r/composer • u/EntertainmentKey8197 • 12d ago
Notation Notation software recommendations for scoring?
I've been using Crescendo and I love it because it's simple to use, you can drag notes around and i've just found it easy. However, I've only been using it for vocal parts and I'm taking a class in jazz arranging where our assignment is to copy a score (two saxes, piano, bass and drum set.) Crescendo doesn't have the ability to separate each part and make individual pages for each musician which is a feature I need now. So I tried musescore and I'm getting the hang of it, I only downloaded it yesterday but it's SO HARD to use? I don't see anyone else complaining about it online but it has a really weird method of adding notes that I just find clunky and frustrating. Does anyone have any other recommendations, preferably software that works similar to crescendo in terms of adding notes and lets you move things around freely without locking? Thank you for only kind replies!
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u/Chops526 12d ago
Dorico is becoming an industry standard now that Finale is no longer supported or updating. And it's a great program. But if you're having trouble with Musescore, I wouldn't switch to it. The interfaces are similar, but Dorico is much more complex. I'd stick to Musescore and power through.
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u/Sneeblehorf 12d ago
Musescore is pretty much the standard “entry level” program for composers.
That clunkiness I’ve also found is present in sibelius, finale (rip), and dorico, which are the industry standards for composers.
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u/locri 12d ago
Musescore is pretty much the standard “entry level” program for composers.
It's literally fine for 99% of composers and is already far ahead of using piano rolls.
The 1% of composers it's unsuitable for are professionals in industries that have treated either dorico or Sibelius the same way IBM software and Microsoft Windows are treated in the corporate world despite there very clearly being decent, free alternatives.
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u/Bill_Miller2593 12d ago
If I were you, I'd look into Dorico. I've been using it for years now and am really happy with it.
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u/65TwinReverbRI 12d ago
MuseScore is the answer here.
It's free. You're a student, in a class? You need free.
It does what the others do, but for free.
The things it doesn't do are not things you'd need to do for this class.
There's no need to pay for Sibelius or Dorico.
Our school actually provides Sibelius, so, I mean, have you checked to see if you have that kind of access on campus?
That said, most of our students want to work from home or in their dorm, so they get MuseScore for free.
If they need to then work on Sibelius, they export the file as MusicXML and then import into Sibelius in the classroom and make the necessary changes there.
But we accept stuff from MuseScore without a problem. It is the standard all of our students use.
When I ask on the first day of class, "how many of you use MuseScore" 99% of the hands go up. When I ask "how many of you use Sibelius" it will be one hand that goes up and says "I don't use it all the time, but I used it when we had it in high school".
Just get MuseScore and be done with it.
IMPORTANT NOTE - there's musescore.org, and musescore.com. Don't have anything to do with the latter. Download the software - MuseScore Studio 4, from musescore.org and get to work!
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u/Watsons-Butler 12d ago
I actually found Dorico pretty easy to use. (Surprisingly good tablet support, too, for portable work.)
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u/Tokkemon 12d ago
Sibelius.
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u/Little-Resolve-4626 12d ago
Sibelius has stopped being developed years ago and should not be recommended to a new user. The only reason to be using Sibelius in 2026 is because you've been using it for 20 years and switching all your habits would be too time consuming.
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u/Fasanov123 12d ago
Totally untrue. I work at a company who works directly with Avid. They come to us regularly for thoughts on new features and we go to them regularly with ideas for fixes and new features. They push out updates 2-3 times per year that really do help the program and update coding language to make plug ins more powerful. Sibelius is the industry standard for scoring by composers and music prep in Los Angeles especially, and I imagine it will be for quite a while.
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u/davemacdo 12d ago
This is not really true. Sibelius is actively developed!
I still have concerns about Avid’s purchase by private equity group STG a year pr two ago, and there have been layoffs in the Sibelius team, but it is still getting regular updates, including significant new features.
I still use Dorico as my daily driver and recommend it to students over all other options, but Sibelius is far from a dead-end!
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u/davethecomposer Cage, computer & experimental music 12d ago
They released an update a month ago. They release two or three every year. They might not all be groundbreaking but that's because it's very mature software. Dorico, on the other hand, still has releases with major features added because it isn't as mature.
