MuseScore is one of the worldโs leading free music composition software, featuring an easy-to-use interface and many powerful features. It allows professional and amateur musicians to compose music for various instruments.
In other words, MuseScore’s note mode allows you to produce creative and beautiful musical scores with ease, whether you’re a piano, guitar, violin, or saxophone player.
It has a built-in playback engine and support for importing and exporting various file formats. But best of all, because MuseScore is open-source software, it is free to install on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
MuseScore 4’s release marks a new milestone in the evolution of this widely used music notation software, so let’s see what new features it brings us.
MuseScore 4 Highlights
MuseScore 4’s entirely new user interface will pleasantly surprise its users, making it significantly easier to interact with the software. In addition, 400 new icons and the ability to customize colors have been added.
But thatโs not all. Thereโs a new Home tab containing recent scores, plugins, video tutorials, and a revamped, friendlier onboarding process for users who are just starting with the software.
Much of the beam placement code has been rewritten. The length and direction of stems, as well as the positioning of beams, are now controlled by more logical and rigorous rules. On top of that, the new horizontal spacing, slurs, and ties system significantly boost your productivity when notating music.
MuseScore 4 enjoys multiple workflow improvements. For example, the Properties panel is now considerably more responsive, easier to use, and packed with helpful options. Additionally, using the brand-new Instruments panel, parts are now easier to find, edit and modify. Moreover, the note entry barโs capabilities have expanded, and the toolbar is now much easier to customize.
The new Muse Sounds orchestral plugin is another significant new feature in the latest version of this notation software. It is a library of sophisticated plugins that provide realistic playback for MuseScore.
We will not also forget to mention the accessibility improvements made. MuseScore 4 introduces a new keyboard navigation system that adheres to best practices, allowing users to move around the UI quickly. On top of that, the app ships with improved screen reader support and an editable high-contrast mode.
Aside from the changes above, this software release includes hundreds of smaller fixes and optimizations for lyrics, articulation placement, tremolo markings, and general positioning. For more information, you can refer to the official announcement.
Install MuseScore 4 on Linux
MuseScore 4 is available for download from the projectโs website as a portable AppImage. Regardless of your Linux distribution, download the AppImage file, then right-click on it to bring up the context menu and make the file executable.
Finally, double-click on it, and the MuseScore music notation and composition app will start.
