#music notation software

[cinderella-ish]

If you know anyone who writes music, today has probably been a very crappy day for them.

Finale, one of the most dominant programs for music notation for the past 35 years, is coming to an end. They’re no longer updating it or allowing people to purchase it, and it won’t be possible to authorize on new devices or if you upgrade your OS.

I’ve personally been using Finale to write music for about 20 years (since middle school!). It’s not something that I depend on for money, and my work should be compatible with other programs, so I’ll be fine, but this is very, very bad news for lots of people who depend on this software for their livelihood.

(cut added so info added to reblogs doesn't get buried!)

The shittiest thing is that this was preventable. From a comment on Finale’s post:

As a former Tech Lead on Finale (2019-2021) I can tell you this future was avoidable. Those millions of lines of code were old and crufty, and myself and others recognized something had to be done. So we created a plan to modernize the code base, focusing on making it easier to deliver the next few rounds of features. I encouraged product leadership to put together a feature roadmap so our team could identify where the modernization effort should be focused.

We had a high level architecture roadmap, and a low level strategy to modernize basic technologies to facilitate more precise unit testing. The plan was to create smart interfaces in the code to allow swapping out old UI architecture for a more modern, reliable, and better maintained toolset that would grow with us rather than against us.

But in the end it became clear support wasn’t coming from upper management for this effort.

I’m sad to see Finale end this way.

Finale also could allow people who own the software to move it to their new devices in the future, but Capitalism. It’s a pointless corporate IP decision that only hurts users.

There are three main options for those of us who are having to switch: Dorico, MuseScore, or Sibelius.

Sibelius has been Finale’s main competitor for as long as I can remember. It currently runs on a subscription model (ew). The programs are about equal in terms of their capabilities, though I’ve heard Finale has more options for experimental notation. (I’ve used both; Finale worked better for my workflow, but that’s probably just because I grew up using it.)

Dorico is the hip new kid and I’d personally been considering switching for quite a while, but it’s ungodly expensive (about twice what Finale cost at full price). Thankfully, they are allowing current Finale users to purchase at a price comparable (well, still 50% higher) to what Finale used to cost with the educator discount. It apparently has a very steep learning curve at first, though it is probably the best option for experimental notation.

MuseScore is open source, which is awesome! But it also has the most limitations for people who write using experimental notation.

I haven’t used MuseScore or Dorico and will probably end up switching to one of those, but it’s also not an urgent matter for me. Keep your musician friends in your thoughts; it’s going to be a rough road ahead if they used Finale.

The End of Finale - Finale

The end of Finale 35 years ago, Coda Music Technologies, now MakeMusic, released the first version of Finale, a groundbreaking […]

[benevolentgentleman]

Dorico has the worst control for tempo.

Who the HECK decided a slider bar was an appropriate way to set the tempo?

[darke-faerie]

Sibelius dupes?

Nooooo I thought sibelius was free now?! (like a basic version) but nooo it's not >.<

I've got some old sheet music that has been mangled in storage that I cannot get my hands on again so I want to type it up and re-print

Looking at it (cos I get student pricing) I think I would go for Sibelius Ultimate (being able to type up any 'rehearsal' notes already on the music seems useful!) but I only know Sibelius as that's what we used in school (pre 2012) and don't want to waste time on something that's rubbish

Sooo does anyone have any suggestions on free music notation software? I will be typing up exclusively violin sheet music or will it just be easier to get Sibelius for a month and hope I can type fast?

I have a HP Envy/16gb ram/Windows 11 laptop so I guess it'd take most software?! idk, I forget all my base computer buying knowledge the second I have purchased a new machine lol

thanks in advance!

[necarion]

Because my free trial is about to run out, I'm trying out musescore. Which does not have the ability to manually adjust the vertical spacing between staves. They are really proud of the fact that you have neat global settings that will do everything for you, hooray! Except sometimes you need to cram one more system onto a page and can do it because there is just less in that system.

Musescore also takes you into note entry when you try to double click on something, so you'll accidentally enter notes when you're trying to tweak something.

Why are all these software so terrible?! Musescore is on version 4 now! "Can manually adjust layout" is one of those things that people want basically from the get-go. I have more fine-grained vertical layout control in Noteworthy Composer, and that is possibly the worst system one could possibly use for it. But it's there, in software that is about 2 MB and 8 years old.

Musescore has some of the worst forums, though. Basically every time I find something I feel I really want but don't have, the same asshole is in every single thread, across multiple years, telling people the system is so perfect that they can't possibly seriously want the thing that 7 years of people have been begging for.

(From Mostly Harmless)

While the systems were being installed, a number of people who were going to work in the buildings found themselves having conversations with Breathe-­‐o-­‐Smart systems fitters which went something like this: "But what if we want to have the windows open?" "You won't want to have the windows open with new Breathe-­‐o-­‐ Smart." "Yes but supposing we just wanted to have them open for a little bit?" "You won't want to have them open even for a little bit. The new Breathe-­‐o-­‐Smart system will see to that." "Hmmm." "Enjoy Breathe-­‐o-­‐Smart!" "OK, so what if the Breathe-­‐o-­‐Smart breaks down or goes wrong or something?" "Ah! One of the smartest features of the Breathe-­‐o-­‐Smart is that it cannot possibly go wrong. So. No worries on that score. Enjoy your breathing now, and have a nice day."

I'll repeat what I've said about Noteworthy Composer: it's deeply, cripplingly limited in what it can do. But it's very honest that the reason it can't do it is because nobody (i.e., the one dude who made it on his own time) programmed it to do it.

[iamberryjohnson]

10 Best Free Music Notation Software For Windows 10, 8, 7

Note down your music compositions with the help of some music notation software. Here we have a list of some of the best music notation software for Windows 7, 8, and 10.

[anntieem]

Music Notation software 

Interesting article on various changes in the music notation software community. The author includes his point of view as a professional engraver/copyist.  http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade-a-notation-software-update/

View On WordPress

[compositionsimplebaywzjz]

Sibelius 7 Academic

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By birth 64-bit rebut<\p>

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Many people favour laptops or other single display systems. Thats whyever the interface allows you to focus under way the copy at all times and easily hide edification that yourself in some measure need to see occasionally.<\p>

Switch over against Sibelius from Final result<\p>

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ext and typography enhancements<\p>

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[divide-spun-articles-wont-a]

Sibelius 7 Online Taming Lay

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AVID introduced many new things such as: <\p>

1. Task-oriented user interface: <\p>

The brand-new Sibelius 7 user rabbet provides task-focused tabs that example you into the mode of operation of creating a score against be startled to finish. Every feature has team an icon and a text description--which she can access via a button or a keyboard shortcut--with full contextual supporter available although i myself have need to it.<\p>

2. Coordinated sound supply base: <\p>

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3. Native 64-bit support:<\p>

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4. Optimized for spinsterly monitor use:<\p>

We understand that many of our customers favor laptops or other single-display systems. That's why we designed the Sibelius 7 interface to allow you to focus on the music at all times--and easily hide blame that you only need in see off and on.<\p>

System requirements in that Sibelius 7: <\p>

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