You sent more questions than one episode could hold, so we split them in two. Part one was brought to you by two letters: AI. This is everything else in the mailbag, from the practical side of the music notation software and technology world. Philip Rothman and David MacDonald work through the rest of the mailbag: an iPad that won’t behave like a desktop, an app that has gone quiet, a singing plug-in that is rapidly evolving, world instruments that have to be taught to a notation program, a page somebody has to read at tempo, organizing a lifetime of files, keeping current with operating systems, and — perhaps the most practical question of all — our take in response to a question from a young copyist asking how any of this becomes a living. The answers range over layout options and staff sizes, expression maps and subscription libraries, file metadata and backup schemes, security updates and Apple silicon, and a set of accessibility guidelines deserving of wider recognition. Believe it or not, there are a few things here we plainly don’t know. Underneath most of it is the same instinct: keep the things you control in good order, and keep an exit from the things you don’t. Export the files. Learn the search box. Test the backup. Ask the player what size they can actually read. And never underestimate the value of a performance librarian in your corner. Thanks to everyone who wrote in. We take questions and suggestions year-round at podcast@scoringnotes.com. Products mentioned Notation software and apps Sibelius (Avid) — desktop, iOS/iPadOS, Android and Chromebook Dorico (Steinberg) MuseScore Studio (Muse Group) StaffPad Cantai (Turing Opera Workshop) forScore SheetCue Sample libraries, expression maps, and playback Spotlight Collection (Native Instruments) Phoenix Orchestra (Orchestral Tools) ComposerCloud+ and the RA and Silk collections (EastWest) Musio (Cinesamples) Soniccouture Art Conductor 26 Dorico (Babylonwaves) NotePerformer (Wallander Instruments) Hardware Stream Deck (Elgato) Steam Deck (Valve) MacBook Neo (Apple) Surface (Microsoft) Files, backup, and organization Airtable Dropbox Backblaze LOCKSS — lots of copies keep stuff safe NYC Music Services / Notation Central Scoring Express Notation Express Norfolk fonts for Sibelius Previous Scoring Notes posts and podcast episodes The Q&A episodes Q & A(I) (part one of this two-parter) Half-time report: what’s new, and a call for your questions (the call that brought these in) You have questions, we have answers (2025) Asked and answered, part 1 and part 2: in awe of the DAW (2023) Sibelius for iPad and mobile The history and future of Sibelius for iPad (podcast with Sam Butler and Joe Plazak, August 2021 — the design rationale, in their own words) Sibelius arrives on iPad (review, 2021) NAMM 2026: An Avid Sibelius discussion with Sam Butler and Joe Plazak and the companion podcast Comma sense: Command Search in Sibelius Sibelius 2026.6 makes cross-staff notation no accident (auto-save on mobile, accessible touch navigation, Quick Look, Cantai support) Sibelius 2026.2 cleanses the palette (dark mode and score colors) StaffPad StaffPad is a music handwriting app (March 2015, the original Surface release) StaffPad wows with long-awaited iPad release and new free StaffPad Reader (February 2020) David William Hearn and StaffPad (podcast, 2020) StaffPad acquired by Muse Group; audio support planned (May 2021) StaffPad brings live recordings into your scores with new audio update StaffPad “captures” the imagination — and your piano performance StaffPad updates go beyond just keeping the lights on (podcast with David William Hearn, November 2023) Private equity exits Muse Group amidst MuseScore Studio leadership changes Everything we’ve written about StaffPad Cantai Cantai now sings straight from Dorico (review) Cantai 3.0.0 supports Sibelius; adds ensembles, Spanish language Richard deCosta gives your score a voice (podcast, May 2026) Dorico 6.2.20 released with Cantai vocal synthesis support and Dorico 6.2.30, which added independent Cantai voice playback Sibelius 2026.5 adds VST3 support Readability, page size, and accessibility SheetCue turns your scores into a practice flow, part of our Overture series of first looks Brief thoughts on the size of music paper The point of point sizes Orchestra librarians want you to know about parts and paper sizes Archiving, file management, and backup Get organized with music notation files (podcast) Half notes: Jane Cross on keeping music files safe (the LOCKSS conversation) File renaming and PDF Batch Utilities (podcast) Restore the link in File Info fields in Sibelius Exporting PDFs from Dorico with better filenames Sibelius 2026.8 improves lines and cross-staff ties (macOS Spotlight