Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5400 in Software
• Brand: Fasttrak
• Released on: 2002-10-25
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 95

Amazon.co.uk Review
Beethoven had to use a quill and ink, McCartney a biro and exercise book: with Fast Trak Notation 2 all you need is a computer, a good mouse and a decent printer and you'll soon be notating your own music like a pro.

This software is very practical: the Fast Trak software writers have taken pains to make this package the ultimate home-composer's helpmate. With Notation 2 you can do anything you like with your crotchet and staves: enter notes with the mouse piano or MIDI keyboard, import and external MIDI files and put them on the stave too; even transpose your real-time music into notation with a simple click.

You can also add lyrics, change stave formats, change stave sizes, get 16 different tunes on each stave, add drum notation, change time sequence and use the special guitar tablature; you can even print individual notes in different colours and add in the lyrics once you've completed your Top 10 hit. And for the really ambitious you can combine the various stave sheets into one symphonic whole: next stop the Royal Festival Hall.

Of course, all this computer wizardry isn't going to make you the next Badly Drawn Boy, or even the next Harrison Birtwistle, but it makes the spadework a lot more fun. --Sean Thomas

Manufacturer's Description
Compose – Enter notes simply with the PC keyboard, the mouse piano, MIDI keyboard or step-by-step with the mouse – or even play in real-time. You can also choose to import directly any kind of external MIDI file composition. From classical to pop, the entire MIDI universe is open to you for editing, sampling or instruction. Needless to say, standards such as GM, GS and XG are supported.

Arrange – Easy presets and limitless editing possibilities, be it for bands, orchestras, choirs or for practicing your own songs. While playing, a preset mechanism transposes the notes into the score viewer. Convert drum notation, transposing instruments and guitar tabulatures for all string instruments into preset stave formats with a mouse click.

Edit – All types of notes, symbols and grace notes can be positioned as you like. A comprehensive matrix editor has been integrated for detailed reworking of individual sequences (including MIDI controller and SysEx data). For an optimal note display of the different stylistics, jazz symbols and import possibilities for external notations are at your disposal. Hyphenation for lyrics appears either automatically or can be customized.

Print – Individual notes can be printed in color to emphasize important passages or certain instruments. Whether for complete symphony scores, single voice excerpts or lead sheets, the various layout possibilities allow you to individualize your own notation pages. Within each score, the size of the staves can be adjusted. As an extension to the integrated print studio, you also have the option of exporting the notation as a completed graphic for further editing.

Speed, versatility and fantastic functional range makes MAGIX notation 2,0 an indispensable tool for novices and professionals - all the latest essentials for simple, yet perfect note printouts within one package.

Customer Reviews

FRUSTRATING!!
I thought very carefully before buying this software. I read every review I could find for it and they all said great things. So I was extremely disappointed when I got it up and running.
It was very easy to install, but that's where the ease of use ended. This software is primarily for piano players, and you're likely to find it hard to get the full use out of it for anything else.
I play keyboards, and wanted something where I could easily display the score for a maximum of 4 instrument settings. So I read the manual, which is extremely hard to understand if you have a learning disability and I'm told isn't much easier if you don't, and did the tutorial piece.
From what I read, the idea is that you can get it to play like the instrument you've put the settings for, so if you've selected Alto Sax you should naturally hear an Alto Sax. Yet it ALWAYS played Grand Piano no matter what I did.
If you play piano, only want to use one piano sound and have a very high IQ I'm sure this software is great. If not, save up for something else that won't send your stress levels through the roof!!

Avoid
I tried an earlier version of this software. It is based upon the notation section of an old version of Logic without the benefits of that excellent application. So it was originally designed as an add-on to a sequencer - not the ideal place to start if what you really want to do is write a score. I agree wholeheartedly with other reviewers who have been frustrated with it. Investigate other choices; the market front runners are Sibelius and Finale, both of which have cut-down versions if you don't want to splash out on the considerable prices they cost (well, they are professional level applications). Both apps have non-save demo versions downloadable and you can also download a free working but extremely limited version of Finale.

Notation 2
I bought this piece of software thinking I could input notes from my keyboard and have them transposed into music. What I got was possibly the worst product I have ever seen. It appears to be aimed at someone with a full and extensive knowledge of music, who is just too lazy to write it down. The "Tutorial" is a joke, just pages and pages of useless gobbledegook. I cannot think of any reason why some one would want to buy this rubbish. The standard maxim of anyone writing software is keeping it simple. Apparently the writer of this nonsense does not know that. In a word awful !!