2007 Winter NAMM Show: Notion Music announced version 1.6 of Notion, their flagship music composition and performance software. The update adds new scoring features, improves file handling, adds support for lyrics, and expands Notion’s capabilities beyond classical music genres.

Among the new scoring features in Notion 1.6 are support for lyrics, chord symbol entry and playback, special note entry (x, triangle, and slash), and forced “page-turns” as well as improvements to tempo markings, beaming, ties, tuplets, and overall rendering of score appearance. The handling of repeats has been improved as well as NOTION’s ability to read and interpret articulations and imported data.

To coincide with the release of Sessions: Rhythm Section, the company’s first sound expansion kit featuring pop and rocks sounds and recordings, Notion now includes the ability to notate for drum set. This includes multiple instruments on one staff, alternate note heads, “stir” feature for realistic sounding jazz brush techniques on snare drum, ghost note notation and performance, and cross-stick and rim-shot notation and performance for snare drum.

Notion 1.6 features a number of additions and improvements for file handling including Music XML import and export, MIDI file import, step MIDI input, and improved .WAV mixdown.

Notion is designed for students, composers, and musicians on all levels as a tool for composition, learning, practice, and live performance. It combines a full-featured music notation system with interpretive algorithms linked to a proprietary playback engine that offers samples of thou¬sands of individual notes and articulations played by the London Symphony Orchestra and recorded at Abbey Road Studios.