Scoring Software

[wallace]

I'm

[manning1]

wallace...
i dont know how far your needs go. but in powertracks that i use in my sig are pretty advanced mid, editing and notation features.
a complete recording studio in software so to speak.
just some of many features...
very deep midi editing including a piano roll/event editor/notation/midi filtering/jazz fonts/tempo mapping/detailed note editing/printing blank staff paper/
slash chord ability/detailed notation printing options/lead sheets/...and ive just scratched the surface. you can watch videos and try the demo at pgmusic.com.
plus you CAN export your midi compositions as an audio wave file.
also look at the companion product band in a box which might have some usefull features for you thatyou might find of interest.
if your new to midi at the site are a slew of faq's and tutorials for new folks.
some pro tools users use these products as they have some rather nice features.
and there are very active forums on the site with very experienced midi and digital audio users that have helped me in the past. all the best.

[henryrobinett]

I don't know if Powertracks is gonna do Wallace. I use Sibelius and it's pretty awesome in terms of it's notation. Plus, if he's like me and has used Sibelius annd teaked it's manuscript for reading musicians and orchestras, a program like powertracks, (I've not used it btw so I may be way off base here) probably isn't going to suffice.

I don't have a direct answer for you, but you should check out the Silbeius Help Center. I asked a similar question and got a satisfactory answer - I just don't remember what it was. You can do it, but not with the Kontakt Gold or Silver that comes with the program. It's grossly limited and not really upgradable into my useful and more sounds.

You can use Kontakt 2, which I use. If you're using a Mac OSX all you have to do is launch Kontakt, or whatever virtual sampler you're using, first. Load up the sounds you want and assign the midi channels for each instrument, then launch Sibelius. Match the instrument with the VI. That's it.

Maybe I do have a direct answer for you. Also if you're on a Mac the internal IAC is useable for reference, but ultimately not what you'd want for serious puropses. Wel then again nothing really is besides a real orchestra, right?

You do realize that Sibeilus has Garritan Personal Orchestra available? This might be worth looking into. Once again I tihnk its a closed system. What you get is what you get. I don't think you can mix and match sounds.

I LOVE Sibelius!

[manning1]

wallace....
the following link details carefully how to install garritan with powertracks or band in a box. you can use other sample based libraries as well if you wish.
http://www.pgmusic.com/tutorial_garritan.htm
a lot of powertracks users and band in a box users use sample based libraries.
hope this helps you. prolly what youll find is...because i KNOW biab and powertracks users also use sibelius. youll find there are advantages and synergies/features tween the different packages. all the best. for example powertracks has certain strengths while sibelius has certain strengths and biab has certain strengths.

[henryrobinett]

Wallace - Cool. Go to Sibelius Help Center. It's their Forum. They call it a chat room I think. They're very helpful. I don't see why it wouldn't work. Sounds like you've got something screwy in your setup. You should be able to play CDs. What set up, besides 001, do you have?

BTW PowerTracks does look cool.

[dpdavis]

Hey there,

Before you buy, I would check out a scoring program called NOTION. It's a brilliant, new scoring software with London Symphony samples built into the design of the software. This way, everything you add or subtract to the score is immediately reflected in the playback - and the good news is that the samples are not separate from the program. Another plus, is that the program is designed for musicians who can read and write music - that is it isn't based on the block oriented concept of midi, but created for people who are used to writing music on paper.

FINALE is also good, although a big learning curve. I've found it to be better than Sibelius, mostly because it has had much more time to work out the little problems that make working effortless. They are including Garritan Personal Orchestra with their latest release. If you are more score dependent, NOTION would be more to your liking. If you are more midi based in your writing, then Finale or Sibelius will most likely be more comfortable for you.

[dpdavis]

By the way, they will all play through your soundcard or your 001. Simply a matter of how you set up the routing in your program and your computer.

[henryrobinett]

Wallace - I thought you already had Sibelius. Well I can tell you that the learning curve is quite easy. But you know Finale is the standard, but Sibelius is pushing hard against it. It took no time at all for me to be up and running with writing scores. And it, like Finale, is set up for writing/reading musicians. I realy got turned on to it when I started working with a film composer. The scores looked so I good I assumed it must've been Finale. I was looking since my old Mosaic was crippled in OSX. He used and swore by Sibelius. Easy to learn, but you know, each of us have our biases.