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What users think about Pizzicato...

In various occasions, Pizzicato users
shared with us what they appreciate
in Pizzicato....

Zlatoje Pajcic (Germany) - Zlatoje Pajcic is a composer and publisher in Hamburg.

"I was born in 1957 in Sombor (Yugoslavia), where I started my musical career studying harmony, counterpoint and composition with Prof. Milos Lalosevic, later studying the Tamburitza with Prof. Lazar Malagurski in Subotica, as well as playing clarinet in middle school. I have several TV-performances with Tamburitza orchestras I have organized, and in 1987 I had a 6 month engagement in Copenhagen. Since 1991 I have been a freelance musician living in Hamburg, and I am currently working on an extensive series of tutorial books for Tamburitza, played alone and in groups. I have so far completed 10 volumes. I am also writing arrangements and transcriptions for these instruments, and have founded "Tamburitza Publications" to publish sheet music for Tamburitza.

Pzzicato is an expert system. We have 3 levels of scorewriting programs:

1. Scorewriter - These programs are for writing notes and publishing, but no generating of anything or processing of musical data. Some of them can recognize the chords. None have graphical editors.

2. Scorewriter -scorewriting, and composing-arranging features - These programs can have some intelligent functions like chord recognition, intelligent paste on simple basis, for example to "split voices". But we must duplicate the stave or other elements so many times or be so careful not to delete something that it is annoying.

3. Expert systems - That is the highest level of full musical workstation seen from all aspects. Pizzicato is one of them. Only two such software we can find on the market. Pizzicato is the most modern software for: scorewriting, composing, music editing, music processing, experimenting, chord recognition, generating the score based on chord recognition and using the custom libraries, easy combining of several scores to play together on the same chord progression, very big scores with unlimited number of staves, playing ornaments and grace note, graphical editors, work with many documents at the same time, very good manual, very accurate MIDI, up to sixteen MIDI in/outs supported and much more...

I think, Mr. Dominique Vandenneucker should warn the people who just purchased Pizzicato with the words "If you just purchased Pizzicato, don't forget to eat something and get some sleep in advance because you will not be able to leave it quickly!"

Mona Lei (Switzerland) - Composer, born in Bucarest (Rumania). Mona Lei has been living for more than 20 years in Geneva. She is a professional musician. In the eighties, she obtained the music teacher certificate (music theory, harmony, counterpoint, etc.) at the Music Conservatory of Bucarest.

"While searching for a music notation software to transcribe the manuscript of one of my classical compositions, I was informed about the existence of the website www.arpegemusic.com, by a friend working in computers. For my first experimentations with Pizzicato I realized that it had a lot of qualities: fast access to music writing technique, practical aspect of this technique, easy to use and in the same time a real possibility to exploit musical richness.

Really, what I immediately appreciated (compared to other softwares I used before) was the natural of Pizzicato. It was like using a paper music sheet, a pencil and a rubber. The big advantage is that the further I advance in my creation, the further I can modify the structure of my work, adding or erasing measures, staves, pages, instruments, etc. I have total freedom and I feel grateful to Pizzicato for that.

Now I work without keyboard, because I compose by playing piano. Then, I transcribe and listen to the result on the computer. Using this technique I recently wrote the cantate "To Jean-Sébastien" (18 minutes), a work which was interpreted in September 26th 2005 in Zürich under the aegis of UNICEF by the Terpsychords quartet, the OSR 1st oboist, Jerome Capeille, the pianist Anne Boëls and soloists of the Zürich Great Orchestra.

P.S. : For those who still have difficulties to write triplets and other rhythmic sequences, I had some difficulties too, but after some days of practice, there was nothing to it."

Alain Philibert (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Canada) - Author-composer, guitar and piano.

I am playing and composing music for years. I took piano lessons during 5 years between 11 and 16. When I was 18 years old I learnt guitar on my own. At this time I composed my first songs, music and lyrics. To conserve my music, I wrote songs on paper, lyrics and chords, and recorded them on tracks. At the end of the nineties, I searched for a software which could help me to write my scores. The only ones I found were unaffordable. Then I discovered Pizzicato. At first use, I was dazzled ! And for this period, I have always appreciated improvements of the software.

