Feature Comparison of Different Software
Alexander Boltenko Date:
Among barbershoppers who use different notation software we periodically come to talk about the benefits of different software programs and we never come to a conclusion. Recent discussion touched upon Music XML as a universal format to exchange files, and I saw that Finale has a converter (I'm afraid to ask whether NWC has it).
Anyway, I am a convinced and dedicated user of NWC and it suits all my current needs for 4-part voice notation, but most of the people still prefer Finale, in fact there is a barbershop template that Society approved.
I find this argument baseless unless we start compare essential features and get to the bottom line - most features for a buck.
Help me get this table together - unless it has been done already (then I'd appreciate info). If not, what are the features we find essential for a notation software to be successful, considering that NWC 2.0 has it? I'd ask people with more experience using other programs to share their knowledge too.
Thanks.
My gut feeling is that with that table we'll win more users to our side.
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Joe Roberts,
Would that be a good feature? In NWC, it's there -- and not for many bucks of cost.
What would be the main requirements?
Ertugrul iNANC
Date: Thu,
Alexander Boltenko wrote:
> I find this argument baseless unless we start compare essential features and get to the bottom line - most features for a buck.
The argument is destined to remain baseless. Finale is $600 ("academic" $300), NWC is $39. I'm not writing for barbershop and thus not suffering from similar feature lacks or inconsistencies with you but still I can make an NWC2 score look at least basically like what I want it to via post
editing (at no additional cost with OpenOffice and homemade fonts), so, even if we suppose that I can afford and that I do dare paying, a 6x price increase is not considerable. Case closed.
NWC wins all comparisons by its price and ease of use.
Sue Morton Thu,
Music XML is in its infancy still. I have used it to convert between Finale and another program - forget which one now - and it leaves a lot to be desired, at least the Finale implementation does. Perhaps others have made it more robust.
IMO the beauty of NWC lies in the balance -- you can get a decent printed score, and a very controllable playback as well. Programs that make prettier scores, such as Finale, are very weak by comparison in the playback area. A lot of my work needs both a printed score AND practice recordings, and NWC fills that bill the best for me, I invest so little time in NWC compared to another program, to obtain these results.
But until some of the less-common but basic notational elements are added to NWC (n-tuplets as example), I will still to use other products at least once in a while, to get the job done. When NWC can handle these as well, I doubt I'll ever need to use the other programs except for those few times I need an engraver-quality print score (rare).
My $0.02 USD.
Andrew Purdam
…
NWC hasn't a converter, though one could now be written on a staff by staff basis. What would be missing would be lyrics and "overall" stuff like composer etc.
I'd have thought that kar files would be pretty close for barbershop. I'm only unsure as to whether there is a kar format for multiple lyrics (eg more than one lyrics being sung at the same time).
…. NWC has a free player/viewer/printer.
> I find this argument baseless unless we start compare essential features and get to the bottom line - most features for a buck.
Absolutely. How much is Finale again? I know it has come down in recent years.
Anyhow, maybe this will get you started, Alexander.
http://www.mulveyfamily.com/Katy/Music/Notation/overview.html
The requirements probably haven't changed much since this page was written (2000), but all of the reviewed software has changed so much that the rest of the pages are useless.
Ertugrul iNANC
…
$US600, $US300 "academic"
Reasonable for oil sheikhs maybe.
Andrew Purdam
Well,
for the ease of everyone following this thread, here's what Katy Mulvey said on that page in 2000.
* Cost -- I'm not a professional musician; if I had hundreds of dollars to spend, I'd probably buy a new instrument rather than software I'll only use occasionally.
* Support -- If I get stuck, I want an active, accessible user community.
*
*
* Ease-of-use -- This will be a program that I use occasionally. I'll be unhappy if I have to relearn the interface every time I start it up.
* A useful demo -- I want a program that I can really put through its paces before I purchase it. There are enough programs out there that I won't be too upset if I have to eliminate one because it has no demo.
* Notational flexibility -- Some things I'll be trying are barless music, ficta (e.g. editorial indication of a flat or a sharp above the note), modern notation, guitar chord symbols, recorder fingering charts, lyrics. I expect more luck with some of these than others. (I'm more interested in some of these than others!) I'm not aware of any program that does modern notation, for example. Tell me if you know of one. (By modern notation I mean the sort of free-form squigglies you sometimes get instead of standard music on a staff).
* Scores and parts -- How easy is it to enter music on a score, but still be able to print individual lines as well as the full score.
