Manage updates with the Download AppMelody Assistant User Reviews
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"Poor interface makes for VERY slow work"
Version: Melody Assistant 7.6.0f
Pros
This product has a wide array of useful features for creating scores.
Cons
The interface is VERY poor. It is tedious to enter each note, with no shortcuts. Also a catch 22 for folks like me: If you want to print, you must buy a key. If you buy a key, you must wait up to two days to get it.
Summary
Tiny icons and extraordinarily poor interface behavior makes this music composition application nearly unusable. I had a short piece of music that I needed to arrange (literally two pages). I had it written out, but needed a nice score. Since I'm on a different laptop, I don't have access to Finale or my other software, so I figured I'd spend $25 on the licensed copy of Melody Asst to put the music together. I figured it would take about an hour.
Three hours later, I finally finished. Each note has to be located with the mouse. There are nearly no keyboard shortcuts for adding notes. Editing a note is so painful, that it is easier to delete than change it. Add an extra quarter note to a staff and every measure after is off-center... delete it, and the app leaves rests throughout the rest of the measures in the stave.
Simple actions, are difficult. Mildly complicated notations are nearly impossible to figure out. (There may be a way... this app is Loaded with useless features... but in three hours, I didn't find some fairly obvious things). The user interface goes well beyond "un-intuitive" all the way to "dismal."
Just to rub it in, I finished by sheet music (two pages) and decided to pay for the software so that I could print it... only to find out that the registration process is not integrated. You buy it on Paypal, and the company has to get the e-mail from Paypal and manually send you a key. Could come in a few hours, or a few days (according to their web site).
The work around is to bring the sheet music up in Print Preview and use the snipping tool on Windows Vista, or Windows 7, to capture an image that you can combine with other images to create a bit of sheet music. Lots of hassle.
I hate this product and would NEVER wish for anyone, even an enemy, to be reduced to using it. Don't waste your time. Look for Finale Notepad Plus and use it instead. -
"A superb product. Good technical features, low price."
Version: Melody Assistant 7.5.1e
Pros
I've used it for years. It's feature-rich, designed for users with a degree of technical knowledge. Well worth the modest price.
Cons
The designers are French, so some of the English text and technical labels can be mildly challenging.
Summary
I use it chiefly to reproduce musical passages, usually on only one or two staves, for inclusion in my writings on musical subjects. The result always has a professional polish. On the few occasions I have had to call on their email tech support, their response time has been rapid and their service has been exemplary -- absolutely first class. And although tech support is in France, there's no language problem with it. I wrote my first email in French; but ever since our correspondence has been in idiomatic English.
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"Awesome sequencer for making sick electronic music"
Version: Melody Assistant 7.0.2
Pros
Combine this program with a good sample library and you can make some sick beats, due to the many ways you can present an instrument or sample. Lots of built-in effects, and easy import and export for each layer so you can use other software to create samples and sample sequences (audiomulch?)
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"Not Bad"
Version: Melody Assistant 7.0.2
Pros
Reasonably easy to use.
Cons
Icons are too small and interface seems to be packed with too many items.
Sound quality is not that flash.
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"Download Finale Notepad instead, it's FREE. Bad support from Myriad."
Version: Melody Assistant 7.0.2
Cons
Myriad's support is bad. The Melody Assistant software seems okay, but I didn't get time to check it out because the activation key was not sent to me until the next day and by then I had already downloaded Finale Notepad which is clearly the superior product. I had a project due the following day and didn't expect to wait around for an activation key - the demo won't let you print legibly. I had wasted way too much time by the time I realized the activation key was not coming. When I explained all this to the Melody Assistant support person, the person showed me that he or she could care less and wouldn't give me a refund. The activation key didn't arrive in my email until the next day, and then only after I had to email them about not receiving it multiple times. If you buy this product, be sure you are prepared to possibly wait a day or more to receive your activation key. This was my experience. I was totally annoyed by all contact with the support person. Luckily Finale Notepad is much better. You can download the non-demo Finale Notepad from its website for free.
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"Powerful, inexpensive, fun"
Version: Melody Assistant 7.0.2
Pros
This software does so much. I use it to play around with midi files, look at the scores, change instruments, etc. I almost never buy software, but I forked out 20 bucks for this (though I think it works ok for free). Just the sound bank is great, much better than the standard MIDI that comes on my PC (Vista). I've had good support from the company and the forums.
Cons
The user interface is a bit confusing. There's a definite learning curve. Lots of powerful functions aren't so easy to discover. The tutorials help.
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"Major rendering flaws make this product useless."
Version: Melody Assistant 7.0.2
Pros
Deep feature set.
Cons
The product produces unreadable renderings
(both on screen and in print) in very
basic situations (e.g. dotted half
followed by 16th with alterations in 4/4).
The notes and the accidentals end up
printing on top of each other and there
is no way to manually fix the placement.
This is with the paying version, and the
only answer from support is that this is
on purpose, and that you have to go and
purchase the more expensive Harmony
Assistant product to be able to freely
place the notes in the bar.
I would strongly recommend against that
product unless you are looking for endless
headaches to create the most basic scores.
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"HIGHLY recommended! sequencer with old-school interface"
Version: Melody Assistant 7.0.2
Pros
Compose music the old-fashioned way by dropping notes on a staff. Edit the score, right down to aspects of the individual note. Exports to midi, wav and other formats. Apply effects to the score or individual instruments. Allows you to create your own instruments from sound files. Well worth $20!
Cons
The included instrument base is poor and the intermediate one from their website isn't much better. No way to easily drop chords on the screen - have to do it a note at a time or use a keyboard.
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"Great software"
Version: Melody Assistant 7.0.2
Pros
This is a good piece of software. I've owned it for several years and use it for all my composition. It's easy to use and EXTREMELY CHEAP as far as music notation software goes (and there's a completely free version available, just with fewer functions and a maximum number of notes). It has many, many features, some of which very few people will ever use. The sound database for playback is ok, and you can purchase better from the website, which also features some forums and good support from a helpful staff.
Cons
The music can skip a little if you put in a lot of staves (i.e. an orchestral score or larger), and in the few years I've owned Melody Assistant it's crashed four times, each time requiring a complete restoration of the software and a hassle for yours truly. Each version becomes better with both of these things, though, as is to be expected.
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"Crashes constantly!"
Version: Melody Assistant 7.0.2
Cons
Every time I try to edit a file, it crashes and I have to restart the program. It is really annoying.
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