support, including search inside .sib files) Operating systems and platforms Music notation software and macOS Tahoe Notion Mobile 3.5 released with support for Linux, Windows on Arm devices Finale’s twilight zone and Leaving Finale behind Making a career of it With freelancing comes responsibility (podcast with Paul Beck, August 2025 — the episode Philip refers to) An interview with librarian Paul Beck How to charge for music preparation Welcome to the new Scoring Notes (how a Sibelius blog became this one) Other references UK Association for Accessible Formats: music, and their guidance on modified stave notation (PDF) RNIB: modified stave notation Windows 10 Consumer Extended Security Updates, now running through October 12, 2027 Using Intel-based apps on a Mac with Apple silicon — Apple on Rosetta and its retirement StarCraft II Elaine Gould, Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation (Faber Music)

We asked for your questions, and you sent so many that one episode couldn’t hold them. This is part one of two — and part one is brought to you by two letters: A and I. That wasn’t the plan; it’s just where the mailbag pointed. Philip Rothman and David MacDonald take on the growing expectation that artificial intelligence should be able to turn a scan, recording, or generated track into finished, usable sheet music. Why is that still so difficult? And where can AI genuinely help musicians and music preparation professionals today? The discussion ranges from optical music recognition and audio transcription to proofreading, house styles, sample libraries, score following, and the potential for language models to communicate directly with notation software. Along the way, Philip proposes the “Gould test” as the music preparation equivalent of the Turing test. Underneath it all are larger questions about the value of expertise, the role of human judgment, and where responsibility lies when the technology gets it wrong. The rest of the mailbag — the questions that have nothing to do with AI — is coming next month. Products mentioned Notation software Dorico (Steinberg) Sibelius (Avid) MuseScore Studio (Muse Group) Flat (Tutteo) StaffPad Scanning and optical music recognition NoteVision (Muse Group) Soundslice sheet music scanner Newzik PlayScore 2 SmartScore 64 Pro (Musitek) Opuscan (Tutteo) Audiveris (open source) Audio transcription Klang.io and Transcription Studio Songscription Basic Pitch (Spotify) (open source) Magenta MT3 (Google) (research) Playback and vocal synthesis NotePerformer (Wallander Instruments) Cantai (Turing Opera Workshop) AI arranging and orchestration ArrangementLabs NotationAI ScoreSynth Orchidea (IRCAM / HEM / UC Berkeley) Score following and page turning Tomplay Smart Page Turn Smartleggio Piascore SampleSumo Music Following Antescofo (IRCAM) MCP bridges (community projects) mcp-musescore dorico-mcp-server (also on PyPI) Music generation Suno NYC Music Services / Notation Central PDF Batch Utilities Other tools mentioned Name Mangler / Renamer Claude (Anthropic) Previous Scoring Notes posts and podcast episodes Directly mentioned or closely related: Half-time report: what’s new, and a call for your questions (previous episode — the call for these questions) You have questions, we have answers (2025 listener questions episode) Asked and answered, part 1 (2023, the first listener-questions episode) Scanning the current OMR landscape (Steve Morell’s six-product comparison, December 2024) A snapshot of music scanning apps — and picturing the future (companion podcast) Dorico and The Rite of Spring (Stephen Taylor, January 2021) The “rite” way to copy old scores into new software (podcast with Stephen Taylor, February 2021) NAMM 2026: Sounding out the inputs with Klang.io’s Sebastian Murgul and the companion podcast NAMM 2026: An Avid Sibelius discussion with Sam Butler and Joe Plazak and the companion podcast NAMM 2026: Piascore’s bet on interactivity Marie Chupeau and the human side of Newzik’s artificial intelligence (podcast, November 2021) From zero to slice: Soundslice takes on optical music recognition with AI (podcast with Adrian Holovaty, December 2022) Dorico 6: Proof positive (review — the Proofreading panel) Dorico 6.0.22 extends proofreading capabilities (the “ignore issue type” feature) Behind “Behind Bars” with Elaine Gould (podcast, July 2023) Cantai now sings straight from Dorico (review) Richard deCosta gives your score a voice (podcast, May 2026) NotePerformer reverses course (the removal of third-party Playback Engines) NotePerformer updated to 5.1.0 Comma sense: Command Search in Sibelius NAMM 2025: Imbibing and transcribing with Oriol López Calle and the companion podcast (AI-assisted transcription inside a professional