* Fine control over layout -- how do I indicate the best spot for a page break? Can I squeeze two more measures onto a page? Print two copies of a short piece on a single page? Easily show multi-measure rests in a compressed form when printing parts, and expanded when printing scores?
* Ease-of-use:
how difficult is it to enter music? Must each note be placed with fine mouse
control? Can input be done with the computer keyboard or a
* How difficult is it to modify previously entered songs? Is it a hassle to change a misplaced note?
To my mind, it looks like she needs NWC. However, she will be disappointed with fine control over layout.
Just for fun, I'd give NWC the following scores (0-dreadful, 10-mind-blowingly fantabulous):
* Cost - 9
* Support - 9
*
*
* Ease-of-use (intuitive?) - 8
* A useful demo - 10
* Notational flexibility - 8
* Scores and parts - 8
* Fine control over layout - 6
* Ease-of-use: (how difficult is it to enter music?) - 10
* How difficult is it to modify previously entered songs? - 9
Any other opinions/comparisons?
John Ford
I think I generally agree with your assessment. Of course, I'm biased towards NWC, having now invested many years learning it. But looking back, I found it was very easy to pick up the first time I used it and the rest has just been learning the new features as they have been
introduced. And now with version 2, we have user tools, which opens up a whole new world of features that we never thought possible. I think the only thing that would user tools more useful would be to wrap some kind of UI around it to make it easier for newbies (and maybe some
not-so-newbies) to navigate. I suspect that will come, however.
Rob den Heijer
I would add Learning curve. At least an 8.(Although learning Noteworthy can be quite difficult if you don't have theproper mind set. I should know; I had some difficulties when I started.) Ease of use is not the same as Learning curve. They are related but not thesame.
Noel Ciantar 3 May 2005
I'm new to NWC. I have played with other software before but I found NWC to be the most balanced and most cost effective for my needs. It does almost everthing I require and more. I saw (and tried) a copy at a friend of mine and was immediately converted ! Now I took the plunge and bought myself a copy without further ado. I am quite happy with what I got. Great
service too. Got the stuff within in 5 days. I am also impressed by this NG. Extremely knowledgeable people who show great courtesy towards one another. A rare combination in this day and age. I hope to be able to post some stuff occasionally - that is, when I get to grips with the finer points.
George M. Bauerschmidt 5 May 2005
Has anyone looked at MidiNotate Composer [http://www.notation.com]
How about Midi Illustrator [http://www.midiillustrator.com]
I downloaded the demo of MidiNotate
to check it out. I like the fact that it has -more- musical symbols to add to
the score and that it even takes a
The interface doesn't seem as nice as NWC, but I'm so used to NWC now, everything else seems ... like a foreign language. Perhaps there is SOOOO much more to it, it seems difficult.
As for feature comparison, what about features compared to other software programs. How does NWC stack up? What are it's strengths and weaknesses?
Lawrie Pardy 5 May 2005
I too have checked out several other products. So many that I no longer remember them all and to my mind 4 things stand out above all else.
1) NWC has by far the most intuitive and easy user interface.
2) The price is unbeatable for the features included.
3) This news group and the forum - and the enormous help available from other users
and 4) NWC has by far the most intuitive and easy user interface.
(yes, I know I'm repeating myself)
No other product I have attempted to "audition" can compete in the user interface. Compared to NWC they are kludgy and time consuming.
Little things like adding a staff, transposing a single staff, the simple keyboard entry of notes; rests and their basic paramaters, layering of staves. The list just goes on.
Some of these features are in other products but never all of them (at least so far as I have been able to find). Sure, some of NWC's competitors have more comprehensive abilities like controllable grace notes, trills and other ornaments built in and NWCs engraving isn't always terribly wonderful but for my needs... Well, I've tried many of the rest but I always come back to the best, and it's because of NWC's user interface _every_ time.
The others are too regimented and inflexible, often difficult or impossible to add a staff after defining a score layout, unable to transpose a single staff, _having_ to use a mouse for input (Gaaaa - soooo slow and awkward), nearly if not actually impossible to cut and paste within or from staff to staff, play back (man, I still haven't figured out how to get one of 'em to play back at all) - USER TOOLS - the list really does just go on and on.
http://www.kellysmusic.ca/chart/compchart.asp?m=c&chartid=12
How does NWC compare????
Andrew Purdam 26 May 2005
>but why is NWC not in their list?
Probably because NWC "direct sells" (via the internet) whereas nearly all the other software sells through retailers, and this website is a retailer. My guess is that they wouldn't want to advertise a highly competitive product that they would make no money on. :-)