After about three hours of playing with this today I've decided that, for $50 (about £37 in real money), it's got to be a bargain !  I think I'm going to get a lot of use from this.  Thanks for the special offer, Don, much appreciated.
 
Bob

I will of course download the demo - but can anyone comment on this vs Musescore and Notion?

And is the offer good to Dec 1 or Dec 31?

FCCfirstclass

Karyn
To the end of the year.

Karyn, not to pic a nit, but Don had typed December 1 as the end date.   Are you sure it goes to Dec 31?  
Thanks,
Clint

I was talking to Don a lot yesterday while setting up the thread for him and moping the forum floors. I asked about proof of ownership, redeemable codes and such.  The original "cyber week" $75 deal expires today,  I'm convinced he told me until 1st Jan for the Sonar Special....   I just can't find where he said it..    I've not had much sleep since Monday.

Thanks Karyn - I'll probably have enough time to demo tonite and make a decision.  
The "SONAR50" is the only thing you need for the discount?
 
 

Yes,  sonar50 as coupon code at the checkout.

I've messaged Don, but in the meanwhile maybe best to act sooner rather than later if you know you want the offer.. Just in case..

cityrat
I will of course download the demo - but can anyone comment on this vs Musescore and Notion?

I've been using Musescore on and off for a couple of years now and Overture for about three hours today. I have no experience of Notion though so can't comment on that.
 
MuseScore's big plus is of course that it is open source freeware. I find it's interface to be a bit clunky and, cosmetically, basic. The facilities for playback of your compositions is also very basic, being more or less restricted to Soundfont player.  I would have to say that the Overture interface is a lot easier to find your way around. This is partly because of the superior layout and, as much as it shouldn't matter, is nicer to look at !  I have found that the actual note input process is easier than MuseScore, with a wider range of options and more control over the page appearance. Replay is far superior to MuseScore- you can scan and use your VSTs for this. I have been able to use my Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 VST as the playback device, including the keyswitching facilities. For example, in the background you can set up the pizzicato articulation symbol to automatically insert the pizzicato keyswitch each time you insert the symbol on a stave - cool ! There is also a reasonable level of MIDI editing available including a PRV view and a basic but functional audio mixer for the playback facilities; VST effects can be used if you need them. However just don't expect something with the degree of sophistication of SONAR/CUBASE/Logic etc.
 
As it's free, MuseScore is clearly going to be good value !  The full price of $249 for Overture is probably more or less justifiable in view of it's considerably superior facilities; at the current sale price of $75 on the Sonic Scores website (at the time that I'm writing the post) it's a bargain. At the $50 "Sonar special" price it's a no-brainer, assuming that price is still available, of course.
 
Bob
 
 
 

Well I'm trying it out and really loving it!  Very nice - and linear view with the midi on the staff is awesome.  Been looking for that for a long time....
 
But I get this crash, twice (below) one on "linear view" and the other during selecting a layout.  Now I may have been banging on it pretty hard not knowing what I'm doing so hopefully it's rare.

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:    APPCRASH
  Application Name:    Overture 5.exe
  Application Version:    5.5.1.3
  Application Timestamp:    5a1d9432
  Fault Module Name:    Overture 5.exe
  Fault Module Version:    5.5.1.3
  Fault Module Timestamp:    5a1d9432
  Exception Code:    c0000005
  Exception Offset:    000000000034c84c
  OS Version:    6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
  Locale ID:    1033
  Additional Information 1:    30d5
  Additional Information 2:    30d5d25eabd935214cfc168f047af1cf
  Additional Information 3:    5e1d
  Additional Information 4:    5e1d97ccbfdc68d9198c55c138afd5bf
Read our privacy statement online:
  http://go.microsoft.com/f...04288&clcid=0x0409


Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:    APPCRASH
  Application Name:    Overture 5.exe
  Application Version:    5.5.1.3
  Application Timestamp:    5a1d9432
  Fault Module Name:    Overture 5.exe
  Fault Module Version:    5.5.1.3
  Fault Module Timestamp:    5a1d9432
  Exception Code:    c0000005
  Exception Offset:    000000000026c4f9
  OS Version:    6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
  Locale ID:    1033
  Additional Information 1:    9668
  Additional Information 2:    96686548255816b3fe2f3adb409fe6f4
  Additional Information 3:    894a
  Additional Information 4:    894ac71615fd4bed041662ae895f58b9

Read our privacy statement online:
  http://go.microsoft.com/f...04288&clcid=0x0409

Ok - it's nice, and I'm on the fence.  Buying it would be an act of faith.  It's buggy.  Crashes on loading template layouts, etc.
Anyone else having crashes ?
Have to think about this....