Notion, anyone tried it? - Page 2 - Music-Web Forums

PeterG · #11 15-01-2008, 09:39 PM

Ok Kyle,

Question for you;

Can you enter in Notion dynamics marking in a piano score for left or right hand or for both so that the software understands that, when the crescendo is under the lower staff, it needs to be played in the lower staff only and when over the upper one, the same for the upper and when placed in the middle, for both?
And can you hear the difference in the playback?

Finale can't, see also a related thread in this section....

Peter

KylePoehling · #12 22-01-2008, 04:56 AM

Originally Posted by PeterG

Ok Kyle,

Question for you;

Can you enter in Notion dynamics marking in a piano score for left or right hand or for both so that the software understands that, when the crescendo is under the lower staff, it needs to be played in the lower staff only and when over the upper one, the same for the upper and when placed in the middle, for both?
And can you hear the difference in the playback?

Finale can't, see also a related thread in this section....

Peter

Peter,

Sorry I haven't responded sooner...I was in San Francisco at MacWorld working....

The answer to your question is yes dynamics are individual for both the bass and treble clef on the piano in notation and playback for NOTION.

Hope this helps!
Kyle Poehling
kyle@notionmusic.com
-Kyle

PeterG · #13 23-01-2008, 03:56 PM

Hi Kyle,

I'm now trying to find out what the main differences are between Notion 2.0 and Notion Protege (at 10x lower price).

I've been comparing the two products when it comes to features (as mentioned on the website) and noticed that Notion 2.0 had:
- 1000 voices polyphony (but I can't find what Protege does ?)
- write 128 voices instruments in a signle score (versus 8 in protege)
- ability to import / export MusicXML (and protege??) ; by the way, can you import .mus or .sib files too? Sibelius claims to be able to read in mus files directly (my demo had some troubles with it though) and Finale cannot do the reverse. Notion should be able to do both to compete with them as a lot of people have either Finale- or Sibeluis files they produced already.
- MIDI device entry (protege not? it's not mentioned)
- 33 level denamics (and protege none? it's not mentioned)
- timbre sampling at all dynamics and in all ranges (how about Protege ? you can expand / customize the sound library in it but what does that do if you can't sample in all ranges?)
- playback of custom key signatures (so? I don't understand the benefit)
- authentic playback on performance techniques (protege not?)
Protege on the other hand had:
- Global key changes and tunig adjustments (and notion 2.0 not?)

Now, mostly I compose for piano solo so why need 1000 voices and spend 10x more I thought? But........ I'm not able to compare the two and make up my mind as I cannot request a demo for protege (Why not??? I did ask one for Notion 2.0 in the mean time). So, once I get me demo, can you help me find out what will not be there when I buy Protege in stead?

Oh, and before I forget; can Notion and/or Protege read in scored from a scanner?

Thanks,

Peter

KylePoehling · #14 23-01-2008, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by PeterG

Hi Kyle,

I'm now trying to find out what the main differences are between Notion 2.0 and Notion Protege (at 10x lower price).

I've been comparing the two products when it comes to features (as mentioned on the website) and noticed that Notion 2.0 had:
- 1000 voices polyphony (but I can't find what Protege does ?)
- write 128 voices instruments in a signle score (versus 8 in protege)
- ability to import / export MusicXML (and protege??) ; by the way, can you import .mus or .sib files too? Sibelius claims to be able to read in mus files directly (my demo had some troubles with it though) and Finale cannot do the reverse. Notion should be able to do both to compete with them as a lot of people have either Finale- or Sibeluis files they produced already.
- MIDI device entry (protege not? it's not mentioned)
- 33 level denamics (and protege none? it's not mentioned)
- timbre sampling at all dynamics and in all ranges (how about Protege ? you can expand / customize the sound library in it but what does that do if you can't sample in all ranges?)
- playback of custom key signatures (so? I don't understand the benefit)
- authentic playback on performance techniques (protege not?)
Protege on the other hand had:
- Global key changes and tunig adjustments (and notion 2.0 not?)

Now, mostly I compose for piano solo so why need 1000 voices and spend 10x more I thought? But........ I'm not able to compare the two and make up my mind as I cannot request a demo for protege (Why not??? I did ask one for Notion 2.0 in the mean time). So, once I get me demo, can you help me find out what will not be there when I buy Protege in stead?

Oh, and before I forget; can Notion and/or Protege read in scored from a scanner?

