Software For Transcribing

[stewblack]

I am untrained for writing but beginning to be able to read music a little better. However when I write stuff by hand the timing is usually out and it's largely illegible.

So I downloaded Musink and I cannot get on with it. I can spend half an hour on a bar trying to make it do what I want but it changes quavers to semi quavers without being asked to and adds rests where I don't want them and generally drives me insane.

Anyone recommend anything else worth trying or are they all bloody impossible? I really want to transcribe each bassline I teach myself but I can't take two days over every verse!

[TKenrick]

As someone who should be trained in writing dots but whose writing is illegible, my default is to write everything out using software. I also find it more practical for storage/editing than having piles of half-used manuscript paper everywhere.

My personal preference is Sibelius, but the new membership options are expensive; I've heard good things about Musescore, which I believe is free, and Finale Notepad (if you're running Windows) should be worth a look too. I haven't got experience with either, so others might be able to give more of an insight.

[stewblack]

Thanks TK. My problem is note length and rests. Software helps me because I can play back what I've written and adjust things until they sound right. And that way I slowly learn

[Higgie]

5 hours ago, stewblack said:

Thanks TK. My problem is note length and rests. Software helps me because I can play back what I've written and adjust things until they sound right. And that way I slowly learn

One thing to bear in mind though is that what sounds correct isn’t always the best/correct way to write the passage! Memories of a guest act coming on board when I worked on ships, with sheet music she’d written herself in this fashion. She’d started out with charts written by someone else, but wanted to edit them herself as they made changes to the show regularly. Ended up being almost unreadable!

[Kevsy71]

Thanks in no small part to Tom's advice to ditch tabs and learn music notation, I've just started reading and transcribing too...

5 hours ago, TKenrick said:

My personal preference is Sibelius, but the new membership options are expensive;

At least for me starting out, the free "Sibelius First" is doing the trick, along with usage tutorial videos e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrPvjCknrPM . The playback feature really helps learn the acccidentals.

Very pleased to be finally learning notation. Seems the best thing about tabs - that they tell you where to put your fingers - is also the worst thing about tabs!

[Higgie]

I should probably add I use Sibelius too - Although the new software Dorico is meant to be fantastic!

[TKenrick]

3 hours ago, Kevsy71 said:

Thanks in no small part to Tom's advice to ditch tabs and learn music notation, I've just started reading and transcribing too...

 

That's made my day. Welcome to the dark side!

[itu]

Musescore is really cheap (freeware) and powerful but it also requires some understanding of notation. I have used it for some time after some older softwares like Finale (used it in a group where we did some scores that were published; modern classical music). But Finale was a chore with four manuals and an incredible amount of hidden keyboard shortcuts. Lighter software is more practical. I do not know about the details of Sibelius, but many friends have told me that it is very good. Some extras include scanning sheet music: from paper to the display within seconds!

For my current work (chords, melody etc.) Musescore does that well and pretty fast. The online help is functional as is their web forum: Musescore has few slightly odd functions but mostly it is quite straightforward.

It is very helpful to understand some basics of notation, so few YT videos might be a good idea to watch. Enharmonic notes are very often hard for a beginner to understand but the theory and the legibility crave certain choices (I do have seen some very funny looking maj7-5's). And where do you have to use b or # when the song is in A major or c minor...

Notation is possible to learn and reading notes opens up new territories to your musical knowledge. Just go for it.

[stewblack]

2 hours ago, itu said:

Musescore is really cheap (freeware) and powerful but it also requires some understanding of notation. I have used it for some time after some older softwares like Finale (used it in a group where we did some scores that were published; modern classical music). But Finale was a chore with four manuals and an incredible amount of hidden keyboard shortcuts. Lighter software is more practical. I do not know about the details of Sibelius, but many friends have told me that it is very good. Some extras include scanning sheet music: from paper to the display within seconds!

For my current work (chords, melody etc.) Musescore does that well and pretty fast. The online help is functional as is their web forum: Musescore has few slightly odd functions but mostly it is quite straightforward.

It is very helpful to understand some basics of notation, so few YT videos might be a good idea to watch. Enharmonic notes are very often hard for a beginner to understand but the theory and the legibility crave certain choices (I do have seen some very funny looking maj7-5's). And where do you have to use b or # when the song is in A major or c minor...

Notation is possible to learn and reading notes opens up new territories to your musical knowledge. Just go for it.

Thank you  I started learning to read when I was having lessons but I ran out of cash  Must get back to my teacher again. 

[itu]

9 hours ago, stewblack said:

Must get back to my teacher again. 

It is OK to ask us, too. We all are here to help you. Check @MacDaddy's cheat sheet for a start:

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/344700-music-theory-cheat-sheet/

This includes some basics that you need.

[stewblack]

Just now, itu said:

It is OK to ask us, too. We all are here to help you. Check @MacDaddy's cheat sheet for a start:

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/344700-music-theory-cheat-sheet/

This includes some basics that you need.

Thank you. 

[paul_c2]

None of them will "do corrections" and automatically produce perfect (or even technically correct) sheet music - you still need to know reasonably well, where the notes should be etc. They'll get part way there though. This is because there is accepted variation in some (but not all) cases, and if they tried to do it as "my way or the highway" then it would get really awkward, really quick for certain situations.

I've used Musescore and Sibelius and found Musescore more approachable. Also it is free vs paid for Sib, so it made sense to go with it. If I were in a professional situation sharing things with lots of others though, Sib might be the better choice since its more widely used at pro level.

[stewblack]

I only want to write out bass lines as I work them out and have them good enough to quickly relearn a song if I've not needed it for a while. 

Ultimately it would be great to be able to share them with others but I need the software just to play back what I've written so I can hear if it's correct. I struggle to translate what I hear to the correct note length / rest length unless it's very straight forward of course. 

That's all I would use it for. Correcting those timing errors. 

[paul_c2]

Either/any will do that. If you can never see yourself writing more than 4 parts together, then Sibelius First is free. I don't know how else its "cut down" though.

[DaveFry]

SymphonyPro5 ( iOS only ) highlights the notes in a bar in red if you enter values that exceed the bar length value ( overfill ) .

 

[stewblack]

Minor breakthrough today (reading rather than writing so a tad off topic) I remembered how when I used to do downhill mountain biking the mantra was always look through the trail not down your forks. The idea being you should process what's coming up and not what's happening right now. Once your front wheel is on the tree root it's too late you should have gotten into position earlier.

I applied the same thinking to a line I'm reading and it flowed, it really did. Weirdest sensation looking at and analysing a series of notes while my hands are playing the bar before. Really strange and strangely exhilarating. I want more!

The other thought, which has crossed the old bean before, was am I really reading or is this simply muscle memory having played the thing so many times? Simple test, close the book and try to play along. I actually knew very little. Which is either great - my reading skills are developing, or crap - my memory is collapsing like a flan in a cupboard.

I'll take the former.