service) PDF Batch Utilities get a major rebuild — and a brand new app The rights stuff (podcast — rights and permissions) Other references Carlos Peñarrubia et al., “MuSViT: A Foundation Vision Model for Sheet Music Representation” — Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence Group, University of Alicante; posted June 30, 2026, accepted at ECCV 2026. Project page Christopher W. White, The AI Music Problem: Why Machine Learning Conflicts With Musical Creativity (Routledge, 2025) Elaine Gould, Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation (Faber Music) NotePerformer: Playback Engines discontinued — Arne Wallander’s own explanation “Detecting Notational Errors in Digital Music Scores” — research on automated score checking Musicians’ Union arranging, music preparation and orchestration rates (UK) Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 2: Copyrightability — U.S. Copyright Office report

Philip Rothman and David MacDonald are back after a short break, and true to form, the conversation drifts from yard work and heat waves before landing on the actual business at hand: it’s time to open the phone lines again. For the third time — after 2023’s three-part marathon and last year’s round — Scoring Notes wants to hear directly from you, on any topic in the world of music notation software and related technology, or anywhere adjacent to it. Send your question as an email to podcast@scoringnotes.com, or record it as a voice memo and send it as an email attachment or file-sharing link, or drop it directly here. However you send it, questions are due by Wednesday, July 22, 2026, and the best of them will form the basis of the next episode. To get your wheels turning, the rest of the episode is a quick lay of the land for the first half of 2026. Dorico 6.1 and 6.2 brought a wave of guitar refinements and paragraph-level smart quotes, and picked up support for the Cantai vocal synthesis plug-in along the way. Sibelius matched that pace across three releases, capped by 2026.6‘s long-overdue fix for cross-staff accidentals, plus VST3 support and a restored dark theme. MuseScore Studio 4.7 rounded out its 4.x line with a much-improved ‘R’ for repeat, new parenthesis and bracket options, and its own Cantai support. For the full list of what shipped, plus lots more from Scoring Notes’ coverage of the first six months of the year, see our mid-year summer summary. Cantai itself has moved fast since Richard deCosta joined the podcast in May: it now runs across Dorico, Sibelius, and MuseScore Studio, and pricing has come down substantially to a unified $9.99/month or $149 lifetime license, with new “Ottetto” choir ensembles added along the way. Full details are in our Cantai 3.0.0 coverage. Finally, Philip previews news he’s especially excited about: the 2027 MOLA Conference heads to San Francisco, April 30 – May 3, with a reimagined Tech Fair that he’ll be producing and programming himself, built around a single throughline — the life cycle of a score. He’s inviting participation from anyone working in music technology, notation, publishing, or archiving, and floats the idea of adjacent meetups for groups like the W3C Music Notation Community Group, the MEI community, and the MIDI Association. Full details are in our MOLA 2027 announcement. Meanwhile, get those questions in by July 22, and enjoy the rest of your summer. Products mentioned Notation software Dorico (Steinberg) Sibelius (Avid) MuseScore Studio (Muse Group) Vocal synthesis Cantai (Turing Opera Workshop) Organizations MOLA: An Association of Performance Librarians W3C Music Notation Community Group MEI (Music Encoding Initiative) MIDI Association Previous Scoring Notes posts and podcast episodes Directly mentioned or closely related: Asked and answered, part 1 (2023, the first listener-questions episode) Send us your questions! (plus a classic episode) (2025) Score preparation and production: a double-checklist (previous episode) Some more summer summaries (full mid-year recap of news, reviews, and tips) Sibelius 2026.6 makes cross-staff notation no accident Richard deCosta gives your score a voice (podcast, May 2026) Cantai 3.0.0 supports Sibelius; adds ensembles, Spanish language MOLA 2027 heads to San Francisco with Tech Fair 2.0 NAMM 2026: An interview with John Barron (podcast) NAMM 2026: An interview with Sam Butler and Joe Plazak (podcast)

