MusEdit is a
scorewriter
A scorewriter, or music notation program is software for creating, editing and printing sheet music. A scorewriter is to music notation what a word processor is to text, in that they typically provide flexible editing and automatic layout, and pr ...
program for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
, developed by Doug Rogers / Yowza software and first launched in 1997. The current version (4.0.3) was released in 2010.
In February 2011, the author told the ''MusEdit''
Yahoo
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds ma ...
group that after "upgrading and supporting MusEdit for nearly 15 years" he "won't be able to continue supporting MusEdit" and plans he "to make MusEdit '
Open Source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
' by mid-March, 2011. This means the MusEdit source code will be free and open for anyone to use and modify as they wish under a standard 'open source' license."
However, by August 2012, the MusEdit website was no longer available, and its domain registration is running out by 24 November 2012.
Later news and downloads are available on the MusEdit Yahoo groups site.
Features
MusEdit allows the user to produce professional-quality music scores for all kinds of solo instruments, ensembles and orchestras. The music files can be played back, printed, exported as graphics and used to generate
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...
files and text tab. Musedit can also import MIDI files and text tab. For example, Musedit can be used to create and play back:
* Music scores with up to 20 parts.
* Music and Tablature for
Guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
Bass, and other stringed instruments.
*
Piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
music.
*
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
parts.
* Song Books, Hymn sheets etc. (with lyrics, vocal lines,
chord symbols, accompaniment etc.).
* Music lessons and other educational material.
General usage
Scores are created by combining various lines (music staffs, Tablature, text lines, chord diagrams etc.) into “Line groups”, which are in effect "score systems".
MusEdit acts like a "
word-processor
A word processor is an electronic device (later a computer software application) for text, composing, editing, formatting, and printing.
The word processor was a stand-alone office machine in the 1960s, combining the keyboard text-entry and prin ...
for music", with a system of keyboard shortcuts and a “symbols toolbox” allowing music and text to be entered quickly and easily. Many functions (including note spacing) are under full manual control rather than being automated. Operations such as select, copy, cut and paste etc. are analogous to those of a standard word-processor.
The position of many elements of the score can be finely adjusted by "nudging" (with the keyboard cursors) both horizontally and vertically - this includes text, accidentals, ties and notes of a 1/4 and above. In addition, the user can adjust the length and shape of individual slurs and ties.
MusEdit supports linked Music Staff / TAB systems which means that notes entered onto the music staff appear also in the linked TAB line and vice versa. This is particularly useful for guitarists and other stringed instrument players. The full range of guitar symbols and notation is also supported. Instruments in any tuning with up to 8 strings can be notated.
See also
*
List of music software
This is a list of software for creating, performing, learning, analyzing, researching, broadcasting and editing music. This article only includes software, not services. For streaming services such as iHeartRadio, Pandora, Prime Music, and Spotify, ...
References
''The primary source for this article is the demo version of MusEdit and accompanying help files, which can be freely downloaded from the MusEdit website. All the facts in this article can be verified from this source.''
External links
Yahoo group on MusEdit{{Scorewriters
Scorewriters
Guitar-related software