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Score Writer is the “lite” version of Overture 5. Since I have O5 already, I’ve never looked at SW — perhaps I should.
“ Also why I, like many have gone to Finale, Sibelius and MuseScore.”
I do not like Sibelius or MuseScore but have had Finale and Dorico since the beginning of each. My “heavy lifting” has been done in Finale since 1989, pen and ink for the 20 years prior. I keep waiting for Dorico to be a useful tool for me—takes me way too much time to get anything done. I have bought and discarded about a dozen other notation apps since my Mac Plus in 1986.
I used to use Notion 6 to open MusicXML from Sibelius but it doesn’t work with he current version. The Dolet 8 plug-in lets the current Sibelius export MusicXML 4.0 which opens in Finale 27.3.
My point is that I use the best tools I have to get the work done. Encore has a definite place in my toolkit, especially for my church work and lead sheets. Like everyone here, I want it back. That E6 is not ready isn’t keeping me from getting things done.
“I’m using 5.6. I have 5.7 but that is buggy as well and I experience even more crashes with 5.7.”
Exact answers to specific questions can be most helpful. There was never an Encore 5.6 or 5.7. I do know that you have a Mac, at least since the last version for Windows was 5.0.4.
I’m not playing word games here. There was more than one build for Encore 5.0.7. Oddly enough, if you run Get Info in the Encore menu on the very last version of 5.0.7, you get
Encore
5.0.6 1303M
Encore 5.0.7 Copyright © 2014 etc.
This was the last build and it’s quite stable over MacOS 10.14 Mojave. Some issues including Core Fonts and Barline Types only work properly in that version over that OS. If you don’t have 5.0.6 1303M, it can be found. I don’t post my contact info but I’m not hard to find if you need that build.
You should purge every old version of Encore from your Mac. Old fonts, especially, can cause crashes no matter what version you are running. I can find Richard’s 2014 email on that if needed.
“Like my 1st post says I use Encore to sequence so Velocity is big for me”
Good luck with that. Overture combines the features of Encore and MasterTracks Pro. Unfortunately, Ov5 cannot open Encore files but Don says that Ov6 will. I think your solution will lie in that direction. If you’ve not downloaded the demo, it would be a good idea.
“I don’t know Mike, but don’t we need someway to tell what each note VL is set too?”
In 55 years of doing notation, I’ve never needed that. Not once, not ever. Of course, the first 20 years were pen and ink. Sill, I know of no notation app that does this. MIDI, yes after a fashion but not notation.
“….The Add Text Function is crazy buggy OMG. If I add Text elements they can dismantle playback, cause crashes by untold amounts, disappear into a blackhole after being placed”
Huh? What version of Encore are you using? I have never experienced that. Disappearing and misplaced Text elements, yes, but the rest of it? No. I’ve had Encore and Overture since version 1 and MusicShop before that.
MusicXML import in MuseScore leaves a lot to be desired. Notion, Dorico and Finale handle it much better. Unfortunately, xml export from Encore is only v. 1.1 (Windows) or 1.3 (Mac) and does not support lyrics or expressions.
If you printed your Encore scores to PDF so that they retain font info, you might check out Melody Assistant’s PDFtoMusic Pro ($199). For evaluation, it can only handle one page. It’s not very good but its .xml or compressed .mxl opens in Finale, Dorico and Overture much better with lyrics and expressions (text is hit and miss) — still not very good into MuseScore. It will not import into Notion at all. The non Pro version ($65) does not export MusicXML at all and is totally worthless, IMO.
SmartScore 64 Pro is a straight scanning app and lets you edit your scan before exporting MusicXML 3.0. Its $399. Works a lot better than PDFtoMusic. No discount for MuseScore owners but Encore owners can get it for $299 ($199 if you own Finale). Its .xml imports to Notin, also.
https://www.musitek.com/store/CrossGrade.html“The way I see it, Encore 5.0.4 comes with a VST player.”
Good luck getting it working. I don’t know that it ever really did.
“How can I insert pictures here like you did with the link to Sonic Scores?”
