Seeking music notation software

Help! I'm looking for music scoring/notation software... hopefully something that works well with midi and Ableton Live.

I have a lot of music that I've written that I would like to transcribe for an ensemble to play. I compose/record in Ableton Live, so I'm really hoping for some sort of software where I can easily export midi arrangements and have them (accurately!) notated. I have tried musescore, but it was frustratingly infested with bugs.



I don't have a problem with spending a few bucks, but cheap/free is preferable. I know quite a bit about music, much less about software/computers, so any programming that needs to be done would definitely exclude me.

I will also gladly accept any recommendations for software to avoid.

posted by palacewalls (6 comments total)

Garageband has notation but I don't know how easy or powerful it is. Logic Express has notation which is probably a lot more powerful.
posted by unSane at 4:35 AM on December 1, 2010

Finale has the incredibly cheap NotePad.
posted by mkb at 9:22 AM on December 1, 2010

Thanks for the suggestions. I checked out Notepad, but unfortunately it has a problem with odd time signatures, which I just so happen to use like they are going out of style. Everyone but me knows they are already out of style.

Because NotePad is an introductory notation program, it does have built-in limitations. NotePad is unable to create complex time signatures like 7/8 and 5/8.

As for logic express, I just can't get myself to spend the money after giving so much of my cash to Ableton already. I am going to keep searching, but it seems that the mid level Finale products are where I am headed...

(also, for mac users- Notepad requires 10.5 or higher)
posted by palacewalls at 1:36 PM on December 4, 2010

Garageband will do a few odd time signatures (5/4, 7/4, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8 and 12/8) and the scores it produces are very nice looking.
posted by unSane at 3:02 PM on December 4, 2010

You say you're headed for the mid-level Finale products (I agree that sounds like the best level for you), so I'll go ahead and throw in a recommendation for Sibelius family over Finale family. (Background: I was fluent in Finale and teaching it as of the late 90s, then I transitioned to Sibelius and have used it almost exclusively for about a decade).

More broadly: as you might already know, an issue here is that no piece of software will be able to make all the decisions that'll need to be made if you want to end up with music that's playable and good-sounding for any given set of acoustic instruments.

An excellent free place to learn about individual instruments' sounds and capabilities is the Philharmonia Orchestra's training page, which includes many short videos of players demonstrating and talking about their instruments.

Give more detail if you want more orchestration-learning suggestions...
posted by kalapierson at 2:52 PM on December 8, 2010

I use Finale and Logic, but I've never had success importing Finale notation into Logic. I use Logic's notation when I want to write out a melody for MIDI and the Piano Roll is sometimes too abstract, but I use Finale when I want something more print friendly.

I use LilyPond when I want to make truly beautiful sheet music.
posted by jnrussell at 12:12 PM on December 9, 2010 [1 favorite]