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I write this as, pretty much, a novice user of notation software.
I had been using Sibelius G7. That's a discontinued subset of Sibelius with some guitar friendly features (which I never used). The interface is similar to Sibelius. I used it for lead sheets. It was my first notation software. I worked through the tutorial. I found the interface a little klunky, but it worked. It had two major weaknesses - for what I do. It wouldn't hide unused staves and it wouldn't print individual parts of a multipart arrangement.
I couldn't justify the expense of full Sibelius so I tried Sibelius First -- the free version. Same problems.
Then I tried Musescore, which is free.
I've now done several lead sheets and one four-horn arrangement.
The interface has proved easier to use. More things are intuitive. When I've needed help, I just googled the question. So far, so good with that.
The only weakness, thus far, is that the "Palettes" sub-screen scrolls too quickly. But, that may have been fixed in the new version.
Hiding unused staves was easy and worked fine (once I googled where to find the check-box). Splitting the parts for printing was also very easy and quick. It was intuitive enough that I didn't need to read anything.
Overall, I haven't yet had to do anything that it won't do.
It did crash a couple of times and there were some other glitches, but they were minor. I set it to save every minute, and I haven't yet lost anything meaningful. But, that might be an issue. I have since installed updates. Don't know yet if it's fixed.
Great value.Last edited by rpjazzguitar; 01-24-2020 at 04:45 PM.
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01-24-2020 03:54 PM
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It's very nice.
It has issues.
It's free, so we shouldn't whine
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I haven't noticed the crashing issues, maybe my use of it isn't as heavy as what you are doing.
It seems to be quirky when using other software like Transcribe. If I open Transcribe software 1st I'll have no audio in MuseScore. If I open MusesScore 1st and then Transcribe it seems to work. Not really sure if MuseScore is creating that problem though, regardless that's a problem I have. Very minor problem.
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Yep, I've used Musescore for years, with no problems. Mostly lead sheets, some written exercises, nothing heavy.
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Iirc, it was when I was trying to edit a chart which went from 7/8 to 2/4. I had 4 bars of 7/8 at the top of the tune and I couldn't get them all one one line. Instead, I got three bars one the first line and one on the second. Notably, when I split the parts, that went away.
Originally Posted by fep
Some issues I haven't figured out. Somehow I got a dot on every note in the tune (this is an articulation symbol to play a note short). I couldn't figure out how to get them all deleted at once. I don't know how they got in there and I had to delete them laboriously one at a time. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a global delete that would have done it, but I couldn't figure out how to do that.
After I split the parts, I got a tab for each one. They had random numbers of bars per line. I couldn't figure out how to give a global 4 bars per line instruction. Instead, I had to click on every 4 bars on every part. I'd appreciate help with that one if anybody knows how to do it. I also couldn't figure out how to print them all with one command. I had to click print separately for each one.
As an aside, I hate reading charts with random numbers of bars per line. I want, for most tunes, a number of bars, often 4 or 8, which reflects the harmonic rhythm of the tune. I also like it when new motifs start on new lines, when possible (sometimes, I know, it's one or the other).
EDIT. A half minute with google: Print all parts by first exporting them to pdf. Format tab contains the command for global number of bars per line. Another thing that puzzled me for a minute was changing the length of the pickup bar or adding one. Right click on the first bar opens the menu and gives you an option for not counting it in the numbering.
More conclusion: It has been easier than Sib First or G7. The interface seems a little more intuitive and google seems to readily answer my questions.Last edited by rpjazzguitar; 01-25-2020 at 04:54 AM.
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I've been using it for 18 piece big band scores and parts, and I've had problems, too. They should be ashamed of themselves for what they're charging us! Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
When you can't figure it out on your own, they do have a forum, which is very helpful. Every time I've used it, the guys get back to me pretty fast, and it goes in your email, so you know about it pretty quick.
Marc Sabatella, a jazz pianist who used to be on RMMGJ, seems to be in charge of it, and he has helped me out a few times.
Whatever you do, DON'T use the thing that changes the enharmonic spelling of notes automatically. It winds up changing EVERY note in your score to a different enharmonic note- i.e., all E's become Fb's, all B's become Cb's, and even a D will become a C double sharp!
Even Marc and all the other guys couldn't help me on that one, and I went through absolute HELL fixing the score up, because every time you correct it, some other instrument gets changed to its enharmonic equivalent.
One trombone player keeps giving me a hard time about rehearsal letters, because I haven't bothered to find out the right way to put them in, and do it in pen on their parts. At least they can't say they don't know where Letter D is!
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Nice rehearsal letters in boxes ... Palettes/Text/More ... what happens then is you see a sample letter-in-a-box. In my case I see a B1. When I click on it (and have a measure highlighted) it puts in the right letter. A, the first time, then the next time a B and so forth. I got lucky that I happened to be working top down. Originally Posted by sgcim
I've been using it for 18 piece big band scores and parts, and I've had problems, too. They should be ashamed of themselves for what they're charging us!
When you can't figure it out on your own, they do have a forum, which is very helpful. Every time I've used it, the guys get back to me pretty fast, and it goes in your email, so you know about it pretty quick.
Marc Sabatella, a jazz pianist who used to be on RMMGJ, seems to be in charge of it, and he has helped me out a few times.
Whatever you do, DON'T use the thing that changes the enharmonic spelling of notes automatically. It winds up changing EVERY note in your score to a different enharmonic note- i.e., all E's become Fb's, all B's become Cb's, and even a D will become a C double sharp!
Even Marc and all the other guys couldn't help me on that one, and I went through absolute HELL fixing the score up, because every time you correct it, some other instrument gets changed to its enharmonic equivalent.
