Scorewriter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A scorewriter, or music notation program, is software used to automate the task of writing and engraving sheet music. A scorewriter is to music notation what a word processor is to written text.
[edit] Functionality
All scorewriters allow the user to input, edit and print music notation, to varying degrees of sophistication. They range from programs which can write a simple song, piano piece or guitar tab, to those that can handle the complexities of orchestral music, specialist notations (from early music to avant garde), and high-quality music engraving.
Music is inputted using a mouse or the computer keyboard. Many scorewriters also allow it to be played in from a MIDI keyboard. A few allow printed music to be scanned in using special music OCR software.
Most scorewriters also allow the music to be played back via MIDI. This means that scorewriters have a certain amount in common with sequencers (many of which can also write music notation up to a point), though scorewriters are used primarily for writing notation and sequencers primarily for recording and playing back.
A few scorewriters (principally Sibelius) also allow users to publish scores on the Internet. As a result, these can be used for electronic distribution of sheet music.
[edit] Scorewriters
The following list represents most of the current commercial scorewriters available. Some are no longer maintained.
- Amadeus
- Anvil Studios
- Berlioz
- Capella
- Composer's Pen
- ConcertWare
- Encore (once a leading program; cut-down version: MusicTime Deluxe)
- Finale, plus lite versions: Finale Notepad, Notepad Plus, Songwriter, PrintMusic, Allegro
- GNU LilyPond (a full-featured text-based scorewriter)
- Graphire Music Press
- Harmony Assistant
- Igor
- Lime
- Masterscore
- Melody Assistant
- MidiNotate Composer and MidiNotate Musician
- Mosaic
- Mozart
- MusiCAD
- MusicEase
- MusicPrinter Plus
- Music Write
- Nightingale
- Notator (which developed into the sequencer Emagic Logic)
- Noteworthy Composer
- Notion
- Opus
- Overture
- Personal Composer
- PMS
- Rhapsody
- SCORE (once a leading program)
- Score Writer and Score Writer 2 by GenieSoft
- Sibelius, plus lite version Sibelius Student, and versions for Acorn Archimedes computers: Sibelius 7, Sibelius 7 Student, Sibelius 6, Junior Sibelius
- SmartScore Pro (a music-scanning and music-scoring program; limited version: SmartScore Songbook Edition)
- Turandot
- Vivaldi Gold/Plus
- Numerous more specialized programs for writing guitar tab, such as G7, Finale Guitar, Bucket-o-tab, Power Tab Editor, Powertracks Pro and Guitar Pro.
- NoteEdit (a KDE scorewriter)
- Denemo (a Gnome scorewriter)
- Rosegarden (primarily a sequencer)
- GNU LilyPond (a text-based scorewriter)
- Brahms (also a piano roll editor)
[edit] File compatibility
Due to the wide variation in features and notations supported, and because scorewriter programs have only entered into widespread use relatively recently, scores created using one program tend to be incompatible with programs developed by other manufacturers. It is therefore difficult to transfer scores between different programs.
MIDI files are often used as a form of 'workaround', because almost all scorewriters can open and/or save them. However, the MIDI file format is designed for representing playback rather than notation, so it only produces approximate results and much notational information is lost in the process.
Various attempts to develop and establish a standard music notation file format have been made, the strongest so far being NIFF (now obsolescent) and MusicXML (which is becoming widely supported).
Sibelius 4 is capable of opening Finale's .MUS files as well as its ENIGMA Transportable Files (.ETF). Both Finale and Sibelius support MusicXML files.
For detailed information on almost all known musical notation file formats, see Musical notation codes.
