Are there any programs like Power Tab, but for standard notation instead? I thought I saw a reference to one in a post while at work, but was too busy to write it down, and now can't find the post :(
Most MIDI based software has a staff editor so you can compose using standard notation. Sonar is the best, IMHO.
A the top of the heap, though, is Sibelius, although this is more a word processor with a musical font than a composition package and its playback facilities are limited (read: sound awful)
Best,
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
There are a lot of them...
I've seen free ones on the net, and I tried about a dozen of them. All were junk, and I stopped looking (but more on that below)
For cheapies, I started with Voyetra's. It lists for $90 - I got my (very out of date $70 list) copy in a closeout bin at a CompUSA for $20 or $30. It does a decent, but not stellar, job. I've seen others in this range, but since I already owned a cheapie, I didn't try them.
Voyetra allows me control over the accidentals (the flaw I've found in Power Tab), and it's relatively easy to use.
Then there's the big leagues - the software used for professional notation. There are three big names: Finale ($600 list), Sibelius($599 list), and Igor(couldn't find the price on their website - I think it's around $399). If you're going to do an orchestral score, figured bass, or professional notation, you need one of these.
What's the difference between professional notation and something like Voyetra? Well... I can do a full orchestral score, or figured bass, or change the spacing between staves to make it easier to read... or change the font used for notes, control the angle of beams... pretty much everything.
I believe Finale is the most widely used. They all seem similar in features, and differ on things like the instruments pre-loaded.
Oh yeah, the stuff in between: Sibelius publishes a guitar version (G7, $149 list) that does standard notation, chord charts, and tab. Finale has a 'lite' version called Allegro ($200 list), a super-lite version called NotePads Plus ($25), and a free version called NotePad. I'd be willing to bet these products have the same features and shortcomings as the competitors. NotePad might be worth a look for a freebie, though.[/url]
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Finalé Notepad is the best free one I've come across. It does have problems, and there seems to be a glitch in the playback on my computer, but apart from that its a pretty comprehensive piece of software, and really not at all bad for a freebie.
Take a look at it, you might not like it but I've found it to be very useful.
Peter
Does Guitar Pro have standard notation, or is it just tab?
It has standard notation. So does Powertab, for that matter. The cheapest scoring program (for Windows) that I know of is Noteworthy Composer, which is a decent program. If you're comfortable producing your score with a sort of scripting language, Lilypond is getting a lot of attention. It's free, as well.
Guitar Pro has standard notation, but it always accompanies the tab. You can't turn off the tab and just have standard notation. Also you have no control over what it decides a note is. So it might show a C# even though you want a Db. And it doesn't seem to obey any rules in naming notes, so for example you might add a Cm chord in the chord editor and the notes are C D# G instead of C Eb G.
Finale also makes another program that is a step up from the notepad and notepad plus called PrintMusic, I think it is under $100 but it only does standard notation and doesn't do tab at all. Whereas notepad and notepad plus let you do tab, but you can't notate articulations such as bends in the tab.
I bought a program called MusEdit
http://www.musedit.com/ which can do almost anything the big name programs can do. But it isn't very stable, and can crash a lot. So it has an autosave feature that saves like every 30 seconds.
I just surfed to check out LilyPond that Paul mentioned, it looks pretty cool, of course you don't get visual editing, you have to specify the music in text format, but you have total control. I'm definately going to download it and check it out.
Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it you play the guitar on the MTV
I use MusEdit a lot, and haven't had any problems (Win98). It has a decent TAB to standard converter (and back), and has the option to transpose, which is nice when you play with horn players, as I do. It is certainly a simplified program, but it does almost everything I need.
I found Voyetra difficult, but that was several years ago.
-Laz
