Customer Reviews

eMedia Print Music 2006 Win/Mac

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

 

 

This application is capable of producing sheet music of publishable quality and playing it back, including named chords, but can be frustratingly difficult to learn. Little about it seems intuitive or works the way one would think: many of the operations require you to remember special keyboard-mouse combinations or perform unusual actions such as double-clicking and holding down the mouse button on the second click or selecting the same menu option twice. Unfortunately there is no searchable online help - only a PDF user manual with a table of contents and a 'How Do I' section. The manual does contain links to other sections but there is no index and no way to return to the table of contents easily. There is a searchable Windows help file included but it does not appear to contain much information. Having said that, once you have learned the basics and familiarized yourself with its many quirks, the program is quite powerful. It also allows you to create templates for particular instrument configurations and start from a template when beginning a new piece. I have not tried the scanning, MIDI or microphone-entry features. You should know that you must register the software with the vendor online or by phone within 30 days of installing it, and that the registration process requires you to furnish personal information about yourself such as your name and email or mailing address. In addition, the numeric key which is returned to you at the time of registration works only on the computer on which you installed the software. According to the manual, if you change any of the hardware on your computer the software may no longer work and you will have to repeat the registration process.

I saw this software in a Mac store and based upon the features listed on the box, I bought it. The limitations for this version of the software are extreme: you can't make your own chord diagrams, you can't score more than a few instruments and play it back (there's apparently a limit of MIDI channels allowed) - getting around both of these problems require the most expensive version of the product --- and the "upgrade" cost is $400! The manuals aren't particularly helpful, either.

As a comparison, check out Harmony Assistant which for $70 has all the features of Print Music 2006 and much much more (actually it's closer in features to the pricey upgraded version from Print Music).

Finale--the maker of this software--has a free, downloadable notation software program you can download. Their other products, including this one, are all fancier versions. My son wanted a version that was too expensive for us, but had marching band percussion sounds. Then this year MakeMusic added percussion sounds to Finale PrintMusic 2006. I bought it immediately (at a university bookstore, actually), as it had many amazing features at a good price (one can input notes through a microphone, by scanning sheet music that the program will then read, by MIDI from a keyboard, etc.). But I can't get any of those features to work. When I scan in black and white, it says it thinks I scanned in color and it won't read it. My son played his trumpet into the microphone, and what showed up onscreen was largely unrelated to what he played. Most frustrating, I can't get my keyboard and the software to work together to input notes effectively. I borrowed a different keyboard--a Yamaha Clavinova--and it did actually input notes to the software, so I thought maybe my Yamaha PSR keyboard was the problem, although I read that the UNO interface I was using has problems with some Yamaha keyboards. But even though I was able to get notes to the software with the Clavinova instead of the PSR keyboard, the software didn't notate them especially well. Upon switching to a Yamaha MIDI interface, my PSR does enter a note every time I push a key (instead of once every several seconds), but again the software doesn't notate it accurately. It has also skipped measures when I input lyrics. I'm sure others have had great experiences with this software, but I wish I'd stayed with the free Notepad software and just kludged along.

I use it mostly for writing out lead sheets or solo Piano music and it does the job fine. Transposition is easy, you can copy and paste sections of music. If like me your ability to write music down is limited by not being able to put down on paper what you hear in your head, or play with your fingers, this will help you no-end, since you can playback what you've written using the software at any speed. So if you've used a quaver instead of a crotchet it is soon apparent.
I have not investigated score writing, but certainly on small scale (i.e. I don't think Mahler is possible!) this is possible.

You can add chords, lyrics, repeats, Codas etc.
All in all I have found it a fabulous package for the money.

easy to start using and easier progressions to higher levels of use