App for Music Composition?

By Joseph Westhouse, 7 June, 2013

Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Hi all, I'm seeking an informed app recommendation. Basically I'm looking for something to produce good-sounding realizations of original compositions (especially orchestral music). I could see this going one of two ways - either playing directly into the app with something like the iRig Keys, and recording the different voices playing their different parts, or importing a .midi or other file type from composition software on my PC and assigning voices to the various parts. Does anyone have any recommendations for an app that would suit either of these needs? Is this something I should be doing with Garage Band or Thumb Jam, perhaps? Any comments about the sound quality of voices, as well as the overall accessibility of recommended apps, would be appreciated. Thanks!

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Comments

By KE7ZUM on Sunday, June 9, 2013 - 16:30

I'm also looking for something similar, except this one has to produce printed professional looking sheet music, and since I don't have a midi keyboard I have to be able to play the keyboard or what ever with my finger like garage band.

Marrie: I'd be extremely surprised (not to mention ecstatic) to learn of an app that does what you're asking. Currently the only remotely accessible music notation program I've found is Lime Aloud from DancingDots, which I use for all my sheet music needs. I'm extremely grateful for the ability to be able to make and print scores, but I'm also very frustrated with some of the shortcomings of the project. Still, if you have a PC (or it may be available on Mac) it would be worth investigating...though it's very pricy. I certainly hope there's an accessible app out there that can fill the music notation need, though...that'd be incredible.

By Ken Downey on Sunday, June 9, 2013 - 16:30

Personally, I would highly recommend ThumbJam for what you're doing. The orchestral samples are good, but you can even make your own. The best part about ThumbJam for orchestral music is that you can sample of straight string part, with no vibrato, then Add in vibrato by shaking the phone

By dharmaputra on Sunday, July 9, 2017 - 16:30

Hello all, please help me. I want to learn to make music notation so that the score can be read by the sighted person. So I want to make a score for my friends who are visually professional. Application for mac OS or windows. I have tried sibelius and musescore, but I have to be helped by my visionary teacher. So I can not make my own score.

By mcox on Friday, October 11, 2024 - 16:30

I'm completely blind, I teach piano and music theory in england.
I'm seconding MuseScore.
Until I transitioned to windows 10 and 11, I was using Sibelius 5.2 and the Sibelius Access JAWS scrits.
As others have stated in this tread, Sibelius is pro-level software with the price tag to match. and to be honest, so is JAWS... even with the Anuel, 2, 3 and 5 year subscriptions...
That being said, the quality of score it produces, as well as Articulations, Slurs, Dynamics, wind and string-spasific markings is excelent.
Avid does offer Sibelius first for free, which gives you up to 4 staves (Or voices) but compared with Musescore accessibility is limited, at best, both for reading through, and writing scores.
The SA scripts allow you access to everything but, it's only for JAWS, NVDA is practically useless.
Now comes the problem. Windows 7 and 8 are past there end-of-life sycle, and yes to everyone's questions, sicurity updates are important, so they're no longer a viable option.

Sibelius 7 and 8 do come with varying amounts of instrument sounds, the ultimate comes with 70GB (the same as Logic Pro)
Musescore has several free libraries available to download if you install everything through the MuseHub.
All my students use Musescore, some of them use it with a braile display, and some with NVA or JAWS.
I haven't tested it with VO as my Macbook was stolen, and i'm saving for a replacement...
There are some debates about the level of engraving, available, and if MuseScore really is professional-grade software, and in my experience, it is. I have never had any complaints from my sighted musicians about the quality, formatting or legibility of parts, Shortscore or full scor. I also write music for small orchestras (Baroque-early classical size) no problems there either.
Logic pro does produce scores, and it's acceptable to a point, but not for pro-level classical work. It should be fine for pop arangements or maybe even jaz, to an extent.
My appologies for the EXTRA-LONG! post, but I wanted to get all possible information across.
If anyone wants to ask anything i'll be happy to answer any and all questions.
Regards,
Melissa.