My main suggestions

[Sherry C]

Hi Zach,

Thanks for your suggestions for improving Notation Composer. We really appreciate it when our musicians let us know what features are important to them. We really do listen You'll be happy to know that each of your four suggestions are already on our "to do" list for a future major new version.

There are a couple of ways to "work around" two of them currently, and for free. For VST instruments, you can use VST Host (http://www.hermannseib.com/english/vsthost.htm) and "virtual" MIDI cables such as LoopBe1 (http://nerds.de/en/download.html). For details on how to set this up, you can see this post.

To get an mp3 of a file, you can use a soundfont (see our information page) and a program called SynthFont. Create your file in Composer and use File/Export to save a .mid version. Then using SynthFont, you can render this .mid file into an mp3 or wav (or other audio) format.

If you want any further explanation of either of these, just ask, or you can search around the forum for more info as well.

ttfn,
Sherry

[Zach]

Ok thanks, wow you responded within minutes. That's great. Thanks for your suggestions I will look into them.

[Sherry C]

Hi Zach,

Originally Posted by Zach

Ok thanks, wow you responded within minutes. That's great. Thanks for your suggestions I will look into them.

We aim to please

ttfn,
Sherry

[djimtio]

Hi Zach and Sherry

Just my eurocent in the basket.
You may want to try the Midi-input feature of Synthfont first ,with a virtual cable,for listening and making changes in Composer and Synthfont ,before exporting to midi and recording in Synthfont.
The midi-input feature does not support direct recording,yet.
Hope this will help you saving precious time.

Regards

Djim

[Sherry C]

Howdy guys,

Yes, what Djim is suggesting is using SynthFont's "Activate MIDI Input" feature.
This allows you to work in Composer for your editing, and hear the sounds of the soundfont that you want to use through SynthFont. In other words, SynthFont is then acting as a MIDI device for Composer to use for playback of files.
I forgot to mention that bit - thanks Djim

ttfn,
Sherry

[djimtio]

YHi Sherry

You are most welcome.
Also forgot to mention VST-Synthfont,a stripped off version of its big brother.
Does the same with Composer but less jingles and bells.

Regards

Djim

[Zach]

Thanks so much guys, you helped out a lot!

[Zach]

Is there any other program with this midi input feture? I am asking this because every time I try to use that feture Soundfont stops working.

[Sherry C]

Hi Zach,

One thing you might try is using an older version of SynthFont. Kenneth (the developer) is a great guy, and tries to keep putting updates out there. But sometimes the latest version will have a serious bug, and so he usually keeps an older stable version available for such cases.

If the older version of SynthFont doesn't work for you, you can try the VST Host method as outlined here. The installation is listed there.

If you only need one "set" of virtual MIDI cables, then probably the easiest (and most reliable) is LoopBe1 With any of the "cables", you'll need to be sure that you don't have both the "in" and the "out" enabled at the same time in Composer. In Composer, you'll only want the "out" side enabled.

SynthFont has a VSTi that is available (VST Synthfont)
You'll need to run VST Host, and load the SynthFont VST. Then run Composer, and select the virtual MIDI cable that you're using as the device, and you should hear sound when you play your files.

Have fun, and if you have any questions, just ask

ttfn,
Sherry