Compare notation composer, musician and player

Use the chart below to see the benefits of each.

Features and Benefits		composer	musician	player

Import MIDI files, turn them into brilliant sheet music, and export for performance.

Learn to read notation by seeing the notes as they play.

BandMates - Support of live performances on stage and practice

Set up practice sessions and play along with "the band".

Prepare "specialty" parts such as sing-along karaoke parts, fakebook lead sheets, chord charts, and more.

Add lyrics, symbols, free text, and more to the sheet music.

Format the sheet music, print the entire score, and print individual parts.

RealTime

VST support

VST is a registered
trademark of
Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH

Configurable:
Integrated ASIO
compatible driver

ASIO is a registered
trademark of
Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH

Language Support

Notation Software Synth

Playlists

Compose and arrange music notation

Record music with MIDI instruments and get instant sheet music for your song

Fine-tune the sound of any note simply by drawing on the score with your mouse

Audio Export

Soundfonts

MusicXML Import, Export

Auto-accompaniment with Band-in-a-Box® Plugin

High Resolution PDF and Image Export

Windows, macOS, Chromebook, Linux Support (please see details)

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	Import MIDI files
	Transcribe any MIDI file to sheet music with excellent accuracy, including detection of swing rhythms, grace notes, trills and tremolos.
	Notation Software offers the best MIDI-to-sheet music transcription on the market. Almost no correction is required in the transcription of the note rhythms.
	Transcribe the following types of ornaments: Grace notes Trills Tremolos Temporarily display an ornament as written-out notes, or revert it to a written-out performance.
	Display chord names.
	Analyze chord names.
	Edit note beams.
	Export MIDI file including all changes in lyrics and chord names. Lyrics and chord names can be displayed on a keyboard if the keyboard supports the associated MIDI protocol.

	Watch the notes and lyrics highlight as they play on your screen.
	Slow down the tempo so you can learn how to read the notation by hearing the notes better.
	Temporarily increase the volume of one staff while decreasing the volume of other staves, so that you can focus your listening on a particular instrument or voice. "Solo" a staff while the others are muted.
	"Solo" a staff while the others are muted.
	Organize songs into playlists and play them back with Notation's built-in jukebox.

	Send individual Parts to devices of your bandmates.
	All Parts display the playback cursor progression in real time to keep your band together.
	All individual Parts displays are automatically adjusted to the best quality display according to the individual devices' capabilities, or can be manually adjusted using notation's grid technology.
	Display configurations are automatically stored for use across songs and sessions for future use.
	Karaoke 'lyrics only' Part is available for karaoke performance
	Control page turns and songs in playlists using a footswitch or MIDI instrument using notation's Pitch-to-command feature.

	Transpose the pitch of a vocal part to match your voice range.
	Automatically turn pages as the song plays.
	Set up practice loops to repeat a section of the song at optionally increasing tempos.
	Execute commands from your MIDI instrument, such as Start Playback, End Playback, Fast Forward, or change the tempo.

	"Easy Notes" part for student musicians, showing pitch letters (for example "C") in the noteheads.
	"Sing-Along" karaoke vocal part, for easy sight-reading while the song plays.
	Fake book lead sheet part, with melody notes and chord names.
	Piano reduction of a score that has multiple instruments or voices, to give a bass and treble clef two-hand keyboard part.
	Print out individual parts for the players or singers in your music group.
	Transpose an instrument's part to its natural key, such as for a Bb clarinet.
	Split a single piano/keyboard staff into right- and left-hand staves.
	Split a multi-instrument drum staff into separate one-line drum instrument staves.
	Split a staff into melody and accompaniment parts.

Compare notation composer, musician and player

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	Add lyrics.
	Automatically analyze and display chord names.
	Add accent marks and articulations, dynamic marks, hairpin crescendo marks, slurs, pedal marks, and other special music symbols.
	Add staff symbols: brackets and braces, clefs, key signatures, and barline types.
	Add free text anywhere in the score.
	Add rehearsal marks.
	Add 8va octave marks.
	Add repeat barlines and endings, which will be interpreted during playback.
	Add special repeat directives, such as "D.C.", and specify the destination measure.

	Choose the default font size, face, and style for the music symbols and types of text for each part.
	Edit the horizontal spacing (degree of stretch or compression) and vertical spacing between staves.
	Control the layout of each page: Page breaks, system (line) breaks Number of measures on any given system Number of systems on any given page Vertical spacing between any pair of staves Vertical spacing between adjacent systems Relative horizontal spacing of individual measures within a system (line).
	Add and control the placement of page title, footer and header text.
	Show or hide empty staves.
	Expand or collapse multiple-measure rests.
	Format parts using templates.
	Display one-line drum instrument staves using special percussion noteheads.

