Hi! I am sorry if I have to repost an older post and change its titles as it appears no body cares to answer my question. Anyway, I would just like to ask any feed backs, reviews, comments etc about harmony navigator 2.0 and finale songwriter, especially its compatibility with sonar X3d

The only reason why I am contemplating of getting the Harmony Navigator 2.0 is to help me with chord progression (especially finding the best chord to a melody) as I don't have any formal music education. Aside from the that I don't think the Intelligent Composing Assistant ala Cubase 7 wont be finding its way yet on the upcoming update. On the other hand, the reason why I am also planning to get the finale songwriter only is because I need a decent notation software that can transcribed my song and put all the necessary things on it (including the notes and the guitar chords).

With this into mind, do you think these softwares can help me? Any suggestions just in case. By the way, I am not interested in purchasing the finale 2014 as I think most of its features I am not going to use and the synfire pro as well for the same reasons. Perhaps If I am going into chamber or orchestral music already, I might but for the mean time, I need only something that can help me with the chords (or can advice me what is the best chords to choose) and something that can write it professionally for me.
 
Big thanks!

I have not used either of those programs, but do have the free Finale NotePad software, which is a basic notation application.
 
It runs separately from Sonar, so it has no compatibility issues with Sonar.  I simply open a midi file in Finale NotePad, and it displays the midi data in notated form.
 
I looked at the web page for Harmony Navigator, and it also seems to run separately from Sonar, so there wouldn't be any issues there, as far as I can tell.
 
I also just looked at Finale Songwriter.  It too runs separately from Sonar, so there would not be any compatibility issues there, either, from what I can see.


Have you tried the free Finale NotePad?  You might find some use with it.  (I use it for figuring out complicated technical keyboard passages for midi files of bands like Emerson, Lake, and Palmer).
 
Anyways, I hope any of my comments are helpful to you, best of luck with it all, 
 
Bob Bone
 

Thanks Robert for response. Id like to ask does finale free notepad allows you to just say copy a midi file from sonar or say melodyne and then just transport it to that finale notepad. I hope you can enlighten me on this one so as just in case, instead of buying that finale songwriter, I could channel my meager funds to other stuffs. To give you a clear idea. What I need is only a notation software that after say writing to sonar, I can transcribed the midi files from sonar to it and then it would provide me a decent music sheet with guitar chords as well.

I don't recall if it does guitar chords.  You just launch the program and from within it open any midi file and it will notate it.
 
It's free, so you can download and try it out, to see if is what you want.
 
Bob Bone
 

> with sonar X3d
 
Just a sidenote, until next week all of us are running on X3C, so we are all talking about X3C right now. Not that it should make any difference at all. But hey you wrote D so great thread marketing! :)
 
> (especially finding the best chord to a melody) as I don't have any formal music education
 
One thing I would say, get to learn Melodyne inside out. Good for musical education ! Cheers...

But hey you wrote D so great thread marketing! (hEY thanks CakeAlexS for appreciating the thread marketing strategy hehe)
Yeah I was informed about the melodynes' capability but the problem is couldn't fine any tutorials about it. Besides, I guess there are still some tweaking that needs to be done and my wanting is as much as possible, id like to avoid the tweakings thus I am looking for a program that can somehow make me go directly to music making than figuring how to make things do this and that. In fact, this is the reason why I requested for bakers to consider putting up something ala Cubase 7 Intelligent Chord Assistant . Nevertheless, I don't think it would be included in this update. Thus I would really appreciate it if any one has an idea. Thanks again
 
 
 

You may want to change the title thread to something like "Notation software recommendations?" or such. I have seen posts from people who use third party programs and cannot recall offhand what they mentioned (the poster said they also relied on staff view a lot in SONAR). If you target the thread in that manner, those folks are more likely to see it.
 
What setup are you using to "make music" now? I "assume" is more MIDI as you mention notation, but wanted to make sure I am clear.
 
As far as chord progressions and harmonies... you can find much of this online, but seems you are looking for something that allows you to select from suggested chords for you?
 
Your comment of "I'd like to avoid the tweakings thus I am looking for a program that can somehow make me go directly to music making than figuring how to make things do this and that" is a little concerning, since any DAW will have some learning curve to it. Please keep that "reality check" in mind. Every DAW requires learning and hands-on experience (proficiency); so learning one intimately while waiting for "utopia" to arrive is time better spent in my opinion.

Ei thanks Mettelus for the reply. Actually I must admit finding the right title for this thread is really problematic as my concern is not only about notation software (as a matter of fact I am more inclined to have the finale songwriter) but also something with regards to the feature of Cubase 7 which is the Intelligent Chord Assistant. Now pls don't ask me what is the reason why I opted to purchase sonar x3 than Cubase 7 coz as of now, I kind of still un able to figure it out. Perhaps sonar is my first lust este love that is why hehe...
As far as set-up, Im am kind of doing both, especially now that I have melodyne editor 2.o which would enable me to convert audio to midi. Infact this is the reason why I am some sort of inclined already to finale songwriter coz there is one demo done by celemony wherein they just drag the midi to finale and presto, you have a decent music sheet plus guitar chords in it. My only problem is really something about chord progression (or finding the best chords to a melody) coz most of the times, since I don't have really the music education, I cant find the perfect chords to the many melodies coming into my mind.
 
Now as far you being concerned of my wanting to avoid that much tweaking, thanks for the concern, appreciate it. Need not to be concerned that much coz I am completely aware that all DAWS have this some sort of learning curve that one must attain in order to come up with a decent sound. Besides the one I am asking, Harmony navigator per se, isn't a DAW but a composition tool. But anyhowfor the sake of argument, assuming harmony navigator is a DAW, I think you would agree with me that between 2 best sounding DAWS, the other one requires you to have a Ph.D in music while the other one (though still requires you to learn it somehow) but is so intuitive compared to the other, sure  we would pick the other one that is less complicated. This is precisely what I meant by my statement that as much as possible, id like to sway away from the complications but just go directly music because at the end of the day, I guess most of the peepz here are no audio engineers anyway but just musicians...
 
Lastly, yes learning say one DAW while waiting for the utopia is the best thing to do, but would it be more ok to while learning one Daw and waiting for the utopia, you already have something that almost give you a glimpse of what utopia is. What do you think? ;)

Avid Sibelius has got some interesting features , that work with PT and other DAWs...They may have a working demo you can try out for a few days...?....as for tweaking (I must silence myself here)...wink...

Please don't misconstrue my previous post. I was trying to better understand your situation and needs. From my perspective, getting the right tools for the job is often starting which what has "most" of what you need, then filling in gaps with others. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. As long as the "end product" meets your goals, how you got there is totally immaterial.