HomeFeaturesDownloadNewsletterManualsEducationOrderServices


En français...

FeaturesTutorial videosMusic notationLearning musicTools to compose musicAudio featuresPercussionsChoirScanIntuitive compositionVersions comparisonElectronic version

New!

Watch the video
demonstration!


Alain Lumbroso, clarinetist (France) - "Pizzicato and SharpEye2 are for me both essential tools for our activity."
=> Read more...


Anne Cadart, Choir Conductor (France) - "My main interest in Pizzicato is to write polyphonic music, so as to increase our repertoire. Now that I can use this software, it is wonderful!"
=> Read more...

Comparison table between Pizzicato Light, Beginner and Professional

Pizzicato exists in three versions: Light, Beginner and Professional. Here is a general description of their respective fields of application.

  • Pizzicato Light is dedicated to learning music and as an approach to music software. It is a good companion to a music course followed in a Music School. With it, you can edit small scores (1 or 2 pages) with a fixed page layout. It contains the full Pizzicato music course so that you may follow it and do the practical exercises.
  • Pizzicato Beginner is dedicated to writing, printing and listening to music scores for soloist instruments and groups up to 16 instruments. It fits very well for choirs, small bands,... The score is no more limited in the number of measures and pages and the page layout may be modified (number of measures per staff, number of systems per page,...). It also contains the features of Pizzicato Light, including the full music course.
  • Pizzicato Professional lets you write, compose, print and listen to music for any soloist instrument and for full orchestra. The page setup may be zoomed in and out to create score reductions or big scores. It contains several additional tools to make it more easy to write music sheets (writing for percussion instruments, various note heads, personal tools and palettes, parts extraction,...). It also contains various powerful tools to help you compose music, as the proposal of chords on a melody, the creation of structured accompaniments, the assembling of music blocks into a composition,... The Professional version also contains the features of the Beginner and Light versions, including the full music course.

The three versions are easy to use. And at any time you may update from Pizzicato Light to Pizzicato Beginner or Professionnal or from Pizzicato Beginner to Pizzicato Professional, based on the price differences. Pizzicato may evolve with you as your needs increase. See the update order page.

Pizzicato version 3.1 (Light, Beginner and Professional) is the more recent version. It contains the last improvements of the product and updates are regularly published. To discover the new features of version 3.1 compared to version 2, click here.

Pizzicato version 2 (Light, Beginner and Professional) is the previous version (year 2000) that may still be ordered, for a more interesting price. It has less features than its corresponding version 3.1, but is however still an effective tool for computer aided music.

The following table shows the main specifications of Pizzicato Light, Beginner and Professional, both for version 2 and version 3.1.

