:PREFACE: As a dedicated "lurker" I don't often make my presence known, but having benefitted from this tread, I wanted to try to make a contribution. The follow is a summary of around 13 postings on the subjects: COMPOSITION and NOTATION. I believe the opening question went something like; "I am looking for a good music notation software for windows. I use Traxx for all my sequencing, but can print parts from it. I know Finale is the top for the MAC, but I live in the world of windows. Can anyone help? Let me know!" The packages referenced in the various responses included; Finale, Encore, Cakewalk-CWalkPro/Win-Cakewalk Pro, Master Tracks, Music Time, CUbase Score, Traxx, and Notator Logic. In the following sections I have tried to consolidate the comments about the various packages discussed. Individual comments are separated by " -- ". The various packages are listed in no particular order. As I am not familiar with all of the packages (this thread was an education for me), I may have introduced some errors in the editing, if I did, I apologize to all, especially the authors of the comments and the owners of the packages discussed. All opinions expressed are those of the contributors, and are just that, opinions. -------------- Finale: Finale has NO limitations. in some cases this is a good thing. In many cases, it is overkill. The time spent learning pays off down the road. -- FINALE for Windows which is now out. List is about $750, but discounted to about $500 and academic price is even lower. It is manufactured by Coda in Minneapolis. -- Finale has made inroads in terms of ease of use. -- Use Finale for Windows. - - Finale for Windows seems like something you might want to check out. -------------- Encore - Passport I also use Encore. -- Encore is much easier to use, but I haven't found online help, which is disappointing, and it lacks some of Finale's functionality. -- Encore's my favorite because of its interface, though. Right now I'm using it with Vision for Windows. -- The best notators [include] Encore from Passport. -------------- Cakewalk - CWalkPro/Win - Cakewalk Pro I am using CWalkPro/Win and it really works great except there is no text entry available...like lyrics etc....at least not that I can see. -- Cakewalk Pro for Windows 3.0 is the version that I believe added lyrics. -- (A related post included text from the manual on how to include lyrics) -- For windows use Cakewalk Pro. I think it is like in version 2.0 for windows now. -- I use cakewalk as well (which is on 3.0 now), but it's not know for being the best notation program (I use it strictly as a sequencer). All of the reports I've read suggest that 3.0 was a big improvement though, so you might want to check it out -- but all of the info I read suggests to stick with the well-know notation pros. -- Even though Cakewalk Pro 3.0 for windows is more a sequencing engine, it is a very good notation program. It allows printing, graphical manipulation of controllers, piano rolls, event lists, and musical staff views. -- I find it a pleasure to use. I have composed many pieces using it. You'll find *.wrk files on many BBS. It sells for $349US from Twelve Tone Systems. -- I've heard about 4.0. Though I hate it anyway ;) -------------- Master Tracks - PassPort With Passport, it's the same interface in MusicTime and you have a much more limited vocabulary. Kind of like having a keyboard with 23 letters of the alphabet. -- I treat Master Tracks of Passport to be the best [of the] home sequencers. -------------- CUbase Score - Steinberg I find it very useful and relatively easy to use. Plus, it's available on all platforms - file compatible. -- Steinberg is devoted to music software , they are the leader and the pioneers especially on Atari and Amiga computers . Now they are in dos and windows versions as well a MAC version, quite expensive, they came out with CUbase Lite which sells for about $100 canadian. -- I treat the Cubase to be a very good studio [sequencer]. -- Cubase Score is also [a] very good [notator]. -- The notation program that most publishers of music us is [?CUbase?] Score (its for pcs) -------------- Notator Logic: [The best notators include] Notator Logic. -------------- Misc Comments not specific to a given package but relating to the subject: Buy a used MAC. Most are 1/5 list and the learning curve is elementary. -- I don't much like the idea of an integrated notation program myself. To me, the two are different applications. When I'm working on a project, I'm usually either doing a studio project with myself where there's no need for notation or focusing on live performance, where MIDI sequencing features are to me simply "prototyping" aids, and I'd rather focus on notation. -- I'd have to recommend a high-end program, however; you can get by without a pro-level sequencer but not really a notation program. Low end generally translates as headaches: -------------- The responses summarized above were from the following people. I would like to thank them for their contribution. 100321.1763@COMPUSERVE.COM (Christian Roth) AFeditor@AOL.COM (Peter Kirn) chrisshe@MICROSOFT.COM (Chris Sherwood) DavidB10@AOL.COM (Davvid Brooks) DCarr45465@AOL.COM (Donald R. Carroll,Jr.) dodon@OZEMAIL.COM.AU (DAVID O'DONOGHUE) FingersMan@AOL.COM (Joe Holiday) gbourgou@PO2.MTL.MARCONI.CA (Bourgouin,Gaetan) gdorter@JULIAN.UWO.CA (Greg Dorter) PAPEL@COLUMBIA.DSU.EDU(LouisPape) Peter_Mueller@UCSDLIBRARY.UCSD.EDU (Peter Mueller) rvb@OUT.PHYS.MSU.SU (Roman Belavkin) spowy@UNM.EDU (kenneth lee hankins) =============================================== Summary by: BoNewman@aol.com (Bo Newman) Stopping from time to time from my business travel on the Information Highway to meet the folks and have a little fun. ===============================================