Features

• Click notes onto the staff and hear the pitches -- drag them up and down to find the pitches you want
• Play a MIDI keyboard and see the music appear instantly -- or import and export MIDI files, adding your own lyrics and verses
• Type a chord name to hear how it sounds and see its guitar fretboard -Try any tempo, transpose to any key and add automatic harmonies
• Print great-looking sheet music -Add chord symbols and fretboard diagrams, with up to 6 lyric verses; Add dynamics, slurs, articulations & transpose to any key

Reviews (6)

Still not terribly user friendly
This is the second Finale product I have purchased.The first was the full-blown version of the music writing software.I found it too difficult to learn to be of much use.Now several years later I thought I'd try again.Finale has fantastic capabilities in terms of what a composer can create on paper, but, again, I have found it to be rather user unfriendly.Things like an ability to use your mouse to scroll down a printer page of music appear to be absent.Ability to change the size of your document on the page (analogous to a "font" tool) are likewise missing.Thankfully, I have previous experience of working through a few basic concepts of the software to assist me with this new product.
Okay For The Money, But...
This is my first experience with notation software.Perhaps my expectations were a little high. Bottom line, the HyperScribe (Notate As You Play) feature is useless. There's no problem with my equipment e.g., computer, keyboard, or MIDI Interface. The software isn't capable of reproducing 'real time' play. Talk about "Lost in Translation!" Uploading data from floppy disk, CD, or a Flash Card is better, but far from acceptable. I've also tried to load music directly from the hard drive. Regardless the media used to interface with this program, your song won't come close to sounding the way you want. Get ready to spend countless hours editting your song. Even then, it won't reproduce audibly the way it's written. I'll take the hit for trying to make sheet music inexpensively, but SongWriter doesn't live up to the hype -- at all. It's fun to play with, but don't expect too much. Save your money & time. Incidentally, the problem isn't with the users. Between us, my wife & I have over ninety-years music experience.

Best deal for the money.
Look, notation software is notoriously expensive.All musicians know that.So, when you see SongWriter and its price, it's a relief.Everything you need is in this program.I only have one complaint.
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Features

• CD-ROM
• More than 50 software instrument presets you can use to perform rhythm and backing tracks with a keyboard in a variety of styles
• Build unique tracks with loops for rock, blues, metal, jazz, and country songs
• Choose from new, fully playable acoustic (including an “unplugged” acoustic bass guitar) and electric basses covering some of the most popular studio tones,
• Play a variety of new software drum kits, covering everything from jazz brushes to classic 1970s studio sound to heavy metal
• Using your keyboard, you can strum, pick and perform more than 10 playable guitars and other stringed instruments, including a bluegrass banjo, an blues acoustic guitar, a dobro, and three new electric guitars, with harmonics and power chords

Reviews (1)

Not good, pathetic
Well the price reflects the quality of these loops. You will be getting the big bunch of primitive, annoying loops. Compared one to one with loops I'm getting from any major loops producer, Big Fish for an example, these are laughable, like beginner drummer's exercises. Yes, there're many of them, but they ended up been deleted from my drives completely to give a way to the real stuff. These may be Ok, if you make some 20 seconds intro for Final-Cut's movie, but as for music these are totally worthless. I'm not a drummer but even I can do better with pads. Go to web sites of any major loop producing companies and listen to the loops they produce and compare. I think it is better idea to buy five great bits for a song rather than load the drive with this bundle of garbage. ... Read more

Features

• CD-ROM
• Entry-level music notation software with faster note entry
• Create, play back, and print publisher-quality sheet music up to 24 staves
• Easily print, e-mail, or save; post score on Internet; export MIDI files
• Smart expressions make tempo markings easy; QuickStart video tips
• Human playback and SmartMusic sound font; Mac OS X native

Reviews (4)

