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re: Ten Music Notation Programs

Posted: 17 Feb 2017, 02:31
by jrethorst
This engraving comparison of a one-page score for classical guitar as done in Dorico, Encore, Finale, LilyPond, MuseScore, Music Press, Notion, Overture, Score and Sibelius, has a new link because Dropbox has made some changes. It's now at:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xl09lf616xspl ... s.pdf?dl=0

Unsolicited comments about earlier versions include:

Absolutely amazing! . . . Interesting! . . . This is certainly a worth while endeavor . . . a really great idea and I’m glad that someone is taking the time to do it the right way . . . I love seeing how each program handles music . . . I don't think I've ever seen a lineup of professionally engraved scores like this before. It's a great idea. I must say, I find it very encouraging that there is still a large element of personality to be found in every one of the engravings, despite the nature of computers. Long may that continue! . . . Very interesting indeed to see the subtle differences in the notation and how the eye perceives it for clarity.

Re: re: Ten Music Notation Programs

Posted: 17 Feb 2017, 06:27
by Christof Schardt
You might consider to add PriMus. The sample page has been provided by Andreas in this post:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=217&start=10#p4188

Re: re: Ten Music Notation Programs

Posted: 17 Feb 2017, 21:22
by Fred G. Unn
Hi John,

I just had a few questions about your Overture example, as I am pretty unfamiliar with output from that program. It seems like the "ball" of the eighth rest is colliding with the staff line in many instances, like m 8, 11, etc., rather than centered between the lines. Is that fixable, or is that an Overture default? (Obviously the MuseScore and Notion examples have some issues with the eighth rest too.) The upper repeat dot appears to touch the upper line as well. Some of the stem lengths look a bit off, especially on some of the flipped stems for notes on ledger lines. The E in the first ending looks pretty short while the stems in the final bar look way too long. I'm just curious how much is user editable or not as I've never used the program.

Also, is this still the current state of Dorico? I haven't really followed it's development much recently as V1.0 wasn't usable for me, but can it still not handle endings or arpeggios? It would be nice to see an updated example if they have added more functionality.

Re: re: Ten Music Notation Programs

Posted: 18 Feb 2017, 06:07
by jrethorst
Hi Fred,

In Overture the eighth rest is movable; in mms 8 and 11 I just centered them vertically between notes, with the last rest in m 11 the same as the one before it. I don't think the repeat sign can be altered, at least in Overture 4; I don't know about Overture 5. All stem lengths can be adjusted. In version 4 that can be done globally or individually, but I don't see a way to set default stem length. Version 5 may differ.

The comparison reflects the state of Dorico as of October 2016. I think the program's development is pretty rapid and wouldn't be surprised if a fair amount more functionality is now available.