Cakewalk Notation

[sackbutcharlie]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for software and could use some guidance. Let me tell you what I want to do and maybe someone can tell me if Cakewalk will do this (I cannot quite tell from the product descriptions).

I know how to write and arrange (piano, score paper, pencil). I am looking for software that will allow me to actually put the musical notation on a score and be able to save it in tracks or output it to a mixing board.

So for example, I can write a string arrangement and then record a vocal on top.

Does Cakewalk handle this? I have tried a couple of others (Noteworthy, Music Write), but the quality of the instruments is not great and there is no mixing capability.

Thanks for any input!

[AlChuck]

SONAR's notation features are fine for entering pitch data but that's about it. It is not suitable for generating lead sheets, etc. If you want written sheet music, charts, etc. that you can give out to other musicians, don't look at SONAR. SONAR's strenth is recording, sequencing, and mixing, not notation.

There's Finale or Sibelius, which are the high-end industry-standard notation apps. Finale has some much-less-expensive lite versions that might be suitable; not sure about Sibelius. There are others, too -- maybe someone else can recommend one.

[sackbutcharlie]

Thanks,

I am not really that interested in printing out charts. What I really want to do is to enter notes on a staff on screen, then be able to play those back onto a track on an external multitrack recorder.

In other words, I play some instruments and have a singer in mind, but we do not have drums, strings, etc. So I would like to use a computer program that allows me to write the parts for drums, strings, and others and have them played.

Does that sound like it is alomg the lines of something Cakewalk can handle?

[AlChuck]

Oh yes, absolutely...