On 4/7/2015 12:50 PM, Robert Patterson wrote: > I got interested in StaffPad > <http://www.sibeliusblog.com/news/staffpad-is-a-music-handwriting-app/> > after Darcy posted about it a few days ago. The more I read, the more > impressed I become. The very fact that an apparently committed Mac user > like Darcy is interested in a Windows-only platform makes it that much more > intriguing. > > I am curious if anyone on the list has any experience with it. > Specifically, how well does it handle meter changes or even passages > without meter? > > If I end up getting it, I'll almost certainly be using it as a front-end > for Finale through its Music XML export feature.
I did take the plunge and bought StaffPad, since I already have a SurfacePro3, and am very impressed with it so far but I am just barely getting into it. Meter changes seem to be no problem but the choices currently available are limited to 2/4, 3/4, 5/4 6/4, 7/4, 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 12/8, 2/2, 3/2, C and cut-time. Just as with all notation software I'm currently aware of, you can't do unmetered music -- there has to be a time signature. It does have all the major and minor key signatures. The shortest note value it currently recognizes is the 32nd note. It works with a combination of pen and finger. I plan on investigating it much further over this week and next and plan on offering some sort of organized review here, on sibelius and and orchestralist at yahoogroups. One drawback is the limited instruments currently installed with the program. For example, I did a MusicXML import of a file which started in Sibelius, a Stamitz Fantaisie for 2 clarinets in C, 2 horns in F, 3 violin parts, 2 viola parts, cello and bass. It imported the MusicXML very nicely -- the rhythms showed up complete with slurs, ties, etc. However, StaffPad assigned its own clarinets to the clarinet staves (as it should have done) but its clarinets are only in Bb or Eb, there are no C clarinets, so the clarinet staves are sounding a whole step too low. I can move the clarinet staves to flute staves (the only way I've found so far is to add 2 staves and copy the music, then delete the clarinet staves) but there may be the possibility of an instrument change which I have not found yet. One big drawback is that there is no organized help file or manual or even contextual help. But one big asset is that they have very nicely organized tutorial videos -- I've watched some and know that I have to watch them all and take notes if I truly want to learn the program. The drawing of the notes is easy as long as you follow the strokes they have outlined in the videos, and the recognition is very accurate. It's fairly easy to alter them once they've been entered if you get the pitch or the rhythm wrong. This app has been in development for a few years, so it didn't just spring up overnight and the programming, at least as far as I've experienced it, has been very well thought out. However, if you have a SurfacePro (the device the app was designed to run on) you can simply install Finale or Sibelius and work with those, with no need for MusicXML intermediary files. This seems aimed mainly at people who want to start works in StaffPad by using their SurfacePro as an old fashioned pad of manuscript paper, only since it's electronic and a very capable computer it can do a whole lot more than manuscript paper can. I don't see any reason for anybody to run out and buy a SurfacePro3 simply to run this software -- once you buy the SurfacePro3, install Finale or Sibelius and use that since they run just fine on the SurfacePro3. But if you want software which actually allows pen entry and you prefer writing the original thoughts down with a pen, this is a wonderful app. And if a person doesn't own Finale or Sibelius and wants something a bit simpler to use than MuseScore, then StaffPad is an ideal app to buy. The blog at their web-site already mentions a couple of things (lyrics and more sophisticated chord entry -- now you simply enter text above the staff) that will be included or improved in an upcoming update. I'm sure there will be more -- the development team is very committed to making this a world-class piece of notation software. And as a first-version release I think it's very good. As I mentioned earlier I plan on delving into the software much more deeply but I may not be able to until after this coming weekend since I have a big concert with the community band I conduct. -- David H. Bailey dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
