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MagicScore

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MagicScore
Developer(s)DG Software
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
LicenseProprietary
Websitemusic-notation-software.com

MagicScore is a music notation and composition software product for PC’s running Microsoft Windows. The most current versions of the product sell internationally under the names Maestro Composer, Maestro Notation, Maestro Notation for MS Word. Two free products in the same product line are offered under the names Maestro Performer, and Maestro Online.


History

MagicScore was created in the year 2000 by a small group of talented software developers and was created to serve as an entry level music notation program. In addition to basic music composition tools the program also included several more advanced features normally not found on entry level products. These features included things such as a virtual piano, a virtual guitar, a velocity editor, dynamics (music), chords (music), articulations, and other symbols. In addition to these items MagicScore also provided an instrument list with a simple audio mixer.

In January of 2003 software developer Dmitriy Golovanov met with Sergey Samokhin, the main developer of the MagicScore project. Following this meeting it was decided that Golovanov’s company DGSoftware would distribute the program under the new company name of MagicScore Music Software.

The first public release of the new MagicScore was in 2003. The program came in two different versions, MagicScore Maestro and MagicScore Standard. Alongside this release the two men opened the official company web site at [[1]].

In 2005 the company released MagicScore v4 that included a redesigned interface that has become one of the most notable features of MagicScore. This interface has gone through many other design improvements since that time. Along with the visual redesign came differentiation in the features of their product line, resulting in three unique versions of the software:

  • MagicScore Maestro
  • MagicScore Classic
  • MagicScore School

In 2006 the team began working on ways to allow users to embed music notation in other documents and in web pages via Internet Explorer. This new version, MagicScore Maestro 5, received the PC Magazine Product of the Year Award for Multimedia. Beginning in 2006 and continuing for the next five years the company reached out to the United States music community by sponsoring prizes in the NSBA/MENC Composition Talent Search contest.

In 2007 MagicScore’s developers began to reach out to other music experts and consultants from mostly European countries including Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Ukraine, Russia, and Moldova. Through these efforts they added new functions including cross-staff beaming, MIDI events editors, a new piano roll (playback) editor, and others..

Version 6 of the software was released in 2008 with numerous feature enhancements and the addition of a free version, MagicScore Print Sheet Music. Along with these releases the company began to sell music scanning software programs manufactured by other software companies in order to offer a more complete and useful music notation solution for musicians.

2009 brought one of the largest upgrades to MagicScore with the release of Music Notation for MS Word. This product made it possible for users to dynamically embed music notation files within Microsoft Word documents.

This was marketed as an effort to provide music teachers with a solid set of tools to allow them to create educational worksheets, tutorials, instructional materials, books, articles, and other documents much more easily and quickly than with traditional copy and paste techniques.

In 2010 the company’s flagship version of the product, MagicScore Maestro, received first place and Gold awards from the independent music notation software review site, TopTenReviews.com, while in 2011 and 2012 MagicScore for the first time took part in Musik Messe (one of the two largest music product exhibitions in the world).

At Music Messe 2012 MagicScore Music Software announced a new company name and the newly named [Maestro family of music notation products]. At that time the software family consisted of:

  • Maestro Composer - their top of the line music notation and composition software program
  • Maestro Notation - a version specifically aimed at print music publishers
  • Maestro Notation for MS Word – embeds and edits music notation directly in Word documents
  • Maestro Performer – an entry level, free sheet music program
  • Maestro Online – a free product that allows users to publish their scores inside web pages

MagicScore Music Software is now an integrated part of Maestro Music Software but the company continues development of some of the MagicScore products. Both MagicScore and Maestro use the same file format and are fully compatible with each other.

With the incorporation of MagicScore into Maestro Composer the company has stopped development of MagicScore Classic. Other changes include:

  • Music Notation for MS Word renamed to Maestro Notation for MS Word
  • MagicScore Print Sheet Music renamed to Maestro Performer
  • MagicScore Online renamed to Maestro Online
  • MagicScore Maestro - the top of the line MagicScore notation program will continue to be sold
  • MagicScore School - an entry level program that continues to be sold

Current Unified Maestro Music Software Family of Products

as of Sept. 2012:

  • Maestro Composer
  • Maestro Notation
  • Maestro Notation for MS Word
  • Maestro Performer
  • Maestro Online
  • MagicScore Maestro
  • MagicScore School
  • MagicScore Note
  • MagicScore MIDI to MP3 converter

In October of 2012 Maestro Music Software released two new programs titled Online Virtual Piano and Online Virtual Guitar. These were the first cross-platform programs released by the company and run on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and Linux via a web browser.

New Software In Development

The company has announced its intention to continue the development of new versions of the existing software but no details have been provided.

References

[1] [2] [3]

  1. ^ "Gold Award- MagicScore Maestro". TopTenReviews.com. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  2. ^ "Resources- Maestro Composer For MS Word". Teaching Music. 20 (2): 54. 2012. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  3. ^ "Back Matter". Music Educators Journal. 95 (2). 2008. doi:10.2307/30234407. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)


Maestro Composer Official Website MagicScore Official Website MagicScore Music Software Official Website Maestro Music Software on Facebook

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