# Easy to use music comp program for kid?



## sunandshadow (Sep 24, 2010)

My 12 year old cousin was playing SimTunes on my computer and loved it.  Is there a music composition program which will be similarly easy to learn but allow him to compose music in a way that he can cut and paste musical phrases and the result can be printed out as sheet music?  It should have a selection of electronic instruments which can be assigned to 4 or more tracks, and the input would be from a mouse.


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## Commiecomrade (Sep 24, 2010)

Anvil Studio, or if you're not feeling frugal, Sibelius. I use them both. However, Anvil Studio doesn't let you print your work, but you can save them as MIDI files, still. That's why I gave up searching and coughed up the cash for Sibelius. I still use Anvil Studio because it has a nicer sound when you play it; Sibelius trips up on the playback for no reason.


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## Eleziek (Sep 25, 2010)

Commiecomrade said:


> Anvil Studio, or if you're not feeling frugal, Sibelius. I use them both. However, Anvil Studio doesn't let you print your work, but you can save them as MIDI files, still. That's why I gave up searching and coughed up the cash for Sibelius. I still use Anvil Studio because it has a nicer sound when you play it; Sibelius trips up on the playback for no reason.


 
Woh woh woh, General Midi =/= better sound than Essentials lol

There's plenty of free notation programs out there, Finale Notepad is available for download and is good for a beginner in computer notation. Later down the line I much rather use Sibelius than Finale, but there's only a trial version available for Sibelius.


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## sunandshadow (Sep 27, 2010)

I looked at both sibellius and anvil studio.  They're both a bit too complicated and not fun/game-like enough for what I had in mind.  A friend of mine also recommended Garage Band and said the auto-tune feature would be useful for amateur vocals, so I went to look at that too, but apparently it's only available for mac?


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## Fiesta_Jack (Sep 27, 2010)

I would have loved to find Fruity Loops at age 12. It's definitely fun, but I'm not sure it quite meets the needs you're looking for.


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## Jude (Sep 27, 2010)

Mario Paint Composer? :V


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## Eleziek (Oct 3, 2010)

Ah, okay. Well, as for something like a game that allows you to print out sheet music? I am not aware of any such program that would be very easy to use but be able to actually produce notation. 

Sorry I could not be of much help


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## Commiecomrade (Oct 10, 2010)

DrumFur said:


> Mario Paint Composer? :V


 
This is exactly what I thought of when he said the other stuff was too complicated.



Eleziek said:


> Woh woh woh, General Midi =/= better sound than Essentials lol



Definitely a hell of a lot better than Sibelius, though. The drums in Sibelius are...suck.

Seriously, though, if you're looking for some sort of easy little music generator, you're not going to be very happy. The midi stuff that I recommended would be the easiest to learn. Just learn it, and you can create your own music. Notation producing programs are supposed to be in-depth and full of many features. There is nothing worse than wanting to do something in one and finding that it isn't supported. I'm sure that you can find resources out there somewhere that will help. It isn't hard at all once you know what you are doing.


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## Eleziek (Oct 12, 2010)

OP, I did some research and stumbled on some software with good ratings that does exactly what you want, it seems. Morton Subotnick has a series of software meant for an introduction to music and music composition. While I have never used the software myself, it has received some education awards. It may or may not be too simple, but either way I hope this is somewhat helpful! 

http://www.creatingmusic.com/



Commiecomrade said:


> Definitely a hell of a lot better than Sibelius, though. The drums in Sibelius are...suck.
> 
> Seriously, though, if you're looking for some sort of easy little music generator, you're not going to be very happy. The midi stuff that I recommended would be the easiest to learn. Just learn it, and you can create your own music. Notation producing programs are supposed to be in-depth and full of many features. There is nothing worse than wanting to do something in one and finding that it isn't supported. I'm sure that you can find resources out there somewhere that will help. It isn't hard at all once you know what you are doing.



MIDI is not at all easy to learn if you are wanting to go and print out sheet music and actually do legit notation, especially for a 12 year old. Hell, you shouldn't be using Anvil at all if you're wanting to make legible sheet music.

http://www.sibelius.com/products/sibelius_sounds/essentials.html

Essentials IS Sibelius. Are all the SSE (Sibelius Sounds Essentials ) samples awesome? Hell no. If you expect a true-to-life sound, expect to be shelling out thousands of dollars for samples like Project SAM and Vienna Libraries. SSE still gives a realistic approach to composition in terms of blending and balance. I have not had personal experience with the Sib 6 version samples, but I have heard them from a playback perspective and I don't understand how there could be a question. Quality of general MIDI varies in whatever is built in to your sound card. What sounds good on one computer isn't always going to sound the same on another. Unless you start delving in to the world of sound fonts you aren't going to get a high quality sound out of basic MIDI, and soundfonts are a freaking pain as is if you're using a Windows machine. (Windows is my OS of choice)

I mean shit, not trying to go after you buddy, it was just a bit misleading.


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## RedReynart (Nov 3, 2010)

http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/harmony.htm

This is a Music notation program where you can create and print off full musical scores in great detail, it also has internal sounds that you can play back your own score and relitivly cheap. 

If you really want to lean how to read and compose music this is the best program I know and recomend it highly even over finally (another music notation program) 

Its suports midi so you can use this to play back on your own piano/synthesizer as well as record audio and midi. 

It runs about $75 bucks and for an aditional $25 I think you can upgrade the sound bank the program uses internaly though you can also create custom instruments too furthering your sound bank.


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## Commiecomrade (Nov 6, 2010)

Eleziek said:


> Essentials IS Sibelius. Are all the SSE (Sibelius Sounds Essentials ) samples awesome? Hell no. If you expect a true-to-life sound, expect to be shelling out thousands of dollars for samples like Project SAM and Vienna Libraries. SSE still gives a realistic approach to composition in terms of blending and balance. I have not had personal experience with the Sib 6 version samples, but I have heard them from a playback perspective and I don't understand how there could be a question. Quality of general MIDI varies in whatever is built in to your sound card. What sounds good on one computer isn't always going to sound the same on another. Unless you start delving in to the world of sound fonts you aren't going to get a high quality sound out of basic MIDI, and soundfonts are a freaking pain as is if you're using a Windows machine. (Windows is my OS of choice)
> 
> I mean shit, not trying to go after you buddy, it was just a bit misleading.



No problem. Actually what I meant was instead of saying:



Commiecomrade said:


> [Anvil Studio is] Definitely a hell of a lot better than Sibelius, though.


 
I should have said:



Commiecomrade said:


> [Anvil Studio is] Definitely a hell of a lot better than the regular Sibelius without Essentials, though.



Also, yes, Anvil Studio wouldn't be the best choice to print legible sheet music, since it doesn't even have that feature on the freeware level. $29 gets you that feature. It'd be better to go with Sibelius with Essentials.


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## PoisonUnagi (Nov 18, 2010)

Sibelius if you're willing to pirate or fork out a large sum of money, NoteWorthy Composer if you're not, and Linux MultiMedia Studio if you're serious about electronic music.


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