Music Notation Software

[cello]

Sorry vEddY - missed your question.

I've not used Sib for percussion so have no direct experience - but I've just spent the last 20mins or so reading the Sib7 reference guide.

The conclusion of which is that apparently Sib7 a) will notate drum/percussion and b) if mapped to midi device's drum map, Sib7 will notate correctly as percussion - eg you want hi-hat notated, it will sound as a hi-hat and will have a cross-head when notated.

What the manual also states is:

The Drum Set and Drum Kit instruments use a notational system based on the recommendations
of the Percussive Arts Society (in Norman Weinberg’s book, Guide To Standardized Drumset
Notation)

Hope this helps - if you want the manual you can get it here: http://www.sibelius.com/download/docume ... index.html

[Lando]

I've used Finale for 10 years, but due to syncing with different arrangers I was working with in a project I switched to Sibelius.

I can honestly say I worked faster with Sibelius after two weeks of working with it than after 10 years of finale!

That beeing said, everything can be done with both programs, only in different ways.

I write everything from lead sheets to huge arrangements for symphony orchestra and have done so on both programs.

[vEddY]

Sorry vEddY - missed your question.

I've not used Sib for percussion so have no direct experience - but I've just spent the last 20mins or so reading the Sib7 reference guide.

Will look into it, looks very promising. I also found some online articles about it so, this looks like a good way to go. Thanks, C!

[PianoManChuck]

If you're doing music notation and you want it to come out PERFECT, you need these three books in your arsenal:

The Guide to MIDI Orchestration (3rd or 4th Edition are fine):
http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Gilreath/e/B ... 006&sr=1-1

Study of Orchestration (you NEED to also get the CD-ROMS):
http://www.amazon.com/Study-Orchestrati ... 121&sr=1-1

Pocket Guide to Music Notation:
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Diction ... 188&sr=1-3

I hath spoken. Any Sibelius question PM me and I'll help you out.

Jamsire

Thanks, I'll check into those! Esepcially the last one mentioned! And thanks for your kind offer to help out with any Sibelius questions... may take you up on that!

[EXer]

If you're doing music notation and you want it to come out PERFECT, you need these three books in your arsenal:

You cannot reach PERFECTION, in the sense of the result that a high skilled engraver can reach, with a software.

Software made scores still have a kind of "stiffness" which make them instantly recognizable, partly because of the limitations of the software itself, partly because of the ignorance of the traditional musical typographic rules by their users: we are musicians, we cannot become experienced engravers overnight (which doesn't mean we cannot produce usable scores with software).

[EXer]

If you're doing music notation and you want it to come out PERFECT

Before seeking perfection for your scores, could you please do the first step towards typographical perfection on this forum by placing the long links between url tags like explained here in order not to mess up the layout of this thread?

Example: Pocket Guide to Music Notation

[jamsire]

Whatever.

I feel like every time I post something useful on this forum only, I get some kind of snide return comment. Regardless of how I did or did not format the links - someone was still somehow able to find it useful - without issue.

With regards to the PERFECTION reply - STOP. I've written three music books, consulted with numerous composers and publishing companies, and engraved at least 20 other books. I know what I'm talking about.

No formatting necessary.

[PianoManChuck]

Whatever.

I feel like every time I post something useful on this forum only, I get some kind of snide return comment. Regardless of how I did or did not format the links - someone was still somehow able to find it useful - without issue.

With regards to the PERFECTION reply - STOP. I've written three music books, consulted with numerous composers and publishing companies, and engraved at least 20 other books. I know what I'm talking about.

No formatting necessary.

+1

Keep your replies coming... we (or at least I) learn from them and can appreciate your taking the time to share your knowledge.

As long as people can communicate in a way that others understand them, that's all that matters. We're not looking for syntactically correct or perfection in written posts/replies here.

[jamsire]

Whatever.

