Good software for scoring drum parts?

[Tetra-Pro]

I'm looking for software that I can use to compose/score drum parts. It should:

1. be fairly easy to get started with right away
2. provide an advanced interface once I get familiar with it
3. provide annotation tools
4. support multiple staff types
5. support multiple representations for equivalent notes
6. support arbitrary multiple time signatures, etc.
7. print clean, professional-looking output

It does not have to play the parts for me. It doesn't necessarily have to validate what's been written (although that would be nice). It just needs to let me draw what I need to draw, annotate what I need to annotate, and then make nice-looking printouts.

Sort of like a Visio for creating drum scores.

Also, a reasonable cost would be highly desirable.

Thanks for any suggestions and/or relaying your experiences.

--Bob

[Tetra-Pro]

Bump.

Anybody?

[Michael Render]

A cheap solution is TabTrax. It allws you to edit and print both standard notation and Tab. It will also import/export MIDI. It isn't going to wow anyone, but it is only $29.

When I need to wow people, I use Sibelius. Which is very expensive but at least I get an educator's discount.

[Tetra-Pro]

Thanks, Michael. I'll check them out.

[saku]

I would mention Overture as well...much easier and cheaper than finale or sibelius...and quite flexible...

[Jaay]

When making charts for myself, the best results I've had have come from a plain old spreadsheet editor. I've got my own nomenclature for bar counts and rests, and I can just write out beats in plaintext. I can also make charts on just about any computer in the world and print them out just as universally. You might want to see what you can come up with by yourself before you start looking at purchase options.

[Hercules]

I agree with Jaay,

You can use XL or Lotus 123.......it's not particularly elegant, but it is probably already on your PC........

If you have Visio already then how about creating some personal graphics for the notation and sharing them with the forum?

I can feel a notation thread coming on.......................

['lectric drumma]

Notation... I used to have Sibelius on the computer... Changed computer and, well, you know... So I don't have it anymore

But it is great. I only wish there was a free software for people who only every now and than write a song out - in my case jsut the drumscores.

To conclude, Sibelius is a great software.


Stijn

[slyone]

A cheap solution is TabTrax. It allws you to edit and print both standard notation and Tab. It will also import/export MIDI. It isn't going to wow anyone, but it is only $29.

When I need to wow people, I use Sibelius. Which is very expensive but at least I get an educator's discount.

I too have used Tabtrax, find it quite flexible, at least for my purposes. It can be d'loaded and test driven (with limitations of course) before spending money, you can see if its useful the way you'd like it to be.

It's at http://www.tabtrax.com/

Lyle

['lectric drumma]

Ehmm... I see you can write music with it as well... That's a new feature, right? When I looked at Tabtrax (long time ago), I thought it was just a tab-to-score convertor...


Stijn

[hollams]

I am new to the drums but I have been using Guitar Pro for quite some time and you can input drums as well. There are many tabs out there now so you can find beats and copy and paste what you like as well.