One trombone player keeps giving me a hard time about rehearsal letters, because I haven't bothered to find out the right way to put them in, and do it in pen on their parts. At least they can't say they don't know where Letter D is!
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I experienced similar problems with Transcribe and Dorico (far easier and more powerful than Sibelius for sure, Finale and Musecore I can't say, after a learning curve of course) Originally Posted by fep
The problem was some obscure RealTech audio driver settings, default values weren't the same between the tools, sometthing like 16bit, 44000 in Dorico and 24bit 48100 in the driver, plus some weird parameter giving applications the rights to "own" the audio driver (preventing access for the other tools) . The outstanding Dorico support, by the developpers themselves, was crucial to help me to find this.
Of course this problem reappears after every big windows update, I don't remember the exact details, but I keep my email exchange with Dorico support to help me refix the issue after an update
Who "owns" the problem isn't very clear in between Windows, the audio driver and the software. Most likely a lack of convenient software driven querying/setting facilities to manipulate the audio parameters !!
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They had random numbers of bars per line. I couldn't figure out how to give a global 4 bars per line instruction.
Format - Add/Remove System Breaks - Break systems every [drop down menu] bars.
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@rpjazzguitar Thanks for the review. If you like to try something different to avoid the troubles you mention there is also Tuxguitar. I briefly tested Musescore (free version) and found no improvements over Tuxguitar. I find it intuitive and it will import/export/play .mid and .gp3 files and can export to .mp3 as well.
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Thanks. Originally Posted by DerekD
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I wrote another tune while watching the news tonight.
I could never do that with G7 or Sibelius First. The user interface was too klunky.
With Musescore, it's easy enough that I can get my ideas down fast enough that it feels like making music rather than laborious monkey work.
I know, this sounds like hype. But, this product is free! I'm just enthused because it works better than stuff I paid for.
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How is Muse score with sound reproduction? If you write say a five horn chart can it work with a sound library (or does it have one of its own) so you hear decent sound and not midi on plaback? I'm using Sibelius but it's an old one, and I think they went down the subscription road which I find ridiculous.
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I don't know what technology they're using, or how it would sound on headphones (I'll try that tomorrow), but I'd say it sounds electronic and it isn't good enough for me to really know what horns will sound like. I can hear the voicing. That's thru the speakers in my laptop. I spent a couple of minutes trying to figure out if there's a way to get better sounds. It looks like there may be, but I haven't figured it out yet. Originally Posted by Alter
I never did horn parts with G7, because it wouldn't split them. Not sure if Sib First would, but I never tried it. If it got much better horn sounds, that would be a significant advantage.
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Sibelius has gigabytes of sound samples so it sounds like real horns, IF you have the sound library of course which i don't!
It can split a keyboard chart into horn parts but i prefer to just write in a score format. I guess they all can export in mp3 format so you can have the same sounds with any program, i just have never really worked with musecscore, although friends have and like it.
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Yeah. Several years ago, I used to only do midi input, because out was just faster to play in and edit. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
With current MS, I basically just use the keystrokes, and it seems to be plenty fast enough for me personally. I have the shortcut keys on a list taped to the wall.
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I don't know if this will be helpful, but here's somebody's transcription (or paraphrase) of 'Take the A Train' for big band, using (I think) the stock sounds in MuseScore: Originally Posted by Alter
Take The A Train (Duke Ellington) - Full Big Band Arrangement sheet music for Piano, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone download free in PDF or MIDI
Hit the "play" icon on the toolbar near the top to hear it.
To me, horns are a bit 'synth-y' sounding, but I'm not covering my ears and running out of the room. The default piano sound is what I usually deal with for lead sheets and transcriptions, and I think it's pretty decent.
For vocal melody lines (like I might include on a lead sheet of a standard), I actually prefer to use the accordion sample, rather than the "aaahhh" synthy-voice sound, which makes me think of an Enya recording.
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' Originally Posted by 44lombard
I think they sound great, well, in comparison to what I'm doing now. I have to figure that out.
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That's cool. Originally Posted by 44lombard
It's not meant to be recording quality imo, the playback is just to check how it's sounding, find mistakes etc. I noticed there were no dynamic markings on the score, I wonder if the playback picks up the dynamic markings.
I use MuseScore as a notation tool and most projects don't ever listen to the playback. If I was doing something as elaborate as a Big Band chart the playback would be useful.
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Musescore will follow dynamic markings in playback, and you can also use a different orchestral soundfont than the default Musescore soundfont.
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Yeah, the dynamics on the playback are one of the most important features of Musescore. When I conduct my big band charts in front of real musicians, Musescore's playback represents the ideal of how the dynamics should sound. Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
It allows me to be able to correct the musicians who are sight reading my charts on their dynamics much easier than if I didn't use MuseScore, because the correct dynamics are already there.
In the past, I would have to have the musicians pencil the dynamics in, if it didn't sound right.
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Can you recommend a soundfont and a place to get it? Originally Posted by sgcim
At this point, all I have is some electronic sounds and I'm not sure which soundfont (if that's even right) to get.
thanks in advance.
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Currently typing in some notes for drums.
I've noticed some quirks before with this but now with a tad more complex things.. omg. o.m.g.
This is such a mess. Chaos.
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Sorry, I don't even know what a soundfont is! Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
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My honeymoon with MuseScore lasted until I had to print charts off in earnest for projects
Lots of problems with transposition for instance. Things that don’t work that ... should. Don’t know if the issues I had were addressed in recent patches but it was maddening.
Now Sibelius is really badly designed, but it works reliably.
these vids are pretty funny and accurate:
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