Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!caesar.cs.montana.edu!blake!ramsiri
From: ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Enartloc Nhoj)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: NOTATOR vs. FINALE (mac)
Keywords: productivity
Message-ID: <4749@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Date: 4 Dec 89 05:16:24 GMT
References: <4739@blake.acs.washington.edu> <1746@hiatus.dec.com>
Reply-To: ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Enartloc Nhoj)
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Lines: 52

In article <1746@hiatus.dec.com> chad@norge.enet.dec.com () writes:
>I also use NOTATOR.  I have not seen FINALE myself in the flesh.  While
>Notator's print outs look nice (I haven't
>lasered them yet...), from what I've heard/seen of Finale, it is the
>much better "music engraving" package.

This is likely true.. as NOTATOR does not support a great
variety of fonts and symbols...   BUT.. the update in
December and the one coming in Spring will allow 
imported fonts.. and user defined symbols.. possibly
MIDI mapped dynamic symbols!!!!!!

>Notator is more of a sequencer that allows pretty nice music notation
>and score print outs.  It is the
>best in that category.  But if your goal is to get the best looking
>stuff on paper without any realtime music
>playback and MIDI editing, Finale is the way to go.  I base this comment
>on reviews I've read, my use of Notator,
>and conversing with people who use Finale and who have described its
>capabilities, as well as seeing
>output from Finale.
>

Agreed.. NOTATOR could improve its "engraving quality" look..
and from what the developers tell me, they are doing just that.
(Must say that NOTATOR is good enough for two local symphonies
for clean and neat performance scores).

But a time factor has to enter into the equation.. otherwise you
may as well hire an expert copyist.  Moving several windows deep
and backing yourself out to do an operation that takes only a single
click with NOTATOR slows the process down to a crawl.  Then
there's the printing... an hour for a Finale PS page is prohibitive
when you are considering performance scores for a symphony amounting
to as many as 1200 pages!  But what you say is true.. NOTATOR 
started out as an awesome sequencer.. then added notation..  
fortunately, the developers know the capability of the 68000 and
GEM and are doing an amazing job.  Several people in the MAC and
IBM world say their software, including FINALE, pales in comparison
to NOTATOR.  The new multi-tasking features of the update coming
in December will provide for even a greater creative environment.

>Basically, it is a apples/oranges comparison.  Notator is a sequencer
>and MIDI editor with scoring.  Finale is
>a scoring/engraving package with some MIDI input/MIDI manipulation.
>
>Notator is however a great package.  Highly recommended!!!
>
>Chad

-kevin
ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu