ANy Harmony-assistant users ?

[musicalis]

Is there any Harmony-assistant user in this forum ?

http://myriad-online.com/en/index.htm

Do you know it is a very good musical software, very cheap and very powerfull. I compose and record all my music with it.

J-Paul

[NEB]

Thanks J-P - I'll look it over.

[Krummhorn]

Hi Jean-Paul,

I've downloaded the trial version and experimented with it some ... I need to spend more time with it trying out all its features. I've been using NWC for almost 5 years, so it's kind of rough for this 'old dog' to learn another new 'trick', but I'll get there eventually - just takes longer as I advance in age.

Indeed, HA does lots more than NWC - and does it neater, although one can't save or print from the trial version, what I see on screen is pretty impressive.

[NEB]

I would point out that according to the price list, this program costs 50% more if you happen to live in Europe than if you happen to be in America. That's not right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Muza]

Thats like if for a lot of things though, from something as big as a car to something as small as a CD... Why is that?

[Krummhorn]

Wonder why that is, NEB ... since that application (I think) comes from France?
Doesn't seem fair at all ... maybe J-Paul has some insight into this.

[musicalis]

HI !
harmony-Assistant is designed by a very small society (2 brothers and a secretary), in Toulouse.
Their policy is to sold the best product at the smallest price. Once you have bought HA, updates are free during all your life. I think it is for the same reason that the price has never increased. When HA has been released for the first time, a few years ago, US $ and european Euro had allmost the same value. Now, it's true, HA is cheapest if you pay with $.

J-Paul

[NEB]

It was because I track currency movements and study economics that I spotted the discrepancy immediately and you're quite right that the USD was a lot Stronger and EUR was a lot weaker in relative terms several years ago.

I wonder why they have not adjusted their pricing to take acount of this. Not least since they would recieve less money from non Euro customers?

That aside.

I really quite like this program. I've knocked up a couple of things very intuitively just as I would on Manuscript paper and havn't had to go round the houses in the way I've had to with other types of program.

I will have some questions in due course though, but the first is this.

I was able to print a short offering which included lyrics, but in the printed version there seem to be dotted lines above and below the words, and dividing each bar. Now while on the one hand it would be kinda useful when you have a choir that doesn't read well, and it divides things up nicely for them to avoid confusion, it doesn't look too nice on a printed copy. How can this be hidden? (I suspect they are guides or something similar).

Second question. If I'm scoring something. How do I set about automatically stripping parts out from a score for printing?

[John Curtin]

I've been using Harmony for some time now, but am by no means an expert and have never actually finished a work. There have always been a few things that I couldn't figure out (for example NEB's question about stripping parts for printing), but I've tried to ignore it and put off figuring it out until I, you know, finish something. The electronic documentation that comes with it is pretty labyrinthine and difficult to use: a lot of it seems to deal with basic music theory and defines what a slur is rather than how to actually write a slur! I know what a slur is! That's why I would like to put one in!

Aside from those little things (which, to be fair, are reasonably easy to figure out if you are willing to spend a little time searching through the options) I think it's a great programme for an absolute bargain price. The fact that it's updated very regularly, and for free, is also wonderful. I'm sure it doesn't stand up to Finale or Sibelius but at this stage I'm not in a position to justify the cost of those programmes.

[musicalis]

Thanks for your post.
Of course, HA looks very difficult the first time we try it, there are so msuch options. But do you know it is the same for MS Office. I have been told that people only use 10% of the possibilities of this software. With HA it is the same, if you do not need lyrics, scripts or if you do not want to write comtemporary music, you have not to learn every option.

Visit the web site of "Myriad On Line". There are many tutorial in English, a forum in multi-language, and so on.

For the second question, you can print separate parts using a script in the script menu. You can also disable staves individually in the print options by unselecting the small printers thumbs.

[NEB]

I've been trialing Finale and frankly been a little disappointed. It's so bally difficult to write in piano parts. The other day I was trying to write a simple piece for the right hand that held one note and played some others in between and it wouldn't let me. Wouldn't let me I say.

Old chumly said maybe I should try writing it as another part, but that's just so bally difficult to read. So what is a chap to do when something like happens. Go to the jolly old club and play a jolly game of billiards with one's chums and forget the whole thing.


Joking apart. I think that Finale is much less intuitive, and requires you to actually think completely differently to accomodate the computer, rather than thinking as if you re writing the music on the page.

Now I understand that if you are going to use some powerful software of this nature, there might be compromises, and that in time one would learn to use the thing more effectively, but when writing something onto two staves it seems a bit of a to do!

[chromaticism]

I tried using Harmony Assistant once. I can't claim to be an expert (I only used it roughly 20 times without completing any work). It has some rather interesting features such as the Virtual Singer (uses MBROLA voices plus it's articulation is horribly robotic so you can't replace your human singers with this) and auto harmony/accompaniment features. The problem is I was never able to get used to its interface making me switch to Sibelius instead for my notation needs.