Question: What notation software do you use for creating classical guitar scores?
I mainly use two software programs for creating music notation: MuseScore and Sibelius, but Dorico by Steinberg is my recommendation to anyone who wants to start using a professional level software. MuseScore is an excellent choice for affordable free software with a community.
Sibelius: I loved the old Sibelius 6 but the new Avid owned Sibelius is something quite different. To be clear, you can make excellent scores with Sibelius but the actual software, user interface, and layout of the program is terrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible. I can’t believe they sell the software the way it is and haven’t improved it. I am constantly baffled by the choices they made when designing the usability and and near anti-intuitive nature of it. Nevertheless, I know it after years of work and the formatting is rock solid from my scores from 15 years ago, it opens exactly the same which I am very grateful for.
MuseScore is free and I highly recommend it but I do have concerns. When they update it, it often causes layout problems that make corrections to scores a huge pain. I have a few longer books in MuseScore where I’ve had to correct one tiny fingering error which caused me to completely fix the layout of the entire book which is hours of work. I now only make small 2-6 page scores on MuseScore. Nevertheless, the MuseScore network and community is amazing and I love it. I even pay for premium and give money to support its development.
My actual recommendation is Dorico by Steinberg. I’ve heard nothing but excellent feedback about it and everyone raves about the quality. I’ve seen many tests of the software and tried it out as well. I believe it was created by the original Sibelius programmers from before the Avid buyout (double check that though). Regardless, it is a modern notation software that actually makes sense and gets updates for usability and new technology. I have highly considered using it but I have so much content in the Sibelius and MuseScore infrastructure that I’m stuck there. I believe Dorico is the new standard for quality in the industry.
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I must give a little warning, in fact a big one. At the end of your article you say “I’m stuck there”. The world of software development is very unstable, especially for music software: migration to not backwards compatible versions, change of company, … etc. The only solution to this would be program independent data storage and layout standards. Good ones do not exist for music. MusicXML is an attempt but that is only for data and does not include the presentation, layout and every possible notation symbol such as for contemporary music. For professional composers with many compositions this can and has become a nightmare. I use MuseScore because it’s open source, you have access to the program code. But since MuseScore4 they are taking a different direction which I don’t trust. I stick with version 3 until a decent alternative appears. In the meantime, be aware that the only thing that will survive is your work as a pdf sheet or print on paper.
Regarding Sibelius software: I had the exact same experience that you have had once it was sold to Avid. I have also been using MuseScore since then.
As for ‘thisisclassicalguitar materials: I used them extensively for a school I started in Bangladesh and since returning to the U.S. I use them in school here. I am so grateful for all you have done. Thank you.
I’ve been using MuseScore for the past few years and have found it has quite a few features that are quite helpful. The latest update also has some great formatting and layout improvements. I’ve even created a Werner custom style that I’m working on to emulate some of your scores! For help on using MuseScore, I go to Marc Sabatella’s Outside Shore site. He’s quite the expert on MuseScore and seems able to workaround just about any issue. Dorico might be an option, but to get the full functionality it is a bit pricey with a list of over $500 for the Pro version. The SE version appears rather limited with minimal formatting and layout options. Doesn’t seem like the SE version would come close to the flexibility of MuseScore.
I love Musescore and support it but oh my the formatting issue kills me. I have a few longer books that have been completely messed up by updates which is insane. I’ve had to reformat entire books just for one tiny correction.