"Changing Keys"

[Rangi]

Hi all,

Just caught up on a range of changes at the Sibelius forum that are pretty unhelpful to me. So thinking serioulsy about switching programs. Any thoughts out there on the best choice at the moment? Critical attributes for me are great integration with VSL (esp slurs and stacctos which were always a challenge with Sib) and great performance on a mac.

I see Notion regulalry mentioned here on the VSL forum but I know nothing of it, and I just started checking out the new cubase development diary (old Steingberg team) and thought that looked pretty good as a first impression.

Thoughts anyone......?

 Cheers,

Rangi.

[Migot]

Rangi,

I'm on Mac.
Notion's user since at least 5 years.
Mostly working on orchestra score in conjunction with SE +.
Writing Music in a traditional way.

So,
Since three weeks now I use «Sibelius Trial version» and I'm extremely pleased with.

His VSL integration is one of the best and easy to manage that I have seen.
Documentation in clear about using VSL :
http://eu.vsl.co.at/downloader.aspx?FileID=52220
...And installing the «VSL Sound Set»
http://eu.vsl.co.at/downloader.aspx?FileID=56891
give a perfect communication with SE + instrument library.

One of the important thing, from my point of view, is that Sibelius use «original VSL patch into their «Preset» The result is a very natural, and pure sound return.

Other Softwares have tweaked «sound set» to get a different esthetic what it is not always a good thing beacause it is an altération to the purity of VSL's patchs.

In the past years I have work with Finale (1989), Digital Performer, Cubase Trial, and Notion 3, 4, 5...  and I think that Sibelius is actualy the best Music engraver software which give the users the most simple and natural way to work with libraries like VSL, and this with a wonderfull result.

Sincerely I can't see any reason for moving from Sibelius to Notion !
...the opposite would be understandable... !!!

Of course the thing to move from a software to an other is always a matter of needs.

Regards

Alain

[Bill]

Notion is a great composing tool; much less combersome than Sibelius. It's short on the engraving end.

There's a demo, so you can try for yourself.

[DaddyO]

Re: Notion,

Loading an instrument directlly with VSL sounds in Vienna Instruments (Pro) is easy and pretty straightforward. Loading a set of instruments hosted in Vienna Ensemble (Pro) is more cumbersome but doable. Notion's mixer is functional but rudimentary enough that you probably will want to use Vienna Ensemble (Pro) so you can avail yourself of it's mixer functions.

A user named Mike Meyers is partway through a series of YouTube videos showing how to creat a Vienna Ensemble (Pro) template in Notion 5, and there's been some activity around this subject on the official forum lately.

The Vienna Instruments (Pro) presets for the Special Editions (including PLUS) seem to work pretty well, and you can work with a sequencer version of each stave, though obviously functionality is not comparable to a full-blown DAW. You can customize your own Rules to control instrument behavior, and Notion 5 has made that easier than in the past. Still, custom rule sets are by nature pretty laborious.

Can't speak regarding Mac, I'm on a PC.

I agree with BIll, it's short on engraving, but if that's not important to you then who cares. For scoring and editing it is very intuitive and fast.

I have no personal history with the other notation programs. I will say, though, that the magnificent-sounding Steinberg project is proving to be a VERY slow, deliberate process. Don't look for an actual product any time soon.

[Migot]

Can confirm that what «Hobbyist» said about Notion 5 on PC is the same on Mac.

Best