Thanks,

Peter

The MAIN difference is that you can only write for up to 8 voices in PROTEGE. All sample sets/dynamics/timbre & technique sampling is the same as in NOTION.

The two are really basically the same aside from the ability to write for more instruments. PROTEGE will play back scores that have more than 8 instruments, but you can not edit more than 8....

Sounds like PROTEGE might fit your needs a bit more than NOTION. The expanded sound kits work with PROTEGE as well.

Hope this helps!
Kyle Poehling
kyle@notionmusic.com

PeterG · #15 23-01-2008, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by KylePoehling

Sounds like PROTEGE might fit your needs a bit more than NOTION. The expanded sound kits work with PROTEGE as well.

So how do I get my hands on a Protege testversion ?

Oh, and wouldn't it be nice to have a middle product as well? Say, 20 different instruments for an intermediate price?

KylePoehling · #16 23-01-2008, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by PeterG

So how do I get my hands on a Protege testversion ?

Oh, and wouldn't it be nice to have a middle product as well? Say, 20 different instruments for an intermediate price?

Sorry...as of now there is no demo available for PROTEGE. The demo for NOTION should give you an idea of the functionality and sounds. The only real limitation is the amount of instruments you can write for. As I said PROTEGE WILL play back NOTION files. You just can't compose pieces as large.

-Kyle

PeterG · #17 23-01-2008, 07:43 PM

Ok, thanks Kyle.
Some more questions for you though,

- if I were to purchase the Steinway software instrument from Garritan later (when it is released) can I then use in Protege?

- can I install and use Notion and/or Protege on both my Mac and my Windows PC (Yes, I have two machines with different systems; a new Mac and an old Windows laptop that is not declared obsolete as Finale 2007 works fine on it still whereas the Leopard Mac does not).

Thanks,

Peter

KylePoehling · #18 24-01-2008, 07:33 PM

As of now NOTION/PROTEGE does not support external libraries. We're looking to implement this feature in the future, but for the time being it is not available.

You WILL be able to use either product on both Mac and PC, so you shouldn't have a problem loading the software on both computers.

Hope this helps!!
-Kyle

PeterG · #19 31-01-2008, 04:29 PM

Ok, I have been playing with the demo on both my Mac and my PC now for a few days now and have some remarks and questions:

(remark: I've worked on a piece for solo piano and did not read any manuals upfront to test the intuitiveness of notion)

1- I noticed that I can save my file both as np1 (protege) and ntn (Notion), BUT not as Mid or, when working on a np1, not as musicXML either. Isn't it strange that, when a Protege file is loaded the export to xml does not work but the import does??

2- Working with multiple voicing is not as handy as I hoped it would be. There is little way telling which mode you're working under (other than the color of the note as you enter it) and sometimes Notion understands I want to write a second voice, but sometimes not.. I don't get the logic of it (must be thinking with the wrong part of the brain).

3- There is another, very annouying, thing about the multiple voicing; I had put in some bars with 2 voices and changed my mind and deleted one voice of it. Now, after that I wanted to add dynamics but, contrary to earlier experiences where Notion could read those markings very fine (loved it!), it wouldn't pick up any crescendo's diminuendo's. Only direct markings like FFF or pp. I deleted all the notes and replaced them by exactly the same notes but inputted in single voice mode and now the dynamics work fine (for both staves) ? There is a bug in there I think....

4- The Ntempo (tappingthe tempo while it's playing the playback)is VERY cool. I love it..... but I need it too as the rit. marking didn't do anthing. Same at first with the fermata until I found out it had properties I could change. Please set the default of a fermata other than zero for us morons that didn't think about that. By the way, the rit. had no properties to change; how do I make it work??

Ok, this was part 1 of my review. more to come; I'm going to put in the first part of the first movement of piano sonata in A minor by Schubert and I'll do that for both Notion and Finale to compare ease of use and publish the results, including sound files generated, orginal score and a link to a live performance of the same piece.

Kind regards,

Peter

P.S. to Kyle; is there a detailed list of differences between Protege and Notion or do I have to find them by trial and error (like the saving musicXML's) ?

KylePoehling · #20 31-01-2008, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by PeterG

P.S. to Kyle; is there a detailed list of differences between Protege and Notion or do I have to find them by trial and error (like the saving musicXML's) ?

I do not have a detailed list at the moment, but one is in the works and should be up within the month.

Looking forward to hearing the NOTION vs. Finale piano comparison! BTW...what sound library are you using with Finale?

-Kyle