Sheet music writing apps

Hannahsketchbook

Hannahsketchbook

Active Member
Hey! I was wondering if anyone has used any type of sheet music writing apps or software. I’m getting some paper and a ruler to jot down some stuff but just curious if there is anything decent out there!
Thanks!
 
Hannahsketchbook said:
Hey! I was wondering if anyone has used any type of sheet music writing apps or software. I’m getting some paper and a ruler to jot down some stuff but just curious if there is anything decent out there!
Thanks!
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The 'traditional' choices are Finale or Sibelius. Finale always seemed to have much more traction in the States and having had to deal with supporting Sibelius, I would definitely not recommend it. I played around with the pre-release version of Dorico a few years ago and was quite impressed with it (AVID made all of the Sibelius developers in London redundant, so Steinberg hired them and they made Dorico, which is what they actually wanted to make).

If you want to dip your toe in the water, give Musescore a look. It's free of charge and pretty decent. It'll certainly teach you the pure frustration of trying to write drum notation on a computer!

Most notation software looks and feels like it's from the 1990s. In fact, Sibelius is from the 90s and it's just as bad now as it was then, so don't be too surprised when you open up an editor and have a wave of nostalgia for MSN Messenger and Lycos...
 
Musescore is the best free option. Does drum notation with x’s etc.
Can do entire orchestral scores…

I’m used to Sibelius, and the free version still does drum notation quite well. I use the free version at home and the full version at work.
 
Sibelius was always the go to software for notation when I was at uni. Pretty sure the same pirated copy is still doing the rounds somewhere.It's basic but it works.

There's also cubase if that's still going. Bit more designed for midi programming.

Failing that they do pre-printed manuscript pads if you need to write something down on the fly.
 
mikyok said:
Sibelius was always the go to software for notation when I was at uni. Pretty sure the same pirated copy is still doing the rounds somewhere.It's basic but it works.

There's also cubase if that's still going. Bit more designed for midi programming.

Failing that they do pre-printed manuscript pads if you need to write something down on the fly.
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The problem with Sibelius is that it's using an ancient codebase that really isn't fit for purpose. I used to support it when I was working as a technician and it was a bloody nightmare. You had an optional instrument sounds installation package that actually wasn't optional so you'd bulk-install the basic application then realise it wasn't working on 30 endpoints and have to start again. That and the way it handles sound in Windows harks back to the old Windows sound drivers from the 9x era. An absolute disaster. They've bolted on features since the mid 90s but never really worked on the underlying code.

I had a row with them when I bought a copy for myself and then realised that all of the shortcuts were hard-coded, so it wouldn't map to my Dvorak keyboard. Ended up having to quote the Sales of Goods act at them to get a refund as it wasn't fit for purpose - and I would consider myself to be an intermediate user of it as I was always in it at work at the time.
 
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Sibelius is the industry standard, and despite its flaws, arguably still the best total package. However, it is prohibitevely expensive.

Instead, Musescore 4 has just released, and it is very, very good and completely free. Unless you want to shell out a few hundred pounds for Sibelius, go with Musescore 4!
 
Jonathan Curtis said:
Instead, Musescore 4 has just released, and it is very, very good and completely free. Unless you want to shell out a few hundred pounds for Sibelius, go with Musescore 4!
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Agree. It took me about a month to learn how to write my own version of shorthand drum charts, but I can now transcribe a song as fast as I could by hand and it is much easier to change if needed.
 
funny that here in the States, it seemed like Finale was king until about 7-8 years ago, snd now Sibelius is taking over. I have always used Finale because the drum playback through Virtual Drumline is really good. but now, everyone is moving to Sibelius over here, saying that it is monumentally better than Finale....I feel like I am a Finale 'ninja", so I have not seen anything that would pull me over to Sibelius yet.....
 
Like others said, it used to be that Finale was king in the US, and Sibelius was king in Europe. I'm not sure what happened, but Sibelius started taking over in the past 8 years here in the states. Almost no one I know uses Finale aside from one person who first started using it 10+ years ago. Sibelius is janky but it does its job.

If I was starting now, I'd probably get Dorico though. Its come a long way very quickly.

Musescore is easily the best freeware option, but it still doesn't compare with Finale/Sibelius/Dorico.
 
Mediocrefunkybeat said:
The problem with Sibelius is that it's using an ancient codebase that really isn't fit for purpose. I used to support it when I was working as a technician and it was a bloody nightmare. You had an optional instrument sounds installation package that actually wasn't optional so you'd bulk-install the basic application then realise it wasn't working on 30 endpoints and have to start again. That and the way it handles sound in Windows harks back to the old Windows sound drivers from the 9x era. An absolute disaster. They've bolted on features since the mid 90s but never really worked on the underlying code.

I had a row with them when I bought a copy for myself and then realised that all of the shortcuts were hard-coded, so it wouldn't map to my Dvorak keyboard. Ended up having to quote the Sales of Goods act at them to get a refund as it wasn't fit for purpose - and I would consider myself to be an intermediate user of it as I was always in it at work at the time.
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Dude you are literally the only person I have ever met that has physically paid for Sibelius! I used it a lot at uni but hand on heart haven't touched it since I left 18 years ago!

I'll wager that the reason they have crap code is because everyone still uses the pirated copy of Sib 2 from the pirate bay which probably gives your PC aids.
 
mikyok said:
Dude you are literally the only person I have ever met that has physically paid for Sibelius! I used it a lot at uni but hand on heart haven't touched it since I left 18 years ago!

I'll wager that the reason they have crap code is because everyone still uses the pirated copy of Sib 2 from the pirate bay which probably gives your PC aids.
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My brother had a copy of Sibelius 3 that he didn’t pay for. But it was from a scholarship. I wouldn’t be surprised if the executable still ran on Windows 10…
 
I've never really used anything but Sibelius. Initially simple to use, but you can go as deep as you like. Was the standard everywhere I've studied. Easy to share files, easy to ask for help etc..

Just try a monthly subscription and see what you think.
 
Hannahsketchbook said:
Hey! I was wondering if anyone has used any type of sheet music writing apps or software. I’m getting some paper and a ruler to jot down some stuff but just curious if there is anything decent out there!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Something to keep in mind IMO... Writing drum set parts in notation programs is notoriously difficult - we need stems going up plus stems going down (layers as many programs call them), plus slash type notation - plus cue parts - as well as alternate note heads (x's, diamonds, etc.)

Personally I've been using notation software for years and years - for everything.... but drums. The only time I use the computer for drum parts is for something I'm going to publish - or put in a demonstration video. For transcribing, for writing parts for myself - jotting down ideas (for everything, not just drums) I use pencil and paper. 95% of the time - it is ridiculously faster and easier.

my two cents...
 
There are usually educator discounts for software such as Finale and Sibelius. That may be applicable to those who teach in schools.

I agree that Finale and Sibelius are the industry standards. If it may be sent to a major publisher in the future, they will want to see either Finale/Sibelius files or image files created from those programs.

Jeff
 
Don’t forget the free version of Sibelius. Limited features compared to the full and medium versions, but can definitely do drum notation and up to four staves at once.
 
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