Best drum music notation software

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
So I came up with a pretty cool rhythm and wanted to share it. I never transcribed anything before, but I sat down and figured it out. I did write it out on paper, but I wanted to get some music notation software so I could write a bar of this rhythm out and have it look nice. So I downloaded MuseScore, and the very first thing I want to write, a rest...well I can't figure out how to get it on the staff, duh. It's not very intuitive. I tried too, reading help menus...so screw it. Does anyone know any easy to use music notation software. Um that's free? Lol.
 
Finale is excellent. It's not free, but you get a free, 30-day trial. Plenty of time to transcribe your beat and put it up!
 
Finale is excellent. It's not free, but you get a free, 30-day trial. Plenty of time to transcribe your beat and put it up!

I'm almost done downloading a free trial of Sibelius...if I can't figure that out, I will try Finale, thanks Lar

Come on Larry, break out the Flair felt tip marker and some transcript paper and scan it for us! That's how we did it in my day ;)

I do have it written out on paper. I will scan it, just to put it up.
 
Finale is excellent. It's not free, but you get a free, 30-day trial. Plenty of time to transcribe your beat and put it up!

Would that be 29 days and 23 hours of working out how to use it and an hour of transcription? :) Can you compare Finale's usability with Musescore's?
 
OK I'm starting a new thread with it so more people will see it.
 
Sibelius is a more advanced programme Larry but if you can't use Musescore it's not going to be any easier. Sibelius can be frustrating if you don't learn the ins and outs, hows your theory also? For example it will only accept what fits correctly into the bar.
 
I've tried Sibelius and Finale, and while they are extremely powerful, they are also extremely complex to use.

The software I use is called Noteworthy Composer, and while it doesn't have 'true' support for drum notation, in that you can't put a snare in the right place and have it sound like a snare (you can use midi remapping tools to fix this, which is what I do), you can change noteheads, and do most notation-related things.

The only features that I would like that it is really missing is pre-mapped, or internally mappable percussion notation (ie. the midi mappings), and the support for odd subdivisions other than triplets. Fortunately, for things like quintuplets, you can insert text markings, and invisible tempo markings and time signature changes to get around that shortcoming.

Entering notation is quite easy - you use the arrow keys to move around the staff, the Enter key to place a note, and Space to place a rest. Select the active note value from whole notes through to 32nd notes with the 1 - 6 number keys (64th notes are available but not mapped to a shortcut key), or click on the button in the toolbar. 7, 8 and 9 provide accidentals, and are toggle buttons. As I said, it is VERY easy to use straight out of the box, it also has a small, but dedicated community who provide a lot of help and ideas for things.

Unfortunately, I have just discovered the demo version doesn't allow you to save or open anything, but You'd most certainly be able to draw something up (It'll take you about 30 seconds to write up a 4/4 rock beat once you've got the hang of it) and then take a screenshot, though :) I don't know if the demo allows you to print, and if so, then you'd probably be able to print to PDF using CutePDF or something like that.

Anyway, you can get the demo here:
https://www.noteworthysoftware.com/composer/evaluate.htm

Oh, and it's also quite cheap for powerful notation software - USD $49

I apologise for sounding like a walking advertisement :p. I've been using the software since around 1998 or so, I think originally on version 1.1. If you can find a copy of the 1.75 demo or earlier, you could save your transcriptions up to 10 times, so that might work out for you :). I personally didn't purchase the full version until about 5 years ago, when I found out someone had used MidiOX and MidiYoke to re-map midi channels for drum notation. I have posted a list of what I consider appropriate mappings on the forum.
 
drum music writing software

I would like to write drum solos on my PC if I can find software that works for drums/percussion. Does anyone know of such a critter?
 
Re: drum music writing software

MuseScore has the advantage of being free.

(Other programs may be better; I have nothing to compare.)
 
Drum Notation Software - Any recommendations?

Hey everyone,

Recently I've been trying to get my chops up on writing my own little 4 bar drum solos. I know there's nothing better than sitting down with some manuscript for an hour or two as far as practice goes, but I was just wondering if any of you use any drum notation software and could possibly point me in the right direction? Thanks!
 
Try "guitar pro". Seriously.

Thats a watered down version of Sibelius. I use Finale and i find getting drum notation out of it frustrating as hell but i find that Sibelius is just as hard and that the watered down versions of either just dont do everything i need them to do. But i if i'm honest with my self i find it's just way easier to write music by hand.
 
Guitar Pro 6 is pretty great for being 92% cheaper than Sibelius ($50 rather than $600).
 

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I mainly use Finale. It is incredibly deep with a serious learning curve. I've been at it since '98 and it still kicks my butt!

All of the music that I have on the Drummerworld main page has been done with Finale.

Larry, if you have any questions feel free to send a message my way.

I've used Sibelius for a couple of Drumhead and Drum mag pieces, and it's a bit easier to learn. In my experience, I haven't found all of the functions that I need with layout, etc so I stick with Finale.

… that's probably too much information, but hope it might help.


Terry
 
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