 

Laurent Calomne (Belgium) - Laurent is author-composer in all styles of instrumental music (especially new-age and film music) and French varieties. He is also a percussionist, clarinetist and saxophonist.

"I intensively use Pizzicato to write my music scores but this software also helps me when I must for example transcribe an orchestral score written for 3 percussionists so that one musician can play it, or when I must transpose or even when I must extract parts from a conductor score.

What is also interesting in Pizzicato, from my point of view, is that is is a belgian music notation software : it is rare and the technical support is effective, which is not necessarily the case with other existing programs where we often get no answer, no appropriate answer or answers that come too late.

Briefly, 7 ideas can define Pizzicato: ergonomic, user-friendly, efficient, "tailored-made" (you can choose between a lot of versions), evolutive, democratic price and detailed user manual."

N.B. : Music editors and other professionals may contact Laurent Calomne (laurent.calomne[at]skynet.be) or visit his website http://users.skynet.be/LC.

 

 

Alain PIERRE (Liège, Belgium) Guitarist, composer - www.alainpierre.com

"Ease of use and customized would be the key features of Pizzicato.

Indeed, I work with Pizzicato Professional since 1996, (release 1). I could participate with other users to the development of release 2. I could follow the evolution of the software but also influence the tool so that it can bring answers to all musicians working in various ways, music styles and areas.

When I say customized, it is on several levels. First, when I write music, it starts with ideas here and there, on paper on mini-disk. Pizzicato helps me to gather all these "pieces" on one document containing all the scores I want. I can really create my working space, my desk with all my big or small pieces of composition that I can see in the main window and that I can copy, paste, duplicate,...

Working in jazz, chord notation is very important for me. But even in specialized harmony books, I sometimes do not find the chord notation I need or the scale I mean. Pizzicato helps me to easily and definitely create that notation and also to reproduce it in notes and in MIDI. Page setup tools and graphic tools also help to customize the software and make it your.

All this with very intuitive tools which means fast execution. And when I speak about easy of use, my son (13 years old) - who practises music since he is 6 - use Pizzicato Professional 3 without consulting the manual and it is quite rare that he asks me questions. And when I hear what he writes, I think he is better than I am!!!".

Maximilien Colet (Belgium) - Accordion, retired.

"I always loved music, as a lot of people, I think. I like singing, but I never thought I would play a musical instrument.

I was wrong!

On February 5th, 2000, historical date for me, I began to learn accordion and music theory.

My sympathetic teacher composes accordion scores and I copy them out with Pizzicato. So I must study, and it helps me a lot for reading.

Here is the cover of a disc I realized myself in a studio. It includes 10 tracks."

Alain Lumbroso (France) - Clarinetist.

"Seventeen years ago, I created with my wife a classical chamber music association for amateur musicians: Chords-Music. We give more than 10 concerts a year in Paris and in province. We use to play transciptions because sometimes the "original" musician misses to play a part and thus we replace his instrument by another one. So the Pizzicato music notation software combined to SharpEye2 is an essential tool for our activity."

Godelieve Cuylits (Belgium) - Former nurse, Godelieve began to learn music theory at the age of 53 and after that followed courses to play the clarinet. She is now 2nd clarinet of the group "Instrumental ensemble of GREZ-PECROT" conducted by Alex Callens. Here are her comments about Pizzicato:

"Pizzicato is for me a source of wellbeing. At social level first, this software brought me an occupation in my life after I retired, a reason to get up from my chair and make my brain work, also an occasion to have more human contacts. Thanks to Pizzicato, I feel less isolated and more active.

At the musical level, Pizzicato helps me to learn better, to read and write music easily. I work 2 hours a day with Pizzicato on my computer. At the beginning, I was using Pizzicato Beginner 2. Then I upgraded to Pizzicato Professional 2. Now I use Pizzicato Professional 3 and the SharpEye scanning software.

The result? I encode music as a pro! I am transposing, reducing and helping our conductor to write his own arrangements on music sheets. I am also responsible of our musical library.

