versions, but I don't know if any of those also have input capability.)

[spindizzy]

[(I think some other notation programs -- e.g., Mozart -- also have free "read only" versions, but I don't know if any of those also have input capability.)

 

Both Noteworthy and Sibelius have a free viewer available - which will also play (midi) the music and let you print it.

 

I use Noteworthy - which is good, and costs a reasonably small amount.

There is a shareware ABC to noteworhy (and back) convertor around somewhere which is also useful.

 

Sibelius is for very serious professionals - even the education version costs a small fortune (about the price of a low end Lachenal english!)

 

 

Chris

[Dirge]

Well I had a trawl with the usual (for me at least) complications.

 

I started trying Finale Notepad but the download site wanted me to enter emails and that always frightens me (why can't they just hide some spyware like normal folk?) So then best bet looked like 'Musette', which also made credible claims, but at that point I discovered that I'd lost winzip and couldn't unzip their download... some time later I'd failed to find a free download of winzip, (I thought I ought to be able to get last years version free; in fact I thought that's what I had) and gone off Musette...most of the others in Leo's list were for linux (sometimes it wasn't obvious at first) or needed text input.

 

So I'm going to give noteworthy a go on it's free trial period. At least if they are hoping to take money off me it ought to be free of other complications. I haven't done it yet because, being a cheapskate, I'm waiting until I have time to start using it immediately.

 

Both Finale notepad and Musette looked as if they would do the job and seemed to be free in the long term, both hoping to sell you add-ons, I think. It was the actual access to them that I fell at. Perhaps I'll have another go later, we'll see.

 

Thanks for your comments everyone.

[Richard Morse]

Noteworthy is certainly pretty good. It doesn't have the more sophisticated notation options that something like Sibelius does, but for the money it's really excellent.

What doesn't Noteworthy do that Sibelius does? I've been using Noteworthy for over a decade and found very few limitations. I also remember it being very easy to learn.... It wasn't until I wanted to do more esoteric stuff that I had to crack the manual (go to the help files) at all.

 

-- Rich --

[Theodore Kloba]

So I'm going to give noteworthy a go on it's free trial period.

I'm another Noteworthy user, and it's definitely worth it. I like the keyboard shortcuts; I find it quicker placing notes by keystroke than by mouse (which you can still do if you prefer).

Both Finale notepad and Musette looked as if they would do the job

I never tried Musette, but did try Finale Notepad; its lack of workable keyboard shortcuts led me to abandon it. That was several years ago, though.

[John Wild]

One advantage of Finale Notepad is that it reads and writes the same format as the more advanced Finale products. While that still doesn't let you convert to the formats of other notation programs, it does provide the possibility of starting with a free product, then later upgrading to something more sophisticated without having to re-enter all your work.

 

In between there is Print Music, which is a scaled down version of Finale. Print Music files can be read by Finale but as far as I know it may not work in the opposite direction.

 

= John Wild

[Dirge]

Right, the musette freeware's out; you need to pay to upgrade to write chords and to generate a full staff. I think one of their links is out; I tried another one successfully.

 

It did about what I'd described earlier and seemed fairly straight forward but would only let you write a single clef line. It would be fine if you sang, or played a flute, or some such. No use to me when the thing I want to do is arrange harmony (or possibly dischord). I'll stick with the free-trial-and-personal-recommendation if I'm paying.

 

I'll have a look at Finale later, now I'm feeling braver (the suns out!)

[David Barnert]

Getting more serious, I think one problem with music notation programs is that music written in one can't be read/displayed by another. (Often one can generate a midi file in one program and then import that into another, but you can lose a lot of important display detail.)

That's one of the nice things about abc. It is not a sophisticated system and cannot do a lot of the things that a professional quality music notation processor needs to be able to do, but the files are simple ascii text files that can be read by any abc software, whether it be on a PC, Mac, Palm Pilot, web page (Tune-O-Tron) or whatever.

[Tootler]

ABC vs. graphic notation is like sticking to Lynux and avoid Windows. Thing of the past. In few years Max are going to be way faster than Lynux and perhabs as expencive. Why learn something that is already obsolete?

Such music writing program will indeed be desireable. No fancy stuff, just writing it down. A play back would be OK, but really, I'd go without it. Anybody knows of such?

 

That is not a valid comparison.

 

Both ABC and standard music notation are useful and I don't see either becoming obsolete. Standard notation has been around for a long time - around 1000 years in some form or other and has proved itself adaptable and flexible and capable of representing the most complex music. Learning it is like learning any language and once you can read it, it is easy to play from.

 

ABC has the advantage of using the standard latin alphabet and can be written in any text editor or even on a piece of plain paper. It has become the standard medium for exchanging folk tunes. I know people who can play from it at sight. One great advantage of abc is that no special software is needed to read the files as they are simply text files.

 

I use Noteworthy Composer and I find it remarkably powerful for the price. You can do a surprising amount with it, yet it is very easy to learn. I know of people who have notated entire symphonies using it. Look here www.keyboard-creations.co.uk/ to see what can be done.

 

There is a new version in development. I don't know when it will become available, but I imagine it will be fairly soon but it will not be a free upgrade. There is a free viewer and a free browser plugin both of which enable you to view, playback and print noteworthy files.

 

There is an excellent online forum as well as a news group for discussion of matters related to the program and the program's owner is very responsive to queries and comments.

 

Noteworthy can be found at www.noteworthysoftware.com/

 

It is essentially a PC product and there are not versions for Mac or Linux. However as there are PC emulators available for both these operating systems, it should be possible to get it running on both and I know of people who have successfully done just that.

[Dirge]

OK; last night I got to grips with finale notepad, which is ahead of noteworthy in being longterm free (they hope to sell you the upgrade), not on a limited time basis unless I've missed something. I had to give them an email address.

 

So far I'm really pleased with it; it seems to do exactly what I wanted and more or less what I described in my initial enquiry. I spent 40 minutes putting in a tune and accompaniment working from a theme annotated with chords and picked it up very easily. I used a mouse for this so it may seem cumbersome in due course but at the moment it's a huge advance on pen and paper. There are keyboard shortcuts certainly for lots of things, making a note sharp, that sort of thing, but I haven't really looked at that yet.What I produced isn't wonderful, but that's nothing to do with this...

 

I started with the concertina on my lap trying things out, then the penny dropped that it has a function to play what you have written back on a click of the mouse, so you can check it for reasonable effect and find those glaring dischords, early on. It would only let me write 31 bars though. Now whether this is the free application's limit or whether I did something (very likely) I don't know yet. In this case I am missing only the final bar and I can write that on by hand when I print it if need be.

 

But at the moment it looks very promising. How effective my dimly remembered school lessons on writing accompaniments will prove remains open to question. Where's Henry Stanley when you need him?