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What are the differences between
Melody Assistant and Harmony Assistant?




 

Things in common

These two programs are available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux.
Created score files can be read with either Melody or Harmony: the two programs are compatible.
General look and interface are similar.

Harmony Assistant is more powerful than Melody Assistant. It can perform automatically more actions, so it is simpler to use.

All features of Melody Assistant are available in Harmony Assistant, but the reverse is not true: many features are available in Harmony Assistant only, we are going to see the main ones in this document.

Full page edit mode

mode page
Harmony enables your score to be edited in two modes: scroll mode and page mode .

In scroll mode, bars (measures) are drawn on a single row.

In page mode, you can edit your score as it will be printed on paper.

Only scroll mode is available in Melody.

Engraver mode

Harmony Assistant provides two different note spacing modes: arithmetical and engraver mode.

In arithmetical spacing mode, notes and rests are separated by a distance that is proportional to their duration. For example, there is twice more distance after a half note than after a quarter. In engraver mode, distance between symbols can be freely adjusted.
 
Arithmetical mode
Engraver mode
Engraver mode
Arithmetic mode
For example, here is how an half and a serie of shorter notes are displayed in arithmetical mode.
As you can see, there is a wide empty space after the half, and sixteens are highly compressed.
Here is the same bar in engraver mode. Spacing is not proportional to notes duration. Display is nicer and well spaced out.

Import and export in various format


Harmony Assistant and Melody Assistant can directly read or write files in other formats than the one proprietary to the application.
Here is the complete list.
Caption:
Import and export in this format
Import in this format only (no export)
Export in this format only (no import)
Neither import, nor export in this format

MIDI files and related formats





MIDI type 0 & 1
.mid

MIDI Karaoke
.kar, .mid
Lyrics can be sung
by Virtual Singer

Rich Midi Tablature File (RMTF)
.mid

Creative Music File (CMF)
.cmf






Files from third-party applications





Finale® .mus, .etf
versions : 1993 to 2007
Encore® .enc

Rhapsody® .rhp

MusicTime® .mus

NoteWorthy Composer® .nwc
versions : 1.3 to 2.0
GuitarPro® .gtp, .gp3, .gp4

Tabledit® .tef
versions : 2.0 (1999) and more
Band In a Box® Style .sty

Yamaha® Style .sty

Soundtracker MOD
.mod

Scream Tracker S3M .s3m






Application interchange file formats





MusicXML
.xml
Info: MusicXML Definition
Packed MusicXML
.xmz and .mxl
Supported by: PDFtoMusic Pro,
Myriad Plug-in
ABC
.abc
Info: The ABC Home Page
Tablature text file
.tab

MyrWeb
.myrweb.html
 
 






Digital Audio files
(imported as digital tracks)





Windows WAVE
.wav

AIFF
.aif, .aiff

MP3
.mp3

Vorbis OGG
.ogg

Raw PCM
.pcm, .raw, .brt

MacOS Sound resource
-
Macintosh only
WMA and any other format readable
by DirectX®
.wma, ...
Windows only
MP4 Audio (AAC) and any
 other format managed
by Quicktime®
.mov, .mpeg, ...
Macintosh only





Graphic formats
(imported as free object)




SVG
.svg
 
 

Multi-page SVG
.svg
Custom extension to the SVG format,
to store several pages in a single file

PDF
.pdf
* * vector PDF files can be imported if PDFtoMusic/PDFtoMusic Pro is installed
Portable Network Graphics
.png

Jpeg/JFIF
.jpg

Windows/OS2 Bitmap
.bmp

Mac Pict
.pct

Graphic Interchange Format
.gif

Encapsulated PostScript
.eps

Windows Metafile
.wmf
Windows only
Enhanced Metafile
.emf
Windows only

Notes :

1- Creative, DirectX, Encore, Finale, GuitarPro, MusicTime, Noteworthy, QuickTime, Rhapsody, Tabledit and Yamaha are registred trade marks of their respective owner.
In no way Myriad is affiliated to any of these companies.

