scorewriter Archives

12 Excellent Free and Open Source Scorewriters – Compose, arrange, print, and publish music

A scorewriter is software used with a computer for creating, editing and printing sheet music. We recommend free and open source software.

LilyPond transforms text-based music notation into beautifully engraved scores, with automatic spacing, instrumental parts and MIDI output.

MuseScore Studio creates professional sheet music with graphical note entry, automatic engraving, score playback and MusicXML support.

TuxGuitar edits multitrack guitar tablature and notation, with MIDI playback, effects, instrument tools and Guitar Pro compatibility.

Canorus is a graphical music notation editor supporting multiple voices, MIDI, score editing, LilyPond output and MusicXML interchange.

Frescobaldi is a modern LilyPond editor with syntax highlighting, score preview, MIDI input, notation tools and integrated documentation.

Denemo is a graphical music notation editor with MIDI entry, transcription tools, LilyPond engraving and flexible score export.

Impro-Visor (Improvisation Advisor) is an educational, music notation program designed to help musicians compose and hear solos.

Gregorio engraves Gregorian chant using gabc text notation and GregorioTeX, producing publication-quality square notation in PDF scores.

Aria Maestosa is a free and open-source midi sequencer/editor. It lets you compose, edit and play midi files.

Mup creates professional printed music from compact text notation, with detailed engraving controls, tablature, MIDI and the Mupmate editor.

Rosegarden combines MIDI sequencing, audio recording and music notation in a Linux composition environment with LilyPond score export.

music21 is a set of tools for helping scholars and other active listeners answer questions about music quickly and simply.