Discuss Notion Music Composition Software here.
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Just curious: does anyone on this thread actually print sheet music in hard copy form?
Are people here using notation programs to score for money/jobs etc. ? Back in university/college I had to score for a brass ensemble and used Finale within the school(about 2000 years ago). Years later, when I was writing a lot of piano works, I used my own version of Finale to score them and also to convert the scores to MIDI and ultimately play back through synthesizers, digital pianos or sampled piano sounds in the form SF2 or DLS (what became SF2 later) and also printed the sheet music. More recently, in the last 5 or so years, I use notation programs mostly for scripting ideas or sections or excerpts and do everything else in a DAW to complete a song or arrangement. Sometimes the music notation lets me harmonize quickly just using some knowledge of theory. Once I discovered Notion, I stopped using Finale altogether actually because of the simplicity of notion. I started getting into guitar tab the last couple of years and actually use Guitar Pro for that. However, Notion allows for fairly decent tab too so I'll switch on and off between the two. But for creating Tab parts that I actually share with others, I use Guitar Pro. And using sample libraries from AmpleSound, the interface will actually read guitar pro tab so that makes a real nice bridge into a DAW. I guess my point, if there is one  is that I don't really need more out of Notion as a tool. I'd like some other options but mostly am interested in some of the glitches being fixed and a few more design and printing options. I do so much in a DAW, a notation program has really become secondary.If one makes a living off of notation or transcribing I can understand the frustration with no updates or bug fixes in a program one is familiar or likes using. And just a note about Musescore... there's one thing that turns me off so much so that I hate to use it - lack of scroll bars. I can't say how many times I went to drag the page into position and accidentally grabbed a note or a tie or a slur and just moved it out of place. Infuriating! |
acequantum wroteJust curious: does anyone on this thread actually print sheet music in hard copy form? I do print scores, mostly for my own use. I have a large-format printer that can handle orchestral scores. I find it a lot easier to work on a major score if I can print out working draft copies, since it's hard, even with multiple monitors, to see everything "together" while also editing. There's no money in what I do. I'm a retiree, and I write symphonies and other "classical" stuff because I have the music in me. My primary objective is the score itself, not a DAW "realization" of it, although I use DAW playback to share what I'm doing with others. (I'm working on my 8th symphony at the moment.) |
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Is there anything missing or you can't do with Notion when writing your symphonies?
I find writing music from scratch and playing back in Notion is pretty straightforward and I get good results. However, If I import a MIDI file then there are many problems. One thing, Pan, Expression and probably other CCs do not import. You can do a simple test for this. In preferences, make sure MIDI files import as sequencer staves. Import a MIDI file you know to have panning, expression etc and you will see the CCs do not import. This is probably one of the biggest flaws I find in Notion. Another huge problem I find is the inability to sync to other MIDI clocks. It really isn't meant as a sequencer tool. This is a huge irritation to me. Syncing (slave and master settings) MIDI clocks is one of the fundamentals of using a computer, electronic instruments, synths etc. and MIDI in general. If I want to use Notion, at this point I've had to accept that for me it's only good to use as a writing tool - that's why everything else I want to or need to handle electronically for music I use a DAW or other audio tools. |
acequantum wroteIs there anything missing or you can't do with Notion when writing your symphonies? Well, the fact that I've managed to write seven of them suggests that Notion is capable of it.  Having said that, there are things I'd change. I don't particularly like Notion's note-entry method, where you're forced to manually enter notes and rests from the beginning of each measure. If I want to put a single quarter-note on the third beat of a measure, I should be able to do it with a minimum of keystrokes or mouse clicks. Other notation software automatically pads out measures with rests, and allows a quick method of entering notes at their desired location in the measure. Given how often one enters notes when composing, it seems this should be as simple and fuss-free as possible. But Notion's insistence on filling measures left-to right makes this more cumbersome. There's also the process of copying between instruments. Notion requires the select/copy/paste thing, while other software provides hotkey methods of duplicating between staffs. It's small things like this that add time and effort to the work. For the most part, Notion works fine, but there's more busy-work involved. |
nathanielwalker2 wroteJohnBW wrotemichaelmyers1 wroteI downloaded a trial version of Dorico and tested it recently. It took contact with Dorico tech support to get it to work to begin with (audio engine fails). The piano roll editing is OK, but not particularly robust. There is no connectivity with a DAW for deeper production editing. Cubase/Dorico Expression Maps are as equally obscure as Notion Rulesets, and Studio One Sound Variations are considerably easier to use. Probably the biggest issue for me is that Dorico doesn't sound particularly nice when playing back. It's still my opinion that Notion plays music better than any other notation program out there thanks to the native libraries and expansions available... Er... expression Maps are indeed completely obscure. I am very familiar with them and also familiar with how unpopular they are in the Dorico community. Apart from..apparently...you. And attacking someone in such a manner (you are "blatantly intellectually dishonest"- hilarious) for saying this is, frankly, bizarre. |
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Repeating a falsehood doesn’t make it a fact. That’s the bizarre part… that you’re actually doubling down on that.
I stand by what I said. |
nathanielwalker2 wroteRepeating a falsehood doesn’t make it a fact. That’s the bizarre part… that you’re actually doubling down on that. Dorico, Sibelius, Finale, are far superior compared to Notion, and, based on the velocity of improvements Notion mobile presents us, the bad news is that they will continue to be for a long time. All that is a fact. If anyone doubts it just go check the names and number of professional composers among Notion users compared to Dorico for example. Of course, the word professional differs in meaning among some folks here... I have to say though that Notion has a unique way of inserting notes without being limited by the grid which is key for composing concert contemporary music, and that is what made me stick to it. It is unique in that concept. I do have the latest Dorico and had first Finale, then Sibelius to... Notion in 2006... long time, very few improvements. It is abandonware from the perspective that there isn't an update since... 2016? In my case being useless since Big Sur with sluggish behavior. |
rubenstubenchlak wrotenathanielwalker2 wroteRepeating a falsehood doesn’t make it a fact. That’s the bizarre part… that you’re actually doubling down on that. Yea, and no Apple Silicon. My guess is they expect users to view Notion Mobile as the upgrade. Eventually v6 will be phased out. This is why Notion Mobile is available in the Windows and Mac App Stores. Issue with Finale is its focus is predominantly in publishing and education. Bad QoL for composition. Sibelius and Dorico are better there. MuseScore 4 will slot into the niche that Notion filled, especially now that it has pretty nice default orchestral sounds. If only Studio One could import and export XML, natively. |
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