# NOTION 3 - worth checking out!



## synapse21 (Sep 27, 2012)

I downloaded the demo of this alternative notation program and so far, I really like it.

It's not as quirky or unintuitive for a new user as Finale is, not as heavy of a footprint as the (discontinued) Sibelius. The downloadable sounds for it sound are an excellent quality; nice and clean (far better than the Garritan samples in Finale), and the simple, unified toolbar at the bottom is very easy to get around in, and it also displays the contextual markup for the instrument staff you're working on, as well as the shortcut keys for everything in the mouseover tooltips. Shortcuts for notes make sense (Q for Quarter, W for Whole, etc.), and are used wherever possible.

Check this 14-day demo out if you haven't already - I might be switching over to it permanently.

- Rodney


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## jamwerks (Sep 27, 2012)

I'll check it out.

FWIW, Sibelius hasn't been "discontinued".


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## dcoscina (Sep 27, 2012)

I've used Notion since its inception and moved to Sibelius because it's not got the layout options that Sibelius or Finale have. Sounds are okay but it's veered far off the path that creator Jack Jarrett envisioned for it.

I have the iPad version too which is admittedly pretty cool (samples of things like flutter tongued flutes, lots of string arts) but it's buggy.

Even a "discontinued" Sibelius dwarfs Notion in its current incarnation.


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## wcreed51 (Oct 12, 2012)

Notion 4 just anounced for Oct 31 release.


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## EddieLovesYou (Apr 13, 2013)

I'm very interested in Notion 4. Maybe not going so far as to Rewire it into my DAW but I would love to experiment with getting performance pretty close using Ntempo, the dynamics step-input, and sequencer staves then exporting the MIDI files.


Has anyone here used it? Can you export your Ntempo performance then import it as a tempo map?


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## RobertPeetersPiano (Apr 14, 2013)

I LOVE NOTION 3!

I think it is way better than Sibelius, since it is very easy and intuitive to use. Also, you can't change that much in the layout, so it will always look nice. (my sibelius layouts used to look like a mess ^^)


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## synapse21 (Apr 14, 2013)

The Sibelius guys who went over to Steinberg are surely cooking up something special as well - excited about the possibilities:

http://blog.steinberg.net/


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## dcoscina (Apr 14, 2013)

Actually I recant my last post. I upgraded to Notion 4 based on how aggressively they have been developing their iPad app and I find it seamless between the two. It's great to start an idea on the iPad and develop it further on the desktop version. It's not at the same level of layout options as Finale or Sibelius but it's a terrific compositional tool nonetheless. 

Interestingly enough, I composed a full orchestral suite using Notion 2 that earned me a finalist place in their competition a few years back. Judges were Carter Burwell and John Corgiliano.

It's a solid program for composing on. IT has tons more sampled articulations than either Finale or Sibelius. Things like tremolo vibes, or flutter tongue flutes, or brass, or clarinets even! Almost any articulation you can think of, Notion has a playback sample of. They don't sound like VSL or Spitfire but they load a lot faster than that bloated Sibelius library!


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## George Caplan (Apr 16, 2013)

i have it on the iPad and cant work out how to set the key signature.


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## wcreed51 (Apr 16, 2013)

Touch the tool button just to the right of "C7", then al the way at the left of the secondary palette


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## George Caplan (Apr 17, 2013)

wcreed51 @ Tue Apr 16 said:


> Touch the tool button just to the right of "C7", then al the way at the left of the secondary palette



yes thanks! i eventually found it last evening and you would think basic stuff like that would nearer to the beginning of setting things up.


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