  L
I
G

2		 B
E
G

2		 P
R
O

2		 L
I
G

3		 B
E
G

3		 P
R
O

3
General presentation            
Musical text processor allowing to write each element of a score x x x x x x
Print the score in high quality x x x x x x
Play the score on your sound card or MIDI synthesizer/piano x x x x x x
For Windows 95,98,ME,2000,XP x x x x x x
For Mac OS 8 and 9 x x x      
For Mac OS X       x x x
Documentation et training
English software and manual x x x x x x
Progressive lessons to help using the software x x x x x x
Full user manual available on screen x x x x x x
Paper manual with the most important lessons   x x   x x
Hints to help you find the tools and their keyboard shortcuts       x x x
Music course suited to people with no musical background x x x x x x
Practical training to play the music keyboard x x x x x x
Notes encoding
Note entry with the mouse and/or the musical keyboard or the computer piano window x x x x x x
Play on the musical keyboard, Pizzicato transcribes the notes on the screen x x x x x x
Recorder window with metronome and tempo value x x x x x x
Automatic spacing and layout of notes x x x x x x
The added or modified notes are played as an immediate feedback x x x x x x
Automatic scrolling of the score while playing x x x x x x
Visualization of playing notes by colouring or with a scrolling vertical bar x x x x x x
Up to 8 voices per staff x x x x x x
Work and view the score using a graphic zoom   x x   x x
Linear view that display the measures one after the other, outside any page layout   x x   x x
Grace notes and various note heads     x     x
Custom layout of notes inside a measure   x x   x x
Copy/Paste measures x x x x x x
Triplets and tuplets x x x x x x
Automatic measure transposition function x x x x x x
Cross-staff beaming for piano scores.           x
Specific tools to display and play single and multiple grace notes           x
Special copy/paste function to split or merge voices           x
Structure of the score
Maximum number of instruments per system 8 16 99 8 16 99
Unlimited size of the score   x x   x x
Custom page layout   x x   x x
Printing in all sizes (zoom for printer)     x     x
Orchestral score optimization     x     x
Reduced staff size     x     x
Multi-document, multi-score     x     x
Measure numbers   x x x x x
Page numbers x x x x x x
Score creation wizard     x     x
Clefs, key signatures and time signatures
Treble clef and Bass clef x x x x x x
Other clefs (C, percussion...)     x     x
Keys signatures from 7b to 7# x x x x x x
Arbitrary key signatures     x     x
Different key signature for each staff (transposing instruments)     x     x
Time signature selection x x x x x x
Composite time signatures (3+4 /4, 6+2 /8...)     x     x
Flexibility to display/hide the time and key signatures, creating free measures, cut measures...     x     x
Chords, text, lyrics
Chord symbols x x x x x x
Transcription of chords into notes x x x x x x
Chord analysis and chord searching on a melody     x     x
Personalized chord library     x     x
Chord progression fast encoding window     x     x
Text blocks for titles, author, numbers... x x x x x x
Up to 8 lines of lyrics; each syllable is automatically aligned under the notes x x x x x x
Lyrics fast encoding window   x x   x x
MIDI effects and handling - Performance of the score
Realistic performance of symbols (nuances, tempo, accents, special effects...)     x x x x
MIDI Sequencer x x x x x x
Possibility to add sophisticated MIDI effects   x x   x x
Possibility to create your own graphic and MIDI symbols     x     x
MIDI input(s)/output(s) 1 1 4 1 1 16
GM (General MIDI) synthesizer handling x x x x x x
Drivers to give access to any sound of most synthesizers on the market 2 2 78 2 2 95
Import MIDI files   x x   x x
Export MIDI files x x x x x x
Others
Copy pictures of measures to your text processor   x x   x x
Levels of UNDO 1 1 50 1 1 50
Tool palettes with a large selection of graphic symbols x x x x x x
Customize tool palettes     x     x
TrueType music font x x x x x x
Possible to use some other music fonts from the market     x     x
Sequencer, piano roll, score and instruments windows x x x x x x
Personalized instrument window (mixing table)     x     x
Special window designed to be able to read a score with no page turn   x x   x x
Percussion handling and writing     x     x
Parts extraction from a conductor score     x     x
Import NIFF files (to cooperate with a scanning program)           x
Automatic saving and backup handling         x x
Music composition tools - Intuitive composition
Accompaniment styles     20     35
Import Yamaha style files (*STY) and use them in the real time and score arrangers           x
Music library tools, to help you compose and build music scores on the basis of rhythmic, melodic and chord blocks.     x     x
Multi-versions measures       x x x
Smart link copy/cut function, to help you structure music composition based on rhythmic, melodic and harmonic aspects and transformations       x x x
Conductor window to assemble a music composition from several little scores, rhythmic patterns, smart copies,...           x
From a single MIDI keyboard, the Pizzicato virtual keyboards lets you play several instruments at once. Transform your MIDI keyboard into a multiple playing keyboard.           x
Harmonic spaces help you to navigate through a given set of chords and to create a chord progression in an intuitive way, just by listening           x
Real time arranger, to select styles and chords in an intuitive way, by listening           x
Large libraries with tens of thousands of basic musical structures such as chords, chords progressions, rhythmic and melodic sequences,...           x
Score arranger. Starting with a chord progression, you may add individual instrumental patterns from the library or from your own creation. A set of harmony rules help you to add secondary voices and to construct your score.           x
Music generator : a programmable module used to create musical patterns (rhythms, melodies, chord progressions) by the thousands, starting from simple criteria you define. These patterns may then be dragged/dropped inside your own composition.           x
Audio functions
You may open, listen to, record and edit standard audio WAVE files (".wav" extension)       x x x
You may export your music score to a WAVE file so that you can use that file with your CD burning software to create an audio CD.       x x x
You may associate one WAVE file with the score playing in MIDI, for instance to add your voice or an instrument through a microphone.       x x x
You may associate several WAVE files with the score playing in MIDI, for instance to add your voice or an instrument through a microphone.           x

Top of page

© Copyright 2000-2008 - Arpege sprl
All rights reserved for all countries
Pizzicato is a trademark owned by Arpege sprl