What are using to write lead sheets?

[Jonathan Hughes]

I have Notion 5 and Sibelius First, and neither of them are super intuitive to use. I'm wondering if anyone has any other suggestions (or if I should just keep plugging away at one of the ones I already own).

 

My needs are pretty basic. I just want to be able to enter the melody, place chord symbols, and have the software generate transposed parts for trumpet and sax. I know some of my issues just come from not having used the software a lot, but I'm generally able to get up and running on most software without spending to much time in the manual, but maybe I'm asking too much here.

 

I suppose short term, it would actually be easier to write things out by hand on paper, but in the long term, it's not very flexible.

[aronnelson]

Most people here use Sibelius or Finale. To me, Sibelius is the easiest to use. You can check out Musescore which is free and works similar to most programs.

[Brad Kaenel]

I've used Finale "PrintMusic" for years, which is just an edition of Finale with fewer features ($50-$75). But you can step-down even cheaper to "SongWriter", and "Notepad" is free. They all support simple note and chord entry, and transposition.

 

http://www.finalemusic.com/products/compare-finale-products/

[ElmerJFudd]

Sibelius 7.5 at the moment.

But the feature set is pro, so for just lead sheets. Heck, use free software.

 

Try,

 

https://www.noteflight.com/login

 

or

 

https://flat.io/en

 

Both run in the browser and you can print to paper or export as PDF to read on your tablet. Free is good.

[harmonizer]

I have used Musescore for a few things. I chose it because my son uses it and was able to help me get started with it, and because it is free. Based on my limited experience with Musescore it seems usable. I have learned that Musescore has a few quirks, but I don't have any experience with Sibelius or Finale to make a comparison.

[marino]

I have been trained to write quickly and clearly since the old days, so I use pencil, paper, eraser, scanner and printer.

I never learned a notation program well enough to be quicker than that.

[Sospiri]

Jonathan,

 

Another one worth a look is "Notation Composer 3", which has a 30 day trial period, a helpful forum, and a downloadable User Guide. There's also a cheaper version with less features called "Notation Musician 3".

[Mjazz]

I used Finale PrintMusic for years ... perfectly fine for lead sheets. Then they offered a killer upgrade price to full version Finale, so I use that now, and there are a few added features I like, but it's way more than needed for creating simple lead sheets.

[aronnelson]

This helped me with Musescore:

https://musescore.org/node/11723

 

In the end, I still use Sibelius because I am familiar with it and it gets the job done. In a pinch, I could and have used Notion on the iPad/iPhone.

[xKnuckles]

I have recently started using Staffpad on a Windows surface. I like it very much. You draw the notes freehand with the surface pen. There is little to learn apart from a few conventions in the way you draw the notes. It is intuitive and feels good - just like writing on paper does.

 

Best of all, the programme is not "intelligent" in the sense that it will not prohibit you from doing certain things because they are against its rules. It is just a useful tool to make your scores look good. It is quite like writing on paper: you are free to put as many beats into a bar as you like, etc. which is actually wonderful. I have been driven crazy in the past with having to find ways to evade the score writing programme police who dictate what I can and cannot do inside a bar of music...

 

It is really nice to just transfer the music from your brain to the page, without having to go into "computer programme operator" mode at the same time.

 

[Raymb1]

I use Band-in-a-Box to print simple lead sheets. They come out great.

[timwat]

Sibelius 6 here, because I've been using it for years. It's overkill for anything I'd ever do. But like many here, I've developed a simple workflow, it's familiar to me, so it's one less thing.

[Danny Linguini]

I've used Finale "PrintMusic" for years, which is just an edition of Finale with fewer features ($50-$75). But you can step-down even cheaper to "SongWriter", and "Notepad" is free. They all support simple note and chord entry, and transposition.

 

http://www.finalemusic.com/products/compare-finale-products/

 

When I need actual notation, Finale PrintMusic is my go-to program. But most of my charts are just Word file lyrics with the chord changes in a smaller font just a line above them. I haven't run into anything I've forgotten yet that I wish I had notated. Which is strange because with anything else I have chronic and terminal CRS (can't remember sh*t). Sometimes I'll just notate a passage that I don't want to forget and paste those few bars into the right spot in doc. God help anybody who tries to decipher my hen scratch charts.

 

Goddammitalltohell I really hate trying to type on this ()$&@/ iPad.

[Bobadohshe]

Finale. I'm faster with it on speedy entry than I am with pencil and paper. And cleaner.

[marczellm]

MuseScore. Actively developed, it has become usable and complete over the years.

[Nordude]

Sibelius First 7.X. Fairly priced, pretty vast (notable exception: max 16 systems; no probs for lead sheets or band work), nice work flow. Am satisfied.

 

Finale (circa 2000, I must add) never did it for me. YMMV, of course.

[Tom Williams]

Another endorsement for PrintMusic, which is sufficient for just about anything up to a concert band. Like Mike (see above), I took a very cheap upgrade to full Finale, but that was more due to my "wanting a bargain" than any limitation of PM.

