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ConnArtist Heavyweight Member
Joined: 20 Mar 2008 Posts: 2831 Location: La-la Land (corner of 13th and 13th)
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:28 am Post subject: Music composition software |
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Please pardon my ignorance...
Is there any free (or cheap, but preferably free) software available for writing out musical scores y'all can recommend?
I need to get a composition to a third party, but want to supply something better than my chicken-scratch on lined paper.
Looking for something VERRRRRY user friendly and simple. Mac compatible. I don't need audio or playback... just something to write the notes onto lines that can output as pdfs jpegs or other easy-access files.
Thank you!!! _________________ "Stomvi" PhrankenPhlugel w/ Blessing copper bell
1958 Conn 18A cornet
1962 Conn 9A cornet (yes, the Unicorn )
Reynolds Onyx cornet
c. 1955? Besson 10-10 trumpet
1939 Martin Imperial Handcraft “Model 37”
1986 Bach Strad 37 ML |
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veery715 Heavyweight Member
Joined: 13 Aug 2007 Posts: 4313 Location: Ithaca NY
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loweredsixth Heavyweight Member
Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 1844 Location: Fresno, California, USA, North America, Earth, Solar System, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Universe
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:36 am Post subject: |
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Finale Notepad _________________ The name I go by in the real world is Joe Lewis |
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ConnArtist Heavyweight Member
Joined: 20 Mar 2008 Posts: 2831 Location: La-la Land (corner of 13th and 13th)
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:46 am Post subject: |
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I forgot to mention... The piece is a little unusual with meter: Verse is 3 bars of 3/4 followed by 2 bars of 4/4 (done twice), followed by chorus, which is just 8 measures of 4/4
So software that has that kind of flexibility (if possible??) would help.
At least there are no key changes
Thanks for the suggestions already! If the new information changes recommendations, I'd appreciate knowing that, I've only got a week to get this thing written for non-Andy minds! _________________ "Stomvi" PhrankenPhlugel w/ Blessing copper bell
1958 Conn 18A cornet
1962 Conn 9A cornet (yes, the Unicorn )
Reynolds Onyx cornet
c. 1955? Besson 10-10 trumpet
1939 Martin Imperial Handcraft “Model 37”
1986 Bach Strad 37 ML |
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bagmangood Heavyweight Member
Joined: 26 Feb 2009 Posts: 1352 Location: SF Bay Area
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 11:04 am Post subject: |
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2nd vote for musescore - its free, pretty good sound quality (if you download some of the available sampling packages).
Any software SHOULD () be able to do what you asked |
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starkadder Heavyweight Member
Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 542
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 11:15 am Post subject: |
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I use lilypond. It is open source and produces beautiful, high-quality music engravings.
http://lilypond.org/ |
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cheiden Heavyweight Member
Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 8911 Location: Orange County, CA
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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You're best bet is to find someone who's already adept at music entry and have them do it. All the programs I've used have a pretty steep learning curve and I doubt you'll have time to get any program figured out in a week. Note that I'm mostly familiar with just Finale and Sibelius made programs.
If the piece isn't too long or complex I might consider doing it as a favor. Write or PM me if you're interested. _________________ "I'm an engineer, which means I think I know a whole bunch of stuff I really don't."
Charles J Heiden/So Cal
Bach Strad 180ML43*/43 Bb/Yamaha 731 Flugel/Benge 1X C/Kanstul 920 Picc/Conn 80A Cornet
Bach 3C rim on 1.5C underpart |
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LittleRusty Heavyweight Member
Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 12656 Location: Gardena, Ca
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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cheiden wrote: | You're best bet is to find someone who's already adept at music entry and have them do it. All the programs I've used have a pretty steep learning curve and I doubt you'll have time to get any program figured out in a week. Note that I'm mostly familiar with just Finale and Sibelius made programs.
If the piece isn't too long or complex I might consider doing it as a favor. Write or PM me if you're interested. |
I agree with the learning curve point. I have used both Finale and Sibelius. |
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RandyTX Heavyweight Member
Joined: 25 Mar 2010 Posts: 5299 Location: Central Texas
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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starkadder wrote: | I use lilypond. It is open source and produces beautiful, high-quality music engravings.
http://lilypond.org/ |
Lilypond is certainly gorgeous on the output side. But be forewarned. It's really more a text-based programming (or scripting) language for rendering music. It's probably best suited for people that already have some sort of programming background, it's definitely not WYSIWYG.