Six years after our “Score preparation and production notes” episode — Episode No. 2 — essentially launched the podcast, 163 episodes later, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald return to the article that inspired the conversation: David’s score preparation checklist. The principles — respect for performers, readable parts, enough time for page turns — are as true as ever. But almost every specific tool reference in the original has a fuller story now. The conversation moves section by section, serving as a reminder of the timeless principles and exploring all of the meaningful changes in the technology. Dorico’s live-reference cue system has become the standard no one else has matched — and the ease of it has quietly changed how generously cues get applied. The Dorico 6 Proofreading panel represents a new category of preparation tool, while the Sibelius plugin ecosystem has its own parallel answers. The condensing and decondensing workflows now available in both Dorico and Sibelius 2025.2 have transformed what was once among the most tedious jobs in parts preparation, and Sibelius 2025.7’s Auto-Respace toggle closes a gap that used to just be accepted. Two sections are entirely new to the checklist: digital delivery — where the iPad has become as common in rehearsal as a music stand — and a pointed look at the file-organization habits that make or break a delivery package. This one’s chock-full of tips, resources and advice — with David’s updated accompanying article to come soon. Products mentioned Notation software Dorico (Steinberg) Sibelius (Avid) MuseScore Studio (Muse Group) Finale (MakeMusic) (mentioned as discontinued) Fonts MusGlyphs (available at Notation Central) NYC Music Services / Notation Central PDF Batch Utilities Desktop publishing and document tools Affinity (Canva) (now free) Apple Pages Microsoft Word LibreOffice Other tools mentioned Claude Cowork (Anthropic) (mentioned for AI-assisted file organization) Name Mangler / Renamer (mentioned briefly for file naming) forScore (mentioned as a score-reading app) Previous Scoring Notes posts and podcast episodes Directly mentioned or closely related: Score preparation and production Notes (David’s original 2018 article) Score preparation and production checklist (Episode 2, 2020) Partying with parts, part 1 (podcast, December 2021) Partying with parts, part 2 (podcast, December 2021) Orchestra librarians want you to know about parts paper sizes (May 3, 2022) Orchestra librarians want you to know about instrument names (June 20, 2022) Behind “Behind Bars” with Elaine Gould (podcast, July 2023) Behind Bars: General Conventions edition published (June 2023) Dorico 6: Proof positive (review, April 2025 — Proofreading Panel) Dorico 6.0.22 extends proofreading capabilities (July 2025 — ignore feature) Sibelius 2025.7 brings note spacing control, UI updates (July 2025 — Auto-Respace) Sibelius 2025.2 introduces decondensing parts with staff filters (February 2025) Sibelius 2022.5 brings multi-section headers, other workflow boosts (May 2022) MusGlyphs: an advanced music text font (April 2021) PDF Batch Utilities get a major rebuild — and a brand new app (March 2026) Freshly pressed (podcast, April 2026 — PDF Batch Utilities in depth) Calculate the weight, basis weight, or grammage of paper (April 2025) Chronology of a perfect music printing job (January 2022) DJA’s Notes: Music preparation basics (Darcy James Argue, September 2023) Documenting the documenter: Lillie Harris (podcast, April 2021 — Dorico manual) David MacDonald’s updated Score Preparation and Production Notes article Other references Elaine Gould, Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation (Faber Music) — cues: p. 566; front matter: chapter 17, pp. 501–504 Elaine Gould, Behind Bars: General Conventions (Faber Music) — the first third of Behind Bars as a standalone paperback and e-book MOLA Guide (Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association) — free PDF download Sibelius plugins page (still active at sibelius.com) Darcy James Argue, Music Preparation Fundamentals for Jazz Composers & Arrangers — free download Darcy James Argue, Music Preparation for the Large Jazz Ensemble — free download (supplement to the above)

What if your notation software could sing? At the top of this episode, we play a short clip, performed entirely in Dorico with NotePerformer handling the orchestra, and a plugin called Cantai rendering the baritone voice. That voice is synthesized directly from the Dorico score with minimal configuration, and it marks the arrival of something the notation world has been waiting for for a long time. Philip Rothman and David MacDonald talk with Richard deCosta, composer, software developer, and founder of Cantai and the Turing Opera Workshop, about what it took to build it. The conversation goes deep on the technology: why synthesizing the voice is fundamentally harder than synthesizing instruments, how the phonemizer works, why Cantai renders offline rather than in real time, and what it really means to build a plugin that reads a