2- This is the list of file format that are imported and/or exported by these programs..
During import, some data can be ignored by the software.
During export, some settings from the software may not be stored in the file.

No guarantee can be given about the data preservation when importing or exporting.
 
 

Page setting easiness

Number of pages, number of staff groups (systems) and number of bar per row can be forced.
Page setup is computed so that the number of pages, of staff groups, of bars per line, tends to the required value (and reach it if possible). 

Views

Harmony Assistant manages the notion of "views". Views are a different way of displaying a same score, completely or partially. They let you display and work on some staves only, and to select a different page setup in each view.

For instance, if your document contains a whole orchestral score (conductor score), you can define a view for each instrument in the orchestra so that each performer could receive only the music sheet that matches their instrument.

Myriad Users Score Library

A Web space to share music scores on line is offered to any user of Harmony Assistant. The publication is done directly from the program. The interface is highly customizable and visitors can post comments.

Multi-windowing


Document window can be split into several parts, in order to see and edit several areas of the same score at the same time.

Each part had its own scale and display mode.

For example, you can have a window splitted in two, showing you the same document in scroll mode and page mode.
 

Third-party music fonts

Another font than the STocatta can be used to display music symbols.

You can define "charsets". Each staff in a document can have its own charset. A charset can be made of characters coming from different fonts. 



Chord grid and accompaniments



From notes in the score, Harmony computes and displays a chord grid. Guitar chord diagrams can also be displayed. When printing , chord grid can be added at the end of the document.

From the chord grid, Harmony will create automatic accompaniments. For example from a solo, Harmony can create a bass line, etc.

Harmony can also play chord lines that have been related to a single staff, with any instrument.

Automatic rhythms

Harmony enables complete rhythmic sequences to be used as separate objects, and be placed anywhere on score. It simplifies writing and makes your score more readable.

Audio space panel


Score
                                        edit
Special palette to manage the volume and panning position of each instrument.

A special mode, called "live mode", memorizes the changes you make in real-time, and replays them later.



Album


In the Album window, objects or music patterns can be pasted to be retrieved later.

These objects can be sounds, parts of a song, graphics, text...


MyrScript


myrscript MyrScript is a very powerful language that enables anybody to write scripts to control completely Harmony Assistant.

You can also define new tool palettes.

  Predefined scripts already bring a whole set of new features


And also...

  • Fine Midi output adjustment - MidiMap . In the Midi advanced setup, you can select a predefined midi sound mapping or define your own. For each standard sound, you can relate a program change, bank and key that follows your synthesizer requirement: this is called a MidiMap.
  • Accordion tablature : Harmony computes tablatures for diatonic accordion from any staff. It is also possible to define your own accordion and to use it.
  • Street organ cards : Harmony computes and prints street organ cards.
  • Symbol appearance change : with Harmony Assistant, when a change is applied to the selected symbols, a criteria can be used. For example, add an effect or shift by a given number of semitones all the C notes in the selection range
  • Delay and pressure time editing : with Harmony Assistant, you can edit graphically, directly on the score, the delay and pressure time for each note.
  • Display mode for managing chord diagrams for left-handed persons
  • Style palette to store and apply styles quickly.
  • Computer keyboard realtime input .

Fee


Melody Assistant can be downloaded on this website. Registration fee is ( ).
Harmony Assistant can be downloaded on this website. Registration fee is ( ).

You are invited to refer to the "Order" page to get detailed information about prices and available payment methods.
 

Updates


Updates are free for these two programs, and can be downloaded from this Website.
In the future, the most important new features will only be included in Harmony Assistant.
In regard to the very low price of the Melody Assistant registration fee, and the fact registration numbers are for "lifetime", there is no discount for upgrading from Melody Assistant to Harmony Assistant.

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