Software for arranging songs

[Jordan S.]

Hi there! Does anyone know what software is being used to create sheet music like this (one example from MandoLessons)?



Thanks!

[Mark Gunter]

I use TablEdit, not sure what Baron at mandolessons is using these days. Most popular are probably Musescore, Sibelius, Finale, Forte … in addition to TablEdit

You can ask Baron what he uses, he’ll be happy to tell you.

[John Kelly]

I use Musescore to create those sorts of sheet music. You can input the standard notation manually then the program will create the TAB from this. You can also import abc format files into a Musescore sheet to get standard notation or TAB.

Musescore is capable of creating very sophisticated scores and full orchestrations and I know that I barely scratch the surface of what it has to offer. Those programs have quite a learning curve but for the sort of things you are talking about you can get good results fairly quickly. As Mark says, there are other programs available.

[mbruno]

+1 for Musescore. I use it when I write things out. A lot of the functions aren't as intuitive as I'd like and it can be a little tricky to use sometimes, but overall it's easy to use and cheap. The MIDI capabilities are nice too

[Simon DS]

I use Tunebook for iphone and .abc files.

abcnotation.com
www.mandolintab.net -the PDFs are attractive and the TAB numbers are large and clear. But most of all this system is free and prevents you wasting time with all the buttons and bells of a paid-for software.

[vonbiber]

I use lilypond.
http://lilypond.org/

Here's a quick demonstration of the steps I use.

1. I start with an abc file, e.g.,

X:1
T:Angeline the Baker
L:1/8
M:4/4
K:D
|: "D"A2 B2 d3 A | B2 d6 | A2 B2 d2 A2 | "G"B8 |
 "D"A2 B2 d3 e | f2 e2 d3 e | f2 e2 d2 B2 | "A"A8 :|
|: "D"a2 f2 e2 de | f2 e2 d4 | a2 f2 e2 d2 | "G"B8 |
 "D"a2 f2 e2 de | f2 e2 d3 e | f2 e2 d2 B2 | "A"A8 :|

2. I use a set of scripts, that I wrote, to automate
the conversion of the abc into lilypond files containing
the notes and other info (such as the type of instrument:
guitar, mandolin, ukulele, ...).

3. I slightly edit the resulting files to make some adjustment
(to change the font size, or the margins, etc.)

4. Here's the result in pdf format


Everything is done with the keyboard only.

[bwnunnally]

Guitar Pro supports mandolin tuning and works well for sheet music, playback, etc.

[Dave Johnson]

Another vote for musescore. If you go looking, be sure to go to musescore.org, NOT .com. The former is very good free open source music notation software, the latter want's your money.

[John Kelly]

The Musescore software is, as Dave says, completely free to use. There is an opportunity to support the platform financially, but it is useable without restrictions even without support. Paid versions allow you to access notation created by other users. Whatever program you decide to use, there will be some learning involved before you can comfortably use it. To each his own!