Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Composer's Lounge Alternative notation software to Musescore?

I have been using musescore every now and then, mostly if I want to write the melody of a song from memory, or perhaps translate synthesia videos into sheet music, so they can be printed on paper. Or just make some adjustments to a downloaded score.

But overall I don't seem to get intuitively along with Musescore. It is probably a very powerful tool, but my problem is that whenever I try to perform an action with the intention of achieving a certain result, it always accidentally does something else and not what I expect it to. There is just something with the pre-filled rests and how the note duration menu works that doesn't work for me. And that's just scratching the surface. And if I dare make a "bigger mistake" such as skipping a note midway, it just seems impossible to clean up easilly and it almost feels easier to start from scratch than trying to clean it up.

I am not blaming the software, but most of the time when I install something new, I get the grasp of it quickly, but not with musescore. Even makers of video tutorials always make the same annoying mistakes as me!
So I wonder if anyone knows of any good alternatives to musescore that I may try, and see if perhaps it fits better for me. I don't mind paying for commercial software as long as it does the job. (Though I don't need some expensive professional recording studio software, it's only for simple notation and sheet music)

I find Notion to be quite intuitive. Not as powerful probably as other programs, but maybe it’s worth trying if what you want is simplicity (www.presonus.com)

You could try free MCMusicEditor or the free version of Crescendo. I use Finale. Not free, but very flexible.

I cut my teeth on Finale way back in the '90s. For awhile, Sibelius gave it a run for the money - I don't know which one is more popular today - but those two are at the top of the list for commercial notation software. Either one is more intuitive than MuseScore, but they ALL have a significant learning curve.

(Actually, my FIRST notation package was DMCS - Deluxe Music Construction Set - running on a Commodore Amiga in the mid '80s - but that would be masochistic to suggest today)

Noteworthy is very simple to use, but it's by far not as powerful as MuseScore and the missing automatic adjustment of rests means that you have to do it all manually

You could look at Dorico. There's a free version (Dorico SE) that gives you an idea of how it works: you could download that and play around with it. If your needs are simple, it may even be enough.

Yep I second Dorico. I use it pretty well every day for compositions, arrangements and preparing teaching materials. It is a 2nd generation scoring software created by the original creators of Sibelius and way superior in many respects. As MRC mentions Dorico SE is free to try and might just cover all your needs.

I even tried to write my own music notation program for the Commodore 64. Those were the days...

I like StaffPad and its use of the pen in writing music.

Wow, you two are old like Yellowstone sequoias…!
I remember well the Amiga and DMCS. I also wrote my first compositions with them. It was like magic back then, because it was all new. Nowadays we are so used to the electronic thing that it no longer surprises us.

About Dorico: I like it very much, and I find myself using it more and more, but I wouldn’t say it is intuitive.

I remember the Commodore 64 days but I studied under a professor who worked on the Mark I computer at Harvard. It's dinosaurs all the way down.

To me, all modern software is magical. The self-driving feature on my Tesla Model 3 is magic, pure magic.

https://platinumpenusa.com/luxury-writing/music-nib/








*I actually got one of these years ago. They're really really good, and kinda fun. (I've also been using Finale forever.)

Hey, I'm not that old. Now get off my lawn, whippersnapper.

Oh geeez!!! Didn't they report on issues with the system behaving unexpectedly sometimes? Like - out of the blue ------ it does something unexpected - due to conditions that the designers or programmers didn't account for or consider. On the road, there can definitely be circumstances that somebody didn't account for. It's that uncertainty that is concerning. Not just for the occupants of the vehicle ----- but the safety of other people in other cars.

But - I must say that the technology has certainly improved leaps and bounds.

When one has driven the wretched, unsafe cars of the 1960s, as I have, and then one drives the Tesla with all of its safety features, the difference could not be more striking. The old cars came closer to murdering me than the new one.

One must pay attention at all times, of course. This should go without saying but I will say it anyway.

The Tesla is the only car I have ever owned that is constantly improving. Software updates come out every month or so.

As for the unexpected, one gets used to working with the car, and engaging when necessary to take corrective action. It’s called augmented artificial intelligence, meaning human intelligence combined with artificial intelligence. As the car improves, the necessity of taking action becomes less and less. That does not mean that I drive without my hands on the wheel, the car does not allow that. It does mean that I do not have to execute hundreds of micro movements to steer the car. The car steers itself.

Since the car is following the lines on the road, I have gotten used to watching for places where a lane may expand and cause a slight bobble in the auto steer. It’s really not a big deal. A tap on the break or a slight turn of the wheel disengages auto steer.

With auto steer, you also get to set following distance in car lengths. The car speeds up or slows down to keep the following distance. This feature definitely reduces accidents.

My model has a radar array in the front, and so, it can “see” when the cameras cannot see.

When driving with auto steer, you pass by using the turn signal indicator. The car checks for a sufficient gap and will not pull out of a car is next to you. This is a brilliant safety feature. If the lane is clear, the car pulls out smoothly, and pulls back in with the turn signal indicator.

A scroll wheel on the steering whee allows for setting the speed. If you’re coming into a corner a little too fast, you just need to scrub off some speed by flicking down the scroll wheel. It all becomes natural and easy to do with some practice.

Over the last week, I drove it twenty hours, two ten hour trips. I estimate that auto steer drove over 80% of the time. I don’t think I’d be able to drive ten hours in a day without the autonomous driving features, at least, I know I don’t want to.

Arthur C. Clarke wrote that: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I have to agree.

Based on your use case, I may have a suggestion for you.

1. Adjustments to downloaded Score - If you meant the downloaded midi files, then Anvil Studio will work for you. it can faithfully import from midi to score. I compared it Noteworthy Composer which has a poor midi import capability, that you would rather do well starting from scratch. That's at least for the 1.75b version. Latest is 2.75.
Anvil Studio however is mouse intensive. Like click the note duration, then click on the position on the staff.
Bonus: a. Free b. A complete DAW, almost


2. Write a melody/videos to sheet music - So starting from scratch is Noteworthy Composer's strong point!! Entering notes is so intuitive, you almost never needed the mouse. You can test the eval copy here: NoteWorthy Composer Evaluation


3. Print on Paper - from midi to printer, with no editing, you may use the Noteworthy Composer Viewer and see if it works for you.

Thank you all. I will have a look at your suggestions and maybe watch a few reviews on youtube to see if they are fit for my purpose.

Speaking of older notation software.. When I was a kid we used to have something called "Cakewalk pro audio" on our windows 95 PC, which I and my brother used to mess around in for entertainment. Maybe I was more patient back then, and not so serious about the "compositions" (which mainly consisted of dropping a lot of random notes and playing them back to see what it sounded like). Yet I remember that it was very easy and intuitive to use, and always did what I expected it to when selecting or dragging notes around. Whereas with musescore, every basic operation feels like a brain surgery in comparison.

Let's just say: Ctrl+Z is the only shortcut I know, and it is used VERY frequently! :P

ScanScore works well for me https://scan-score.com/en/. This notation app offers many features, including the possibility to make edits and corrections to the notes. Also, you can transpose your score, export your notes to almost any music program and edit them further. I use it both on my phone and tablet and I find this app to be very convenient and helpful.

1st) The best free notation software is Dorico SE 5.0.1 but it has limitations as it is a free edition. Start by the SE version first that is completely free, and you will be able to use most of the features in it and then decide if you want to use a paid Dorico edition with more features.
Check first https://blog.dorico.com/ and in particular https://blog.dorico.com/2023/05/dorico-5-create-music-that-moves/


2nd) Another free notation software that you do not seem to like is MuseScore 4.0. It is free and it has no limitations but it is not of the same quality than Dorico 5. So I would strongly suggest testing Dorico SE 5.0.1 first. Then you will decide later on what you want to do next. Either get a paid edition of Dorico 5 (there are several) or check again trying to get happy using the free MuseScore 4.0.

Do NOT waste your time with any other notation software than these top two.