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Music Software Review: Presonus Notion 5By Franto Kormanak (http://filmandgamecomposers.com/author/franto-kormanak/) on May 18, 2015 on Products
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When it comes to notation software, there are 2 major players in the market: Sibelius(http://www.sibelius.com/home/index_flash.html) and Finale (http://www.finalemusic.com/). Steinberg(http://www.steinberg.net/en/home.html) is also preparing something new at the moment, but let me introduceyou to another great notation software: Notion 5 (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5). The softwarewas created by Presonus (http://www.presonus.com), the company behind Studio One(http://www.presonus.com/products/studio-one) among countless other software and hardware products. Ifyou have not used notation software before, or are maybe looking for something new, take a look at Notion(http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) with me.
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Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) is a fully professional notation software. It is compatiblewith both the Windows and OSX platforms, and Presonus (http://www.presonus.com) has also created a Notion(http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) application for iPad owners (unfortunately, it is not available foriPhones – yet; never say never, given how close the iPhone 6 Plus is to practically being an iPad Mini).
Presonus Notion – Main UI
InstallationInstallation is a very straight forward process. After purchasing Notion(http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5), you will receive an email with a link for creating an account atthe Presonus (http://www.presonus.com/) website. Through your profile, you will be able to navigate to thedownload links for software itself, as well as all the bundled sounds, VST presets, and manuals. You will also beable to watch Presonus (http://www.presonus.com/)‘ very informative video tutorials. It is possible to install andactivate Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) on 5 different computers (and by installingNotion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) on your main DAW and your laptop, for instance, yourscores can be synchronised between computers through Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/) or somethingsimilar). You can even open your Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) projects on the iPadapp (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-for-iPad) (though the latter must be purchased separatelyfrom the App Store).
InterfaceThe interface is clean and tidy, with everything you can expect from notation software. I appreciate thepossibility of changing the score layout to one of three possibilities – Continuous, Pages across, and Pages down– for displaying your score sheet page, and the ability to change almost everything and customize the scoresheet page to your needs.
Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) offers many useful tools to help in creating your music.You may enter notes using Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5)’s interactive fretboard (andcan even customize the number of guitar strings it supports), or the on-screen keyboard drum pads, and evenchoose chords from a chord library and create your own chords. There are many well documented keyboardshortcuts for all of Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5)‘s basic and advanced actions, so if,like me, you prefer to control software mostly from your computer keyboard, Presonus(http://www.presonus.com/) has you in mind just as much as any other type of user. To create scores for pianoor orchestra, you are presented with a choice of 17 score sheets templates, starting from Lead Sheet to FullOrchestra, and the instruments can be customized in the Score Setup section.
SoundThere are 8GB of instrument sounds bundled with Presonus Notion(http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5):
Bundled BrassBundled Keyboards, Guitars, Basses and HarpBundled PercussionBundled StringsBundled Woodwinds
All the instruments were recorded at Abbey Road (http://www.abbeyroad.com/) with the London SymphonicOrchestra (http://lso.co.uk/), and contain many different articulations. Bundles contain all the orchestralinstruments used in a full orchestral template, a Steinway piano, and a selection of acoustic, electric and bassguitars. Although Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) comes with a generous sound library,you are by no means limited to its included sounds. There are high-quality, yet inexpensive new Notion(http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) add-on instrument packs available from the library at thePreSonus Marketplace (https://shop.presonus.com/products/notion-prods/notion-expansion-bundles).
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There is also a “One to rule them all” type of expansion bundle: the Presonus Notion Expansion Bundle Pack All(https://shop.presonus.com/products/notion-prods/notion-expansion-bundles/Notion-Expansion-Bundle-PackALL) (10.5GB), which contains following instruments:
And if this is still not enough, you can always use your favourite VST instruments and libraries, since they workvery well with Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5). The folks from Presonus(http://www.presonus.com/) have prepared a few templates for their users (VSL SE, EWQL SymphonyOrchestra, Garritan Personal Orchestra, Miroslav Philharmonik, LA Scoring Strings, VET and marching librariesfrom Sample Logic and System Blue, including Fanfare (marching brass), Rumble (marching percussion), Impakt(orchestral/cinematic percussion), and Virtual Ensemble Trilogy (selection from Fanfare, Rumble and Impakt)),but you can easily create your own templates with whatever VST instruments you own.
What I have found unappealing is that Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5)‘s includedinstruments have no round robin samples, and therefore, repeated staccato passages do not sound great, andsuffer from the age-old machine gun effect. On other hand, however, there are many articulations that are notincluded in external sample libraries, and these can very much enhance your orchestrations.
