Reviews Archives - Scoring Notes

Odla, an input device that “touches” the music

July 19, 2022July 23, 2022

A review of Odla, a hardware controller for MuseScore and Dorico, that aims for “music you can touch” by directly modeling the five-line staff itself.

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Reviews

Dorico 4.1 review: a better Key Editor; improvements to lyrics, interface and more

June 1, 2022June 4, 2022

Dorico 4.1 further refines the Key Editor, improves the user interface with more color options, overhauls the way lyrics are treated, prints selected flows in a layout, and adds new effects plug-ins and a library export function. Plus, a lifetime unlock option for Dorico for iPad.

Reviews

Sibelius 2022.5 brings multi-section headers, other workflow boosts

May 26, 2022June 1, 2022

Sibelius 2022.5 is out, making it easier to apply a header or footer on a per-section basis, such as a song or movement. Also added is the ability to define or change the content of a wildcard directly in the score.

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Upgrade your desk [updated]

May 7, 2022May 17, 2022

What’s on and around our newly upgraded desks — not to mention, the desks themselves.

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Finale version 27.2 adds new jazz template, native Apple silicon support

March 2, 2022March 8, 2022

Finale version 27.2 runs natively on Apple silicon Macs for the first time. All default documents and document styles in v27.2 are now SMuFL-based, and, in a welcome surprise, there is a fully revamped SMuFL-compliant jazz default file and document style.

Reviews

Dorico for iPad 2.0 brings over many desktop features, plus annotations

February 9, 2022February 16, 2022

Steinberg has released Dorico 2.0 for iPad, a major update to the app that shares many features with its desktop counterpart. Many of the additions in Dorico 4 are now available on the mobile platform, as well as a bonus: freehand annotation for marking up scores in Read mode.

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Dorico 4 review: Do more with your score

January 12, 2022January 15, 2022

Dorico 4 is available. This massive update brings features first seen on the iPad, like a Key Editor in Write mode and a revamped Play mode. From smart MIDI import to a library manager with granular house style control, to better score setup and more, this update touches every corner.

Reviews

StaffPad brings live recordings into your scores with Audio Update

December 21, 2021January 4, 2022

The StaffPad “Audio Update” brings new features like audio staves, tempo mapping, adaptive audio to keep your audio in sync with your score tempo, royalty-free production sounds and loops, and studio-quality effects, along with more improvements.

Reviews

Graphical MIDI Tools 2 is a major upgrade to the DAW-like plug-in for Sibelius

December 20, 2021December 24, 2021

A major upgrade is out for Graphical MIDI Tools for Sibelius, which allows the user to manipulate MIDI information in the score in a graphical manner. It has been completely overhauled as an application that runs within Sibelius to provide a piano roll window.

Reviews

Finale version 27.1: SMuFL burrows deeper

November 16, 2021November 18, 2021

The Finale v27.1 update brings deeper SMuFL integration into Finale. It is now possible to convert legacy non-SMuFL-based documents to SMuFL-compliant documents, and to import font metadata directly into Finale’s document settings. Plug-ins and libraries are also updated to use SMuFL.

Reviews

Newzik Maestria review: The score reader that promises to read scores

November 13, 2021November 16, 2021

Maestria is a technology that allows Newzik to not just display a score, but also to understand it musically. The resulting score is a LiveScore, which includes the ability to view the score as with any other, and also the ability to play it back and export it.