Customer Reviews

Notion NOTION 3 Composition Software

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been using this program for some time now. Very easy to learn and you can get inside and program some pretty advanced stuff. Works well with all the plug-ins I have---and I have many. Easy to set them up as well. I don't know if I'd want to have this program ONLY---but for some operations I don't think it can be beat---like the ability to easily program switching instrument effects etc. Certainly, NOTHING comes close for the price. Pretty dang powerful for $199.00! Heard it was written by Indian programmers. Man, they really knew their stuff when they crunched this program together! Bravo!

This program is great for someone starting out or the professional that needs multiple programs to pull something off.

The only problem I have is with the Lyrics tool. It functions but you have to play games with it in order to get it to work properly if you're writing something akin to, let's say a vocal piece by Milton Babbitt---it works---but there's way too much tweaking involved. I definitely wouldn't want to be writing for large orchestra and choir with the problems it's given me. Could be I'm doing something wrong---if I am, I will post a correction. I work with it every day seven days a week.

Again, you won't find a more powerful music program for twice the bucks!

Addendum:

9/28/10

The problem outlined above with the Lyric tool has a fix. The problem occurs in Continuous View only. In the Page or Pages Across Views, the Lyrics are perfectly spaced. When there's a problem, it's almost always user error. However, it would be cool if the Lyric tool worked perfectly in Continuous View, for it's easier to compose in that view rather that Page View.

I've been using the Notion 3 demo to transcribe music from a paper score (Pink Floyd's, "Wish You were Here" -guitar TAB and notation) into the demo. I've used Sibelius 6 to do the very same thing. Notion 3 feels the most natural of the two applications when entering notes onto a notation staff. Unlike Sibelius, I can easily change any note and its duration (that is change to an eighth note, quarter note, etc.) with my mouse, without automatically having rests popping up as gaps in the notation (Sibelius is obsessed with keeping the rhythm correct, even while editing). In other words, using Notion 3, I don't have to do as much work rewriting the rhythm of a bar if I need to adjust a note duration.

Right out of the box, the acoustic guitar sounds better then Sibelius. Yes, I know I have the option of installing higher quality VST instruments--but you must BUY them from another source and install them. Good ones aren't cheap. Besides, Notion 3 can handle VST instrument plug-ins, too. And at $200.00 for Notion, I can afford more of them then if I paid $600.00 for Sibelius 7.

Also, Sibelius sucks at notating important guitar articulations. Bends sound terribly artificial. Notion 3 lets you drag little handles around bend arrows to adjust the bend & release durations. This makes the bend sound much more realistic. Sibelius does not use the standard curved up/down arrow diagrams on the notation staff to notate a guitar bend. It uses two little lines, like a hat, to represent the bend. It looks like this /\. Not intuitive. Another annoyance with Sibelius is that it forces you to write the rhythm of the bend. By that I mean, on the notation staff, you will need to write 3 notes for a bend/release (one for the 1st note, a 2nd note for the top of the bend and another note for the ending note) for the bend to (sort of) play back properly. For a simple bend up, it's 2 notes. Oh, that's fun. In Notion 3, you can simply imply the bent notes with up/down arrows, adjust the handles to get a more accurate sounding bend and continue to use standard guitar bend diagrams that you are familiar with. The same diagrams you'll find in books and guitar magazine transcriptions. Inconsistently, Sibelius uses the up/down bend diagrams on the TAB staff. You still have to write out extra notes (again, each note must have the correct rhythm) for each section of the bend. Notion 3's tab staff uses the same guitar bend diagrams and adjustable handles as it uses on its notation staff. Consistent.

That brings me to the fact that Sibelius does not automatically copy your guitar tab to the guitar notation staff or vice-versa. You have to copy and paste between staffs. Not only does this take extra time, but in Sibelius, some articulations don't copy and paste exactly the same from notation to tab. You have to make adjustments. A pain. At $600 dollars this should be a standard feature in Sibelius. Notion 3 copies guitar notation to tab automatically as you write it.

Neither Notion 3 or Sibelius 7 can repeat or vary the playback speed of a phrase for purposes of practicing a piece. (WHY NOT??? Guitar Pro can do this very well-but be aware that you do not get great sound or the ability to install VST instruments for great sounds. However, Guitar Pro is a good alternative for guitarists who just want a practice buddy and don't want to spend a lot of money). I didn't take away any points for this missing feature because you can still embed traditional repeat signs between bars and/or globally change the tempo of the song. It's clumsy, but it works.

Notion 3 can playback chords in slash notation. Excellent. Sibelius can't.

