I have been fairly enthusiastic about the MuseScore notation tool over the last year or two. Firstly it enabled me to create new copies of existing works for performance in a small group. There was, however, quite a lengthy period of finding out how to actually get things done. Secondly I started to modify the parts in works we were trying to play, and then thirdly I started to write my own music.
MuseScore is currently in version 3, with a version 4 - supposedly much improved - and it may well be - arriving later, perhaps towards the end of this year.
There are however well known competitor programs, such as Sibelius, Dorico, Finale and a few perhaps lesser known ones, or ones which are less used now, such as Band in a Box and Crescendo. Most of these come at a price, and the price goes up depending on how big the scores to be written are. This gives MuseScore a terrific advantage for amateurs and some students.
However, there are some clear problems with Musescore. One which is driving me crazy is the inability to create subsections of a score - perhaps as files - and then link them together. An earlier version of Musescore - version 2 - had a feature like this - to allow albums. Eventually perhaps MuseScore 4 will fix this, but in the meantime is this feature available in some of the other notation software systems I've mentioned? I've tried to raise this in the MuseScore community, but many have their own fixes for getting what they want done, and it's difficult to shift approaches.
A similar, but not quite the same feature I'd like to see is what I'd call layering - the ability to take a section of a score, and map it and superimpose it over other parts. That kind of thing is common in DAWs, and while it may not help everyone, or even be a feature many would really want, some might find it useful.
It can, of course be achieved with the aid of a DAW, but it's not ideal. That would involve exporting sections of scores from notation sofware, for example as Midi files, inputting the midi into a DAW, then doing whatever layering is wanted, and then finally re-importing the results back into notation software. Sure - some things would get lost along the way - such as dynamics and phrasing marks, and would have to be re-edited back in, but it would at least be a feasible approach for some - perhaps particularly people who like working directly in DAWs. As it happens, although I can do that, I generally prefer working with notation tools, and notation rather than audio. Some people who like DAWs also mix in audio directly - which I have done, and it's an added effect, but I don't only want to work directly with audio - either live or recorded. Sometimes I do that, but not every time.
My suspicion is that Sibelius can do amost all that I want regarding notation - but unless I invoke a student or similar discount I'm not sure that I want to pay for the full version, either outright or as a subscription.
MuseScore is currently in version 3, with a version 4 - supposedly much improved - and it may well be - arriving later, perhaps towards the end of this year.
There are however well known competitor programs, such as Sibelius, Dorico, Finale and a few perhaps lesser known ones, or ones which are less used now, such as Band in a Box and Crescendo. Most of these come at a price, and the price goes up depending on how big the scores to be written are. This gives MuseScore a terrific advantage for amateurs and some students.
However, there are some clear problems with Musescore. One which is driving me crazy is the inability to create subsections of a score - perhaps as files - and then link them together. An earlier version of Musescore - version 2 - had a feature like this - to allow albums. Eventually perhaps MuseScore 4 will fix this, but in the meantime is this feature available in some of the other notation software systems I've mentioned? I've tried to raise this in the MuseScore community, but many have their own fixes for getting what they want done, and it's difficult to shift approaches.
A similar, but not quite the same feature I'd like to see is what I'd call layering - the ability to take a section of a score, and map it and superimpose it over other parts. That kind of thing is common in DAWs, and while it may not help everyone, or even be a feature many would really want, some might find it useful.
It can, of course be achieved with the aid of a DAW, but it's not ideal. That would involve exporting sections of scores from notation sofware, for example as Midi files, inputting the midi into a DAW, then doing whatever layering is wanted, and then finally re-importing the results back into notation software. Sure - some things would get lost along the way - such as dynamics and phrasing marks, and would have to be re-edited back in, but it would at least be a feasible approach for some - perhaps particularly people who like working directly in DAWs. As it happens, although I can do that, I generally prefer working with notation tools, and notation rather than audio. Some people who like DAWs also mix in audio directly - which I have done, and it's an added effect, but I don't only want to work directly with audio - either live or recorded. Sometimes I do that, but not every time.
My suspicion is that Sibelius can do amost all that I want regarding notation - but unless I invoke a student or similar discount I'm not sure that I want to pay for the full version, either outright or as a subscription.