score rather than simply receiving MIDI. Richard also explains how years of frustration with the disconnect between notation and external vocal synthesis tools — from EWQL Symphonic Choirs and WordBuilder to ACE Studio and Synthesizer V — led to the central insight behind Cantai: that the lyrics were always there in the score; they just weren’t being passed to the playback engine. We also dig into the ethical and business model Richard has built around the singers whose voices power Cantai. Every vocalist is contracted, paid a competitive recording fee, and receives an ongoing share of the product’s profits in proportion to how much their voice is used. Cantai is already live for MuseScore Studio and Dorico, and arriving for Sibelius on May 30. The roadmap — more languages, less vibrato, Broadway and jazz styles, and a thought-provoking vision for the future of real-time vocal generation — gives us plenty to look forward to. Products mentioned Cantai (Turing Opera Workshop) Turing Opera Workshop Dorico (Steinberg) Sibelius (Avid) MuseScore Studio / MuseHub (Muse Group) NotePerformer (Wallander Instruments) ACE Studio Synthesizer V (Dreamtonics) EWQL Symphonic Choirs with WordBuilder (East West) Emvoice One Vocaloid (Yamaha) Wendy Carlos, Secrets of Synthesis (1987) Previous Scoring Notes posts and podcast episodes Directly mentioned or closely related: Cantai now sings straight from Dorico (companion article) Dorico 6.2.20 released with Cantai vocal synthesis support MuseScore Studio 4.6.4 released with Cantai support Using WordBuilder with Sibelius to make vocal text come alive Sibelius sings with EWQL Symphonic Choirs Scoring a 16th century ayre with Dorico and Emvoice One Scoring the 11 o’clock number with Dorico and Emvoice One

After a stretch away from the mic with NAMM coverage and a few product launches in the interim, Philip Rothman and David MacDonald return for an episode that, as David puts it, is “delightfully very nerdy.” To kick things off, David turns the tables and puts Philip in the interview seat, asking him about two significant sets of releases from Notation Central and NYC Music Services. On the Notation Express side, the big news is two-way communication between Dorico and the Stream Deck: buttons now light up to reflect what Dorico is actually doing in real time — active note durations, engaged accidentals and articulations, current mode, playback state, and more. Philip also walks through the new Note Tools folder, which lets users chain up to four buttons together to build a complete transposition or interval command before executing it in one shot, and touches on the Notation Express Keypad and the Virtual Stream Deck. The PDF Batch Utilities get equal time: native Apple Silicon builds that launch ten times faster, codesigning and notarization, source PDF info shown right in the file list, bookmarks in stitched output, smarter handling of one- and two-page files, and a brand-new fifth app — PDF-Counter — that drops a page-count CSV into any folder you throw at it. For the second half, Philip asks David about the utility apps that have quietly become indispensable in his day-to-day work. David talks through Dropzone, a Mac menu-bar app that makes dragging files to frequently-needed folders — or AirDrop, or a terminal window — almost frictionless, and Alfred, the customizable launcher he’s built out with custom searches (including a dedicated IMSLP search), file navigation shortcuts, and a direct line to his task manager. From there, the conversation turns back to the notation software itself, with a look at two features that deserve more attention than they get: Dorico’s Jump Bar and Sibelius’s Command Search, both of which let you find and fire any command just by typing for it.  Where might those tools go next, and what it would mean for notation software to understand what you’re asking for, not just what you typed? Products mentioned Notation Central / NYC Music Services Notation Express PDF Batch Utilities Stream Deck Elgato Stream Deck Virtual Stream Deck Stream Deck Mobile Mac utilities discussed by David Dropzone (Aptonic Software) Alfred Raycast (mentioned as alternative to Alfred) LaunchBar (mentioned as alternative to Alfred) Hazel (mentioned in context of Dropzone) Things (mentioned as David’s to-do app, integrated with Alfred) Other references IMSLP (Petrucci Music Library) (David’s custom Alfred search) Previous Scoring Notes posts and podcast episodes Directly mentioned or closely related: Notation Express for Dorico 6: Your Stream Deck just got smarter PDF Batch Utilities get a major rebuild — and a brand new app Notation Express: Stream Deck profile for Sibelius (the original 2019 launch) Boost your workflow: a Stream Deck review (Dan Kreider’s 2018 review of the Stream Deck, pre-Notation Express) Quickly scale many PDFs with PDF-BatchScale (the original launch) PDF-MusicBinder and PDF-BatchStitch utilities for music printing Chronology of a perfect music printing job How to tape and fold pages for parts: a video tutorial (accordion-style printing) Calibrating printers and workflows NAMM 2026: On the scene (and related NAMM 2026 coverage, including the happy hour) Forthcoming (mentioned in the episode): Virtual Stream Deck article