I pasted in the url to the Sonic Scores web site and that’s how it appears.
“I can’t stress enough again.. we need note velocity displayed when hovered over..”
Does any notation app do that?
Per Don in another thread about VST support in Encore 6:
“At some point we plan on implementing VST support, but probably not in the initial release.”
Over in the Overture support forums, Don has posted that, when Encore 6 is released, Overture will be updated to open Encore 5 files. Overture 5 does have VST support but cannot open Encore files.
“hat I remember, E5 cannot read files that old. An intermediate save in E455 or early E5 may be needed.”
4.5.5 can often read older files, be saved so that the early version of 5 could read it, then save and be opened by the later version of 5. Getting any of this to work often requires multiple computers and a bit of sneakernet between them. Having given away all my old hardware, I can no longer do this.
“As an alternative, Harmony Assistant reads E455 files pretty well.”
In what universe? Also this: “I am working for a classical / choral music publisher”
Harmony Assistant is not only pretty terrible at reading old Encore files, it’s lyric handling stops after one verse.
Back to the OP: One of your problems will be that, even if you found a computer old enough to run E3, your original output will look terrible by any standards (printed slurs are ghastly, even in Encore 5). Another is that, even if after a few conversions you get it open in E5, MusicXML export does not handle Lyrics or Expressions — in a choral work?
You can wait for Encore 6 so that, if Andres is able to import them into E5, you might be able to open, view and export correctly. Since E6 is late, no one knows if/how well that might work. No one.
If you need to be working on these files now and you have printouts, there are a couple of decent sheet music scanners out there including SmartScore 64 Pro—best with Finale and Dorico or ScanScore Pro—best if Sibelius is the house notation app.
The last Mac version was 5.0.7 (5.0.6m on the Get Info screen) and works pretty well. There are some download sites where it can be found if you are good with a Google search.
It works as well over Mojave as any version of Encore ever. I have not tried it with a MIDI controller, however, and have no idea if that can still be made to work.
No news on a launch date.
There are no current plans to port to iPadOS.
Fender/PreSonus has recently Notion for iPad. It’s now free with in-app purchases. It works well and supports MusicXML 3.0 as well as the Apple pencil. I’ve been using it since first released about ten years ago.
Really—you were considering Score Writer? Encore has more features than that. But yes, since the Windows version of Encore still works (bugs and all), waiting for Encore 6 or Overture 6 and deciding then is the prudent thing to do. You can upgrade to one or cross grade to the other.
I’m in somewhat the same boat on the Mac side. I have both E-5 and O-5. Overture 5 does work in the current MacOS (and looks better) but it takes me longer to do anything than Encore 5 over Mojave. If Encore 6 is like E-5 but working over 64 bit, that’s what I really want. I’ll likely upgrade Overture as well but I have a ton of Encore files that I must revisit now and then.
I’m holding off on my new Mac till then since these will not let me boot from a Mojave external drive and my iMac Pro will.
The Overture 5 Manual is found under the Help Menu. You can download is as a pdf or print if you want.
The last build of Encore 5 5.0.7 (5.0.6m in the About window) for Mac is quite stable and works fine over MacOS 10.14 Mojave — much better than over the two MacOS that preceded it. Being 32 bit, it cannot run over any later OS. If Encore 6 works as well, I’ll be happy.
Finale up to 9 could import Encore 2 & 3 files but I don’t know anyone who made it work with later versions.
One of Encore’s big problems is that the current versions cannot open older Encore files. 5.0.7 for the Mac cannot open anything older than 5.0.4. Fortunately, I converted all my older files with every update.
Unfortunately, Overture 5 cannot open Encore files. This will change when Encore 6 (and, presumably Overture 6) are released.
For now, you can scan pdf printouts, MIDi Export/Import (no lyrics, text or expressions) or MusicXML Export (1.1 Windows; 1.3 Mac) and Import to Overture with some text, no lyrics or expressions. Since Overture 5 supports MusicXML 3.0, it is assumed that Encore 6 will support that, too.
