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PrintMusic 2009

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Music Notation
from: MakeMusic!

October 15, 2008
Late last year, I bought Finale SongWriter 2007, thinking that the fifty-dollar software would be enough for me to compose music for my cartoons. However, after nearly a year of not being satisfied by its limitations, I finally paid an extra $50 for an upgrade to Finale PrintMusic 2009, and I do not regret it. For one thing, SongWriter is limited to how many staves of music you can put in it, and PrintMusic doesn't seem to have that limitation. It can also do grace notes, and other things that SongWriter couldn't. I originally sought out to buy PrintMusic anyway, but I thought it would be a bargain to buy the other program instead. Better late than never, I guess.

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Sibelius 5 Educational Edition

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Music Notation
from: Sibelius Software Ltd.

June 25, 2007
Installation on both a pc and a mac was easy. Getting the USB MIDI driver installed on the pc was annoying and time-consuming - but that's not a Sibelius issue.
My biggest complaint now is that I am unable to use the supposedly superior "flexi-time" note input mechanism. I am a pianist and professional piano teacher, my fiancé is a computer professional, and between the two of us and way too many hours of trying to make this work, we still haven't figured out what is wrong. Apparently I am not the only one with this issue. Online I found this cry for help: "When I use flexi-time, there's a delay between when I play the note and when I hear it over headphones. Unfortunately, the delay appears in the score, in the form of a persistent ... Read More:

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Finale 2009 - Academic

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Music Notation
from: eMedia

July 17, 2008
Installation on both a pc and a mac was easy. Getting the USB MIDI driver installed on the pc was annoying and time-consuming - but that's not a Sibelius issue.
My biggest complaint now is that I am unable to use the supposedly superior "flexi-time" note input mechanism. I am a pianist and professional piano teacher, my fiancé is a computer professional, and between the two of us and way too many hours of trying to make this work, we still haven't figured out what is wrong. Apparently I am not the only one with this issue. Online I found this cry for help: "When I use flexi-time, there's a delay between when I play the note and when I hear it over headphones. Unfortunately, the delay appears in the score, in the form of a persistent ... Read More:

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Apple Garageband Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Music Notation
from: Apple

January 18, 2006
The day before I ordered this Jam Pack, I had received an M-Audio 88es USB velocity sensitive keyboard from amazon (reviewed separately) Keystation 88es 88 Key USB MIDI Controller and sustain pedal M-Audio SP-2 US65010 Sustain Pedal Piano Style Sustain Pedal for Keyboards

The standard Garage Band 'Grand Piano' sounded just "OK", and there was no harpsichord. Those were my prime reasons for ordering this Jam Pack... and to have fun with the other sounds, of course.

The Steinway Piano in this pack is substantially better than the standard Garage Band piano. Neither is perfect - but this Steinway is great for the price. The difference is more than the soft hammer sound of a Steinway vs a hardened hammer sound of the standard ... Read More:

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Sibelius First - Music Notation Software

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Music Notation
from: Sibelius Software Ltd.

June 30, 2008
My wife is a songwriter and was able to quickly and easily learn this software and use it to compose a choir piece. It's obviously not as powerful as the full version, but definitely is a better value. The Sibelius forums are very helpful for whatever you can't figure out.

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Apple Garageband Jam Pack: Rhythm Section

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Music Notation
from: Apple

January 18, 2006
I bought this just for the electric rock guitars and was not disappointed. Power chords, feedback, distortion, everything you need for real sounding rock sequencing.

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Apple Garageband Jam Pack: World Music

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Music Notation
from: Apple

January 18, 2006
With Garage Band's standard-issue synth patches and loops, it was hard to make new music without using the same sounds more than once. With these Jam Packs, I can get lost just finding loops to use - which is a really good thing! Definitely worth the money!

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Finale SongWriter

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Music Notation
from: MakeMusic!

May 20, 2005
I purchased this program recently and have been using it to arrange original compositions. For the price, it is truly a good value and has some nice features; however, do not be fooled by the "guitar chord diagram" feature. It only has 1 choice of fingering, so if you want your "C MAJ 7" to be played at the 8th fret... too bad. It only shows it in the open position; so various voicings are out of the question. I just leave that feature alone now.

The built in soft-synth is nice, better than what most computers have already in them and it gives you a taste of what you want to hear.

My only other gripe about this program is the fact that you cannot save your final work as a .pdf file or word file. So, you're stuck printing the document ... Read More:

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Sibelius 5 Competitive Upgrade

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Music Notation
from: Sibelius Software Ltd.

June 25, 2007
All I can say is "DITTO" for the quality of this software program from the reviews I read before buying it. It is more than what I expected. I bought this as an upgrade to Sibelius Student and I think this is the least inexpensive way to get the full Sibelius version. What can I say? I am happy to the max.

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Finale 2009

Childrens Toy Shop > Software > Music Notation
from: eMedia

July 17, 2008
All I can say is "DITTO" for the quality of this software program from the reviews I read before buying it. It is more than what I expected. I bought this as an upgrade to Sibelius Student and I think this is the least inexpensive way to get the full Sibelius version. What can I say? I am happy to the max.