I've been evaluating different notation software packages to find one that suits me. I want something with a short learning curve, decent playback, the ability to print quality lead sheets, and it should be able to produce tab sheets, too.

I've checked out Sibelius (including the now discontinued G7 for guitarists), Finale, Notion, some shareware products. Also, I checked out a songwriting package called Tanager SongFrame.

Any experiences? Recommendations?

I believe this one would work for you.

http://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php

_________________
Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I use powertab editor to write notation for my bassist. I dont know dots too well, he doesnt understand tab. So powertab helps me with the timing aspect of notation.

_________________
No no and no

I was going to mention that one too. PowerTab is the first one I used and it was free. Then I moved to GuitarPro which costs around $50.00.

And if you go to http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ there is already tons of tab for both programs!!

_________________
Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

My son swears by LilyPond, but I've yet to see how it works :

http://lilypond.org/

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Chet.

It was you that put me onto powertab many moons ago.

_________________
No no and no

Excellent!

_________________
Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I 2nd Chet on Guitar-Pro. I've used it, it works very well and is easy and fast to learn.

We use Finale to create charts for our horn section. It works good for us. We have 3 guitarists and we just work out who is playing what part on each song.

Hi Steve: didn't you raise this one before? Anyhow, I use Sibelius when I use anything. I ain't fascinated by the learning aspect of these things, and even I managed to get it under my belt quite quickly. You do need to read the manual though: some of it is not intuitive, whatever they say.

My dad is also a bigtime Sibelius user for full orchestral scores, which I think is kind of its home territory. No upper limits to what it can do in that field, far as I've heard.

Cheers - C

I don't have a lot of experience with these kinds of things. The most I've used is Powertab and I often get those from Ultimate Guitar. I did download the demo of Guitar Pro and thought it was an excellent program.

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/guitarmike26

Free & Easy Down the Road I Go

I bought Guitar Pro 5 not long ago and I really haven't had time to work with it. But after I bought it I found Guitar Traks pro 4 for a comparable price and it has a notation software in it, but I don't know how good/complete it is. But it seems to be a better allotment of stuff and it normally cost 90 to 100 bucks whereas GP5 is about 50 (I got mine on sale for 40). Look around and try demos before you buy... get the most for your dollar, especially during the holidays. Incidentally Guitar Traks is made by Cakewalk and is in the clearance section at MF.

_________________
Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. George Washington
No picture = No equipment
Fender CD-60
Squier Deluxe Stratocaster
Squier VM Tele Thinline

Hi Ceri,

Yes, I did ask the question before. I finally decided on Sibelius G7 only to find out it had been discontinued before I could secure a copy. Now the need has become acute so I've resumed my search. Since then I've come across a few more I hadn't heard of before and the good people of this Forum have provided me with more choices.

Thanks for your input!

Thanks everyone for your input. I decided I wanted a fuller featured package: lead sheet printing, easy key changes, advanced notation editing, audio playback and it should handle lyrics well. Also, it should have guitar features such as easy entry of chord symbols and the ability to produce tab.

I narrowed my choices to Notion Progression, Sibelius First Music and Finale PrintMusic 2010, all were $99. Sibelius didn't have the guitar features I was looking for and I don't understand why they discontinued their G7 guitar software. The Notion and Finale packages were about equal, but Notion was 25% off making it the winner.

I should have ample time this holiday weekend to put it through its paces. Thanks again.

There's this online thing, but it's quite tedious.

http://www.sheetmusiceditor.com/