Musescore is quite good already, despite being relatively new on the scene, and is graphically oriented, very similar to Finale or Sibelius, but open source, free and runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. |
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jadickson Heavyweight Member
Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 1294 Location: Raleigh, NC
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Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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also try Noteflight online. |
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kidtwist Veteran Member
Joined: 26 Feb 2013 Posts: 153 Location: Cincinnati, OH
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Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 11:16 am Post subject: |
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+1 on Musescore!! _________________ DSG
WCU '03
Selmer K-Mod-24B-LT
King Silver Flair - 1960s Vintage
Carolbrass CTR-4440L-YST-Bb-S
Carolbrass CTR-4000H-YSS-C
Kanstul 1523
Yamaha 631 Flugel
Bach 3C, 10C, & Warburton 5 Mouthpieces |
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spach Veteran Member
Joined: 01 Feb 2007 Posts: 424 Location: yazoo county, ms via northern calif. via central calif. via southern calif.
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Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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Two thumbs up for MuseScore. It has a few quirks and sometimes seems to have a mind of its own, but if I can use it...well, you know the saying. _________________ WayneG
1925 (or '34) MEHA (#878**)(.460)(4 3/4" bell)(32.6 oz.)
"Where, then, does the soul reside with its better body while it awaits the sound of the trumpet?"--Stephen J. Gould |
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windandsong Heavyweight Member
Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 706 Location: Whitstable, UK
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Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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How about downloading a trial of Sibelius? You get 31days. |
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ENINCA Veteran Member
Joined: 13 May 2005 Posts: 185 Location: California
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Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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jadickson wrote: | also try Noteflight online. |
+1 on Noteflight.com. I recently came across it because I was looking for something cheap, simple and fast. I was truly blown away. It's perfect for me. So easy, I was creating jazz charts in about 20 min. They have simple little instructional youtubes that really help you get launched into creating scores. Way more intuitive than the old version of Finale I used to have. I love Noteflight. _________________ "Some days you get up and put the horn to your chops and it sounds pretty good and you win. Some days you try and nothing works and the horn wins. This goes on and on and then you die and the horn wins." -Dizzy Gillespie |
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ConnArtist Heavyweight Member
Joined: 20 Mar 2008 Posts: 2831 Location: La-la Land (corner of 13th and 13th)
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Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the tips, all!
The project got bumped, which buys me some time to download a few to test. Looking forward to getting at least one of them figured out. Thanks again for bringing your fave's to my attention! _________________ "Stomvi" PhrankenPhlugel w/ Blessing copper bell
1958 Conn 18A cornet
1962 Conn 9A cornet (yes, the Unicorn )
Reynolds Onyx cornet
c. 1955? Besson 10-10 trumpet
1939 Martin Imperial Handcraft “Model 37”
1986 Bach Strad 37 ML |
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trumpetlane Regular Member
Joined: 22 Nov 2009 Posts: 49 Location: Ooltewah, TN
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Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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Musescore. I use both Finale and Sibelius and Musescore is definitely a legit software program. _________________ Gregory Lindquist
Educator, Conductor, Performer
Bb - XO 1602S-R
C - Jupiter XO 1624s
D - Yamaha YTR-751
Cornet - Yamaha YCR-231
Flugel - Getzen 895 Eterna
Pic - Getzen 940 Eterna w/ Blackburn leadpipes
Stork Vacchiano Mouthpieces |
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cheiden Heavyweight Member
Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 8911 Location: Orange County, CA
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Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:00 am Post subject: |
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If you're serious about notation then it wouldn't hurt to get Notepad (free), the junior version of Finale. That'll get you familiar with the user interface and the note entry options. If you don't hate it utterly then you can always upgrade to PrintMusic for relatively little cost (same UI and note entry). That program will likely do 98% of what most folks need to do. Only if you're hardcore would you likely need to pony up for a full copy of Finale. _________________ "I'm an engineer, which means I think I know a whole bunch of stuff I really don't."
Charles J Heiden/So Cal
Bach Strad 180ML43*/43 Bb/Yamaha 731 Flugel/Benge 1X C/Kanstul 920 Picc/Conn 80A Cornet
Bach 3C rim on 1.5C underpart |
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