Powerful but Difficult to Learn
This application is capable of producing sheet music of publishable quality and playing it back, including named chords, but can be frustratingly difficult to learn. Little about it seems intuitive or works the way one would think: many of the operations require you to remember special keyboard-mouse combinations or perform unusual actions such as double-clicking and holding down the mouse button on the second click or selecting the same menu option twice. Unfortunately there is no searchable online help - only a PDF user manual with a table of contents and a 'How Do I' section. The manual does contain links to other sections but there is no index and no way to return to the table of contents easily. There is a searchable Windows help file included but it does not appear to contain much information. Having said that, once you have learned the basics and familiarized yourself with its many quirks, the program is quite powerful. It also allows you to create templates for particular instrument configurations and start from a template when beginning a new piece. I have not tried the scanning, MIDI or microphone-entry features. You should know that you must register the software with the vendor online or by phone within 30 days of installing it, and that the registration process requires you to furnish personal information about yourself such as your name and email or mailing address. In addition, the numeric key which is returned to you at the time of registration works only on the computer on which you installed the software. According to the manual, if you change any of the hardware on your computer the software may no longer work and you will have to repeat the registration process.
Not nearly as good as the (much cheaper) competition.Avoid!
I saw this software in a Mac store and based upon the features listed on the box, I bought it. The limitations for this version of the software are extreme:you can't make your own chord diagrams, you can't score more than a few instruments and play it back (there's apparently a limit of MIDI channels allowed) - getting around both of these problems require the most expensive version of the product --- and the "upgrade" cost is $400! The manuals aren't particularly helpful, either.
final print music
easy to start using and easier progressions to higher levels of use ... Read more

Features

• CD-ROM
• Find first and second violins, violas, cellos, double basses, and a concert harp, as well
• Include flutes, oboes, lovely French horns, trumpets, trombones, and tubas, among others
• Play a wide selection of percussive elements: bass, snare and field drum; cymbals, gong, and bells; the woodblock and still others
• Find new keyboard instruments

Features

• CD-ROM
• Play 40 rare and exotic instruments from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, India, Europe, the United Kingdom, South and Central America, Cuba, and Jamaica
• Play specialized drum kits that incorporate the most distinctive, interesting percussion from Asia, India, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Europe
• Features a variety of wind instruments that have developed a unique character throughout various regions of the world
• Try your hand at the Indian Sitar, the Japanese Koto, the Persian Santoor, The Russian Balailaka, some Spanish Flamenco guitar, and more

Reviews (1)

The best of the Jam Packs
I've bought three of the packs before and I just bought this one. At first I wasn't sure what it could really do for my sound, but it is absolutely amazing. The African choir will shock you, it sounds so good. The new instrument sounds will give your music a broader, more worldly sound. It's worth the buy even if you just want to pay around with it. It's the best one that I've bought yet. ... Read more

Features

• New for 2007 Linked Parts - intelligently link your score and parts to save time
• New for 2007: Mac/Intel Support
• New for 2007: Video Support - import video plus send and display SMPTE time code
• New for 2007: Latin Percussion - add authentic Latin rhthythms and sound

Features

• CD-ROM
• Create, play, and experience music using only your mouse and imagination
• Innovative software by world-renowned composer Morton Subotnick
• Endless possibilities to draw original compositions on your screen
• Cool games teach rhythm, melody, pitch, musical instruments, and more
• Choose from 16 instruments; compose with 23 tools

Reviews (2)

interesting, but didn't hold their attention
My two boys (8 and 6 years old) both really loved this program when we first installed it and couldn't get enough of it.The interface is easy to use and the screen is bright and colorful.The problem was that it just didn't hold their interest.After a few days of playing around with it, they got bored.You can only create very simple compositions and the novelty factor quickly wore off.It's not a bad buy for the money (the "real" composer software is much more expensive), but it just didn't have the long term "playability" of what I would consider a good software program.

An old favorite remains the best of its kind!
As a third grade teacher, I had this product in my classroom for years, until one day it inevitably got lost.I have been looking for a new copy for a while, and was glad to find it available on Amazon.It is, in my opinion, the best program of its type.The concept is very easy, children paint in a KID PIX type of format onto a white board, and that painting is then translated into music.If you draw at the top of the screen you will have a high note, at the bottom a low note.The longer you draw the same pitch horizontally the longer the note will be held.The simplicity makes it accessible to kids as young as kindergarten, but there's lots of features that make it riveting for older kids and adults as well.You have a wide variety of instrument to "draw" your music with, and there are lots of options that allow kids to experience their compositions in different ways.Hear your opus backwards or learn what it sounds like if it were flipped upside down.This is a program that people of all ages will enjoy (it was one of everyone's favorites on parent night).Sometimes simpler really is superior, and this program is a perfect example. ... Read more

Features

• Powerful Music Creator 3 digital audio workstation software
• Cakewalk Music Connector 1 USB MIDI adapter to connect MIDI keyboards
• Create audio and MIDI tracks using any instrument, vocals, or audio loops
• On-screen mixer to seamlessly mix all your audio and MIDI tracks
• Up to 160 total tracks: 32 audio and 128 MIDI; audio quality to 24-bit/48 kHz

Features

• Compatibility with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther
• G7 Guitar Guide updated with more information and photos of guitars, provided by Fender and Gibson
• Ability to enter tab data directly through a MIDI guitar has been significantly improved
• Opens Finale and Finale Guitar files

Reviews (2)

Even Better than before...
See my previous review for G7 (from before Kontakt update.)
Excellent
DOES handle 6 channel midi guitar input - I don't know what the previous reviewer's problem was. Also the manual is excellent, the printed output is publication quality. handles tab and notation and converts back and forth with a mouse click. Also imports ASCII tab files of which there are thousands for free on the Internet. Scanning works but you must be careful to use clean printed originals. Aldo Kontakt is a nice set of guitar and pop music oriented sounds. Overall very good program - well designed and a good value. Far and away exceeds its competition in this category - Finale Guitar. ... Read more

Features

• Powerful notation software with robust set of tools
• Endless options for composing, arranging, hearing, and printing music
• Tools for teaching students how to create, evaluate, and shape ideas
• Create SmartMusic Accompaniment files; special notations
• Scanning, Internet publishing, and Human Playback

Features

• CD-ROM
• Project compatibility with Garageband 3; playback of compressed files
• Easy-to-use software tools for music creation and production
• Universal application runs natively on Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs
• Integrated support for Apogee Ensemble FireWire interface
• Digidesign Pro Tools HD 7 DAE support; Serato Pitch 'n Time support

Editorial Review

Perfect for students and beginning musicians, MusicWrite Starter Kit is a great way to learn how notes, rhythm, and harmony work together to create music. Click on the music staff to add notes and instantly hear what they sound like. Compose a few bars and hit Play to hear what you've just composed.Read more

Features

• CD-ROM
• Watch as the notes you play appear on your PC screen
• Listen to hear your notes and arrangements played through your MIDI synthesizer
• Add different instrument sounds through the MIDI Orchestra feature -- hear & edit every nuance to your song before you print the score
• Print out a whole score, or just the harmonies or drum notation -- it's easy and convenient
• The Music Write Starter Kit will easily handle all your music needs!

Features

• CD-ROM
• Complete software for writing, playing, printing, and publishing music notation
• Laid-out instrumental parts update themselves whenever the full score changes
• 1700+ ready-made worksheets and resources; write music to video
• Copy-and-paste to Word; optical beams and ties; 11 new plug-ins
• Publish music on the Internet; create CDs; on-screen tutorials and reference

Reviews (3)

Sibelius 2 more convienient
I have not tried Sibelius 3, but comparing Sib 4 to Sib 2, I'll take 2 because of one main feature: The new playback line feature in Sib 4. I HATE THIS FEATURE!!!!!!! In Sib 2, you simply click on the note that you want it to start playing from and press play, and it starts playing from that point, and if nothing is selected, it starts playing from the top. Totally logical. But in Sib 4, there's this stupid line that starts at the top when you press play, and when you press stop, the line stops and stays there, and when you start playing again, it just picks up where it left off. Stupid? YES!!! And there's no simple way to move the line to where you want it to start, say in the middle of the score. The only way to move the line is by using the Fast Forward/Rewind buttons, or the timeline slider, or using an option from a menu, or using a three-key shortcut. Either way, it is a BIG WASTE OF TIME!! When I'm composing a passage and I want to listen to it over and over again, it is so easy in Sib 2 to just click on the note your want to start on and it just plays from that point, and not deal with all this stupid playback line CRAP. SO INCONVIENIENT!!!!!!!!
Sibelius and Finale
I'm a long-term registered Sibelius user. Sibelius upgrades come fast and furious and this is a part of Sibelius business model. I buy every other upgrade. I suspect they simplyhoard some features and space them out from one version to the next. Having said that, Sibelius is still the best notation software on the market. I've used everything from much-lamented Encore (RIP) to Finale. Finale has a WAY steeper learning curve than Sibelius. Finale has more tools and bells, but Sibelius is considerably more intuitive and easier to use. For avant-garde scores Sibelius is less time consuming, even with graphic and aleatoric scores. Caveat 1: Ignore all Sibelius additional options, most are useless. Caveat 2: Educational version will only allow one computer install. To move the software from one computer to another you need to call and get an authorization.To run it on two computers ( say, my desktop and laptop), you have to pay extra. This is the worst part of the Sibelius soft. Otherwise it's out-of-the-box useful.

