Allegro 2005 [Old Version]

by MakeMusic!

Product Features

• Add percussive power with the Bass Drums, Crash Cymbals, Snare Drum, Tenor Drums and more
• Place dynamics, articulations and slurs everywhere in your song
• Transpose, add chord symbols and guitar fretboards, even enter lyrics - edit your MIDI files more easily
• Enter notes by importing your old MIDI files, then save them as an MP3 for burning to CD
• Band-in-a-Box Auto-Harmonizing adds more to your music

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0007R7E7I
• Item model number: MM00110
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 10, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,557 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #49 in Software > Video & Music > Software > MIDI

Product Description

Allegro is MakeMusic!'s mid-level notation software, Allegro provides a fun and easy way to create and print out sheet music from scratch or from any MIDI file. Because it's based on Finale you always get beautiful printed results. Allegro: Easy, fast and powerful. Perfect for educators, performing musicians, guitarists, composers, arrangers, worship directors and students

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Total decrescendo, July 27, 2006

By 

Did WHAT? - See all my reviews

This review is from: Allegro 2005 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

A frustrating, counter-intuitive, and unnecessarily difficult program. The people at this company are very knowledgeable about music; they just need to hire a software designer and some support people. Here's my first-hand example of what to expect:

The first problem I hit was trying to add a pickup measure mid-score; a simple thing...or so I thought. The instructions were an overly involved work-around obviously engineered by a user and which didn't work. I contacted "support", who offered, "That's exactly how I do it and it works fine for me." Period.

I thanked this person for confirming that I had followed the instructions correctly, and asked if we could get to the matter of why it wasn't working. I was asked to send the file. So I uploaded it and clicked "submit"...ERROR! I informed this person that their attachment tool was broken. Same response, "Works fine for me." My, that was certainly some helpful info...both times.

It's no secret that this software line is notoriously user-hostile; take a glance at its user forums. But this program isn't just poorly designed; it's broken. "Support" confirmed this. And there were other things that didn't work. Also, the "search" feature of the "manual" is broken too. For example, the search term "pickup" yielded 0 (zero) results. This word even appears in some headings of the "manual". In short, nearly everything is just difficult.

Sorry, I gave this program and this company every chance; they blew it. If you want notation software that really is user-friendly, I suggest spending 15-20 bucks and getting "Melody Assistant" by a company called Myriad. (I have no ties to this company; I'm just a delighted user.) It does everything imaginable, including singing vocal music via a synthesized voice, a great tool and something the Finale line can only dream of doing. Great documentation that yields tons of search results...very helpful ones too. And even if you don't like it, at least you're not out $170 or so like I am after buying Allegro 2005.