Posting reactions/ideas?
Hi everybody,
I'm a professional musician with around 40 years (yikes!) as a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and editor/copyist. I've gigged, lead bands, done studio work, spent a decade or two (it's rather a blur now) with the Disney company, and done many of the music-related things the rest of you have. (I've never played while skydiving, but may have a chance next year.)
I've been using notation software since the '80s, and have tried everything that's come down the pike. I've ended up with Sibelius 6—which, despite some distinct drawbacks, has seemed the most practical and versatile. (Versions 7+ switched to oversimplified GUIs, which I didn't find as useful.)
I'm excited about trying MuseScore, which seems to have come an impressively long way since I gave its earliest versions a look. Would it be of value to anyone here if I posted some thoughts about it? I'm a pretty positive, objective guy, and I'd keep my comments as concise as possible. If so, is this the best part of the forum for it?
Thanks for all your time and work on the project—you've clearly done something remarkable here. Cheers, A.
Comments
Suggestions and advice are welcome and this is the place for the exchanging of ideas.
In reply to Suggestions and advice are… by Shoichi
Great, thanks!
We very much welcome constructive feedback.
With regards to the UI side, you might want to take a look at https://musescore.org/en/MuseScore4 as there is quite a big change expected for the next major version on that front.
In reply to We very much welcome… by jeetee
Impressive! You may already be planning some things I’d suggest, so I’m glad I can check there first.
One piece of advice I'd give is to neither create 20 separate threads nor 1 big thread with 20 separate comments, but find ways of groups things into related areas. That was discussion of each topic can stay together.
In reply to One piece of advice I'd give… by Marc Sabatella
Total agreement! I always tried to do that with my Sibelius suggestions (some of which I was pleased to see implemented). It’s much easier for everyone.
Almost all my Sibelius suggestions were about music entry and editing. (That narrows it down a bit at least, huh?) Do you think this kind of grouping would be specific enough?:
• Music entry
• Default placement—where objects appear relative to each other by default, vs. having to be adjusted to conform with normal notation. (Sibelius’s biggest inefficiency is the frequent need to make manual adjustments, where notation rules are clear enough that one could reasonably expect it to be "smarter". E.g.: ties on chords, spacing of accidentals, alignment of repeat endings with bar lines, avoiding "collisions" between ties/slurs and articulation marks, fingering placement.) Having said that, I’m optimistic MS will be “smarter”, and it won't be an issue. :?)
• Editing existing music
In reply to I agree. I always tried to… by Andy Fielding
That's a good starting point, but depending on how many suggestions you have, I'd probably suggest breaking it down further. For example, ties and repeat ending have nothing to do with each other, so maybe break down the "placement" a bit more.