NoteWorthy Composer

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Noteworthy Composer (NWC) is a scorewriter application made by NoteWorthy Software.

NoteWorthy Composer is a graphical score editor for Microsoft Windows computers (from Windows 95 to Windows XP, and potentially beyond), and is also reported to work on PCs under Linux with WINE. Versions 1.xx of NWC have been available for a number of years, and Version 2 pre-release is already in use by a limited number of musicians.

NWC is primarily intended for the creation of sheet music, but it can also import and export MIDI and Karaoke files as well as graphical WMFs. One of the most interesting capabilities is that it can export Lilypond files, making professional quality engraving a possibility for the masses. The user interface is driven mostly by key touch, rather than by mouse movement, making it quite quick to use. Visual result is immediate, and audible result is also available at any time. For some users, music can be entered the way a typist would type a letter, looking at the source document rather than at the computer screen; other users watch the notes appear as they type. One can also enter notes by playing on a MIDI device, when configured. In version 2.xx, one can hear the notes as they are entered, among many other enhancements.

A prominent feature of the user interface is the way that notation is displayed during editing. Each staff proceeds linearly from left to right, without being wrapped to the screen. Staff systems are visually broken to fit margins during page layout, allowing many possibilities at "print time", so solo instrument or full conductor are easy to produce in seconds with the same file. Many users prefer this editor layout over the so-called WYSIWYG editors because slowdowns in note entry, as the composition becomes larger, are much less dramatic than in WYSIWYG editors.

It lacks the more advanced engraving, graphic sophistication, playback and publishing capabilities of other expensive, complex software such as Sibelius or Finale, but its flexibility allows a quite large usage base. It is also much less expensive (US$39) than Sibelius (US$599) and Finale (US$600).

Based on a sample of music files that can be found in directories, it appears that the NWC user base includes classical, church, and educational musicians, as well as jazz or world-music composers. The "unofficial" catalog of compositions and helpful files contributed by users is the NoteWorthy Scriptorium. One of the greatest projects was the scoring of the entire Handel's Messiah. Due to the collective work of several dedicated NoteWorthy Composer users, the entire score is now available on the Scriptorium's Messiah page.

A fully-functional demo version of the program can be downloaded at Noteworthy Software's website.