MuseScore

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MuseScore

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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MuseScoreOriginal author(s)Developer(s)Initial releaseStable releaseRepositoryWritten inOperating systemPlatformSizeAvailable inTypeLicenseWebsite

MuseScore 4.0 in dark mode, showing palettes, and full screen mode

Werner Schweer

MuseScore BVBA[1]

2 September 2002; 21 years ago[2][3]

4.2.1[4] 

 (24 January 2024) [±]

github.com/musescore/MuseScore

C++, Qt, QML[5]

Windows 7 and later, Linux, macOS 10.10 and later

x86-64 (Windows, Linux and macOS), IA-32 (Windows only)

104 to 163 MB

Fully supported in 16[1] languages[6]

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List of languages

Scorewriter

MuseScore 0-3: GPL-2.0-only with font exception and proprietary (online and mobile)[7]
MuseScore 4: GPL-3.0 with font exception and proprietary (online and mobile)[8][9]

Software: musescore.org
Music repository: musescore.com

MuseScore refers to a free and open-source music notation program (rebranded as MuseScore Studio in 2024)[10] for Windows, macOS, and Linux and its accompanying online score-sharing platform MuseScore.com and freemium mobile score viewer and playback app.

History[edit]

MuseScore was created as a fork of the MusE sequencer's codebase. In 2002, Werner Schweer, one of the MusE developers, decided to remove notation support from MusE and create a stand-alone notation program from the codebase.[11][12]

The MuseScore.org website was created in 2008,[13] and quickly showed a rapidly rising number of MuseScore downloads. By December 2008, the download rate has reached 15,000 per month.

Version 0.9.5 was released in August 2009. By October 2009, MuseScore was being downloaded more than 1000 times per day. By the fourth quarter of 2010, it was being downloaded 80,000 times per month.[14][15]

At the end of 2013, the project moved from SourceForge to GitHub. Continuous download statistics have not been publicly available since then. However, a March 2015 press release stated that MuseScore had been downloaded over eight million times;[16] and in December 2016 the project stated that version 2.0.3 had been downloaded 1.9 million times in the nine months since its release.[17]

The MuseScore company uses income from their commercial sheet music-sharing service to support the free notation software's development.[18]

In 2017, the MuseScore company was acquired by Ultimate Guitar, which added full-time paid developers to the open source team.[19] In 2021, the MuseScore company, Ultimate Guitar, and other properties (including Audacity) were put under a new parent company, Muse Group,[20] in Limasol, Cyprus. In 2022, the MuseScore company finished relocating to Muse Group's Cyprus headquarters.[21] In January 2024, the music notation app formerly known as MuseScore was rebranded MuseScore Studio.[10]

Features[edit]

A piece of sheet music created in MuseScore

MuseScore's main purpose is the creation of high-quality engraved musical scores in a "What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get" environment.[22] It supports unlimited staves, linked parts and part extraction, tablature, MIDI input and output, percussion notation, cross-staff beaming, automatic transposition, lyrics (multiple verses), fretboard diagrams, and in general everything commonly used in sheet music.[23][24] Style options to change the appearance and layout are available,[25] and style sheets can be saved and applied to other scores. There are pre-defined templates for many types of ensembles. Functionality can be extended by making use of the many freely available plugins.[23][24][26][27]

MuseScore can also play back scores through the built-in sequencer and SoundFont sample library.[25] Multiple SoundFonts can be loaded into MuseScore's synthesizer. It includes a mixer to mute, solo, or adjust the volume of individual parts, and chorus, reverb and other effects are supported during playback.[28] MIDI output to external devices and software synthesizers is also possible.[29]

Supported file formats[edit]

MuseScore can import and export to many formats, though some are export-only (visual representations and audio) and some are import-only (native files from some other music notation programs).

MuseScore's native file formats are .mscx, which is XML data containing the score; and .mscz, a zip archive containing the .mscx and other data. The .mscz format is the default format, as it occupies less space and supports additional data, such as images.[30]

MuseScore also can import and export compressed (.mxl) and uncompressed (.xml) MusicXML files, which allows a score to be edited in other music notation programs (including Sibelius and Finale). The latest edition of MuseScore uses MusicXML 4.0.[31] It can also import and export MIDI (.mid, .midi, and .kar), which is supported by many other programs (such as Synthesia), although since MIDI is not designed for sheet music, some information may be lost.

MuseScore can also import certain other music software's native formats, including Band-in-a-Box (.mgu and .sgu), Bagpipe Music Writer (.bww), Guitar Pro (.gtp, .gp3, .gp4, .gp5, and .gpx), Capella (must be version 2000 (3.0) or later; .cap and .capx) and Overture formats. It can also import MuseData (.md), which has been superseded by MusicXML.

Audio can be exported to WAV, FLAC, MP3 and OGG files; and graphical representations of scores can be exported to PDF, SVG and PNG formats, as well as printed.[30]

Mobile player[edit]

Since May 2014 MuseScore has mobile apps available for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire which tie into the MuseScore score-sharing site. The app can play scores, and allows transposition and part extraction, but does not create or edit scores.[26]

Portable application[edit]

MuseScore also runs as a portable application.[32] It can be installed onto a regular hard disk drive or stored on a removable storage device such as a CD, USB flash drive or flash card, so that it can be run on any compatible Windows computer system.

Custom fonts[edit]

A new notation font, Leland, created by Martin Keary and Simon Smith, was introduced in MuseScore 3.6. Its name is a reference to Leland Smith, the creator of SCORE, a notation program formerly used by many publishers.[33] The update also introduced a new text font, Edwin, influenced by the classic New Century Schoolbook typeface.[34]

VST support[edit]

In Musescore 4.0, support was added for VST3 instrument and effects plugins on Windows and macOS. The Muse Group also released a free orchestral plugin, MuseSounds, designed to provide more realistic playback.[35][36]

Versions[edit]

Version NameDate ReleasedNotable featureshideScreenshotPre-releaseMuseScore 0.90.9.50.9.6

August 2009[37]	First stable version, as well as the first version to support macOS.[37]	MuseScore 0.9.5 running on Windows 11.
June 2010[38]	Introduced many new features, including out-of-the-box support for playback of all instruments based on the

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