Reviews of our Music Notation Software

 "Simply the Best" said "...a tool for professional-level musicians who need to be able to print out high-quality music."

I get so many letters it's hard to pick out a representative sample. But here are some ranging over various editions of the software:

This arrived by email in May 2009, about three weeks after purchase:
As a self-employed musician for the last forty years I have toyed with the idea of doing arrangements using computer software. Tempted by the demonstations on your website I thought for this type of money it can't be much good. It was not much good! - it was SENSATIONAL! The help files are superb and cover every aspect of musical notation. Come on people - put away the quill pen and buy this INCREDIBLE product! [Terry Fenwick, Tyne & Wear]

From long-standing customer, letter sent with his cheque to upgrade to MP7:
I have found Music Publisher both simple and a pleasure to use, and successive editions have improved its capabilities to the point where it leaves its rivals at the starting gate. [AJM, Dundee]

"Now that I'm using MusPub 6 I just had to tell you how wonderful it is! That's a real people's product when you create a major upgrade - introducing newer, better ways to do the same tasks. The tweaks you've incorporated are great! I love them all. You've certainly made it easier for us users. Keep up the good work!" [KW, California]

I wanted to write and thank you so much for the music software that arrived today. It was really most efficient service, as I only placed the order on Sunday... I am just so impressed already. [JF, Chippenham]

"I think Music Publisher is wonderful! You are clever and the tutorial has had me hooting with laughter - every comment is spot on; how do you predict all our mistakes in advance?! If I had to sum up MP in one word, 'Wow' comes to mind. Thank you so much - I'm going to have great fun with it." [JB, London]

Dear Bernard, Just received the software and have begun tutorial. I can actually understand it!! Many thanks because I was so afraid that it would be totally beyond me. I was taking a chance ordering it! I am not the brightest IT student on the planet, having started this game in my seventies. But I am finding this fun! Thank you again. It was worth every penny. [MD, Devon]

It is a real pleasure using MP. I have only attempted to use one other program and it was most unsatisfactory. When I hear the difficulty others are having with other programs I am even more convinced that MP is the best and your tech help is superb! [MU, North Carolina]

"I tried several popular notation programs before I settled on MP6. 90% of our music is from Byzantine chant and with MP6 I don't have to struggle to make the music fit a particular time signature. Also, your tutorial is great! The other software I tried had nice glitzy tutorials and at the end of them I was still lost as how to proceed. I love the low-key conversational style of your tutorial. Within the hour I was easily entering notation. I find your shortcuts very intuitive and therefore easy to remember. The mnemonics used are also very helpful.
I can read music and understand the basics of music theory but am by no means a music scholar. I believe anyone with just a bit of musical knowledge would find MP6 very easy to use." [PB, London]

"When I first downloaded MP and ran the tutorial I was writing music within minutes, the fastest program to learn I have encountered. It is very clear for the novice and written with a sense of humour which I very much appreciated. I would recommend anyone new to MP to run the tutorial.

Bernard: I have been working with the tutorial and I have to say it is possibly the first time I have enjoyed learning about an application. Thanks for the great service and help. [JB Hertfordshire]

This software is excellent value for money. I've used it for a number of years. Bernard's support is second to none. He is very responsive to his customers and often adds extra features as requested. On the rare occasion that a bug turns up, it is usual to find it fixed by the next day and the new release up and ready on the website for free downloading by registered customers. Full marks. [MP, Twyford]

Can I just say that I've always found Bernard's Help Files and his Manual are in a league of their own when it comes to clarity and precision in outlining procedures in Music Publisher." [MH, London]

For reviews explicitly of Scanning click here.

For an interesting phone call click here.