	RealTime output to any MIDI interface
	RealTime advanced audio using ASIO, or WASAPI exclusive interfaces
	RealTime advanced audio using the JACK interface
	Enhancements of audio and MIDI interfaces for using VSTs
	Use VSTs via the JACK interface on a channel level - available for Windows
	Manage MIDI and audio VSTs via the external software Carla - available for Windows
	Realtime recording of live performances with the internal 'notation VST recorder' - available for Windows

	Easily use any VST3 through the 'notation VST3 host'
	Create more complex VST3 setups through the JACK interface
	Use the 'notation VST recorder' for realtime recording for best audio quality. Recordings can be saved in either .wav or .mp3 format.

	Available in the languages English, German, Spanish, Italian.
	The online tutorials and online manuals (~ 850 pages) can be real-time translated into multiple languages using a translation service which is easily configured in the software.

	The integrated standard synthesizer offers great sound with the standard soundfont package.
	An advanced soundfont package is part of the standard delivery, with the capability to use other General MIDI soundfonts in sf2 and sf3 formats.

	Expanded Playlist capabilities for realtime management during your performance or practice
	Search for songs in your Playlists by song title, genre, tempo, or ordered song numbering
	Fast and flexible import of songs into Playlists, either individually or multiple songs and folders at a time
	Unlimited number of songs can be added to a Playlist
	Movable Playlist Panel – can be moved and managed from an external device such as a separate tablet, similar to notation’s BandMates feature
	Playlist Panel is touch-screen friendly
	Playlists can also be used as a 'list of favorites' for working on multiple songs for scoring

	Create a new song using a pre-defined template for a variety of solo instruments, duet pairs, small ensembles, and large ensembles. You can also customize song templates for your particular group.
	Add notes using a number of convenient methods: With your mouse and computer keyboard. Using the Sequential Note Entry method, so you rarely have to select the note duration, even when the sequence of notes has different note duration. Using Step-Time recording, one note or chord at a time, from your MIDI keyboard or input device. Live recording via MIDI instrument (see below for details)
	Change pitches of notes.
	Add staves (instrument parts).
	Add measures.
	Add ornaments: Graces notes Trills Turns Mordents Arpeggios Tremolos
	Change the meter and barline positions.

	The recording of your performance is transcribed using the same excellent MIDI-to-notation transcription technology that notation musician uses to transcribe MIDI files to sheet music.
	Set up the tempo for recording.
	Set up the number of pick-up measures.
	Record (punch in) into a selected region of a staff.
	Add (punch in) a recording of pitch bends or MIDI controllers, on top of notes previously recorded.
	Record without a metronome and adjust the barlines with the ReBar feature.

	notation composer offers the features of a typical MIDI sequencer but in a more visual way. Simply use the performance tools by drawing on the score with your mouse or finger (for touchpads).
	Edit the exact as-performed rhythms of notes using the Piano Roll.
	Edit the loudness of individual notes while viewing a graphical representation of the loudness of each note.
	Snap ("quantize") the as-performed attack or release of a note to its notated rhythm.
	Lock the as-performed rhythm of a note to independently change its notated rhythm (ie keep the "live" performance but change the notation).
	Edit the underlying performance of ornaments: grace notes, trills, turns, tremolos, and arpeggios.
	Graphically edit any MIDI controller data inclucing: song tempo, volume levels, left-to-right pan, pedal, and pitch bends.

	Import of MusicXML files in the formats .mxl, .musicxml, .xml
	Option to import fonts from the MusicXML file or to apply internal font settings
	Export of MusicXML files in the formats .mxl, .musicxml, .xml

	With the Band-in-a-Box® plugin notation composer can auto-generate accompaniments in 150 and more music styles. The Band-in-a-Box® plugin can be ordered separately and fully integrates into notation composer. A 60 day free trial package of the Band-in-a-Box® plugin is part of the notation composer trial and full version.
	Use of Band-in-a-Box® arrangements. not-files which are generated with the Band-in-a-Box® feature of notation composer can be used similar to all other .not files.
	For a video about Band-in-a-Box® please click here.

	Export a high resolution PDF of music sheets.
	Export a high resolution graphic (.png, .jpg, .bmp) of selected pages.

	Certification for the Windows platforms Windows 11, 10 - 64 bit
	Certification on macOS, Ubuntu Linux. Other Linux distributions and Chromebook on request with Wine.
	Notation Software for macOS, Chromebook and Linux uses the open source libraries of Wine. Short installation guides offer a convenient installation sequence.