Superb
I was able to purchase this NEW copy of Sibelius 4 for a fraction of the price I would've paid to the actual company.As a college student, a good deal is always so helpful! ... Read more

Features

• CD-ROM
• Finale Performance Assessment (FPA) – Create music for FPA in Finale
• Music Scanning with SmartScore Lite 3.0 by Musitek
• Exercise Wizard -- Instantly generates practice pieces -- for your entire band, orchestra, or choir.
• Free, downloadable Finale NotePad lets you share your Finale files with anyone – who can then print, play, edit and save!
• Create audio CDs of your Finale files (including MP3)

Reviews (3)

Still has some bugs
While you can get it to do what you want most of the time it still has some bugs (GPO playback) that will irritate you. For example after scoring a piano piece and playing it back two of the notes played for an oddly short duration as though staccato. Another time in a six measure repeat the first two violin notes played back about half volume during the repeat. If I adjusted the volume up using accents or note articulations then the two notes played loudly the first time through. While these types of bugs happen relatively infrequently, when they do happen, I find the only solution is to rescore from scratch and hope they don't show up again, or to score once for print and a second time for playback.
Great Sound!
The sound quality with this is incredible!I took songs I wrote on finale 2005 (I upgraded to 2006 for $100) and put them into 2006; it sounds SO MUCH BETTER.If you listen to it through headphones, you might as well be at a live performance!It's easy to notate and print (and it looks great)!It's well worth the money.Costumer support is nice and fixed many of my simple problems (that only had to do with my ignorance).

Finale is What? AWESOME!!!!
This is the absolute best music notation software out there--don't let the price scare you, it's worth every penny. It make beautiful and professional(this is what BIG music companies use--Hal Lenoard, Warner Bros. to name a couple)sheet music. Every musician, whether you're a teacher, student, or even a musician for a church or religious organization. You can do your own arrangements of music to FIT YOUR GROUP! ... Read more

Features

• CD-ROM
• Create and arrange music with software instruments, Apple loops, and live recordings
• Control critical mixing functions, software instruments, and routing for any track
• Automate mixing and effect parameters with the same powerful tools that they pros use
• Import QuickTime movies and create music for video

Features

• CD-ROM
• Music notation software for creating, hearing, and printing sheet music
• Free music scanning and SmartMusic instrument sounds
• Write songs up to 24 staves; create scores and print out parts
• Create lead sheets with lyrics, chord symbols, and guitar fretboards
• Easy to print, e-mail, or save as SmartMusic Accompaniment

Reviews (7)

Some powerful features, but Scanning isn't one of them
If you're buying this for the scanning feature you may want to reconsider.
Printmusic is great!
It's easy to use, but some short cuts are hard to find.

Pretty Good Software
Using other opinions, I decided to purchase this software.I had never used music notation software before, but this is really easy to use.It has a lot of good features.Sometimes it can be confusing, but that's solvable by reading the helpful manual.I am very impressed with this software. ... Read more

Features

• Easily integrate technology into your teaching

Features

• CD-ROM
• Write, record, mix, and print music with this all-in-one program
• Arrange and record multi-track compositions
• Build compositions from scratch or from existing MIDI files
• View your creations during playback in real-time notation
• Print to review your composition; rehearse at your own pace

Reviews (5)

AVOID
Crashes frequently.No discernable product support provided on website (may be discontinued?) I was never able to finish a song with this.I have since purchased Finale SongWriter and it is fantastic.Get it instead.

quickstart
this product does not let one enter more then 20 measures for any one song

WARNING: Do NOT purchase this junk!
THis is an awful kluge. Compared to comparably priced competitive music compostion software, it is poorly organized, difficult to operate, and produces mediocre results. The voices are thin, cheap tinwhistle sounds. Easily outperformed by C64 software from 20 years ago. BEWARE! ... Read more

Features

• CD-ROM
• Enter your music in a traditional staff, or display it automatically for a TAB staff
• An extensive library of special symbols and shapes used with notation and for over 50 fretted instruments
• Input notes with a MIDI guitar and see instant TAB notation
• Advanced music scanning technology and optical character recognition helps musicians scan sheet music and turn it into a Finale file
• Rhyming Dictionary helps songwriters find the right rhyme for any lyric

