Overall, it is both possible and practical to collaborate with NOTION 3 and NOTION 4 in the Mac and Windows universes when one focuses on the virtual instruments and associated sampled sounds that are bundled with NOTION 3 and NOTION 4, respectively . . . 
DETAILSThere are differences in NOTION 3 and NOTION 4, and one of the differences involves the sampled sounds for the various bundled instruments, although from a practical perspective this particular set of differences is not so significant with respect to most people actually being able to determine what is different in an accurate way . . .
Notion 4 sounds are different from Notion 3 sounds, both at the individual files level and at the folders level . . . For example, at the files level consider the "Alto Sax.prox" sampled sound files for NOTION 3 and NOTION 4, as reported by UltraCompare (IDM Computer Solutions) . . .
UltraCompare (IDM Computer Solutions)[
NOTE: These are the details for the sampled sounds on the Mac, and they will be similar or perhaps identical in the Windows universe; but I do everything on the Mac, so I reserve judgment on the specifics for Windows in this regard . . . ]
The NOTION 4 bundled sound files include a new property with the value "WAV16", which identifies the sample encoding codec. This property is
not present in the NOTION 3 bundled sound files. This is an example from the hexadecimal and ASCII character detail of the NOTION 4 "Alto Sax.prox" file . . .
This is the primary difference at the folders level for the "Bundled" folders . . .
And these are the detailed differences at the folders level for the "Bundled" folders . . .
[
NOTE: The NOTION 3 "Bundled" folder is on the left, and the NOTION 4 "Bundled" folder is on the right. What this indicates is that there is a Harpsichord sampled sound file ("Harpsichord.prox") in the NOTION 4 "Bundled" folder but none in the NOTION 3 "Bundled" folder. Similarly, "Metronome.prox" is in the NOTION 3 'Bundled" folder but not in the NOTION 4 "Bundled" folder . . . ]
The additional high-level differences in folders are (a) that NOTION 3 has a "N2" folder which contains sampled sound files from NOTION 2 and (b) by default NOTION 4 has an empty "Expansion" folder, which is where expansion sounds are installed when purchased . . .
There are other differences, and many of them are enhancements in the way NOTION 4 provides additional functionality and control for the various sampled sound files with respect to articulations, playing styles, and so forth . . .
THOUGHTSWhether any of these differences is significant for collaborating is another matter, because it depends on the type of collaborating, as well as the specific focus of the collaborating . . .
NOTION 3 is a 32-bit application (Mac and Windows), while NOTION 4 is a 32-bit application and a 64-bit application (Mac and Windows) . . .
If you focus on the NOTION bundled instruments and expansion sounds, then everything generally will be the same when you are running NOTION 3 or the 32-bit version of NOTION 4, and you can use the 64-bit version of NOTION 4, as well, but due to the increased potential or real available memory usage in the 64-bit universe (Mac and Windows), it is possible to create a large NOTION 4 score in the 64-bit universe which cannot be opened in the 32-bit universe, although doing so typically requires a bit of effort . . .
Explained another way using an analogy, metaphor, or simile, if you are using NOTION 3 and the bundled sounds but I am using the 32-bit version of NOTION 4 and its bundled sounds, then we can collaborate in all the typical activities that composers do, depending primarily on the way one defines "typical activities", of course . . .
If you purchased the Harpsichord expansion sound, then we could collaborate on an Harpsichord extravaganza . . .
On the other hand, if the goal is to collaborate on the subtle nuances of articulations, playing styles, and so forth at the individual note level, then the ideal strategy is to use the same version of NOTION with the same set of expansion sounds, if necessary, since some of the articulations, playing styles, and so forth are provided in expansion sounds rather than being bundled with NOTION 3 or NOTION 4 . . .
To the best of my knowledge, it does
not matter which operating system is used (Mac or Windows), at least for purposes of working within NOTION . . .
If the collaboration is more advanced and for example involves doing ReWire and MIDI with a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) application, then there are operating system differences and DAW application differences, but overall it is possible to do everything in both operating systems when you select the appropriate supporting hardware and software applications and utilities, where as an example we would
not be able to collaborate if you were doing digital music production on a Windows machine but I was doing digital music production on the Mac and I was using Logic Pro X (Apple) as my DAW application, since Logic Pro X only runs on the Mac; but if we both used Digital Performer 8, then we would be able collaborate on using NOTION in a ReWire session when you were doing digital music production on a Windows machine but I was doing digital music production on the Mac, since Digital Performer 8+ (MOTU) is available in Mac and Windows versions, as are Cubase 7+ (Steinberg), Live 9+ (Ableton), and Studio One 2.6+ (PreSonus) . . .
SUMMARYThere are differences, but whether they are significant depends on what you need to do . . .
If the focus is on NOTION and its bundled sounds and virtual instruments, then collaborating on all the typical activities that composers do is both possible and practical when the collaborators are using a blend of NOTION 3 and NOTION 4 in the Mac and Windows universes . . .
NOTION 4 has functionality that NOTION 3 does
not have, hence for those activities everyone needs to have NOTION 4, but in some respects nearly all that stuff is in the "obsessed with intimate minutiae" category, which as you know is the favorite playground of all composers, which is fabulous . . .
Fabulous! 
Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2014 12:34 am