Finally, I mention the great quality of the Pizzicato technical support. Mr Dominique Vandenneucker, designer of Pizzicato, always responded quickly to my e-mails, with kindness and patience. I never felt ridiculous. That is why I recommend Pizzicato to everyone."

Michel Buffier (Limoges - France), trombone.

"I started to learn the tenor slide trombone as well as music theory. Equiped with Pizzicato Beginner 3, I think that software is a very complete tool for music composition.

At the instrumental practise level, I appreciate that Pizzicato plays study scores for trombone. It helps me to memorize rhythms and melodies, which facilitates the instrumental play.

I would make a similar comment for the theory: exercises about rhythms are better understood and memorized after listening to Pizzicato.

I like to write beautiful scores with Pizzicato, clear scores that I can print. I found a blooming in music and Pizzicato increased it."

Anne Cadart (Saint André de Corcy, France) - Choir conductor

"The Civrieux choir was created in 1979. Then it became "Musica", located in Saint André de Corcy. It is under my direction since 1996. My chorists love to sing "a capella", but also like to meet every week.

My main interest in Pizzicato is to elaborate polyphonic music scores for my choir and now it is great because I actually master the software!"

Marc Figus (France) - Clarinet, recorder, guitar.

"I am living in Moval in France. I play clarinet, recorder and guitar. I sing in a choir as a bass and I help our conductor directing classical pieces. Music is my main entertainment and I spend at least one hour and a half a day.

Pizzicato helps me to transcribe pieces I learn for the choir or for the recorder (which I practise for a very long time) and so to understand the melodies and rhythms directly, avoiding errors difficult to get rid of later. Beginning with music composition, I can compensate my lacks with Pizzicato and that is why I recommend it to every music beginner."

Jean-Paul Claude (Mons, Belgium) - Organist certificate at the Royal Conservatory of Mons in 1979, titular organist in Boussu, chorist and choir conductor, occasionally piano tuner.

"My employment is to compose music for liturgy. Musician for a long time, when I began to use a computer in 2003, I directly needed Pizzicato Professional. I thus appreciated the very complete Pizzicato manual, including the lessons about computer basics. For me it was a real advantage.

I see two other advantages: the price of Pizzicato is reasonable (in comparison with other products) and the technical support by e-mail is very quick and performing and often helped me."

Jean-Claude Duteil (Guadalupe) - Pianist, clarinetist and saxophonist.

"Pizzicato helps me to play in solo while adding chords and other arrangements to my live music.

The Pizzicato music notation software is in my opinion the best music editor and score maker. Indeed it is powerful and user-friendly, so it is a pleasant tool as well for professionals as for beginners. Even if you only know a few music theory, Pizzicato guides you and holds you "by the hand" when you create your own music or arrange known scores. The user help is quite simple and shows you a lot of examples.

For me, Pizzicato is more than a tool, it is also a "streak of eccentricity" in my life, because it helps me to express myself fully when I need it. My friends are astonished by my compositions, plenty of them want to copy them and some even want to buy them... I bought Pizzicato 2 months ago and my retired life is now more pleasant.

A last thing : the online customer help is perfect and quick: you often receive an answer the same day and the conceptor really listens to you to develop the software."

 

Jean-Claude Mariotte (Alignan-du-Vent, France) - Second violin.

"At the age of 67, I became second violin in an amateur orchestra, even if I had dropped violin during more than 40 years. The first day, I could only play some measures and thought that I would never go further. But Pizzicato encouraged me to continue, helped me to understand that I could continue. Now, with this software, I am encoding the scores that I must play (it is easy with a little habit) and I record the music result on CD-rom (while beginning with a very slow tempo, than faster and faster, until I reach the tempo asked by the conductor). Like that I can work my scores at home, playing while listening to the CD-rom. I made amazing progresses and love now repetitions and concerts."

 

Urs Steiger (Prilly, Switzerland) - Slide trombone.

"Pizzicato became my necessary companion for my musical work. I am playing slide trombone in some amateur bands. The scores we receive are often of poor quality, then I switch on my computer and I transcribe them for myself and for other musicians who appreciate their quality."

