Description
This article is from the Electronic and
Computer Music FAQ, by Craig Latta Craig.Latta@NetJam.ORG with
numerous contributions by others.
3.1.2.5) What is Lime and how can I get it? (Electronic and Computer Music)
From Nathan Torkington <gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz>:
Lime is a music notation program for the Macintosh. You can
get a demo version of it by ftp from novamail.cerl.uiuc.edu. The demo
is fully functional but pieces are limited to three pages. (The demos
for Final and MusicProse could not print or save). You can also pick
up the manual from here. This was invaluable in trying out the
program - part of the problem with Finale and MusicProse was that it
was almost impossible to figure out how to do something because there
was almost no documentation included. Although I found the user
interface of Lime much better, use of the manual is necessary. The
manual itself is very readable; about half describes the menus and
associated functions, the rest consists of examples. Sizewise, the
Lime manual is about 120 pages. I believe the manuals for MusicProse
and Finale are 250 and 500 respectively.
Interface: Lime splits the music into pages, rather than
having a continuous roll as some other programs do. One window has
the page of music, the other has a little piano keyboard (for input) and a selection of note lengths, annotations such as staccato dots,
accents etc. The editor works in two main modes: notes and
annotations. Annotations covers almost anything you would want to put
on in addition to the actual notes of the piece (dynamics, lyrics,
tempo directions, rehearsal marks, titles ...). Two other modes cover
lines (as in hairpins) and curves (slurs and ties). One possible
complaint would be that after a change, the screen redraws very
slowly. However, this is only a big problem if you really need to see
the change just made before making the next edit, normally you can
just continue editing other parts of the music.
I used ''The Mac Sound Bible''(?) as a aid in choosing between
the various packages. The section on score editing software has
separate sections for each package giving details and pros and cons.
At the end there are several tables comparing features. As far as
number of features goes, Finale has the most. However, most users
will probably never need all those special features, and I think they
only serve to make the program more complicated for those people.
Lime came next, then MusicProse and DMCS.
I run Lime on an LC II 4/40 linked up to a MIDI keyboard
printing on an HP Deskwriter. Being able to input via the keyboard is
very convenient; Lime seems quite good at transcribing what is played,
ignoring slight deviations of tempo. Print quality on the DeskWriter
is quite acceptable for most purposes. I also tried a LaserWriter;
print quality was excellent (of course). Lime comes with its own
fonts, but you can use other fonts if you have them, e.g. Sonata.
Finally, Lime costs about 100 pounds, MusicProse 160 and Final
250 (these are very rough prices).
Continue to:
Share and Enjoy
Bookmark this story so others can enjoy it:
Tags
music, electronic, computer music, keyboard, midi, composition, synthesis, magazines, digital synthesizer, store, sound editor
