Here’s a list of 4 sheet music software for Windows 10 which can be used to create sheet music. Those who aren’t exactly sure what sheet music is, it’s the written form of music, with all the notes, pitches, rhythms and chords. Creating sheet music is also known as music notation. It’s essentially music committed to paper. Software from the list down below will help you create sheet music, write it out, and open existing sheet music documents. Think of these applications as Office Word for music.
Let’s have a look at what exactly it is that available.
LilyPond
I’ll start this list with a very simplistic, perhaps a bit too simplistic, sheet music software for Windows 10 that goes by the name LilyPond. The reason why LilyPond might be a bit too simplistic is because it doesn’t have a GUI where music symbols can be typed in directly. Instead the music is composed by writing LilyPonds own code, similar to HTML.
After installing and launching LilyPond you’ll just see a simplistic text editor (LilyPad). There the code needs to be typed in. There are instructions and manuals for learning the syntax on the website. Once you’ve written the notes in LilyPad, the file needs to be saved as a LY file. Next the file needs to be compiled. Compiling here refers to the creation of a PDF document with the actual musical notation. The only drawback of LilyPond is that there’s a steeper learning curve, because coding syntax needs to be learned, but once you know it, it’s relatively easy to use.
Get LilyPond.
MuseScore – free sheet music software for Windows 10
MuseScore is a much more advanced sheet music software for Windows 10. As you can see from the screenshots above, everything is done using the GUI. It’s the complete opposite of LilyPond. Toolbar up top and the two sidebars (left and right) are riddled with music notation symbols. New music sheet setup can be done via a wizard or manually.
Notes are added to the music sheet with a combination of menu+keyboard keys. That’s right, here the keyboard is used in order write notes on an empty music sheet. Other features that are interesting include good format support (MIDI, KAR, XML, MD, CAP, MGU, OVE, BWW, GTP), music sheet playback, printing, detailed tweaks and more. Interface looks very modern and a tad intimidating at first (because it’s jam packed with features). Multiple music sheets can be opened at once (with the help of tabs). Export formats include PDFs, PNG, SVG, WAV, FLAC, OGG, WAV, MID, XML, RMXL and RMXL.
Get MuseScore.
Also, have a look at Notezilla: Learn To Read Sheet Music Online.
Crescendo Free
Crescendo Free is a music sheet software for Windows 10 that’s very similar to MuseScore. Crescendo is simpler features wise. It also sports an easier to figure out interface, as you can see from the image above.
Mechanics of writing notes still uses a combination of the toolbar and the keyboard keys. In Crescendo the mouse is also used. With mouse you change the duration of a note. When it comes to mastering music notation with Crescendo, it will take getting to. Everything is intuitive and just makes sense, so that helps. Supported input formats include just MIDI and Crescendos own CDO. Output format support is a bit expanded with the inclusion of PDF, PNG, JPG, BMP, GIF, TGA, PSD and MIDI file formats. Playback of the created sheet music is possible by clicking on the “Play” button from the menu up to. Make sure to download the version from CNET linked down below, because newer versions on the website are not freeware.
Get Crescendo Free.
Musink Lite
Musink Lite is another free sheet music software for Windows 10 that has a GUI for easy creation of sheet music. Note that the Lite version comes with less features when compared to the paid one. Features that are available include things like MIDI export (but not import), playback preview of the created sheet music, text marks, multiple note rows and more.
Interface has menus and toolbar located up top and on the left side. Creating music notation focuses more on the mouse here. First use the menus and toolbars to tweak the type of music notes that you want to see on the music sheet, and use the mouse to position it and determine its length. Finished music sheet can be exported as PDF, PNG and XPS.
Get Musink Lite.
Also, have a look at Free Online Sheet Music Maker, Collaborate with Friends in Real-Time.
Conclusion
Out of the 4 music sheet software for Windows 10 from the list above the ones that I recommend using are Crescendo Free and MuseScore. Crescendo Free is very easy to use while at the same time it offers a similar set of features as MuseScore does. MuseScore on the other hand is packed with features, so if you need something extra, go with it. LilyPond is for the more adventures ones, which aren’t afraid to dabble with code, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out if you’ve ever come across markup languages like HTML, CSS or XML. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment down below.
