My buddy was playing a badly written trombone transcription of a vocal solo. Double bars were in the wrong places, the last 8 bars were illegible, a bar was missing, etc. I downloaded MuseScore3 and was able to transcribe it into a correct and legible copy. The software doesn't have the capabilities of Finale, Sibelius, or the other software, but it is free. Many of you will already know about MuseScore but I figured I would post this for those who don't.

https://musescore.org/en

I have been using it quite a bit, most recently to transcribe a euphonium band part from concert bass clef to B-flat treble for a trumpeter who doubles on baritone. She could not get past the bass clef.

I was a Finale user years ago, but have not used it in many years. Musescore has many of the same features, as I recall.

If I was a full time arranger, of course Finale would be a requirement.

Aside from the quite dinky audio playback (which kinda sounds like a 1990's nintendo) Musescore works well for me, and the price is right.

There may be exotics that MuseScore lacks but, by now, the set of things that Sibelius or Finale do that Musescore does not accommodate is getting very small.

It's a bit like Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery... "If we don't have it, you can probably get along without it"

[quote="PhilTrombone"]Aside from the quite dinky audio playback (which kinda sounds like a 1990's nintendo) Musescore works well for me, and the price is right.[/quote]

Whenever I've suggested a feature that might enhance real-time playback, the response is usually something like, "MuseScore is primarily intended as a notation application."

But they do add to it from time to time.

I'll note that it is possible to use other sound libraries in real time with MuseScore if the default is inadequate. It is not something I have investigated since I haven't purchased any other sound libraries.

Their default sound "font" is merely something crafted to be of small enough size for reasonable downloading.