For years I begged MOTU to first fix all of the bugs in their notation program, Mosaic (which had "dynamic part linking," BTW), and then roll it into Digital Performer, creating an all-in-one notation-sequencer-audio recording program.  Why did I want this?  Because I had to do all of my work involving MIDI twice, if I started a project in DP, that is.  That remains the case to this day, only I gave up on Mosaic about 6 years ago, and bought Finale.  

If I start a project in DP, I have to start from scratch in Finale to create my printed material.  I'm currently working on a book and play-along CD of alto sax duets with rhythm section accompaniment.  I need only to print out the sax parts.  I do the sax parts in DP as MIDI (replacing them later with real saxes), print the parts from Quickscribe (DP's notation editor) and work from that to enter the music into Finale.  This means I'm doing the work twice.  Why do I have to enter all those notes twice?  Because when I use Finale to open a SMF created in DP, the result is such a mess that it's just easier, and much faster, to start over from scratch.  This is really a nuisance--why should I have to do this?  I've asked the guys at MOTU about it, and all I get is, "DP handles MIDI differently than a notation program.  Rather than feeling that you're doing your work twice, you should think of it as doing half your work in DP and half in Finale."  But when I'm entering exactly the same notes in two different programs, that's doing my work twice, no matter how anyone looks at it.

If I start a project in FInale and open the SMF in DP, that works, so I go that way when I can.  But for a project like this one, I need to create the rhythm track first, which would be next to impossible in Finale, because it is not a sequencer.  I use all manner of sequencing "tricks" to create my rhythm track.  So, yeah, I'd like to see some company create an all-in-one program.  I own Sibelius, although I don't use it, unless a client wants it, of course.  (So far that hasn't happened.) 

As far as Digidesign making an all-in-one program, they have to also address MIDI sequencing, which I hear is pretty clunky in Protools.  But I'm curious to see where this all goes.

********************************************
Lon Price, Los Angeles


On Aug 2, 2006, at 10:06 AM, dhbailey wrote:

Here's hoping that Sibelius is allowed to focus on notation -- something I'm not optimistic about.


I see it more as a front-end/back-end thing.  Eventually things will be rolled into one application, and simply marketed with two different front-ends for different markets but in reality the same piece of software.  One will be a notation program with all the bells and whistles of a DAW, and the other will be a full-fledged DAW with one of the best notation capabilities available today.  One will be marketed towards educators and "serious" (I hate that term, maybe I should use "non-pop") composers who will increasingly incorporate audio with their notation (like the 20th century works for acoustic instruments and electronic tape) and the other will be marketed to the pop/rock/movie world which works with audio first and finally gets around to notation for those acoustic instruments they wish to include.





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