Discuss Notion Music Composition Software here.
12 posts
Page 1 of 1
Hi,
I just got Notion 5 today and I am a bit confused about the Chord Library. I was hoping to be able to enter Chords on a staff for Piano but all I can seem to do is place a chord label above the staff.

I have been able to draw chords on the fret board and enter them onto the staff, but I don't see any active relationship between the chord library panel and the fret board view.

I read thru the manual and can't figure out if the explanations about the chord library are meant to suggest that I can input piano chords or if it is just meant for labeling.

I hope I am missing something and that someone can help with a suggestion.
User avatar
by mike_mccue on Fri Oct 03, 2014 5:18 am
I figured out that I can also draw chords on the piano keyboard graphic and load them into the staff, but I can't seem to figure out how to differentiate between left and right hand or bass and treble clef.

It seems like most of the chords I voice are draw on the staff as extensions either way below the treble or way above the bass clefs. When it is extended way below the treble it seems like it should just be drawn on the bass clef and the same for when the notes are drawn on extension way above the the bass clef.

I tried to "transpose" but that just furthers the extension of staff marks.

Any tips?

My main interest in buying Notion was to see how fast I could build keyboard parts for export as MIDI into my DAWs.

So far it seems like the best I can do is to hand place each and every note, which works very well, but I was hoping that the "chord library" facilitated quick inserts of chords with a choice of voicings.

I'll appreciate any tips or info about what I can and can't do or what I can or can't expect to be able to.

Thank You!!!
User avatar
by blencathra on Wed Nov 22, 2017 5:01 am
I know this is an old post but having downloaded the demo for Notion 6 I am facing a similar issue as the OP. Can anyone offer any information on this?

What I was hoping was that there would be a chord library for piano and when I selected a chord from a chord palette the notes for that chord would be placed on the stave. Seems like an obvious and useful feature, no? This is the functionality I was seeking for composing given that I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of piano chords.

Maybe its more tricky than I imagine to implement? Thanks for any thoughts. :)

i7-3820 3.6 GHz | Win 7.1 Pro x64 | 32 GB | Studio One Pro v3 | Presonus Audiobox USB 2x2 | GeForce GTX 650
User avatar
by sirmonkey on Wed Nov 22, 2017 10:56 am
I bought Notion 6 last year for exactly the same purpose. I was hoping to experiment with chord progressions by dropping chords onto the staff. When I saw the image below of screenshots of Notion, I assumed that you could generate chords all in one go, instead of painting in notes...

Notion.JPG


I do understand that Notion is geared toward advanced musicians, who have in-depth knowledge of music theory. However, I thought Notion would still be a good tool for novices as well.

It seems like a good product, but you're a beginner, or can't fluently read music notation, I wouldn't purchase notion. There are several chord generation plugins out there. But I do hope that this function will be added some day.

Atari 5200, 64K RAM S1PRO Radio Shack Cassette Recorder w/internal Mic, and too many plugins.
User avatar
by blencathra on Thu Nov 23, 2017 6:25 am
Thanks for your comment. Yes, I think they are missing out on an opportunity here - those of us that would like to move up a notch in our composing and musical knowledge but need a helping hand to get there. If they could help pave the way for people like me then they would end up with a much wider customer base I think. As it is I have tried the N6 demo and reached the same conclusion as you, that it isn't really suitable for me. They seem to release a new version every two years so fingers crossed for Notion 7 next year...

i7-3820 3.6 GHz | Win 7.1 Pro x64 | 32 GB | Studio One Pro v3 | Presonus Audiobox USB 2x2 | GeForce GTX 650
User avatar
by sirmonkey on Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:32 pm
Here's a brand new plugin (as of Jan 2017) called "Scaler" that I just bought:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVMkssoqyHM
Download of demo or purchase: http://www.pluginboutique.com/product/3 ... 933-Scaler
Scaler is exactly what I have been dreaming of...in fact it's even better. Complete novices can now create superb chord progressions easily and quickly.
Also, Scaler has given me a reason to actually use the copy of Notion that I bought: I can import the midi chords made with Scaler into Notion, and Notion creates guitar tab! YES!
Perfect solution for writers block. :thumbup:

