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Provides: Music composition and performance

Format: DVD

Developer: Notion Music (formerly VirtuosoWorks)

Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.3.9, 1GHz G4/Intel Mac, 512MB RAM, 1.5GB hard disk space, DVD drive

Review Computer: 1.8GHz G5 iMac 17", 512MB RAM, Nvidia GeForce FX 5200, Mac OS X v10.4.2

Processor Compatibility Universal

Price: $399

Availability: Now

The trend in music software seems to be toward enabling users to create rock and roll or hip hop. In an era where samples of old pop favorites resurface as loops anchoring the chorus of top 10 songs, the technology has been adapted to allow the average computer user the opportunity to skip learning how to play an instrument, and head right in to composing with other people's sounds. This is not all bad, and Beck has advanced beyond the Art of Noise to show that well placed samples of sounds—instrumental and otherwise—can provide all the entertainment once provided by drums, bass, and two electric guitars. And with the computer, you can take all the sounds with you onto a small club stage or in your living room.

Notion bills itself as music composition and performance software, but that straightforward statement is a bit of an underselling. Notion can afford to be understated because they deliver so much. They applied the "take it with you" mentality to the least portable of all music types: the symphony orchestra. And they have done it masterfully. In the box, you get The London Symphony Orchestra. And Abbey Road Studios. Already a bargain.

However, they come at the composition from an entirely different angle than the user-friendly approach of Garage Band, or Sequel. This is a music composition software, not an audio sampling program. The user must understand the basics of reading music and using instruments in order to get pleasant sounds from Notion's samples. This will define the target audience: composers and musicians should look into this software. Hip-hop hobbyists looking for an orchestrated sound to back their latest rhyme will find it too cumbersome for their needs, and should seek boxed samples elsewhere.

Making Music

The interface looks pretty straightforward when you create a new composition. From the "Score Setup" menu, you choose the instruments you want to use in your composition. They show up in your score, grouped together according to family (winds, brass, strings, percussion, etc.). Then it is time to tell them what to play.

From the convenient menu, adding notes is a drag-and-drop affair. Choose the quarter note (or whatever), drag it over the staff for the correct instrument, and place it on the note you want. Voila! You have told that instrument what to play. Put together a melody with some leading instrument—say, the string section—and then work out some sort of accompaniment. This is where it is necessary that you be able to write and understand music. How long will you need to wait before the bass kicks in, or the bassoon? The oboe may be barely breathing in GarageBand, but it sounds its barbaric yawp in Notion. Space your rests and sixteenth note runs appropriately, and you will very quickly put together a full composition.

Memories of my music and music theory classes all flooded back as I worked through a trial composition. The process of writing down the notes initially was not necessarily faster than with pencil and paper. There was still the repetitive nature of writing (or dragging) in each note. But I quickly got used to selecting the write note and navigating the entries toolbox to find exactly the correct notation for the job. So I probably started out a bit slower on the computer than if I had been writing by hand on a sheet of staff paper, but I was soon able to do it just as quickly. In this way, Notion offers almost no advantage over writing by hand.

However, in the editing process, computer features such as copy and paste were indispensable. Of course, composers had already introduced the idea of repeating a loop in inventing the repeat and the D.C. or D.C. al Coda directions, but the process is sped up. Of more value to most of us, however, is the instant feedback on what it will actually sound like when you're done. And of course, printing your composition is just a function in a drop-down menu—simple—and certainly preferable to handwriting or photocopying individual scores for each of your musicians as you prepare for a performance.

Functionality

There is a dizzying array of options and notations available. Every imaginable directive written to musicians from the composer is present in Notion, with a library of directions that include common volume suggestions to instrument-specific orders. Some of the directives provided continue to baffle my friends and me. For instance, there are 30 string-specific "expression" directions. Time and key signatures are no limit to your process, as everything seems to have been thought of.

As a Mac user, I've grown accustomed to certain commonalities among programs, and I expected the same from Notion. I initially found it difficult to not be able to use the space bar as a play/stop button. After a few minutes of use, I would be able to re-adjust every time I sat back down to Notion after working with iTunes, or GarageBand, or any number of other music applications that have similar commands. But this was a small nuisance that did not detract from my overall impression that Notion is not just the head of its class, it is the college graduate of instrumental composition and playback tools.

Playback

It was only on playback that I experienced anything other than amazement with Notion. Complex playback of all these rich sounds is quite processor heavy. When I was playing back either the included sample songs (the allegretto from Beethoven's 7th Symphony and Chopin's Prelude in D flat major are two of the 12 included songs) or my own composition, the busier times caused the screen to be delayed or to jump, and on occasion I would get a buzzing hiccup in my audio playback. I suggest that regular users will want to upgrade their processors to Notion's recommendation or higher to avoid this snag. Sometimes, the most rewarding parts of a composition are those moments when much is happening at the same time, so the most frustrating thing one could do to oneself is to spend hours and hours writing a piece of music, perhaps, say, to better write a review of the software, only to learn that you have a computer that is not up to the specifications needed to play it back.

You've been warned.

Portability

Notion's creators have certainly worked with people who take their work home, or take their computer fun to work, and have struggled with portability of key software. Rather than limiting the number of installations, Notion comes with an iLok USB Smartkey, which allows you to access your software on any of your computers, as long as you have the key installed. You can visit the iLok website for more detailed information. But, basically, once you've installed the Notion and iLok software, restart your computer, and then Notion can only be accessed when your iLok "key," a small portable USB drive, is placed in a USB port.

Now only the program data needs to be transferred; with the key, there is an elegant solution to the need to work on one program at different locations. It is certainly a cheaper alternative to purchasing more "licenses" to allow multiple installations for one user.

I could ramble on even more about Notion; it has a simple to follow instruction manual where your questions can easily be addressed and answers quickly found. It comes with a dazzling array of instruments. Visually it is uncluttered and simple—an appearance that belies its complex heart. But there is no point rambling on about a 5 star/excellent piece of software. Composers need purchase this software and begin putting it to use.

Additional information

For the composer who is unsatisfied with the dozens and dozens of instruments provided with the software, Notion also offers expansion packs that are really just over the top. Did you need the euphonium in that perfect composition? Thirteen more supplementary playing techniques for your horn? A dozen classic violins, including a 1698 Stradivarius at your beck and call? (Well, okay, yes to that last one.) A dozen new percussion instruments? (Okay, again. Can you ever have enough percussion instruments?) If, like me, you answered "yes" to one or more of the questions above, Notion has a stocking-stuffer in mind for you.

Purchase Notion