At the 2026 NAMM Show, we interviewed representatives from the businesses in our field of music notation software and related technology. In this interview, we talk with Sam Butler, Avid’s vice president of product management, and Joe Plazak, Sibelius product owner and senior principal software developer at Avid, to reflect on the philosophy behind Sibelius’s recent development approach, how user feedback shapes prioritization, and where they believe users should most clearly feel progress compared to a year ago. We also talk about automation and AI in notation, the realities of cross-platform and mobile workflows, and what Avid wants musicians to understand about its long-term commitment to Sibelius. Be sure to check out our other conversations from the NAMM Show from earlier this month. And as always, if you like this podcast episode, there’s plenty more for you from Scoring Notes — be sure to follow us right in your podcast player. More about the 2026 NAMM Show from Scoring Notes: NAMM 2026: On the scene NAMM 2026: Piascore’s bet on interactivity NAMM 2026: John Barron opens the door to Dorico’s future NAMM 2026: Sounding out the inputs with klang.io’s Sebastian Murgul NAMM 2026: Getting into a Fender-bender with Chris Swaffer NAMM 2026: An avid Sibelius discussion with Sam Butler and Joe Plazak NAMM 2026: An interview with John Barron NAMM 2026: An interview with Sebastian Murgul NAMM 2026: An interview with Chris Swaffer

At the 2026 NAMM Show, we interviewed representatives from the businesses in our field of music notation software and related technology. In this interview, we talk with Chris Swaffer, senior product manager of software at Fender, about how he thinks about Notion’s current phase in its lifecycle, what the Fender name signals to users today, and how decisions around refinement, continuity, and cross-platform consistency get made in practice. We also dig into under-the-radar improvements, accessibility as a core product principle, direct transfer between Notion and Fender Studio Pro, and how intelligent assistance can support — rather than replace — human musical judgment. Come back next week for more conversations from the NAMM Show. And as always, if you like this podcast episode, there’s plenty more for you from Scoring Notes — be sure to follow us right in your podcast player. More about the 2026 NAMM Show from Scoring Notes: NAMM 2026: On the scene NAMM 2026: Piascore’s bet on interactivity NAMM 2026: John Barron opens the door to Dorico’s future NAMM 2026: Sounding out the inputs with klang.io’s Sebastian Murgul NAMM 2026: Getting into a Fender-bender with Chris Swaffer NAMM 2026: An avid Sibelius discussion with Sam Butler and Joe Plazak NAMM 2026: An interview with John Barron NAMM 2026: An interview with Sebastian Murgul

At the 2026 NAMM Show, we interviewed representatives from the businesses in our field of music notation software and related technology. In this conversation, we speak with Sebastian Murgul, co-founder and CEO of klang.io, to talk about a category that sits just adjacent to music notation — and yet increasingly intersects with it in practical, unavoidable ways: music transcription. Sebastian explains what klang.io’s tools are designed to do — and just as importantly, what they are not. We talk about why AI-based transcription has reached a point of practical usefulness now, where the hardest musical problems still lie, and how klang.io thinks about accuracy as something musicians can trust and build on, rather than a promise of perfection. We also discuss interoperability with notation software via formats like MIDI and MusicXML, real-world use cases that have surprised him, and the broader anxieties musicians understandably have around automation and AI. Come back the next few weeks for more conversations from the NAMM Show. And as always, if you like this podcast episode, there’s plenty more for you from Scoring Notes — be sure to follow us right in your podcast player. More about the 2026 NAMM Show from Scoring Notes: NAMM 2026: On the scene NAMM 2026: Piascore’s bet on interactivity NAMM 2026: John Barron opens the door to Dorico’s future NAMM 2026: Sounding out the inputs with klang.io’s Sebastian Murgul NAMM 2026: Getting into a Fender-bender with Chris Swaffer NAMM 2026: An avid Sibelius discussion with Sam Butler and Joe Plazak NAMM 2026: An interview with John Barron

