NotePerformer vs. the rest: A shootout of the notation playback engines

The engines compared are:

The piece of music chosen for this shootout is an excerpt of Rossini's Barber of Seville overture, which is a fast-paced colorful energetic overture that challenges the engines because of the fast-changing articulations within a classical/romantic setting.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction to notation playback engines
5:49 Woodwind comparisons (4)
9:57 Brass comparisons (4)
14:08 String comparisons (4)
18:16 Full orchestra comparisons (4)
22:29 Closing thoughts

[PeterRoos]

And the Award goes to .... NotePerformer!!!

[pjny]

What a fantastic, helpful discussion! Thank you David for making this detailed side-by-side comparison & analysis. I agreed with every one of your comments; Note Performer brought out the clarity and crispness of Rossini's sparkling score the best, in my view. Frankly I'm amazed by how far technology has come, and that a notation program can even do this. Your video helped me realize how much I could benefit from this program - thank you so very much!

[StefanoLanzavecchia]

I really loved what sounded like the clicks of the keys for the winds in the Musescore rendition of the full orchestra

[driscollmusick]

I don't think you listed out your computer specs, but IMO a lot of the glitches with NPPE performance have to do with the immense strain it puts on your computer memory. As to the dropped voices, one thing to consider is the "Support more voices" option in NPPE? For fast stuff, like the Rossini strings here, it might be critical to running BBCSO

[sandoman]

NP is a very clear winner in this comparison. I used Notion, then moved on to Finale and have been forced onto Dorico due to the abandonment of Finale development, so thought I would take the opportunity to acquire a new library or engine while I'm at it. Unfortunately, NP is missing some of the percussion sounds I want, so I may buy an extra engine just for that and plug it in to the NPPE - do you know if it is possible to mix and match, so using the NPPE just for specific sounds and normal NP for the rest of the orchestra?
One thing I feel you missed out on doing, which would have been really important and feasible in the setup you have, is the BBCSO played direct as a VST in Dorico, without using the NPPE. I imagine that would be different enough to warrant comparison (and I would be immeasurably grateful if you were to do that, at least for a simple full orchestra rendition)!

[LancePhillip]

Thank you for this informative video.
I bought NotePerformer three years ago and have been extremely happy with it.
The latest update (4.5) makes improvements to an already good version 4.4.

[lh]

Thank you so much David! This is very helpful!!

[bradleysampson]

I've spent a ton of time trying different libraries for marching arts playback. I've definitely found that quite a few libraries have more lifelike, realistic sounds than NotePerformer, but that along with the realism comes weird artifacts and inconsistencies. NotePerformer isn't quite as realistic, but also plays back more consistently than any other library I've found.

[RondallaScores]

Some of the struggles of the other libraries vs noteperformer is because these libraries have independent release times coded in their engines, it tends to cancel out some notes when doing the repeated note pitch.

If there's some way to modify the release times to be controlled by the NPPE, these libraries would sound better.

I work a lot with midi and those drops/cutoff of playback happen usually in repeated notes. That's why most libraries struggle in the Piu mosso part at Bar 17

[jonathanwingmusic]

To me, NP for the win! I've personally been using NP with BBCSO NPPE a lot this year, and yeah there can be a lot of volume bumps throughout especially in frequent alternating legato/staccato in a fast passage such as your woodwind and string examples - fast legato is a total blur and sometimes you get weird accents and bumpy rhythms, like the players sound drunk. Volume jumps on the beats - reminds me of the way dance music has that famous compressor pumping effect. The brass section is pretty useless in general, I can never get it to sound tight and end up reverting to stock NP 90% of the time! I have found BBC shines on slower, lyrical melodic passages where it's mostly longs/legato. Fast rhythmically crucial shorts especially in a dense orchestration turn to mush.

Recently I added VSL Synchron to my arsenal along with the NPPE. I have to say it's been significantly better for me. It's not perfect but it's much closer to native NP in its ability to handle fast & frequent alternation of longs/shorts/leg, and I rarely ever have any random volume issues like I have with BBC. BBC instruments sound slightly better, but I find Synchron just works without headaches, so lately I'm using Synchron for the base orchestration and BBC for exposed lyrical/soloistic lines.