I feel like every time I post something useful on this forum only, I get some kind of snide return comment. Regardless of how I did or did not format the links - someone was still somehow able to find it useful - without issue.

With regards to the PERFECTION reply - STOP. I've written three music books, consulted with numerous composers and publishing companies, and engraved at least 20 other books. I know what I'm talking about.

No formatting necessary.

+1

Keep your replies coming... we (or at least I) learn from them and can appreciate your taking the time to share your knowledge.

As long as people can communicate in a way that others understand them, that's all that matters. We're not looking for syntactically correct or perfection in written posts/replies here.

Thank you for your comment above. It is genuinely appreciated.

[cello]

Jamsire - you too have my support. I have only engraved the 2 books (1 was a short volume of traditional Scottish songs and the second was the complete hymnary for the Church of Scotland (called Common Ground) - over 150 hymns) but your point about perfection is spot on.

I remember in vivid detail the absolute pain it was to get the music to fit the page turns (to suit an organist/pianist) AND gets the syllables to match the noteheads - as well as different rules for page turns due to choral breathing requirements!

I also engrave for the Research Ensemble which specialises in contemporary classical music. That stuff is weird - no musical rules; makes 11/9 then 7/9 then 5/4 seem like a walk in the park!

I used Finale for the scottish tunes and I have used Sibelius for everything else.

Notation/engraving must be perfect - otherwise the message(s) in the 'code' is lost. Posts on a forum do not and should not have to be perfect.

[jamsire]

I have only engraved the 2 books (1 was a short volume of traditional Scottish songs and the second was the complete hymnary for the Church of Scotland (called Common Ground) - over 150 hymns) but your point about perfection is spot on.

So was this notation project a type of resurrection of forgotten tunes for new people to enjoy? That sounds wonderful! Congrats to you for keeping that music alive and making it accessible to everyone. Awesome.

[jg::]

Veddy - Overture www.sonicscores.com will do the drum notation thing too, pretty much as cello described for Sibelius, I think.

However, many people expect that you can input a MIDI track from a DAW into a notation application, and everything will instantly look perfect, just hit the print button. It rarely works like that. A score is a set of highly specialized graphics, and if you're giving it to pro players, they'll expect something better.

For example, if it's over 2 pages, it's nice to consider how the player is going to turn the page whilst continuing to read and play! Sometimes I spend considerable time trying to squeeze parts down to 2 pages for this reason.

For drum parts, no drummer is going to appreciate 15 bars of the exact same rhythm notated precisely, with a slight variation on bar 16. You need to use those slash/dot bar-repeat symbols to denote that the rhythm continues, then add the notated fill/variation where necessary. This will also help to keep the number of pages low, since it's especially difficult for drummers to turn pages.

You can't do that sort of stuff by copying a MIDI track. Unfortunately, there's no substitute for taking a bit of time working with the notation program.

jg::

[cello]

Great points jg:: spot on.

The software can take you so far - then it's back to the old fashioned way of manual editing.

Imagine - Mozart's Requiem with orchestra and chorus; he wrote the lot from his head with no software. As he was ill when he wrote it (it was his last piece before he died), he didn't even have strength to use a keyboard to work it all out... wow.

[Sam CA]

anyone know a decent drum notation software that can read MIDI and print out drum notation?

Both Finale and Sib have full notation features for Drums and percussions. The only big difference is that to this day different publishers still haven't fully agreed upon a standard notation system for these instruments, especially for percussion isntrument as there's way too many non western percussion instruments that are pretty common in film scores these days..etc. Drum set scores are getting better in that sense, but even then, there's gzillions of drum set scores published every year that use a slightly different method. It's very common to supply a map for your drum/percussion score to let the performance know what certain things mean.

[jduesenb]

I've recently upgraded to Sibelius 7 and would like to try using my Kronos for playback. I was wondering whether anyone knew of a Sibelius "sound set" that would work for this purpose. I'm not sure I'm up to reprogramming the General MIDI soundest...