Atari 5200, 64K RAM S1PRO Radio Shack Cassette Recorder w/internal Mic, and too many plugins.
User avatar
by michaelmyers1 on Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:00 pm
sirmonkey wroteI can import the midi chords made with Scaler into Notion, and Notion creates guitar tab! YES!
Perfect solution for writers block. :thumbup:

Very interesting. Have you tried it with Notion? Can you really drag and drop to get notation or chords?

iMac (Retina 5K 27", 2019) 3.6 ghz I9 8-core 64 gb RAM Fusion Drive
with small AOC monitor for additional display
macOS Ventura 13.4
2 - 500 gb + 2 - 1 tb external SSD for sample libraries
M Audio AirHub audio interface
Nektar Panorama P1 control surface
Nektar Impact 49-key MIDI keyboard
Focal CMS40 near-field monitors
JBL LSR310S subwoofer
Notion 6 + Studio One 5 Pro

http://www.tensivity.com
User avatar
by sirmonkey on Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:17 am
michaelmyers1 wrote
sirmonkey wroteI can import the midi chords made with Scaler into Notion, and Notion creates guitar tab! YES!
Perfect solution for writers block. :thumbup:

Very interesting. Have you tried it with Notion? Can you really drag and drop to get notation or chords?

Well, Scaler doesn't work directly with Notion. Scaler works in any DAW (Studio One or not) ... but Studio One does work well with Notion.
So anyway, I create chord progressions with Scaler, sending Scaler's output to any instrument vsti... a guitar, a piano.... or whatever in Studio One.
Next, I send the midi to Notion, which has very good integration with Studio One. Notion then can convert the midi to musical notation (which I really can't read). I then switch the instrument within Notion to a guitar, and it produces guitar tab. Just what I wanted! :thumbup:

So, Scaler won't communicate directly with Notion. IMy steps right now are:
1. Use Scaler with a vst instrument within Studio One.
2. Send midi from S1 to Notion.....
3. Choose a guitar within Notion, and then have Notion create tab.

Hope that this is useful

Atari 5200, 64K RAM S1PRO Radio Shack Cassette Recorder w/internal Mic, and too many plugins.
User avatar
by michaelmyers1 on Fri Jan 05, 2018 2:02 pm
Thanks for clarifying. I did download the demo and tried it within Notion; it can be run there as a plug-in instrument, but you can't use the drag and drop feature to import MIDI. That would have been great!

I also can't figure out a way to get Scaler to trigger notes on another Notion instrument, but I haven't played with it that much. That would have been great as well...

You can export the MIDI to a file (on your desktop, etc., then import it into Notion. The drawback is that you can't import MIDI in Notion to an open file; it is always imported into a new file. You then can copy and paste into your working file.

iMac (Retina 5K 27", 2019) 3.6 ghz I9 8-core 64 gb RAM Fusion Drive
with small AOC monitor for additional display
macOS Ventura 13.4
2 - 500 gb + 2 - 1 tb external SSD for sample libraries
M Audio AirHub audio interface
Nektar Panorama P1 control surface
Nektar Impact 49-key MIDI keyboard
Focal CMS40 near-field monitors
JBL LSR310S subwoofer
Notion 6 + Studio One 5 Pro

http://www.tensivity.com
User avatar
by Surf.Whammy on Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:05 pm
michaelmyers1 wroteThe drawback is that you can't import MIDI in Notion to an open file; it is always imported into a new file.


This is correct, but there is a way to do it. Technically, it's not "importing". Instead, it's transferring, but so what . . . :)

If you have Studio One 3 Professional and NOTION 6, then on the Mac you can use the network functions to send MIDI back-and-forth to open projects (S1) and scores (N6) . . .

This is the way I do detailed editing for MIDI when I am fine-tuning the music notation for Realivox Blue (Realitone).

I use Studio One 3 Professional specifically because it is an excellent MIDI Editor for this purpose, which is explained at a high-level in my Realivox Blue project . . .

Project: Realivox Blue (PreSonus NOTION Forum)

THOUGHTS

The information I read about the network feature suggests that you need to disable ReWire in NOTION 6 Preferences, which for the way I work would be annoying; but I did some experiments and determined that on the Mac it's not necessary to disable ReWire in NOTION 6 . . .

For me, this is very important; because it avoids needing to restart NOTION 6 so many times and it avoids needing to reboot the Mac Pro . . .

