Excellent software programme exceptThe tyranny of Tonality

#1 12-20-2005, 04:02 PM

The system you have produced with MidiNotate Composer is a fascinating one, and, although with less rhythmic subtelty than Sibelius 4 (try writing septuplets using MidiNotate!), it is a useful, if basic tool. My overall impressions are favourable, therefore, but I would ask you to consider two further improvements:

1) the ability for the programme to offer an "atonal" key setting, so that one doesn't have continuously to rewrite notes using the enharmonic spelling option - very frustrating to have to keep changing those C#s into a Dbs all the time!

2) the ability to write 5, 6, 7 etc -tuplets when one wishes to: contemporary "serious music" composers do use more than just triplets in their music, and as a professional composer, I find it quite irritating not being able to do this on a programme that is generally rather a good one.

3) the ability to write a piece of music so that the parts are in different keys (and even time signatures) at the same time. This isn't a new thing - Bartok was doing that back in the 1920s and 30s. So come on - let's have that option too.

4) the ability to have a template facility to put written tempi (and especially metronome markings!) in pieces we write. Sibelius does this as a matter of course, and it is a helpful facility.

So, overall, MidiNotate Composer is not bad. But I won't be disposing of my Sibelius 4 just yet, but then neither shall I be prevented from writing music using MidiNotate Composer. Let's call it 7/10.

#2 12-20-2005, 05:09 PM

Hello Dr. Kalve,

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The system you have produced with MidiNotate Composer is a fascinating one, and, although with less rhythmic subtelty than Sibelius 4 (try writing septuplets using MidiNotate!), it is a useful, if basic tool. My overall impressions are favourable, therefore, but I would ask you to consider two further improvements:<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>That your impressions are overall favorable, when holding up MidiNotate Composer to Sibelius, is a compliment to MidiNotate Composer, in my estimation. The music that you prepared and showed us in the Share Your Music section of this forum comes closer to the limits of Composer's notation capabilities for the types of music and musician users that Composer is currently designed for (and marketed to). Although my main efforts in the future will be satisfy the needs of "everyday musicians", particularly so that music making is ever easier and more enjoyable, I will also be devoting some effort to more advanced features, such as those you have requested below. To be honest, the rhythm features you have requested shouldn't even really be considered "advanced"; they are pretty basic; it's just that there has been very little demand for these advanced rhythm features compared to other features, so other features have taken priority in my development efforts.

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1) the ability for the programme to offer an "atonal" key setting, so that one doesn't have continuously to rewrite notes using the enharmonic spelling option - very frustrating to have to keep changing those C#s into a Dbs all the time!<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>I think Composer may already satisfy this need. Atonal passages using have a no flats or sharp key signature, but let's suppose that the key signature is one flat (for Bb). If you click a mouse at the staff line for B, then the note will be added without an accidental, but the pitch will be Bb, because the note inherits the flat from the key signature. Suppose you want the pitch to be B-natural; then you can just type "na" for "natural", and a natural sign will be added in front of the B note. Or, you can change the accidental to anything you want: flat, sharp, double flat, double sharp, by typing "b", "#", "db", or "x". You don't have to mess with enharmonic spellings.

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2) the ability to write 5, 6, 7 etc -tuplets when one wishes to: contemporary "serious music" composers do use more than just triplets in their music, and as a professional composer, I find it quite irritating not being able to do this on a programme that is generally rather a good one.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>Composer does support 5-tuplets as well as triplets. But I agree, it also should support other tuplets.

In addition, it should have an option to turn hide the -- 3 -- tuplet brackets above notes.

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3) the ability to write a piece of music so that the parts are in different keys (and even time signatures) at the same time. This isn't a new thing - Bartok was doing that back in the 1920s and 30s. So come on - let's have that option too.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>Yes, this feature is already on the to-do list. Yours is only the second request I've received for this, but I understand it is important for some compositions. A half work-around for now is to change the beaming patterns used in different staves to emphasize the contrasting beats.

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4) the ability to have a template facility to put written tempi (and especially metronome markings!) in pieces we write. Sibelius does this as a matter of course, and it is a helpful facility.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>Do I understand correctly that you just want a vocabulary of musical terms? You're not asking for "intelligence" or "interpretation" of the markings, right? The musical vocabulary feature is one that is definitely planned for Composer, with a fairly high priority.

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So, overall, MidiNotate Composer is not bad. But I won't be disposing of my Sibelius 4 just yet, but then neither shall I be prevented from writing music using MidiNotate Composer. Let's call it 7/10.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>As I mentioned above, I consider this a compliment in comparing MidiNotate Composer with Sibelius, which, like Finale, is an excellent program for producing very complicated notation-- more complicated than what the vast majority of musicians need, who are writing or arranging music that is, let's say, "easy to read" (which doesn't necessary imply easy to play).

Cheers
-- Mark

#3 12-20-2005, 07:52 PM

Thanks for the reply, Mark - much appreciated, as was the fact you didn't comment on the fact that my "two further improvements" became four without warning!! Well as you saw from my pieces I submitted, MidiNotate can already do a lot and that is good.

point 1 - yes - I was thinking of serial "atonality", where the notes are very strictly ordered and need to be notated reasonably strictly, but I will have a go - maybe it is just me doing something wrong!

point 2) - 5-tuplets are available, and I forgot that - apologies! But glad to see that more will be becoming available in new editions of MN

point 3) - good to see plans are in motion on this. Yes - beaming would be one way to make empasis on this - Schumann and Mendelssohn are good examples of 19th century composers who used this extensively in their keyboard music

point 4) yes indeed - just a vocab facility to speed that part of the "dotting the Is and crossing the Ts" that we all get fed up doing!

Obviously Sib and Fin are very sophisticated tools, but MN was never intended to be that. I had a lot of fun using MN to see what I could do with it, and on the whole, I am reasonably impressed, so well done!

---Peter