This issue can divide people who generally agree on most other issues.

I concur with Mario that BIAB is not primarily a notation program and better alternatives exist, even free ones. Fixing this leadin appearance is thus way down on my wishlist. However, I am one of the more persistent voices on the SONAR forum for better notation. How can these positions be consistent?

SONAR used to be better at notation, got worse, and went over a decade with no improvement. At least recently, it's slightly improving. But the difference between SONAR and BIAB is this: SONAR marketed itself for its notation. Even so, most on the SONAR forum are not supportive of improvements to notation! It is my opinion this stems from two causes: 1) they can't read music and don't understand why those who can think it's important, and 2) notation is a terrific way to edit music within the DAW. It has nothing to do with how it looks printed, but they aren't listening when we say this; they think we want SONAR to be Finale.

If the notation of BIAB hindered me from using the program for composing and arranging, I'd be complaining. In fact, BIAB has THE BEST notation entry system I've ever used, including the dozen dedicated notation programs I've used.



BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.