By keeping NOTION 6 always enabled for ReWire, I can work with Studio One 3 Professional and NOTION 6 to fine-tune the MIDI note durations and overlaps for Realivox Blue; and when this is done, I quit both applications; start Digital Performer (MOTU), which begins a new ReWire session with Digital Performer as the ReWire host controller. Next I start NOTION 6, which makes NOTIOIN 6 a ReWire slave and is the way I work with NOTION 6 in a ReWire session where Digital Performer is the ReWire host controller . . .

[NOTE: This suggests an experiment, which I will do in a few minutes. The experiment will have Digital Performer as the ReWire host controller; NOTION 6 as the ReWire slave; and Studio One 3 Professional running but not participating in the ReWire session. If this works, then I won't need to start, stop, and restart the apps . . . ]

You need to enable the "Allow Network Discovery" option in NOTION 6 Preferences to do the back-and-forth transfers . . .

Image

The key to doing it this way on the Mac is that you start NOTION 6 first, which makes it the ReWire host controller . . .

Then you start Studio One 3 Professional, which prevents Studio One from being a ReWire slave and participating in the ReWire session, since Studio One 3 Professional does not support being a ReWire slave . . .

[NOTE: Whether this happens in the Windows universe is another matter; but my best guess is that it probably doesn't work this way in the Windows universe, although it might . . . ]

You need to set the merge option in Studio One 3 Professional to have the transfer done to the open NOTION 6 score . . .

Image

It's also useful to observe that the detailed MIDI adjustments made in Studio One 3 Professional do not map one-to-one when you transfer the MIDI to NOTION 6 and convert the MIDI to music notation, which as I recall happens automagically . . .

The reason is that there is no one-to-one mapping of MIDI to music notation, so after getting the MIDI exactly as I want it in Studio One 3 Professional, I usually need to make a few adjustments in NOTION 6 after doing the transfer, which is fine with me . . .

The way Realivox Blue works requires using it to be in legato mode to do phonetic phrases; and the durations of notes need to overlap unless you use a special keyswitch note to repeat a same-pitch note in the sequence. Realivox Blue adds a small set of samples between notes when in legato mode; and this is how the transitions from one note to the next are smoothed, which is what legato does. It also is the way you play a series of phonemes in sequence without arbitrarily restarting the sequence; so the duration overlapping of adjacent notes is very important and is done by adjusting the NOTION 6 sequencer overlays, except that it's easier to do in the Studio One 3 Professional MIDI Editor, hence the trip back-and-forth with Studio One 3 Professional and NOTION 6 . . .

Lots of FUN! :)

Surf.Whammy's YouTube Channel

The Surf Whammys

Sinkhorn's Dilemma: Every paradox has at least one non-trivial solution!
User avatar
by sirmonkey on Fri Jan 05, 2018 9:15 pm
michaelmyers1 wroteThanks for clarifying. I did download the demo and tried it within Notion; it can be run there as a plug-in instrument, but you can't use the drag and drop feature to import MIDI. That would have been great!

I also can't figure out a way to get Scaler to trigger notes on another Notion instrument, but I haven't played with it that much. That would have been great as well...

You can export the MIDI to a file (on your desktop, etc., then import it into Notion. The drawback is that you can't import MIDI in Notion to an open file; it is always imported into a new file. You then can copy and paste into your working file.


I had no idea that Notion could host Scaler. I hadn't used Notion very much, but now I see that it can host VST instruments. I will experiment with it some more to see if I can figure out how to do what you're trying to do.

Also, thanks to Surf.Whammy for your detailed post. I don't have Mac, but nice problem-solving! Thanks for sharing that!

Atari 5200, 64K RAM S1PRO Radio Shack Cassette Recorder w/internal Mic, and too many plugins.
User avatar
by sirmonkey on Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:03 pm
Please up-vote this feature request: http://answers.presonus.com/4263/daw-st ... oll-editor
It is a request for having a piano roll editor in Notion. MIDI drag and drop functionality would be a logical feature to accompany such a function.

I didn't post a a separate FR because the one on the link above already has a lot of votes, so it makes sense to maintain the momentum there.
(* I also posted about midi drag and drop on that thread).

Atari 5200, 64K RAM S1PRO Radio Shack Cassette Recorder w/internal Mic, and too many plugins.

12 posts
Page 1 of 1

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests