I am looking for a program for the pc that lets you compose sheet music?
Asked by
Bri_L (
12219
)
February 26th, 2009
The person would like to be able to compose with all the notes and signatures etc. Also to have the ability to put lyrics under the music when done. Then, of course print it out. This should be done by way of the keyboard and mouse.
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8 Answers
I’ve got Finale NotePad 2008, which is free and therefore a little weird, but hey, it’s pretty good. Obviously, Finale (the real program) would do a better job, but it does cost. Otherwise, my music teacher just sent me this the other day, and it may have some helpful stuff (haven’t had a chance to look into it quite yet).
The two big ones are Finale and Sibelius. Each of them have cut-down versions—Finale NotePad and Sibelius Student. I’m a fan of Sibelius, but that’s because when I had to choose which one to invest in (because they’re not cheap, and there’s a bit of a learning curve) Finale was behind the times on Macs. It wasn’t until Sibelius started to cut into Finale’s market share that Finale responded, and now they’re both pretty full-featured and competitive.
The program I use on my PC is “Cakewalk”. It will let you write the music (including ky signatures and time) manually, or input them from MIDI or audio inputs. You can write up to 16 tracks or parts. It will also allow you to arrange your work, as well as playback, using either the on-board synth with Windows, or any other synth or package you have.It will allow you to write lyrics under each measure. It also allows the composer to insert directions, such as “Adagio”, f ff, p, pp, etc.
I have used this from arrangements as simple as vocal accompanied by acoustic guitar, through to string quartet and chorus.
Don’t know if you were looking for free or not. Cakewalk will cost you, but IMHO it’s well worth it.
All of the ones I tried recently have been too complicated to learn how to use. Sibelius is good though.
Finale can be a little tedious sometimes, but it’s a good program. I used it to compose when I took music theory.
Thank you all very much. I am gonna give them all a look see! Thanks again!!
My son swears by Finale, spends hours each day on it.
Sibelius is more user-friendly in general, but Finale can do things Sibelius can’t (mostly relating to custom notation and extended techniques, if I’m correct). For most peoples’ needs, Sibelius works though.
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