Software Titles

Finale

Finale is the "Grand Master" of music notation software. This package is designed for professional users and can do just about anything that you want with it.

A free, lower featured version of Finale is available at http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/

Noteworthy Composer

Noteworthy Composer is a very straight-forward package that does music notation for an inexpensive price ($39.00). It is extremely simple to learn and allows very rapid entry of notes even without a MIDI keyboard attached. There is a relatively large community of users of this software (both in the barbershop world and out) that are more than willing to share information and usage tips. The software is available online from http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/

• A note from NWC user:* I've been introduced to NoteWorthy Composer by a barbershopper and I am a strong supporter of this simple, inexpensive yet very effective software. It has a huge number of supporters among musicians in Europe who do whole orchestrations in NTW (I have Handel's Messiah in NW!) I did some of the barbershop music here http://barbershopharmony.org/other_songs.htm

Feature comparison of different notation software (from NWC user perspective) http://www.barbershopharmony.bizland.com/nwc%20vs%20other%20notations%20software.htm

Harmony Assistant

Harmony Assistant and it's little brother Melody Assistant offer a feature called "Virtual Singer" that has the computer actually sing the words and notes. The note entry is not as rapid (it uses a combination of mouse clicks and keystrokes) as some of the other packages but the additional singing feature may be a preference for some people. The software is available from [http://www.myriad-online.com/ Myriad Software]

Reviews

Charley Garrett: This is a topic where I have definite opinions. Naturally, everybody knows that Finale is the standard for publication. It's expensive and relatively hard to learn. I started off with Noteworthy Composer. It's inexpensive, easy to use and does most of what I needed it to do. Later I moved up to "Melody Assistant", which costs $20. I got it because it had an add-on feature called "Virtual Singer" for an additional $20. The deal is, you put in the song and the text and the computer will sing it. Later, to get some additional power, I moved up the the "big brother" product called "Harmony Assistant", and goes for $60. Virtual Singer (VS) works with both of these products. As you can see, this is very_much cheaper than Finale, but it's not free, as Notepad, or some other options.

The synthetic voices are about the best you can get, and very very much cheaper than comparable products, such as Vocaloid. You will never mistake it for a person singing. But that's not the point. The point is to get something that will reproduce this music that I can enter into my PC, in such a way that I can hear my part, with the words, in the context of the other parts. I can control the volume and tempo, and so forth. I can export it to a .wav file, and burn the .wav files to CD, to use in my car to learn the music during my commute to and from work. It can import files from other formats, if you can get them (such as .mid files, finale, noteworthy composer, etc.), but usually, the most expensive part of the process is entering the arrangment into the software. That step can take hours.

After it's in though, I will typically make 5 or six reductions of the piece. All voices balanced. Each part at full volume, in the left channel (closest to the steering wheel of my car), with the other 3 parts at 1/4 volume in the right channel. This allows me to hear my part, louder than the rest. Then I can "duet" with any other part that I want to. And with the full quartet mix. The 6th reduction (which I sometimes skip) has 3 parts balanced at full volume, but leaves my part out completely.

So, that is why I choose use. Harmony Assistant from [http://www.myriad-online.com/ Myriad Software]. But there are more reasons why it is a good choice.

The cost, once paid, includes ALL future upgrades to the product. There is a forum on the website that is very active with users from all over. Questions asked here are actually answered. Bugs in the product actually get fixed. There are tutorials to SHOW you how to use the various features of the product. There is a macro language that lets people share scripts. For example, there is one to help format the output for barbershop quartet arrangments in preparation for printing them (I rarely ever print them, but it's nice to know it's there).