I'm going to hold firm to my rule of not buying software blindly, so I'm going to wait for the official release and demo, but so far everything I've heard from you guys sounds promising.

Thanks to everyone who has posted their impressions so far.

Is there only one developer developing this? That's the impression I'm getting.

Mixed feelings, starting already to mourn Notion...

wcreed wroteYes, there are XML files that are equivalent to Notions Rules, though they don't have flags, test conditions, etc

Bill, where are you finding those?

Mixed feelings, starting already to mourn Notion...

I'm not ready to shed any tears just yet . Granted, Overture looks sweet. Does things I wish Notion could do, however...it's not done "cooking". I would rather wait for the finished product; that way we can get a better comprehensive view of what it really entails. And who knows...perhaps PreSonus will announce Notion 6 that'll blow our socks off. Just saying....

Overture does look good though....

kipcrawford wrote

Mixed feelings, starting already to mourn Notion...

I'm not ready to shed any tears just yet . Granted, Overture looks sweet. Does things I wish Notion could do, however...it's not done "cooking". I would rather wait for the finished product; that way we can get a better comprehensive view of what it really entails. And who knows...perhaps PreSonus will announce Notion 6 that'll blow our socks off. Just saying....

Overture does look good though....

I'm not holding my breath for that one. I wouldn't expect another major upgrade of Notion until at least sometime next year, if even then. Maybe it will be around the time on the 3.5 Studio One upgrade. Or maybe alongside v4 of Studio One (which I expect will be a bit of a wait). The development of Notion has always been a bit slow and it still seems to be that way.

lloydesorrow wroteIs there only one developer developing this? That's the impression I'm getting.

For me, it doesn't matter whether there's one developer or ten, it's about the product. Does it do what says? Is it stable? Is it supported? Sometimes more developers can be better, other times it can create problems. For instance, I've seen developers re-code entire bits of working functionality in order to make small modifications because they couldn't understand how or why someone coded something a particular way.

Notion appears to have a full team of developers, but progress has felt slow since I bought my first Notion license in 2011 (still no sustain pedal support, cross-staff beaming only added recently, extremely limited engraving options, VST support and overall workflow still clunky, etc.). If Overture 5 can prove to be a more mature option once it's out of beta, I'll switch over. If I were the Notion team, I'd be very interested in checking Overture out in order to see what it's strengths are compared to Notion. Then I'd be thinking long and hard about how to do it even better in the next major Notion update.

The development of Notion has always been a bit slow and it still seems to be that way.

I have to agree with you there. So far Notion is doing what I need it to do. Their shortcomings can be a hassle at times. Not really holding my breath on a better innovative Notion version, but never hurts to hope.

I own both programs and owned previous versions of both programs. They both have strengths and weaknesses. The main advantage of Notion in my mind is the sheer simplicity of it. Its extremely simple to enter music in Notion. Also, all notational engraving issues are automatic, with very little override capability. That can be good or bad, but definitely its easy and simple. Also Notion's sound library is great with many tightly bound performance articulations, etc. so that what you write is what you hear...this is actually kind of a big deal.

Overture on the other hand is way ahead of Notion in terms of advanced notation and being able to tweak the score however you want, as you would with Sibelius or Finale, for example. it has many more notation features then Notion in general. Also it has much more powerful sequencing engine. The new Overture I view as much of a midi sequencer that happens to show a notation view and prints out very high quality scores, better then any DAW on the market by far and in many cases right on par with Finale and Sibelius.

Overture is the brain child and effort of a single talented developer, so development is slow. Very slow. But its a very good product in my opinion. So is Notion. If you are already a notion user, I don't see a reason to jump ship unless you either need A) better printed scores or B) better sequence editing to fine tune the performance like a normal midi sequencer, rather then relying on rulesets to get the performance you want.

Thanks for your insight, Steve.

"The main advantage of Notion in my mind is the sheer simplicity of it."

Exactly on point. I'd like to see what Overture is doing now with MIDI sequencing. But if it's the same note-entry system Overture had when I used it a few years ago, it doesn't compete with Notion. I'm surprised the discussion about the new product is silent on this point.

thomasbaxter wrote"The main advantage of Notion in my mind is the sheer simplicity of it."

Exactly on point. I'd like to see what Overture is doing now with MIDI sequencing. But if it's the same note-entry system Overture had when I used it a few years ago, it doesn't compete with Notion. I'm surprised the discussion about the new product is silent on this point.

Can you elaborate on what's so bad about note entry compared to Notion? I'll be honest, I don't think Notion is great in this regard either.

I suppose everybody's different, but for me it's vastly simpler and faster to type "q" and write a quarter note, compared with selecting a quarter note symbol from a list. It's like the difference between typing and writing messages with emoticons.

thomasbaxter wroteI suppose everybody's different, but for me it's vastly simpler and faster to type "q" and write a quarter note, compared with selecting a quarter note symbol from a list. It's like the difference between typing and writing messages with emoticons.

There are keyboard shortcuts in Overture. The default is '4' for a quarter note, '2' for a half note, etc. The key commands are also mappable.

I have tried out Overture and am not overly impressed at the moment. Basically, I have never managed to get the program running for more than 35 seconds without it crashing. I guess I need to wait for a future release to be able to say something more.

Cesare

Has anyone tried this?

http://www.staffpad.net/#features

Cesare

cesaremagri wroteI have tried out Overture and am not overly impressed at the moment. Basically, I have never managed to get the program running for more than 35 seconds without it crashing. I guess I need to wait for a future release to be able to say something more.

Cesare

There's a bug in the Beta version if you're trying to use it with a Mac. I bought it, but I'm waiting as well to really try it when they get that fixed.

What about sounds?

Notion comes with beautiful ready to use songs and a big selection of sound extension (not to speak about the presets to use Vienna, Personal Orchestra, ...).

Is there a good orchestra set? there are presets to use Vienna, Personal Orchestra, EWL Orchestra, or similar?

Thank you in advance for the answers.

Claudio