Forum: music.stackexchange.com
Tags: <software>
Title: Is there any notation software that supports unconvential notation like Schenker graphs?
Question: What is the best free or cheap music editing software available? I am looking for something to write and edit scores with. I know that Finale and Sibelius are the best on the market, but I wouldn't use them enough to justify the price.  I don't need many features, though here are a few that I could really use:   Audio play back  Ability to write without a time signature  Able to draw non-conventional notation (i.e. Schenker graphs)   Here's an example of what I'd like to draw:

Answers:
sents: text: Check out Lilypond: http://lilypond.org/
text: It's free and powerful, and although it won't do audio playback, I believe it can do the rest of what you ask.
text: It's text-based, and if you are at all familiar with TeX or LaTeX, Lilypond will feel similar.
text: It has a somewhat steep learning curve, but there are some GUIs in active development that make things easier, and there's also some software that allows for input via MIDI keyboard.
text: Edit:
text: Seems Lilypond can output MIDI files, so presumably you could get audio playback that way.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/36/Alex Basson
score: 12
sents: text: MuseScore is getting some attention.
text: It's free, cross-platform, and imports and exports MusicXML.
text: I have not tried it.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 2
sents: text: rosegarden is another option.
text: It's mostly meant to be used as a MIDI sequencer/DAW, but has a score facility which I believe will let you edit scores directly.
text: It's only available for linux.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/1563/intuited
score: 1
sents: text: I agree with everyone else that is suggesting Lilypond.
text: Here is a Linux Journal article on creating Schenker Graphs with Lilypond .
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/1374/ObscureRobot
score: 1
sents: text: As little addon to the Lillypond suggestion: Check out this snippet from the Lilypond Snippet Repository I also found the channel #lilypond on Freenode being quite a good resource when getting stuck with something.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/42816/nath
score: 1
sents: text: With Lilypond, the example of the OP could be drawn like follows: \score { \relative c { \time 2/4
text: \clef bass
text: \key
text: f \major << { \override NoteColumn.ignore-collision =
text: ##t \stemDown \phrasingSlurDown \phrasingSlurDashed \once
text: \override
text: NoteHead.duration-log =
text: #1 \once
text: \override Beam.positions
text: = #'(-6.47 . -6.47)
text: \once
text: \override
text: PhrasingSlur.control-points = #'((1 . -.5)
text: (3 . -5) (22 . -5) (24 . -3)) f8*4[\( ~ \hide Stem f8*4] ~
text: f4
text: *2( \newSpacingSection g4 a)
text: ( \phrasingSlurSolid \undo \hide Stem f,\)\()( \once \hide Stem c')
text: d\)\
text: (( \once \hide Stem a')
text: \once
text: \override Stem.length =
text: #9.27 \newSpacingSection
text: \time 4/4
text: bes8
text: *8/3\)\( \once \hide Stem e,4
text: *4/3( f) \newSpacingSection \time 8/2 \once \hide Stem d4
text: *2 \once
text: \override Beam.positions
text: = #'(-5.97 . -5.97)
text: \once
text: \override Beam.transparent =
text: ##f \once \hide Stem e8*4[\) \once
text: \override
text: NoteHead.duration-log = #1 f8*16] }
text: \\ { \hide NoteHead
text: \hide Stem \slurUp s2*6 \once
text: \override
text: Slur.control-points = #'((1 . 3.5) (3 . 5) (11 . 4)
text: (13.5 . 1))
text: bes2
text: ( bes,4*4) \undo \hide Stem e4*2 } \\ { \hide NoteHead
text: \hide Stem s2*6 \once
text: \override
text: Slur.control-points = #'((1 . -7) (10 .
text: -10)
text: (17 . 7.5) (20 . -.5))
text: bes'2( s4 e,4) } >
text: > \bar "|." } \layout { \omit Score.
text: TimeSignature }}
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/54798/Jasper Habicht
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
For notation software that supports unconvential notation like Schenker graphs try MuseScore, rosegarden, or Lilypond.
There are a number of different programmes that might be suitable, such as Lilypond, MuseScore or rosegarden.