Newzik vs. Forscore

General notation questions, including advanced notation, formatting, etc., go here.

Moderators: Peter Thomsen, miker

thankfuldawg
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2015 5:31 am
Finale Version: Finale 25.2
Operating System: Mac

Post by thankfuldawg » Sun May 13, 2018 8:55 pm

I’ve been using ForScore for my Finale files on my iPad Pro and it is an amazing organizer/reader. Someone mentioned a newer app called Newzik...does anyone have experience with Newzik and have an opinion on how it compares to ForScore?

Thanks, Ed


Bill Reed
Posts: 181
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 7:24 pm
Finale Version: 25.2
Operating System: Windows

Post by Bill Reed » Mon May 14, 2018 11:49 am

Finale 25, Overture, Sibelius, Notion, Cubase, StaffPad
Win10 x64, 32GB RAM, Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
Kontakt, VSL VI Pro, VE Pro, EWQL Orch, Choirs and Pianos
August Foster 190

BuonTempi
Posts: 1297
Joined: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:59 am
Finale Version: Finale 27
Operating System: Mac

Post by BuonTempi » Sun May 20, 2018 9:39 am

The trouble with notation readers that render the notation themselves is that you lose control over the layout. Things like page turns at helpful places; particular fonts for text and symbols; etc, etc.

ForScore has been the early market leader: any new reader has got to convince people to switch, with significant new features.

User avatar
michelp
Posts: 2045
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 3:35 pm
Finale Version: 27.4.1,26.3.1, Mont.
Operating System: Mac

Post by michelp » Sun May 20, 2018 8:37 pm

At first sight, Newzik is improving on a regular basis. If I understood correctly, Newzik has its strengths : it can import and display not only pdf files, but also MusicXML files, and then transpose them, extract parts from a score, play individual staves, sync any audio to the score. Worth keeping an eye on it...
Michel
MacOsX 12.7.4, Finale 27.4.1 & 26.3.1, Mac Mini Intel Dual Core i7 3Ghz, 16 Go Ram. Azerty kb. MOTU Midi Express XT USB, Roland Sound Canvas SC-88vl, MOTU Audio Express. 2 monitors (27"' pivot, 24'"), JW Lua, RGP Lua

MD123
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2019 3:14 pm
Finale Version: Finale 2014
Operating System: Mac

Post by MD123 » Sun Jan 13, 2019 7:02 am

I purchased them both. I am a conductor and after trying them for a while saw that personally Newzik worked better for my need.
- Organization wise their library is super comfortable being able to create setlists for concerts or educational purposes.
- It allows me to share my annotations in real time with my colleagues using the "Collaborative setlist"
- For orchestras it offers a whole solution of how to replace the old paper library into a digital one.
- I can import MusicXML

Forscore has more features but while having a massive amount of scores I got lost with their organization system. Newzik's Library, the Collaborative Setlist, orchestra solution and musicxml is a winner for me.

Bill Stevens
Posts: 662
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2016 1:37 pm
Finale Version: Using 26, testing 27
Operating System: Mac

Post by Bill Stevens » Sun Jan 13, 2019 5:01 pm

Church was canceled this morning (it doesn't take much snow in North Carolina) so I bought Newzik and spent the morning learning about it.

As MD123 wrote, Forscore has more features, but that results in Newzik being easier to navigate.

As PDF readers there is not much difference, other than ease of navigation. The big difference is going to be in importing XML's which allows much flexibility in which staves of a score show, and modifying parts; for instance, adding the voice part to the flute part or something like that.

I don't know anyone else who has Newzik so I wasn't able to experiment with the collaborative mode, but I expect this will be the main selling point. It allows annotations on one device to show up on all devices linked to the set list through Wi-Fi.

I did note that Newzik can download from Google Docs and my understanding is that this will not be possible in upcoming versions of Forscore, though I may be wrong about that.

For my purposes -- studying scores and taking my scores to rehearsals or into the recording studio -- there is not much difference between the two so I will probably use both interchangeably. It will be interesting to see what happens with Newzik and how Forscore improves in future versions.

Bill
Version 26.3 / 27.4 / Mac OS 10.15.5 Catalina
Finale user since the beginning of time.

User avatar
miker
Posts: 5993
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:28 pm
Finale Version: Finale 27.4
Operating System: Mac

Post by miker » Sun Jan 13, 2019 5:28 pm

Newzik is definitely one to watch. Its major advantages would seem to be the XML use, and the collaborative aspects. Admittedly, the second doesn’t do much for me, but I can certainly see its use in a group. XML, on the other hand, could be quite useful.

I may drop the coins, and check it out for real!
Finale 27 | SmartScorePro 64
Mac OS 13.2.1 Ventura
Copyist for Barbershop Harmony Society

Bill Reed
Posts: 181
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 7:24 pm
Finale Version: 25.2
Operating System: Windows

Post by Bill Reed » Sun Jan 13, 2019 10:12 pm

Finale 25, Overture, Sibelius, Notion, Cubase, StaffPad
Win10 x64, 32GB RAM, Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
Kontakt, VSL VI Pro, VE Pro, EWQL Orch, Choirs and Pianos
August Foster 190

Post Reply