Best notation software?

[Gaddabout]

I still say there's a nice niche market out there for some niche programmer who can come up with drum set-specific notation software. At this point, I'd say it could even be done on a tablet as a mobile app.

DUDE - i was just talking to a buddy of mine about it. i have an easier time reading ensemble figures than writing them. so if they had an app where all you had to do was tap out the rythmic figure to a preset metronome w/ different time signatures, it would automatically spit that out for you. is there such a thing?

Nothing like it at all. I wish I knew Objective C so I could write that app. Your suggestion would be rather complicated, I think. First you need a trigger entry that would be sensitive and stable enough to handle complicated input. Then you would need software that would be able to translate the input the trigger sends. Not sure something like that would be economically feasible. Not sure.

[DSOP]

Even drum machines and keyboard sequencers have a finite number of samples per bar. This means that even when quantizing is turned off, it is still correcting your performance (just with a finer rate). This means it's not always possible to input polyrhythms perfectly. The machine/computer will always shift certain notes. As a result, you wouldn't be able to "tap a figure" and have the correct written notation come out (especially at slower tempos), unless the rhythmic figure is pretty straight-ahead or standard stuff (which is 99% of the time).

As far as writing out the figures, there are many ways to write the same rhythm, but I find it easiest to read notation that makes it clear where the downbeats are (whether they are played or not). It can get verbose, but it's much easier to sight read for me.