MuseScore is a graphical WYSIWYG music score typesetter.
Notes are entered on a “virtual note sheet”. As notes are entered, the score is immediately reformatted. It uses the LilyPond project’s TrueType fonts.
The program has a clean user interface, with fast note editing input similar to the step-time note entry found in the popular commercial scorewriting software packages, Finale and Sibelius.
MuseScore is an outgrowth of MusE, a MIDI sequencer for Linux. In 2002, Werner Schweer decided to “cut MusE’s notation capabilities out of the sequencer and rewrite it as a standalone notation editor”. The rewrite is based on the cross-platform Qt toolkit.
Key Features
- WYSIWYG, notes are entered on a “virtual note sheet”.
- Many editing functions.
- Automatic note head positioning in chords.
- Drum notation.
- Cross staff beams.
- Unlimited number of staves.
- Up to four voices/staff.
- Cue staves.
- TrueType font(s) for printing & display allows for high quality scaling to all sizes.
- Easy and fast note entry with mouse, keyboard or MIDI.
- Integrated sequencer and FluidSynth software synthesizer.
- Import and export of MusicXml and Standard.
- MuseData import.
- MIDI Files (SMF).
- Print or create PDF files.
- Embedded pictures.
- MuseScore Connect.
- Translated in 43 languages including English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Galician, Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, Hindi, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian Bokmål, Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Ukrainian, Arabic, Polish, Romanian, Greek, Simplified Chinese, Hungarian, Thai, Japanese, Czech, Catalan, Slovene, Faeroese, Slovak, Lithuanian, Croatian, Belarusian, Vietnamese, Esperanto, and Persian.
Website: musescore.org
Support: Handbook
Developer: Werner Schweer and contributors
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
MuseScore is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Open Source Scorewriters | |
|---|---|
| Rosegarden | Sophisticated MIDI (and audio) sequencer and notation editor |
| Musescore | Graphical WYSIWYG music score typesetter |
| Lilypond | Produce musical scores that are engraved with traditional layout rules |
| Frescobaldi | LilyPond sheet music text editor for KDE4 |
| Denemo | Musical score editor intended primarily as a frontend to Lilypond |
| music21 | Toolkit for computational musicology |
| mup | Very feature-laden application for producing printed music |
| TuxGuitar | Multitrack tablature editor and player writen in Java-SWT |
| Aria Maestosa | Midi sequencer/editor |
| Gregorio | Tools for Typesetting Gregorian Chant |
| Canorus | Graphical music score editor written for the Qt4 toolkit |
| Impro-Visor | Educational program designed to help musicians compose and hear solos |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Discovered a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form. |