You can import your own vector files to create custom accidentals. You will see a number of different accidentals that you don’t usually see in Western music. The other big features revolve around microtonal composing. Mus 2 does not constrain how many notes go in a measure. The measure will continue to grow to accommodate as many notes as you’d like. One of the most obvious things is that it doesn’t constrain the number of notes you can place in a measure based on the assigned time signature. Mus2 is built around microtonal and notation and supports free time note input, so it should come as no surprise that you’ll find some unique aspects about working in the application. It isn’t quite as easy as Sibelius’s number pad input, but it works pretty well, and I learned the keyboard shortcuts in Mus2 faster than some of the other programs I’ve tried. If you like keyboard shortcuts, you can navigate through the palettes fairly quickly. Once you get used to how Mus2 thinks, clicking through the required palettes becomes second nature. Instead you have to select the Text tool from the palette and then select the Floating Text tool in the sub-palette that appears. Clicking the Score Info icon doesn’t do anything. At a glance, it looks like you should be able to just double-click on the title to change it, but that doesn’t work. There are certain elements you might expect to be able to edit directly but cannot touch without having the proper tool selected first. There were times when the palette system seemed a bit cumbersome. Palettes change depending on the selected tool. It was odd at first because so many music notation applications take a kitchen-sink approach to their interfaces, but I found it works very well in most cases. This also affect cursor interaction with the score. If you then select Dynamic, the note palettes disappear and new one take there place. If you select Note Input in the sidebar, a specific set of supporting palettes appear. Mus2 is very uncluttered, the developer accomplishes this with context specific palettes that appear and disappear as needed. I even like how it handles highlighting notes. I have to admit that most notation software elicits an initial negative reaction based on looks alone. I spend my days working in graphic design, so an application’s icon and user interface can instantly bias my opinion of the overall quality of the software. Of the music notation software I’ve tried for the Mac, Mus2 is easily the most eye-catching. It’s specifically targeting those who want to create microtonal music (think Turkish maqam and Indonesian gamelan music), and it has several unique features targeted directly at that task. It’s not the most feature-rich application I’ve looked at, but it functions within its limitations very well. Mus2 is a fascinating piece of software, and it’s one I have strongly considered buying from time to time.
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