Dominique Dorlet (Saint-Paul-lès-Dax, France) - Choir

"I sing in the "Luy Choir", a choir of 50 persons which was created in 1998. I do not know music theory, so Pizzicato helps me transcribe scores to learn the different pieces of our repertoire. It also permits me to create more legible scores."

Bruno Heureux (Hannut, Belgium) - Author-composer-performer.

"Pizzicato presents a lot of interests to me. For example, with that software I can write the music and the lyrics of my songs.

And the MIDI aspects that I am now discovering assure me that I still can discover many aspects of this concise, simple, professional and user-friendly software."

Robert C. (France) - Choir conductor

"I conduct the "Choir of the Singing Thursdays", composed mainly of retired persons (we are about 50). I choosed Pizzicato to neatly transcribe old or difficult to read scores, so as to better study them during rehearsals. Congratulations also for the precious technical support. Your reaction is fast and we never feel alone."

Dirk Bonjean (Belgium) - Amateur pianist, independant electrician, near retirement.

"I sometimes create songs with lyrics scores for an amateur theater ensemble in my village. I must teach the songs to the actors and at the beginning we have no scores. I also must do accompaniments. I used another software before, but it could not associate notes and text, and the page layout was rigid. I can do that with Pizzicato and it works easily.

I also use Pizzicato to transcribe piano pieces with all the different existing symbols or to compose little personal pieces. I also saw that Pizzicato has more features than another well-known software which is three times more expensive.

At Pizzicato you get a perfect service when you have questions (and I had a lot), a very complete manual and a lot of other advantages, as help to composition, music course and libraries. You can also adapt the format, the fonts and the tools. As a conclusion, it is the best music notation software for the cheapest price on the market. I wish you a lot of success with Pizzicato."

Jean-Claude Evenepoel (Grez-Doiceau, Belgium) - Pianist and chorist.

"I am an amateur musician, aged of 61, retired but active : I play piano (for 7 years), I am clavierist (in an instrumental ensemble) and chorist (in another ensemble). I am using Pizzicato for all these activities:

- for the choir, I encode the scores to play the bass part. I simplify the score, adding lyrics below the notes

- for the ensemble, the "transposition" function is very useful because it avoids me to modify the synthetizer options between different pieces

- for the piano, I will soon use the SharpEye scanning software, to memorize some rhythms more simply.

Congratulations for the quality of your software."

"I am very satisfied with your Pizzicato software. Many achievements were possible thanks to its flexibility and its simple, effective logics."

Laurent Pigeolet - Professor at the Music Academy of Ottignies (Belgium)

"Congratulations and thanks for giving us a very good working tool which has already been of great help to me and will continue to be, I am sure. Most interesting is to be able to directly communicate with the publisher of Pizzicato."

Laurent Haye - Music teacher
at the Music Conservatory of Brussels

"I have been a relentless user of Pizzicato since 1996. I think that this software is very performing and above all it meets the needs of professional musicians."

Alain Pierre – Guitarist and composer

"I have much pleasure in legibly copying scores for our choir."

Edmond S.

"Indeed, I use this program more and more and I find that it is terribly well done! It should be said that since its purchase, I have enjoyed this software very much, both for its easy use and for its advanced functions. Well done for the follow-up and the evolution of this excellent software."

Johann S.

"This program already allowed me to compose and transcribe a large number of pieces, and I think it is very complete and well conceived."

Arnaud C.

"During the holidays of July 1999, when I had just retired, I studied the software and I was immediately enthusiastic about it."

Eugene V.

"Pizzicato was already fantastic, so how will be Pizzicato 2? You rarely see a software designed with such a care, I congratulate you and I look forward to receiveing this new version."

Emmanuel N.

"The Pizzicato software surprised me both by its easy use and the power of its functions."

Marc L.

"Congratulations for the new version of Pizzicato. I really enjoy working again with this new version."

Eduardo Lomonte - Guitar professor at the Academy of Verviers (Belgium)

"I am extremely satisfied with your software which is really powerful. Your manual is very well designed, even for ignorant about computers like me. Indeed, up to now I had never had the opportunity to touch a computer."

