Composition software

Hi,

I started composing recently and I do not have composition software. What is the best affordable music comp. software for windows?

Thanks,

Micah

MS Paint.

The real question is what you want to do with it. Are you looking for a notation software that lets you create professional looking sheet music? Are you looking for a program that lets you write midi- or sample-based music which primarily cares about the sound output, but not notation? Do you want a program with which you can synthesise all kinds of weird sounds that do not exist yet? Or something to put together and edit sound files? Etc.

For all of these there is some freeware, sometimes really decent one. But it all depends on what features you need, how easy it should be to handle, etc.

So tell us a bit more about what it should do for you, what it -needs- to have, what you don't need, how "professional" you want to get, how much you'd be willing to spend, or anything like that.

Just "affordable composition software" simply doesn't say enough.

OK,

I would be willing to spend about 100-150 dollars. I would like as good playback features as possible for that price and printing capabilities. I would also like something that can be good for me until I reach an intermediate level. I will get something more advanced after that.

Thanks

Sibelius.

$350 with Student discount. Yes, the investment is extremely worth it.

Finale Printmusic, or Allegro are cheaper versions of Finale that are pretty good, and there is a big discount if you decide to upgrade to the full version.

I say Finale.

Other people will say Sibelius.

Those are the only two worth mentioning (I think Finale's better, but it's a personal preference).

I also have Notion, and it just doesn't compare.

~Kal

I use Harmony Assistant. Its professional-level formatting is subpar, but the built-in sounds are solid, and it's great for amateur use.

You can also go completely free with something like Lilypond. This allows you to create very good-looking scores, but it's entirely text based, has no sound output whatsoever, and it actually needs to convert the score into a PDF whenever you want to look at it - so it's not exactly a very quick and easy approach.

But since playback is important for you, that's not really an option (well, you can use it to create a midi file to play back then, but that's a bit long-winded if you just want a quick check).

I think smaller versions of the "big software" like the ones Cody Loyd mentioned (Finale Allegro for example) are a good thing to start, since it's both affordable, plus has the same basic structure as the big program, so once you want to move on to something more advanced, you don't have to learn anything again from scratch.

I used a software called Capella before I had Finale, but I can't recommend it. Even if it had some nice features (even some things Finale and Sibelius don't have so directly, like allowing you to enter music without any time signatures), it crashed all the time, and I -often- lost lots of work. If you want to do actual work with a program, stability is one of the most important things, even before program features. A program with the coolest features is no use if it just doesn't work when you really need it to, or crashes and takes hours of your work into nirvana. (Yes, yes, I know. Save often, etc. We all have to learn the hard way!)

What about 'Personal Composer', which is endorsed by YC? It's only $75 for the entry level version. I'm not familiar with this program but the screenshots look nice.

Personal Composer Screenshots

You can try noteworthy NoteWorthy Software - Home of NoteWorthy Composer Music Notation Software there is a free demo with many feature

Just to be perfectly clear: there is no such thing as "composition software".

There is notation software, which allows you to set your music (ie: typesetting).

And there is sequencing software, which allows you to enter music and have it playback (ie: make a recording).

There are some software packages that contain elements of both, to varying degrees.

For pure notation, Sibelius and Finale are relatively equivalent, although Finale has a few minor advantages which you will probably never even utilize (Finale allows the engraver a bit more freedom than Sibelius).

Both Sibelius and Finale also have playback capabilities, however, in this respect, for the time being, Finale has the upper hand. I am expecting Sibelius to update their playback engine in the near future, making the two products equivalent on this front as well.

Others will be better suited to inform you as to sequencing software.

I would vouch for Finale Printmusic, it's only $99.99, and it has a lot of features. Definitely worth it.

Thank you for all the imput. It will definitely make my decision easier!

Obviously, Lilypond is the best value since it is free, more powerful, and less buggy than the other programs on the 'market'. I also find it to be quite simple to use, provided you take a bit of time to become familiar with it (you also need a good text editing program like jEdit).

But, since there isn't really any playback to speak of and no visual element as you are entering the composition - it probably isn't for beginning composers who are not as accustomed to writing music. Finale and Sibelius have entry level software as others have mentioned and it might be worth looking into. They can be a valuable resource for learning composition skills.

As QcCowboy said, for notation software, Finale and Sibelius are the favorites, with many composers trending toward Finale.

For sequencing, if you're comfortable writing note-by-note, Apple Logic is the best I have personally used, and the Express version is only 2 hundo, just a bit out of your price range.

May I also humbly suggest an application I wrote, MusicDNA Composer. It's free, web-based, and oriented toward the beginner. It actually uses Lilypond as its score generator, so in that sense it's a user-friendly GUI for it, and includes MIDI playback.

To see if you like it, check out the demo page:

MusicDNACentral.com - Demonstration

There are 3 songs you can play around with, including Fur Elise. You'll find it's very good with sequencing, key/harmony changes and writing new diatonic music.

I am a Finale Guy since 95. I even remember the days of Finale corruption files. Boy, that was a mess! It's expensive but the upgrades are generally nice!