vintagevibe
jsg
There are not too many "modern DAWs" with notation in the first place: There's Cubase, Logic, Pro Tools, Sonar and Digital Performer. That's it. You make it sound like there are gobs of DAWS out there, all with great notation. DP's notation seems better than Sonar's but I can't get it to not crash on my system so Sonar's staff view is better than none. When you're composing for 40 instruments and writing 900 measure pieces a simple staff view that doesn't try to be a professional notation program works for me so I can focus on composition rather than trying to create a performance-level score before I've even produced my work.
What exactly can you do, in terms of MIDI editing and MIDI playback in Cubase that you cannot do in Sonar? Give specific examples please--If you want to be right, or at least be perceived as being right, then please back up your assertion with facts and examples. No need to mention display of tied and dotted triplets, or display of 32nd triplets or 64th notes. Everyone knows Sonar's weakness in that area (I still write with those values of course because Sonar plays it back accurately so it doesn't limit my musical imagination).
p.s. I went to your website Dean and it's infected with a Trojan Virus, not kidding. Lucky for me, my anti-virus software caught it and blocked it. Thought you'd want to know...
JG
www.jerrygerber.com/beyondthemidimockup.htm
I never said anything bout "gobs" of DAWs with notation. I mentioned the competition. You admit that DP has better notation but you can't use it so why the pissing contest? If you download the Cubase 7 demo you'll find a huge notation tool pallet, far easier and note entry, ability to do tuplets, and a notation screen that isn't an eye strain just for starters. I feel no "need" to be right. It's just a fact agreed upon, even by Cakewalk who have acknowledged the many weaknesses in the Sonar staff view, that it needs vast improvement. I personally won't use it because it is so cumbersome. I rewire to Sibelius which is still a compromise compared to notation inside the DAW. Feel free to use Sonar's staff view all you want but there really is no need to be so defensive.
P.S. You did not get any trojan or virus from my web site. You must have gotten a false warning.
Here's some more comparisons between Sonar X2a staff view and DP8 for Windows staff view: While DP displays tied triplets, 64th notes and 32nd triplets correctly, (DP does not display dotted triplets correctly either) and Sonar does not, Sonar staff view has other advantages:
You can lock views so you can have multiple staff windows open at the same time. This is a great time-saver, you can have one staff for winds, one for percussion, one for strings, one for all instruments. No other DAW with a staff view, that I know of, has that feature.
DP is a great program, so is Sonar. One thing I love about Sonar is the option to rename controllers--and those names actually show up in the event list every time you use that controller. Can't do that with DP or Cubase. (with DP you can rename them, but they only show up at the top of the event list, not in the actual list).
Also, Sonar fonts are a bit bigger. Easier on the eyes to look at fonts that are not tiny, DP fonts are pretty darn small.
I rarely use 32nd note triplets or 64th notes. Very rarely. So, the staff view in DP really has one important advantage, and that is the ability to see tied triplets correctly. But because I use the staff view only as a midi input tool and midi editing tool, this is not such a big deal, as I said, it's playback that really counts, and Sonar playback is really excellent and always has been for me. When I make a score, I use Sibelius.
Since I plan on being monogamous with my DAW, I will choose one, and I believe it will be Sonar. I almost got divorced, but in reality there is nothing I can do with DP that I can't do with Sonar, and the inverse is true too. But everyone works differently, so obviously others will feel differently. They are both great DAWS. If I knew DP as well as I know Sonar, I might feel differently. But truth is, switching DAWs is really like getting a divorce and is often not the root of one's problems.
JG
www.jerrygerber.com/beyondthemidimockup.htm