Sister Marcelle

"Congratulations for the quality and the presentation of your wonderful product. I am very satisfied to have chosen Pizzicato. Never did I receive such a fast response with a clear and full explanation."

Willi M.

"I find Pizzicato as user-friendly to use and manage than my multimedia PC. In short, a considerably precise work enabling an always growing recreation. It is a beautiful success. The problem: my wife has an additional rival at home."

Alain L.

"Congratulations for the presentation and the very practical manual. It is a remarkable work."

Jean-Louis F.

"I have been a Pizzicato user for three years now. Each day I discover new functions of the program and I control it better and better. It already helped me for many transcriptions and personal compositions, so I can only say to you: thank you."

Arnaud C.

"We bought Pizzicato a few time ago. We are satisfied with your program and we recommend it to other monastic communities. Thank you for the services this program provides us with."

Sister Elisabeth

"Since a few weeks, I have possessed Pizzicato version 2 and I am very satisfied with it. I have better appreciated to work with Pizzicato since the change of environment."

Christian B.

"Thanks again for the update of Pizzicato: it is really pleasant to work this way! To manufacture that, it was necessary to think of so many details...!  Page layout is also well simplified!"

Sister Marie-Christine

"Congratulations for the new version of your software. Its alignment to the usual functions of Windows simplifies its use a lot."

José R.

"Congratulations for the facility of use, transformation (displacements, duplication, etc) of the tools and palettes and chords... GREAT!! The way to introduce them with the possibility of changing the bass, the possibility of creating new ones and transposing them, of converting them into notes on a new staff: fabulous. Only that is sufficient to send you congratulations. General presentation, menus, new functions, etc. The whole is much more user-friendly, more professional... and there is more place on the desktop, which is easier for large orchestrations. I find the function copy/paste in the editing of a text block and the duplication of tools (with automatic change of ID number) great. There is an increase in speed of edition. Wonderful the possibility of making mouse encoded eighth notes to swing. Very well for the automatic synthesizer and MIDI channels handling! Very well, it is more than a manual, it is a course by itself, accessible to all. The manual is very precise and complete. The main view office on which one places his scores, drafts, notes, etc. One placed the various possible views, score, sequencer, piano scroll, scrolling window, etc. The easy access and use of the tools (palettes and keyboard shortcuts). The unlimited creation of personal tools (246 up to now). The possibility of customizing the page layout."

Alain P. - Guitarist

"In the field of composition, the range of software tools seems to me very reduced. Congratulation to have tried to fill this vacuum. Also for the documentation which is remarkable."

Albert G.

"I use Pizzicato with much pleasure. Congratulations for your site and see you soon on the Internet."

Alain V.C.

"I want to express my satisfaction regarding this program that brings me as well pleasure than facilities. I look forward to discovering version 2."

Yoland M.

"Knowing already Pizzicato Beginner - which I want to mention, is a well-designed program - I would like to update to the full version."

Vincent G.

"Wonderful site! I bought Pizzicato on the first day of its publishing. This program is as wonderful as unknown. I really hope this site will increase the Pizzicato user's community."

Frédéric H.

"I thank you for the assistance you bring to musicians and other music lovers by the way of a complete and instructive program."

Francoise B.

"I personally want to congratulate you for the beautiful program you conceived, namely Pizzicato. It directly appealed to me by its simplicity of use and its possibilities "

Bruno R.

"Congratulations for Pizzicato. I have now a program to learn music and avoid the multimedia silliness like Learn music in the intergalactic spaceship of Dr musicos."

Christophe T.

"Finally, we encourage you to continue your research work. Globally, we are very pleased about this program and we find the user manual very well done."

Sister Vinciane

"Pizzicato is already a splendid companion, it can become it more. You have to estimate, but no well known has up to now really approached (or dared to approach...) composition. To you goes the merit of the originality in the design."

Andre V.

"Globally, I am delighted by this program and I do not regret at all this purchase. The musicians for whom I write scores are also pleased."

Patrick T.

We thank the users for their congratulations and encouragements.

We engage ourselves to continue developing Pizzicato in the direction of an ideal computer assisted musical environment.

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