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Music Notation Software

Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 4:12 pm
by jbaylies
Is there any notation software out there for mac besides Finale? I like Finale Notepad but I hate not being able to make grace notes or change key in the middle of a song and things like that, and I don't have the money to buy it. So, does anyone know of a similar, but cheaper version of Finale?
Thanks, everyone.

Again, the search feature doesn't work for me. :(

Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 4:36 pm
by DaTubaKid
I use Sibelius 3 on my Powerbook (Sibelius 4 is a little too processor heavy for my 4 year old laptop). It's got grace notes and you can change key as often as you want.

Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 5:03 pm
by Chuck(G)
Here's one that I haven't used for several years, but it wasn't bad:

http://www.cerlsoundgroup.org/cgi-bin/Lime/Mac.html

Here's another one that I've heard about:

http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/melody.htm

You may also want to look at NightLight:

http://www.ngale.com/index_041.html

Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:03 pm
by DonShirer
The trouble with limited versions is that you soon outgrow them. I'm just a part-time composer but I couldn't settle for anything less than the full Finale or Sibelius. Note: Sibelius has a reduced price for Finale users. For details, see
http://www.Sibelius.com

Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:36 pm
by Eric B
I use Sibelius. I wanted a program that was easier to learn than Finale. It is fairly intuitive. The manual is very helpful and is actually pretty entertaining (lots of humor interspersed).

Re: Music Notation Software

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 2:55 am
by Chuck(G)
jbaylies wrote:I...and I don't have the money to buy it.
Kind of lets out Sibelus and Finale, doesn't it? :?

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:30 am
by LoyalTubist
I used the freeware version of Sibelius (with the watermark on every page) for years before I broke down and bought it. It has limits. You can't save anything and you can't print anything past the first page. I have been able to use my Adobe Acrobat and by copying and pasting what I wrote with Sibelius, been able to save my files that way. The only problem with this is that you cannot correct any mistakes. But it does work.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:00 pm
by Donn
Chuck(G) wrote:Here's one that I haven't used for several years, but it wasn't bad:

http://www.cerlsoundgroup.org/cgi-bin/Lime/Mac.html
That's what I use. Never tried `Notepad', but I gather the 60 or 70 bucks for Lime is well spent if that's the alternative.