I’m looking for a Windows or Java program that lets me enter the notes for a song, transpose it to another key, then print it out. Playback might be nice, but it’s not really necessary. I’d like something that’s easy to use, fast to enter notes, and inexpensive. I’ve looked at some of the shareware programs, but I haven’t found one that I really liked. Does anyone have a favorite?
I don’t know squat about composing, but a good friend of mine used to swear by Band-in-a-Box. Also, Cakewalk has been used extensively throughout much of the music biz. I believe both have trial versions. I’ve seen one (can’t remember which one he was using at the time) be used with a Roland MPU-401 midi card and a Roland VG8 guitar synth. It was pretty killer, you could play notes through a midi cable and it would transcribe them into sheet music. Hope this helps.
Try Lime software (do a search for “lime” and “music” and it will pop right up). It’s a shareware product that I find extremely wonderful.
I use NoteWorthy Composer. I don’t recall the price, but I’m as parsimonious as the next fellow and it seemed to have the most bang for the buck. Data entry is simple and easy with only a few non-obvious rules.
Thirteen months is a bit of a lag time, but thanks for the suggestions just the same!
My band director and percussion instructor use finale. Its an easy program to learn how to use and has more sounds than some of the other ones out there. http://www.finaleforum.com/index2.html Also, I know w/ this program to can play on a keyboard and have the computer write it out for you, and also you can record the music onto a disk.