Reviews (6)

Wasted my money on this one
I used to use Encore, which was great, but the publisher went out of business and my old version wouldn't run on Win XP. So I bought Finale Guitar. What a mistake.
Beware of Limitations
I have gone from the the free Notepad program to, I think it was, Notepad Plus? Then when I found out that those programs could not have more than one time signature in a piece I decided to go with Finale Guitar.This program WAS able to do this. Then I found out that if I place a pickup measure at the start of a piece and wanted to place a repeat back to the beginning I could not do this from half-way through a measure. In other words, if a piece in 4/4 has a pickup measure containing one quarter note, I cannot repeat from a measure that has three quarter notes.I contacted support and after two days they came back with the answer that the software could not do this, but that I could upgrade to the current version of Finale. I asked for a workaround and they have not replied after three more days. Also, Finale Guitar will not read files that you do in the Free versionbecause it is based on 2003 code.
Slow and difficult to learn
I purchased Finale Guitar to finally get onto paper all of the hundreds of guitar arrangements I currently play from memory.It was a reasonably priced non-shareware guitar notation program so I thought it would be better.Well after using the program for several months, I am still having to go to the help files just to do the simplest of tasks.First of all I am a computer programmer, so I regularly learn and use all sorts of computer programs.I understand that everything has a learning curve, but this program is very frustrating in that it is not at all intuative.The main frustration comes from the fact that EVERYTHING that should be simple and out front or copy/pasteable is buried in a menu and dialog box somewhere.Also not all of the objects on the page can be simply "copied and cloned", then properties of the copied item changed, like a word processor.Even selection of things to be copied often requires some special dialog to copy it in a certain way.In other words if you are expecting to be able to put a chord on the page, then copy and paste it 20 times and simply change the attributes of all your copies to new chords, you are out of luck, you will basically have to do each from scratch.Also if you need to change the key without transposing the notes you are out of luck.Most operations cannot be done with copy/paste, you must go through all the gyrations of buried menus over and over, not much of just right clicking to get a properties window that does what you expected.It appears that they tried to simplify things by forcing you into a 'mode' for every separate operation rather than just picking one simple sequence that people understand and making all operations conform to that.I was not looking for a program to do midi playback/creation I wanted an easy and powerful notation program to get stuff on paper, so I am not reviewing the sound/midi aspects.This may be powerful but it's difficulty and laborious editing processes make it extremely frustrating for someone doing manual editing.Also it does not come with very good templates for popular music, the lead sheet templates or example do not contain the codas or repeat endings, one of the difficult operation to learn, so to create a fake sheet you will have to learn how to do repeat endings and codas right out of the box yourself.This alone will probably take you a few evenings to learn.You will also spend another evening trying to figure out how to evenly space your sytems and staffs.Then more time to do the next thing, etc.You will probably not get much done, with manual entry, because the learing curve is so slow. This is coming from someone who has been using computers for over 30 years, long before PC's.Needless to say, I will be switching to a different notation program.Also the PDF user manual that comes with this product is fragmented into dozens of separate files, to read it you have to constantly click back to the TOC and open a different PDF, again slow and unsearchable as a whole. Also the copuple of times I went to the support forum, the web site was breaking with MySQL errors.I am not at all happy with this program but I do not have a recomendation for anything else at this time.I will be reading other revierws here for a program that is fast and easy with manual entry tasks.
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Features

• CD-ROM
• Music composition and production software for recording, editing, and mixing
• Professional-quality audio and MIDI tools; 50+ software instruments
• 37 high-quality audio plug-ins; same interface and workflow as Logic Pro 7
• Studio-style mixer; edit and print performances using standard music notation
• Over 1,000 bundled Apple Loops; audio resolution of up to 24-bit/96 kHz

Reviews (1)

BEST BEST BEST
Best software in the history of the world. I have a g4 apple mac mini, and this compliments it well.I just finished recording an entire album using this software, and I made studio engineers jelouse.Never thought my project did i say "i wish i could do..." you will be overwhelmed with this! it's amazing.You will need a good condencer mic and adio preamp interface, but other then that.your good to go... If you have a mac, why get a software like pro tools that works on pc too. this is ment to work with your machine perfectly.NO QUESTIONS ASKED...but you appke company wound help you out, you have to figure out the bells and whisles. go to the apple site, and you can download a 30 day 100% free 100% full verson test run.I only hopefinle cut is as good.... ... Read more