Both Notion 3 and Sibelius 7 have Rewire capability. This means you can open up your favorite DAW (Cubase, for example) and there will be a track representing output from Notion. The two applications are synchronized. One will start the other. You could now record audio from a microphone into your DAW while at the same time, playing back whatever staffs you want from Notion. Rewire could also be useful if you wanted to write a drum track using your DAW's piano roll, but use notation in Notion to write the melody line. It can all be played back simultaneously.

The other features I have not tried yet. I will likely buy Notion 3, in any case. The guitar simulation is the best I've found and I play guitar.

There is a free, fully functional, 15 day demo.

Notion 3 is an excellent choice for guitarists, who want excellent notational/tab scoring ability and a wide range of built-in instrument sounds that sound better then average and want room to expand their sounds to a professional level of quality.

I am sure this must be great software, but it will not activate. I have contacted tech support and followed all their instructions, but nothing works. I have tried to install on both Windows 7 and XP Machines, but no working activation via the web or manually - I constantly get an error message. A complete waste. By the way, the plugin, Amplitude X-Gear, activated just fine - quick and painless (did this by opening the plugin's exe file). So the plugin is good but the main software is horribly lacking in this area.

Update: A few more days went by and Notion's customer service rep contacted Nalpeiron, the company who provides their licensing security service. He then sent me a link to download an updated version of Nalpeiron's software. Fixed everything. Four Stars due to this software install issue. The software is awesome. :)

I ordered Notion3 from Japan, using Nittsu transfer service.
I'm not good at English, But Notion3 is easy to understand how to use.
And, my EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Platinum worked very well on notion3!
At first, I was trying Solo Violin to reflect articulations on score,
such as Pizzicato, Crescendo,...etc, but failed.
After simply updating both EWQL and Notion3, problem solved soon.
I think, Notion3 is good for intuitive user.
Notion3...SUBARASHII!!!

If you are considering buying Notion 3, think twice before you do! If you do you and load it you will get your boot files corrupted. I did and I did. I am now re-building my system from backups. I am running in 32 bit Vista which may be part of the problem. Can I get my $200 back?

10 Nov Update. The product support folks at Notion have been very helpful in getting to the bottom of the issue between my computer and Notion. Apparently the license management software Notion uses and the system boot files on my system did not work together. To fix this, I repartitioned the hard disc, which repaired the boot files. Although I don't think this was the issue, I upgraded to Windows 7 from Vista at the same time. When I reloaded Notion, it worked without damaging the system boot; so the program and my computer now get along. As far as Notion goes, I am still learning how to use it; however thus far it looks to be a lot easier to use than Allegro and the sounds are pretty impressive. Thus, I no longer want my money back! I will write another update when I get more familiar with the software.

After years of Finale and Sibelius dominating the Composition Software market, at last, Notion delivers "three". Want to have some fun? Go check out the price tag on Sibelius 6 and then go to their users forum to see the issues that the users are having...Crashes, pulling hair out over setting up staffs and views, bad playbacks...etc. Actually you can't do that because you have to have a product code to see the forum (probably for that reason). Notion customers are a sea of happy faces who have the pleasure of working with software that is self explanatory to anyone who can use windows and getting playback from music samples that sound much much more expensive than the product warrants. Granted, I know how to tweak the FANTASTIC mixer built into it, but I often play compositions on my home speakers and very people don't know they are hearing "fake" instruments (hint: really work the left/right fader tool (easy as pie interface) and the reverb settings) The secret is that Notion, unlike its competitors does not have to build on ten years of programming scripts and bugs to squeeze out the latest interface. The whole thing was concieved and created "pure" with todays programming technology on the table and no shadows from yesteryear. Within three hours of opening the box I was already surpassing my highest expectations for both the softwarea and my own abilities. You can spend $600.00 or more on anothe program but you are paying alot of money for the priveledge of constant frustration, technical learning curves and heart wrenching crashes and set-up difficulties while those of us on Notion 3 will be effortless mapping our ever whim and recieving clear, beautiful and immediate feedback from our own London Symphony Orchestra and the while our potential and dreams getter bigger than anyone who ever knew us imagined we could dream. A couple years ago I agonized over creating a couple scores on Finale and gave up on ever purchasing a composition program...too much pain for the bucks. Give me paper and pen and an acoustic guitar.
Notion 3 has brought in a new day. Paper and pen are gone and quite honestly, I have to force myself to keep up on my guitar. When you can constantly hear your every idea blasted back to you in rich symphonic glory it is a hard habit to break.

I don't work for Notion and I am not kidding. I am glad to be alive in a time when a person on a modest income can be free in the effortless and pure creation of music.

Hey, one more plus...Notion has fantastic customer service...responsive, personal and FREE.

Notion NOTION 3 Composition SoftwareNotion 3 is an excellent product I highly recommend it to all those who are interested. I find that Amazon is a 'very serious and professional company. Greetings and happy holidays to all, Luigi.