Adventus Piano Suite Premier 2.6 Review

History:

Purchase: Bought directly from Adventus Canada for list price, then discovered it was shipped locally by a software distributor and I was TAXED. Other internet retailers had it (music123.com) but not a current version unless I would wait. If done over I would have bought it from a discount web site to get cheaper shipping, no tax, plus lower price.

What I Like About This Unit: Teaches someone with NO EXPERIENCE in music how to play the piano to the intermediate level. Starts with theory, which is sight reading and playing along on the grand staff. Has over 500 songs to play when ready, a music editor that writes the notes to the songs you compose, and lets you change them. Very friendly interface making it easy to live with all the mistakes you make.

What I Do NOT Like About The Adventus Piano Suite Premier 2.6: The graphics and tutors are geared for kids. But you can opt out of all of them. The current version does not install everything on hard drive correctly, you still have to use the cd to run it even with the latest update. It won't even start unless it's from the disk on an XP system.

Piano Suite Premier 2.6 Quality: The software is well designed and robust. But it takes some practice in setting up the midi drivers. They have several user tools to do it but it's best to use the main application.

Summary: The lessons are very effective, and after practicing a short time at night you won't be able to lose the melodies in your head the next day or even when you try to go to sleep. Sometimes you wake up to the sound of your practice lesson. If you skip playing for a month and then start again, you will be amazed that nothing was lost. I wouldn't buy anything else as a beginner. It is a great value, and has many other features like games included to teach you music.

Rating of this product: 4

This Adventus Software Educational Review Submitted By: Michael

Date: 2003-01-31