Violin Section, Viola Section, Cello Section, Bass Section, Flute Section, Flute Duo, Clarinet Section, Clarinet Duo, Oboe Duo, Bassoon
Duo, Alto Flute, Bass Flute, Contrabass Clarinet, Basset Horn, Oboe d’amore, Bass Oboe, Drums, Cymbals, Percussion, Pitched
Percussion, Effects, Sopranino Sax, Soprano Sax, Contrabass Sax, Horn Section, Trumpet Section, Trombone Section, Piccolo
Trumpet, Bass Trumpet, Soprano Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Cornet, Wagner Tuba, Alto Trombone, Banjo, Mandolin, Ukulele, Acoustic
Guitar (Finger-style), Classical Guitar and the Jazz Bundle
I particularly like this bundle a lot, as it adds more articulations for the orchestral sections, as well as largervariety of instruments for more colorful instrumentation.
If you are a film, video or TV composer, Notion 5 (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) provides theability to attach video and audio tracks and score movie directly within the software. Notion(http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5)’s video window includes a new timecode view, and you canadd hitpoints, as well as select the volume, frame rate, and start time. Notion(http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) can handle all of the most important formats, including mp4,WMV (Windows only), H.264, mpeg, mov, avi, m4v, and 3gp on Mac and Windows.
iScore
Conclusion
The iPad version of Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-for-iPad) goes for $14.99, and ithandily lets you write your ideas as soon as inspiration strikes. It is little harder to insert notes and otherthings into your score than it is on the desktop version, but I really enjoy the advantage of actually beingable to notate a full orchestral piece on a tablet. You can always finish up your score in desktop versioneither way. I was pleasantly surprised that there were no playback issues with full orchestral pieces.
I personally really liked Presonus Notion 5 (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) from the moment Ifirst opened it. It is really easy to use with a multitude of features, sounds great, and it works across all of mycomputers as well as my iPad. Its biggest advantage is that I can work on my music everywhere I go. So far, Ihave not used Notion (http://www.presonus.com/products/Notion-5) to prepare a score for a real orchestra, soI can not comment on that aspect, but I like the option Presonus (http://www.presonus.com/) provides its usersfor creating orchestral pieces. As the last thing, here are my Pros and Cons:
Presonus Notion 5
Pros:
Many different templatesGreat playbackPresonus Marketplace, lot of bundlesLicense for 5 different computers (Win, OSX)iPad applicationPerformance mode (NTempo)Lot of customisationsDynamic parts (part for each instrument)Usage of 3rd party sample librariesUsage of 3rd party VST plugins for mixingAttaching external video and audio
Cons:
No round robin samplesFew layout issuesCan not use “Big Hollywood” time signatures (i.e. time signatures displayed in a larger size, as isthe case with many film scores)
“Superb Sounds. Fast and Easy to Use. Feature Rich. Widely Compatible. Costs Less. No-Brainer.” That’s what Presonus
tells you about Notion, and I agree with them! 94%94/100
Installation – 95%
Patches – 100%
Interface – 90%
Sound – 90%
Value – 95%
Written by: Franto KormanakFranto Kormanak is composer for film, tv and games based in Bratislava, Slovakia. Besides music
composing, he is passionate about developing rich internet applications.
4 Comments Film and Game Composers Login1
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• Reply •
Michael Hankinson • 4 days ago
Can it import Sibelius and Finale files ? △ ▽
• Reply •
Franto Kormanak • 3 days ago> Michael Hankinson
Hi Michael, not directly, but it supports MusicXML file format, so you can export musicXMLfrom Finale or Sibelius and import it into Notion. I did not try by myself as I do not own Finalenor Sibelius. If you want I can try it for you, but you need to provide some exportedmusicXML file.
Or here is thread from Notion forums about importing work from Sibelius and Finale:http://forum.notionmusic.com/v...
△ ▽
Michael Hankinson • 3 days ago> Franto Kormanak
Thanks Franto - I use XML to import files from Finale into Sibelius and it works reallywell. Always interested in new notation software though I don't think I'll be making aswitch anytime soon. After years in Finale it was quite a steep learning curve toswitch to Sibelius - but necessary for work. I still use both - one on PC and the otheron Mac - a bit confusing t times but as I have a large library of orchestral material inboth formats - necessary.
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Franto Kormanak • 3 days ago> Michael Hankinson
If you are satisfied with current notation software, there is no need to switch. Ican not say if there will be anything you lack in current software, but it's reallygood notation software for its price. So I think Notion is good for people, whowant to start using notation software.
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