QuickScore Elite Level II, Music Notation Software, Version 0.1.12
by Howard Berenbon
Before I begin, I have reviewed and used QuickScore Elite over the years and it’s a great product for any music creator offering tools that cover every aspect of music composition. And once you get used to its controls, you’ll be programming your creations quickly and accurately within the QuickScore music environment.
I last reviewed their 2015 PC version in 2016, but I was curious to see what they offered in 2023. And found that their 2019 version 0.1.12 March 20, 2021, was the latest. Software doesn’t necessarily have to update yearly to work well, as I have found with Adobe products. I’m still using Adobe’s Premiere Pro, Photoshop and Dreamweaver from previous years and they work perfectly.
In comparing the Score Editor from both the 2015 version and 2019 version they look the same. However, that is expected, because your methods of music composition will stay the same. But, when new versions appear, you can expect improvements and added features.
QuickScore Elite II Features
This is one very powerful integrated scoring, audio recording and sequencing program with all the tools you need to create your music, up to 48 tracks! If you’ve downloaded the free version, you can click on Tutorials at the main menu to start creating. You’ll begin with the “Starting Out” tutorial, and then move to each of the tools beginning with the Score Editor. Below is a list and short description of each tool.
Score Editor displays music and allows it to be edited in standard music notation.
Piano Roll Editor displays music in piano roll format.
Controller Editor lets you edit continuous data like controllers, tempo, note velocities and pitch bend.
Audio Editor lets you enter and edit audio data like vocals and sound effects.
Track Sheet for naming, moving, deleting and editing tracks and track parameters.
MIDI Mixer for mixing tracks in real time, changing parameters like volume, pan or pitch bend.
Audio Mixer used for mixing audio tracks, VST instruments, VST effects, audio inputs/output and ReWire channels.
Event List allows you to see and edit all the musical events present in your composition.
Song Editor displays music as a string of colored bars filled with notes and other musical data.
Start Composing
You’ll start in the Score Editor to enter notes using a mouse, their virtual keyboard, using your MIDI keyboard or microphone connected to your computer. The newest feature allows you to import pre-recorded music from a .wav file. Mainly, individual notes clearly recorded. As you compose you’ll enter key signatures, lyrics and chord symbols. As you progress, you can play the music you created and make changes (add, delete or move notes) using simple editing tools within the editor. When ready, you can print your sheet music, save to CD and even burn an audio CD. QuickScore is so versatile you can work with one staff or up to 48 multiple staves. When composing for an orchestra, you can easily create music for every instrument. It also allows up to 96 audio channels.
When you run the program it opens in the Score Editor, but you can access all the tools from the Windows drop-down menu at the top of the screen, or from their icons at the bottom. Edit your music using your choice of Score Editor, Piano Roll, Audio Editor Audio Mixer, Controller, Event List or Song Editors, all included and integrated. And once you learn the Score Editor, you’ll have the basics for the other tools.
Before you start composing, you should test out some sample music created with QuickScore included in the Sion Software directory under Documents. To load, from the Score Editor, click File and then Open, and find the Scion Software folder. Then you can open a composer folder, like Bach, to select a sample. The score will load, and click the green Play button at the top to start.
New Features and Changes
They offer buttons in the main control area for creating new files, saving and opening files, printing and editing, with filters.
In the Score Editor, the NS tool can be used to change a note's duration.
The Display Bar, Display Track, Find Event and Instrument Range dialog are now modal dialogs allowing you to move freely on the page and edit when they’re active.
The default determination of accidentals has been improved. Notably, ascending chromatic passages favor sharps; descending chromatic passages favor flats.
Flicker has been eliminated in some editors, notably the Score Editor.
When exporting graphic files, the correct file type is automatically selected and the aspect ratio is conserved.
When moving notes with the left and right arrow keys using the EW and Adjust tools, they move in quarter space increments.
Quarter note and half note triplets are now entered without ties, by default.
The settings for print scaling and margins are now saved with each file.
The metronome count-in (set in the Metronome dialog) is now saved with each file.
When entering cadenza bars, you are not required to enter a bar number.
A new set of fingerings for stringed instruments, including a dedicated open string symbol. And, you can quickly move between up bows and down bows when entering symbols.
Settings which were formerly stored in the Windows Common Application Data Folder are now stored in the Windows Local Application Data Folder.
And finally, from the Audio Editor, the new edition can take a .wav file and extract the pitches, either monophonically or, if the recording is very clean and the music is not too complex, polyphonically.
If you’re looking for a full-featured music composition suite, then QuickScore Elite is the one. You can try it free, with some limitations. The full version is $179.95 ordered online direct from Sion Software. If you have an earlier version, the upgrade is $99.95.
Sion Software Ltd
3777 Quesnel Drive
Vancouver, B.C. V6L 2W9
Canada
Phone: 604-222-2454
Fax: 604-222-2455
Email: info@sionsoft.com
URL https://www.sionsoft.com
HB
Casinos in Space, a free SciFi Audio Book
by Howard Berenbon
Please click this link to visit Science Fiction Theater for all 30 chapters now online, a free audio book.
A novel about a group of scientists who travel with their wives on a starship to a distant planet for gambling and relaxation. While on the ship, they spend their time in a replica of the Las Vegas Strip for gambling, and eat at Las Vegas style buffets and fine restaurants. Paul Erickson, one of the members, reluctantly goes on the vacation because he is grieving the death of his brother from brain cancer. Right from the start, Paul was acting erratic and his friends were concerned. And to their surprise, Paul went missing, nowhere to be found.
Casinos in Space Chapter 30: Excerpt, Backtrack to the Boardwalk