 

It is nice to live in an age when we have multiple good options. When I was in college, the main options were pencils and calligraphy pens.

[Frenchy06]

Hello,

Anyone using an ipadpro app with pencil for notation? xKnuckles mentioned Staffpad but it is only working on Windows. Sibelius and notate me are up there but the reviews are just so so...

I am using Finale Print music with my mac but would prefer something on the iPad pro

[aronnelson]

For iPad Notion works. I have done simple lead sheets with it. It has a hand writing mode as well (add on $)

[Tusker]

For iPad Notion works.

 

+1

 

Notion for Ipad is very easy to use for lead sheets. I was a Finale user on my desktop, but needed to generate several lead sheets while commuting by train. At the time, Notion was the only option for Ipad and I enjoyed using it. Today, Notion 5 is my goto desktop scoring software. My needs are simple. I don't do any scoring to video. Just lead sheets and few ensembles with pretty standard instruments. If you are doing lead sheets, most of the packages are more than sufficient. It's a matter of personal preference. Some people like a touch/stylus based approach and others are very rapid with a hand on one keyboard and a hand on another (type of) keyboard.

 

I'd try out the demos and see what you like.

[Frenchy06]

Thanks guys, will give Notion a try, no demos just straight buy but, I can pass on two cappuccinos and afford it

[J_tour]

MuseScore. Actively developed, it has become usable and complete over the years.

 

Not trying to pick on you, particularly, but I'm pretty curious how people make MuseScore work.

 

I know LaTex and LilyPond and stuff, but IME it's just so damned fiddly that I'd rather just use my hard-won ability to write legibly and scan it in.

 

My only experience with MuseScore has been trying to make "open score" things from Bach, for my own amusement, and IME it's a PITA.

 

It's probably like ten minutes of figuring out/looking up the codes, versus ten seconds of actually writing the notes.

[aronnelson]

I posted a tutorial re musescore but you are right. I remember creating a lead sheet and then transposing but a bunch of chords did not transpose. Bummer.

[hamer12string]

I ran into a similar problem with MuseScore (which I use alot now for lead sheets).

 

MuseScore has a chord naming convention that took me a little while to get used to - for instance, Am (i.e. "A minor") needs to be Ami in order for MuseScore to transpose it.

 

In my case, that was the reason for the chords not getting transposed - hopefully that's helpful information for new MuseScore users!

 

[AnalogGuy1]

Sibelius 6. I switched from Finale 1997 or something around then to Sibelius 1 and found it so much faster. Every subsequent version helped workflow faster. Then 7 came out and was the first step backwards for me - you have to figure out which ribbon the particular tool you need to find is hiding in - sort of like the way old Finale required you to know which tool you needed before you could select on the object (improved long ago).

[aronnelson]

I just purchased the in app hand writing module for Notion iPad. It works but it's somewhat difficult to fix mistakes. Too often the "scratch out" mistake function doesn't work and it's difficult to delete mistakes. Sometimes you have to just wipe out the bar. When it does work, it is quick and precise. The area to write in is small and you need to scroll to do things. Overall worth $8.

[J_tour]

I'm betting a ess-load of people can use MuseScore (or LilyPond, or, for that matter, Finale, which I had good luck with back in the day) with great efficiency. Probably speed is one good thing, but also ability to transpose, extract voices into an open score, and editing, obviously. I'm glad the days of using white-out or a smudgy pencil eraser are on the outs.

 

I've seen people using the text editor Vi/Vim like it was their second instrument. And, yes, you can use these tools like a virtuoso.

 

I wonder, though, if it's any faster than grabbing a pencil and paper, for something like just making a lead sheet, in, like, concert key.

 

Maybe that's a dying art -- it's not my art, at any rate, like the old-school music copyists, but I'm kind of thinking that, much like computer programming, it all comes down to what you can do with pencil and paper.

 

And also, stay off my lawn, you damned kids!

[Morrissey]

Resurrecting this helpful thread to see if there are any additional recommendations or developments over the past 18 months.

 

The only functionality I need is to be able to write lead sheets (chords and melodies), to transpose them into different keys, and to print out the lead sheets on good old fashioned paper.

 

I know there are good (expensive) advanced software products but I assume the no-cost/low-cost options will meet my needs, and I'd appreciate advice as to which of them are most user friendly. Thanks!

[Joe Muscara]

I still like Musescore. It will transpose the whole sheet pretty easily. I think there are tutorials about how to make lead sheets with it. Since it's free, you can try it and decide if you like it.

[tfort]

I think Dorico is the way of the future, but damn it's expensive. They added chord symbols with version 1.1, and 1.2 was another fairly significant update with cues, fingering, and percussion. They're having 30% off sale today:

https://www.scoringnotes.com/news/holiday-deals-music-notation-software/

 

They still offer crossgrade pricing and educational crossgrade pricing:

https://www.steinberg.net/en/shop/buy_product/product/dorico.html

 

I was hoping for Komp to compete on iPad with Staffpad on the Surface, but I'm not ready to enter into a subscription pricing model. If you're a pro, maybe it makes sense.

www.kompapp.com