what is the best music recording,editing and notation "writing scores" software?

Question

i hear "Finale" is good. your input please.

Answer 1

The answer depends somewhat on what you mean by "recording" and "editing." There are several different varieties of professional music composition/arranging programs. And while there are many programs that try to cover all of the bases in a half-way fashion, there is no single application which leads in all areas. From what you've asked, I think you'll be interested in one of the following:

First you have your "sequencer" applications. Sequencers allow users to record in, usually via MIDI or by recording an instrument or voice. The recorded information is typically displayed in "tracks" which are normally displayed as graphical depictions of the recorded data rather than actual notation. Sequencers have powerful and convenient tools for editing the recorded MIDI and Audio data. The majority of professionals in the video game and movie industry compose primarily with sequencers, since they allow them to get ideas recorded quickly and get a good sounding demo in a short time. The top Windows program for this is Cakewalk's Sonar (soon to be version 6), with Cubase also being a popular choice. The top Mac applications are Digital Performer and Apple's Logic Pro Audio. Regarding differences between Mac and PC - stick with what you've got. In the past audio applications were better on Macintosh, but this really isn't the case any longer, and there are actually some large benefits to going with Windows from a performance perspective.

The notation capabililties in these sequencer applications are pretty limited. If you're looking to be able to print out nice looking parts for performers, or if you intend to compose primarily by entering notes on a page, then they're not going to fill that role nearly as well as a notation program.

Notation programs are sort of the reverse of sequencing applications. They have powerful and convenient tools for entering music as it appears on the printed page. But their recording capabilities are typically more limited, in that the top programs can only record MIDI. And while MIDI data can be edited with many of them, these programs don't have the same tools for doing this that a good sequencer program does.

The top two applications for notation are Finale and Sibelius - both work well on Mac and PC. Between the two I recommend Finale, as it has I feel the best combination of features. Compared to Sibelius, it has significantly better MIDI editing capabilities, and from a notation perspective it is generally recognized as being the more powerful of the two programs. Finale also currently ships with the better sound package, as it comes with about 100 sounds from the Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO) sound library.

Most Finale and Sibelius users prefer to input their music in "step-time" rather than real-time recording. While real-time recording can be fast, it's often difficult for a computer to guess exactly what the user means. For example, it can be tough to distinguish between when a user plays a dotted eighth sixteenth pattern and an eighth note, 16th rest, 16th note. Both Finale and Sibelius have excellent tools for entering music in exactly as it is supposed to look (via step-time). Again, the edge goes slightly to Finale here, since it gives the user more options for entry methods.

Notation programs generally take a bit more practice to learn than a sequencer. And you will find people that say Finale and Sibelius are difficult to learn. The truth is that both programs can be learned reasonably well within a week. But you really should treat them as a study - start by going through the tutorial guides (this is the QuickStart section in the Sibelius manual and the Tutorial book for Finale). Even though not everything will apply directly to what you want to do, you'll still learn a lot about how each program "thinks" by doing this, and in the end it will save you many, many hours.

You don't need to make your decision solely off of recommendations. I believe that all of these programs have downloadable demos (Sonar, Finale, and Sibelius definitely do). Take advantage of this. If you have questions about the demos, all of these companies have forums where you can ask specific questions.

And lastly, if you're a student or a teacher, look into the academic discounts. For example, the retail price of Finale is $600, but with the academic discount you can find it for around $225 (www.lentine.com, www.academicsuperstore.com). Sonar and Sibelius have similar offers, and I'd be surprised if the others didn't as well.

Answer 2

It depends what you want to use it for the most, and what system you're running it on.

Without a doubt a mac is the best computer for music, but the trouble is they're so much more expensive than a PC. Protools, Logic and Sibelius are all available for mac, and they're all good for different things. Protools is fantastic for recording, it's easy to use once you've mastered the basics, editing, plugins and effects are easy to use etc, which is available for both PC and mac (but at the usual expensive mac prices for both systems, unfortunately). However the only score writing program for Mac that's any good is Sibelius.

Sibelius can write just about any conceivable thing for score, all in the correct musical font - and you pay dearly for it, Sibelius is hideously overpriced. It's not particularly easy to use (it has all sorts of counter-intuitive hoops you have to jump through), but once you understand how to do things it's not too bad. You can input your notes either by mouse or by playing them on a keyboard, and I think you can have playable score by scanning in music as well in newer versions of sibelius. Sibelius is available for mac or pc. For all Sibelius' faults it is industry standard for score writing.

My personal software choice is cakewalk - it has both recording and midi, but as it's a compramise it doesn't do either of them to a professional standard, but as it's easy to use and cheap it's a good starter. It doesn't have many plugins, but if you're doing anything that doesn't require more than reverbs and basic plugins like that you don't really need any more than what it provides. The midi isn't fantastic, for instance dynamics are non-playable (you can write them in, but cakewalk doesn't change dynamic if you do), and just about anything else other than notes is non-enterable (for instance crescendo and diminuendo lines), so it all depends on what you want to use it for. I don't know if cakewalk is available for mac.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

My favorite music notation software is FORTE. It’s easy to use. It was created specifically to be user-friendly, functional, and fun. Perfect for all ages and all skill levels. Check out http://www.fortenotation.com for more information.

Answer 5

http://www.pctoolmag.com/164/audio-software.html