Also Synchron SY Pro strings + Elite strings has made for a really nice string section + divisi a2 "hack, " since they were recorded in the same room, and Elite is basically half the size of SY Pro, so they blend perfectly for moving your string section between full & div (allowing you to use different articulations/dynamics for each). Can't even do that with BBC at all!

Also playing around a bit with MuseSounds (free aside), very impressed with some of the techniques unavailable in NP and elsewhere, but NP feels more clear and confident with all the "essentials." The timbres of the woodwinds in your example are really nice, but those bumpy dynamics drive me totally crazy, hoping they can fix that soon. Not sure about the brass sound whatsoever, it's a bit of a mess.

For simple choir writing (just ooh's and aah's) I think MuseSounds is in the lead by far - worth checking out and compare to NP and NPPE's Iconica Sketch (just half women & men ooh's and aah's), both of which sound pretty awful. MuseSounds Choir is surprisingly realistic sounding!

[leearmstrongmusic]

Noteperformer every day! It's amazing for the price. If they can fix things like the occasional clunky strings sounds, the odd clipped slurred phrase ends and the awful percussion dynamics, it'll be even better!

[giwro]

I've found a lot of the same issues you're seeing/showing in this video, and I think (at least in this example) the basic Noteperformer is the clear winner in the musicality dept.

I have the samples and engines for Synchron Prime, Synchron (I only have Synchron Strings Pro) Spitfire Symphony Orchestra (2024 version) and BBCSO. I find that it does indeed depend on the style you're trying to write in/mock up. The drawback to the NP strings is that the tone isn't always the best, even if the interpretation shines. I've been doing tests of excerpts, seeing what seems to work best (with the 3rd party samples). I think Synchron Prime really does a nice job - the Pro version of the strings also. A close second is the Spitfirre Symphony orchestra (2024 version). Some of that is almost as convincing as the base NP

I suspect as Arne Wallander keeps tweaking the algorithms of the 3rd-party stuff it will only continue to improve.

One of the experiments I did, I mixed other libraries with Noteperformer Strings to help with the warmth and realism - of course now we're getting into work in the DAW....

I think for getting a good interpretation with acceptable sound right away, Noteperformer is great... the balances are pretty spot-on for "real" orchestration. In some cases, it sounds eerily "real", others, not so much. I would have no problem mixing and matching and doing post-production in a DAW, however.... and I think with some practice it might end up taking less time than playing it all in one line at a time in a DAW while still giving excellent results.

It's a cool time to be a musician - we have amazing tools, for sure.

[AndrewKesler]

I find I get the best results using Noteperformer but exporting the stems as audio (winds, brass, perc, strings) and then fine tuning the tone, balance and verb in Pro Tools for when I want a quick demo or mockup to sound a bit more impressive. I might layer the NPPE BBCSO strings in too if I feel like putting in a little extra work.

[ZaneKuchera]

Wonderful comparison, thank you David! I agree, even Note Performer naked sounded good. I’ve found BBCSO Pro to be best for strings (with their concert grand), but Berklee Berlin orchestra best for brass and woodwinds.

[MaestroAlber]

I completely agree with NotePerformer. I use Dorico Pro and find the only real weakness to be the strings. With the NP engine I use Cinematic Studio Strings since I own the entire CSS library but like NP better for winds and brass.

[jmarkovich]

Thank you, David, for doing all that work. I was already convinced but now even more. Have been using NP since even before I started Dorico. The combo is a win for me. One question: have you tried exporting an .xml (.mxl) into ProT or Logic and then adding other tracks? Hard to line up because of the delay in NP. If you’ve made it work, would love to video how to on that!
Nice job!!🎉

[hotz]

Note Performer. I'm using it with Sibelius since first edition always with good results.

[mikevirtualteacher]

Noteperformer for sure... if wanting free though, Muse score wasn't bad for free! Thank you David for this great video!

[clarenceoveur]

The regular NotePerformer, without NPPE, stands head and shoulders above the competition, it's almost laughable. In my opinion, NPPE is a significant waste of time and resources for what little it offers. MuseScore has great potential. While its notation features might be lacking, with some tweaking, Muse Sounds can achieve what NPPE aims for, and it actually sounds good. Plus, it's free. ;)

[mjducharme]

Great comparison - not surprised to see NotePerformer come up on top, at least given these options. Is the Dorico file available anywhere for people who want to test it out with their own setup for comparison purposes?