In response to the question “What notation software, Sibelius or Finale?” posted on the newsgroup rec.music.makers.piano, Richard Trahan wrote:

"Assuming you're not intentionally using the old rhetorical trick of constraining the response set to get the answer you want, I vote for Music Publisher 5 (MP5). It has everything except part extraction, which is rumored to be forthcoming. It's only $170 and is completely free-form; you don't have to devise tricks to defeat the beat count, etc. The company is small enough so that you get almost instantaneous feedback on bugs and enhancements, with a turnaround time of days, not months, on fixes (it seems bug-free right now, anyway). New features are aggressively added based on user feedback. It comes with a comprehensive user manual, for the few who actually read them, as well as online help and a tutorial to get you jump started. It's jammed with features, and the good news is you can download a free trial version that has everything; it just won't play back entire scores or do a couple of other big operations. MP5 has a convenient American/British nomenclature option so you can deal with quarter notes or crotchets in the online documentation, as you wish. It has everything you'd expect in a high price spread, like full text editing support, cut and paste, a notation palette which seems to have everything but Gregorian chant (and I've heard that's coming, too), superb printing, transposition, easy entry of notes and accidentals, user-definable templates, word processor-style pagination options, playback in dozens of instruments, MIDI file save, prettifying functions, manually adjustable slurs, an optional scanning module, and -- for heavens sakes -- it even plays the bagpipes. What more could one ask for?"
Richard teaches Piano in New Jersey.

(Just to clarify: Richard's comments are about Music Publisher 5. Part extraction is included with Music Publisher 6, as were very many other features. Even quarter tones, if that's what lights your fire!)

"If only other software companies would follow your example and write programs which are compact and easy to use but deliver a mighty punch with quality." [email from PG Lancashire]

"I have had your MP5 for a week now and am full of admiration. It is a marvel. I haven't had this much fun for years." [email from SW Norfolk]

"I tried several notation software packages from the Internet and yours is the easiest to learn and operate. I can score a song in less than 30 minutes (I write arrangements for a 9 piece big band)." [Email from RG, Alabama]

"Many thanks for providing such a brilliant tutorial, so much better than having to wade through a book full of non understandable terms. This is the first time I have experienced such clear and concise instructions and to realise that there is at least one expert who has sympathy for the amateur!" [JB, Herefordshire]

"My wife just started using the Music Publisher software I purchased a month or so ago. I usually help her a good bit with new programs as she fumes at their design and training idiocies. I thought you'd appreciate knowing that all I had to do was turn her loose on your tutorial. She sailed through it and was able to be productive immediately - including figuring out with the help of the manual how to do a complex barred repeating-note pattern. We are both delighted with your design sense and clear writing." [JEM, Philadelphia]

"The sound facility is a great boon, especially in checking rhythym, timing, harmony and couterpoint whilst work is in progress... it is an absolote joy to use. ... Your manuals I have always held in the highest esteem for their clarity, readability and comprehensive coverage of every major detail imaginable, but I think in MP5 you have excelled yourself. The major software houses ought to be able to learn a lesson or two....[RB, Kent]

Scanning

[posted on rec.music.makers.choral newsgroup]
"I am currently using Bernard Hill's program to good effect, to scan orchestral parts that need to be transposed and in some cases to be converted from bass clef to tenor, or from treble to alto. The scans are surprisingly accurate, and - being essentially a graphics program - MP mercifully doesn't attempt to juggle with the result in an attempt to tidy up the layout, as more elaborate programs do. This means that the scanned layout is exactly the same as in the original, bar for bar, system for system, and generally just omits any item it can't decode. So proof-reading is largely a matter of finding gaps and filling them, and then listening to the playback to spot the occasional problem with accidentals.... "

"... the scanning program is orders of magnitude better than anything I have tried before" [DU, Royston, Herts]

"I have been using Music Publisher 5 now for several months and done a lot of work with it. In particular I have produced MIDI files for our men's chorus for 18 choral arrangements. I scan in the sheet music, edit as needed (usually a function of how "clean" the original is), and then produce the MIDI file. Using a MIDI player that allows playing parts individually -- and slowing down the tempo when needed -- this makes a great rehearsal tool for our members. It is particularly useful when we get some poor guy just joining us and he has umpteen pieces to learn. Your software is a lifesaver." [JF, Santa Rosa, USA]

Occasionally I get excited phone calls, but with strange complaints....

"It's super, absolutely super. I can't tell you thrilled I am with it.... I only got it yesterday, but I could have killed you at 3 o'clock this morning ... no, there was no problem, it was just that I was too excited about your program to get to sleep...". The name of the caller was sadly not recorded, but the words are genuine :-).

© Braeburn Software 2008