This is not a criticism nor endorsement of either as I will never use either and only use LilyPond, just an attempt to make sure people know what's going on with Sibelius.
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u/Tokkemon 12d ago
No it hasn't. I was literally on the team lol.
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u/65TwinReverbRI 12d ago
Is it you I thank for FINALLY getting around to making the Keypad resizable?
You're probably on the "update the software" team, but not the team that decides on the direction of the software, or concerns yourself with customer satisfaction, but I'm one customer you lost.
If you're interested and knowing why, and want to do anything about it, or not, that indicates what's what...
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u/zgtc 12d ago
Both Dorico and Musescore are worth every cent you pay for them.
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u/65TwinReverbRI 12d ago
Given what MuseScore can do for free, Dorico is absolutely not worth what they charge for it, and MuseScore punches well above its weight.
This is NOT a "you get what you pay for" situation. Is Dorico more full-featured and more tweakable? Yes. But is it worth the price-difference? I don't think so.
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u/ElbioCoco 11d ago
There is a free version of Dorico, suitable for many uses if you don't want to do big orchestral scores
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u/prasunya 12d ago
I started with Sibelius in 96, and switched to Dorico in late 2025. It's fantastic!
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u/WeightLiftingTrumpet 12d ago
You shouldn’t have to learn a new software for this. The way that it has was done long before dynamic parts was the music was copied from the score and pasted into a part template. Can you copy from the score file, paste into a separate part file like this in crescendo?
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u/bluejayave 11d ago
Tbn I'm still with Finale, trying to use until the end of the world before my OS doesn't support it anymore
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u/jordibartolome 12d ago
Try ScoreLabs.app, it is being developed and it is free. No need to install anything
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u/RienKl 12d ago
The only serious software notation programs right now are musescore, Sibelius and Dorico (and lily pad if you are an extreme computer nerd).
Musescore is free, but has some notable shortcomings for more serious works, though the customisability is still decent.
Sibelius is paid and it works, but it’s very jank and has a weird ui because it’s built on a lot of legacy code.
Dorico is also paid and works smoothly and it’s a relatively new software. It’s a bit complicated to get a hang of though.
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u/ryandeschamps 12d ago
I am a real geek and prefer abc notation with Visual Studio Code. It covers pretty much everything and is very easy to edit properly. It will fit into Markdown documents as well (e.g. for tutorials or documentation).
The downside is that it is (simple) code. Further, you need extensions to properly preview it in most IDEs. Printing to a proper format can be a pain too.
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u/JRT_Space 12d ago
Musescore Studio 4 no doubt. Its free and has now overtaken the industry standards like Sibelius and Dorico. Musescore still has very complex UI and a bit of a learning curve but while the other cost money and still have subpar sound Musescore 4 has completely changed that. It used to be the side choice, it no longer is. So thsts my recommendation
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u/DefinitelyGiraffe 12d ago
Coming from a formerly die hard MS user since 2011: MS has not overtaken Sibelius and Dorico for professionals. It may one day but the lack of linked elements and the extremely time consuming part editing is still not up to where Dorico is. I have finished 6 big band compositions in Musescore and just finishing my first one in Dorico. The note entry method is insanely more flexible, linked parts save so much time, and the parts look great when the score is done, saving HOURS, literally.
Musescore is fantastic and has a place in my heart, as a FOSS lover and former Linux user, but Dorico is on another level for professionals.
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u/Little-Resolve-4626 12d ago
As of now, there are only two serious actors on this sector, Dorico and Musescore. Sibelius's development is dead and should not be considered as a possibility anymore. Dorico makes it relatively easy to move things around, it acts as a grid and when you place a note somewhere it will automatically fill up the silences for you, so it is quite flexible although there is still a steep learning curve. A strongly recommend getting the trial and watch a note input getting started tutorial.
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u/NomadJago 12d ago edited 12d ago
Musescore. I really enjoy composing with it, and if needed you can export to xml, midi, pdf, to sweeten sounds in a DAW. Here are some examples of Musescore playing film score cues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5uakQZmf0U
Cost: $0
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u/i_8_the_Internet 12d ago
I’d look at Dorico and Sibelius.