Overture 5 - are folks using it successfully?

I was having problems with Overture 5 and decided to give Notion 6 a shot....well it opens up but the instruments are unavailable and I get no sound. Sometimes it sees my midi controller and sometimes it doesn't. Headaches !!!! I set up my interface in the preference section but still no dice....

I used Overture 5 to successfully transcribe three Piano pieces.  Two of them used real-time MIDI recording and the Garritan ARIA VST, followed by clean-up in the data editor.  The third transcription used step-entry with the built-in GM piano.
 
While learning and testing the software, I have experienced an occasional "is Shutting down" crash, but some of it could be attributed to me clicking somewhere that the program didn't expect.  The software is definitely not bug free, but I really like the real-time recording and piano roll style editing.  I would definitely recommend using the Auto-Save feature, which was enabled and set to every minute by default on my system.
 
After working with Overture for a few days, I opened Notion 6 and made several attempts at real-time recording with very poor results.
 
-- Ron

SquireBum
I used Overture 5 to successfully transcribe three Piano pieces.  Two of them used real-time MIDI recording and the Garritan ARIA VST, followed by clean-up in the data editor.  The third transcription used step-entry with the built-in GM piano.
 
While learning and testing the software, I have experienced an occasional "is Shutting down" crash, but some of it could be attributed to me clicking somewhere that the program didn't expect.  The software is definitely not bug free, but I really like the real-time recording and piano roll style editing.  I would definitely recommend using the Auto-Save feature, which was enabled and set to every minute by default on my system.
 
After working with Overture for a few days, I opened Notion 6 and made several attempts at real-time recording with very poor results.
 
-- Ron

Yeah, I was impressed with all of the design and interface features of Overture, and how they were implemented. It is, hands down, the fastest and easiest notation software I've ever used when it comes to note entry and overall score creation (and I've used most of them, including Sibelius, Finale, etc). Don has great ideas in regards to intuitive interface and workflow. I really wish it was stable and I could work with it.
 
But that whole "Overture 5 is shutting down" routine was really getting to me. Nothing worse than being in the middle of a great creative moment, and suddenly your software is crashing to the desktop and you have to reopen it and pick up where you left off. To its credit, Overture 5 starts right up again, and thanks to the autosave you've usually lost only a minute or two of work. But still...
 
And to be honest, you clicking somewhere the program didn't expect is hardly a good reason for it to crash. That, to my mind, is the very definition of a bug. And for me it makes Overture very frustrating to use -- especially because I think the program has a ton of potential. It's a great design. 
 
Fortunately in my case, step recording via midi interface is my preferred notation input method, and I find Notion very good that. One major detail I do prefer about Notion vs Overture: in Notion, when you hover over a note you want to apply a marking or notation element to, the entire note area is a target, making it easier and faster to apply those markings. With Overture, you have to be really precise - if you want to apply staccato markings to a note, you need to put your cursor crosshairs right in the note head, otherwise the marking could be applied to the space around the note - which does nothing and looks strange. This makes for finicky work and takes more time. Notion identifies the note you want to use the moment your mouse pointer is anywhere near it, and I find it way easier and faster to apply markings or ornamentations that way.
 
I also really like that Notion is setup right out of the box with decent sounding instruments with multiple articulations. This actually caught me off guard the first time: I applied a pizzicato marking to a contrabass line I was working on, and on playback, the bass notes were suddenly playing pizz samples - automatically.  
 

well I downloaded all the instrument files but they won't open up in Notion. Notion says it doesn't recognize them.
I don't know what to do now.

I contacted Sweetwater support and they looked at the problem and said that Explore was corrupting my files, so I tried re-downloading with Chrome and it seems to be working now,,,,I'm still in the process but Notion is reading the files now like it's supposed to.

TheMaartian
For a home hobbyist like me, the sounds are decent enough to use directly in SO without the need for other VIs.

I had the same reaction - the sounds are good enough to give me a solid idea how the arrangement will sound, and that's all I really need them to do. I think Notion is a really good package for composing. I don't think its as good at engraving as the other programs, but that's not what I use it for.

Mine is running, but, laggiest P.O.C I’ve ever used for midi recording. Everything else I use works a treat. Shame guess I’m out my money now.

lmichaelson
I bought Overture primarily to view what was in existing MIDI files. Have yet to open a MIDI file without an immediate crash. $50 down the drain.

What version of Overture are you running?
 
I had the same problem with MIDI file import crashing v5.5.1-4.
The MIDI import problem was fixed in v5.5.1-5.
The current version is 5.5.1-6, which was released on Dec. 21st.
 
Hope this helps,
-- Ron
 

SquireBum

lmichaelson
I bought Overture primarily to view what was in existing MIDI files. Have yet to open a MIDI file without an immediate crash. $50 down the drain.

What version of Overture are you running?
 
I had the same problem with MIDI file import crashing v5.5.1-4.
The MIDI import problem was fixed in v5.5.1-5.
The current version is 5.5.1-6, which was released on Dec. 21st.
 
Hope this helps,
-- Ron
 

I also had a midi file that would cause Overture (version 5.5.1-3) to crash when importing it. I can confirm that updating to version 5.5.1-6 allows me to import that same file with no problems.