Forscore or Newzik, that is the question

Choosing an app to support you during your concerts and rehearsals is a step to take seriously. It is difficult to know which interface will be the best for your own needs and which one will be most suited to the way you play, alone or with others.

Here are the questions you need to ask yourself to make an informed decision.

Collaborative or individual?

How do you usually play music? When you use digital scores, is it in the context of a group, a class, with a colleague, student or an orchestra? Or do you exclusively play by yourself?

These are the first questions that will help you make a choice.

Forscore and Newzik are two apps that allow you to work on your scores on your side. There are lots of possibilities: you can edit your scores with colorful markups, add different kinds of media, change the order of pages within a piece… nothing is set in stone.

In both apps, you will have the possibility to send your annotated scores to other musicians via various channels.

This is where Newzik is different. Much more than a digital score app, Newzik allows its users to collaborate and work together directly on the same scores, in real-time.

The structure of the platform makes it easy to organize your sheet music and work sessions. On the one hand, there is your library and your setlists. These are basically like digital sheet music binders. On the other hand, you have the possibility to collaborate with other musicians in a dedicated collective space via the project section.

These “projects” allow you to have access to each other’s pieces, comments, edits and markups and to be aware of potential changes in real time.

This is very useful for a first violin for example. When they want to specify a bowing for the rest of the section, they just have to mark it up on their score, and each section member will receive this information in real-time on their own tablet.

In comparison, with Forscore each string player must mark up their own bow strokes individually. The data added to the scores in Forscore is stored locally on a cloud like Newzik but cannot be sent to another user.

Apple or multi-platform?

Switching to digital scores doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to choose a special device to work on. One of the advantages of using digital scores is that you have the possibility to decide. With Forscore, allusers can work on any OS device. Whether you are on iPhone or Mac, it’s your choice.

On Newzik’s side, it’s quite the same. The difference is that you also have access to a website named “Newzik Web”, containing the major features of the app, and giving you access to all your scores from any device as long as it can connect to the internet. Thanks to this, you don’t need to download the Newzik App or buy an iOS product to use Newzik technologies.

The Newzik cloud allows you to store all your scores and edits and find them at any time. You don’t have to worry anymore about the storage of your parts.

Any modifications you will make to your digital scores will be automatically stored and available on all your digital tools.

Intuitivity or complexity?

ForScore’s interface is known for its numerous features but also for its complexity. As a user, you will have access to a larger set of tools than with Newzik to modify and edit your scores.

But is quantity better than quality? Sure, the app is powerful. Nevertheless, it is easy to get lost and difficult to find what you need quickly. The number of features available in the app makes it difficult to understand clearly the interface and affects the musical experience.

Newzik is known for being complete, but above all intuitive. It is an application designed by musicians, for musicians. The users themselves talk about it as an interface easy to handle and easy to get used to. It is very important to notice that it is built according to the feedbacks of professional musicians, orchestras and operas.

“I have been using the application for several months, and I find it really well done. It’s really easy to use and extremely practical!”, comment of a user on our Appstore page.

The different features of Forscore are divided into a toolbar at the top of the screen. From the list of your songs and libraries to all your tools and services. It’s hard to get organised.

Newzik has decided to divide the platform into several spaces (collective or individual) and all your tools are found in the toolbar and the settings of each of your songs.

What about the client support?

Newzik has a very responsive, free customer service. All the members of the Newzik Team work together to understand your needs and answer your questions but also to guide you in your first steps with the interface. You can be sure that you will receive a response in less than 48 hours.

The relationship we have with our users matters a lot to us. They can trust us and rely on us at any time.

We have also set up a Facebook group where all users can ask questions and everyone can answer and share their experiences with the platform.

“A great application and a very responsive team. An indispensable tool for all musicians.”, comment of a user on our group Facebook

Forscore, on the other hand, offers a paid customer service to their users.

Paid or Free?

First of all, both Newzik and ForScore are paid apps. However, Newzik also offers a “Basic” version you can use for free. for as long as you want.. This will allow you to test most of the features of the app, however you are limited to a total of 15 pieces in your library at any given time. You can always start using the interface with this version and subscribe to the complete version, Newzik Pro, when you’re ready.

The pricing of Newzik and Forscore is very different. The American app has chosen a one-off purchase model.

Newzik offers a subscription that can be renewed every month or every year. It is up to you to decide at the end of each term whether you want to continue or not.

Newzik’s price is higher than Forscore, but this is not without reason. Indeed, as you will have understood, the services to which you have access are numerous and very varied in Newzik. You can import an unlimited number of scores into your storage space. With Forscore you only have the possibility to store until 5go and after you will have to pay if you want more space on your cloud. With Newzik, you can also collaborate with other musicians in real time, whether or not you are in the same room, with loads of new features and updates regularly, for free.

Newzik Pro status gives you access to a special status. Your requests and queries have priority over others.

As you can see, the two software options for your digital scores are very different and it is not a question of which one is the most complete or the most used, but which one would be the best asset during your rehearsals and sessions.

To learn more about digital scores, do not hesitate to check our website. You can also ask you questions to contact@newzik.com