mgresham@artsnet.UUCP (Mark Gresham) (04/11/90)
In article <823@dgis.dtic.dla.mil> jkrueger@dgis.dtic.dla.mil (Jon) writes: >jdudeck@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (John R. Dudeck) writes: > >>I would like to know whether there is an established leader in the field, >>[of music typesetting] or is it still wide open? > >Neither. There are several packages on Macintosh and at least one I >know of for DOS machines. All require laser printers for reasonable >output, which still costs a lot for individuals. All can accept >reasonable notation, some make it easier to enter notes than others. [...] >My impression is that the market is fragmented right now, roughly >divided into two groups: the MIDI tools, which can control a lot of >electronics and some of which can parse keyboard events into >conventional notation, and the notation tools, which provide input, >editing, and lots of outputs of conventional notation. [...] I've been using SCORE for DOS-based machines, and using it specifically for notation/typesetting, as I have no need/use for the limited MIDI functions now. It is a 'higher priced' item, currently well over a grand, but produces *genuine* professional, publication-quality results. It is a bit harder to use than 'video-game' styled programs :-). It DOES have extensive capability for non-conventional notation, BTW. There is also a newly-produced tool for good direct MIDI input to SCORE which has just hit the market. Several large publishing houses use SCORE at this time. [Flame shields up!] I know there are people on this newsgroup who swear by FINALE, but I have yet to see what I consider adequate text-handling (one publisher's work I've seen required much cut-and paste BY HAND in order to properly space some text with notes). I'm also not convinced by some other visual placement attributes -- sure, smooth lines and edges, but placement of objects sometimes doesn't satisfy me (i.e. beaming). [Flame shields down.] But by far the most interesting and exciting typesetting program I have seen is the one developed and used by A-R Editions of Madison, Wisconson, for the Sun computers. They've got a mainframe and numerous workstations (they've just added some Sparc1 pizzaboxes) with output to a Linotronics 300. They developed their own music fonts which look better, I think, than the SonataFont stuff and are a good match for SCORE in terms of placement and visual balance. (Designed after some high-quality European engravings.) At least what I've seen so far, which was briefly. I would like to see some more extensive examples of their work. As a final note: No typesetting program is ultimately better than the skills and eye of the operator! Cheers, --Mark ======================================== Mark Gresham ARTSNET Norcross, GA, USA E-mail: ...gatech!artsnet!mgresham or: artsnet!mgresham@gatech.edu ========================================