Software to make sheet music.

Does anyone know the name of or a link to a software that can transcribe music to sheet music for free?

here is the deal: I play piano, and i compose some music, but i am not very good at writing sheet music. So basicly what i am looking for, is a program that can convert my piano playing into sheets.

REPLIES

1) Noteflight.com is a great place because you can access your scores from any computer with internet, and it's easy to share scores, but the downside end result of the sheet music doesn't looks nice.

2) Finale and Sibelius are the industry standards amongst composers and musicians. Most people who own Sibelius are quite happy with it, but it is expensive. Finale is cheaper, but really unintuitive. The documentation really sucks. It is really hard googling any problems you have.

You should try out Lilypond. It's free, open source, cross platform, and it prints out some really beautiful looking music. The downside to this is that it is a document mark-up language (no GUI), and many people are turned off by this. However, the documentation is fantastic and in one centralized location. I do own a copy of Finale, and I work so much faster typing stuff out in Lilypond using VIM as a text editor.

3) I use Finale, full version is pretty expensive but super useful. Free version, Notepad, isn't bad either.

4) I use Finale as well. I'd say professional composers tend to be about 50/50 on Finale and Sibelius. Personally I'd say it doesn't matter at all which one you use - just know that once you pick one, that's the one you'll end up with.

5)  Having not used notation software it might be easier to just write it out on manuscript paper. I have a friend that runs http://epistrophyproducts.com

6) I've used Sibelius and Finale, both on Windows machines. I don't know if there are free alternatives, but I know you can download a free trial to at least test it out before you buy. I personally liked Sibelius better, but most people like Finale.

7) My favorite free one is power tabs.

Although, if you don't mind spending a little money ($60), I highly recommend guitar pro 6.

I had guitar pro 5 and I loved it, and I just downloaded the trial earlier today, and it's even better than 5. I think it's definitely worth the money in the long run.

BEST REPLY

I use Finale. It is awesome. It has nice key combos. The 2010 version is a vast improvement to 2006 (which I was last using). You can get the full version for a lot less than they list. Upgrades will almost always be $99 after it is out for a few months. Finale has a whole bunch of different versions right now.