At the 2026 NAMM Show, we interviewed representatives from the businesses in our field of music notation software and related technology. In this conversation with John Barron, international product specialist at Steinberg, John reflects on Dorico’s current development phase, how its underlying design principles continue to guide day-to-day decisions, and where users should most clearly feel progress compared to a year ago. We also talk about under-the-radar features, user feedback, interoperability with broader music-production workflows, playback and realism, and how automation can support — rather than supplant — notational intent. Come back the next few weeks for more conversations from the NAMM Show. And as always, if you like this podcast episode, there’s plenty more for you from Scoring Notes — be sure to follow us right in your podcast player. More about the 2026 NAMM Show from Scoring Notes: NAMM 2026: On the scene NAMM 2026: Piascore’s bet on interactivity NAMM 2026: John Barron opens the door to Dorico’s future NAMM 2026: Sounding out the inputs with klang.io’s Sebastian Murgul NAMM 2026: Getting into a Fender-bender with Chris Swaffer NAMM 2026: An avid Sibelius discussion with Sam Butler and Joe Plazak NAMM 2026: An interview with Sebastian Murgul

We’re very pleased to bring you this episode, and more to come in the future, thanks to our friends at Twenty Thousand Hertz, a podcast that tells the stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds. People with perfect or “absolute” pitch hear every single sound as precise musical notes. Is this extraordinary talent a blessing or a curse? In this episode, our friends at Twenty Thousand Hertz dive into the neuroscience, pluses, and pitfalls of absolute pitch. Featuring neuroscientist Daniel Levitin and Grammy-winning musician Jacob Collier. Art by Mafalda Maia. Music featured in this episode: Hide and Seek by Jacob Collier Light It Up On Me by Jacob Collier Down the Line by Jacob Collier To Sleep by Jacob Collier All I Need by Jacob Collier Bakumbe by Jacob Collier Hideaway by Jacob Collier Colrain by Marble Run Sky Above by Jacob Collier Moon River by Jacob Collier A Noite by Jacob Collier Connect by Steven Gutheinz Count the People by Jacob Collier Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced out of the studios of Defacto Sound, and hosted by Dallas Taylor.

‘Tis the season to be thankful for all of the products and services in the world of music notation software and related technology, and for the Scoring Notes audience who tunes in to hear us opine on them! We show our appreciation by bearing good tidings and do a little shopping to find some Black Friday deals and make a few recommendations for fun and productivity. Black Friday 2025 deals for music notation software and related tech post coming on Monday, November 24 Show notes: Scoring Notes Product Guide, with links to posts about Dorico, Sibelius, and MuseScore updates from the past year Black Friday products and deals: Steinberg Cyber Deals MakeMusic discounted crossgrade to Dorico Avid Black Friday Savings MuseScore Sheet Music Direct Sheet Music Plus Newzik Notation Central, Notation Express, Scoring Express, MTF Fonts, NorFonts Rogue Amoeba PDF Expert Black Friday deals Elgato Audio production deals on Reddit Adobe Creative Cloud Setapp CleanMyMac Dropzone CleanShot Soulver Forklift Affinity by Canva PopChar TRMNL Glance LED Logitech B100 Wired Mouse

We talk a lot about fonts on the Scoring Notes podcast. But there was a time when there were no music fonts. And then, there was one. Cleo Huggins, on the staff of Adobe in 1986, designed Sonata, the very first music font. It’s hard to imagine today, but it was revolutionary at the time, and a leading industry publication called it the “Music Product of the Year”. Sonata provided the blueprint for the core music fonts later created for use in Finale and Sibelius, but it may surprise you to learn that Sonata was created without any one particular music software product in mind. Cleo tells Philip Rothman and David MacDonald about her early studies with some of the great typographic experts of the 1970 and 1980s, and how her work in graphic design, 3-D animation, background as a violinist, and a key meeting with Steve Jobs about the launch of the first Macintosh computer all led to her taking responsibility for creating Sonata. Cleo discusses the revolution in PostScript technology and the introduction of the laser printer, and how that made it possible for her to create a high quality music font that was unconstrained by limitations of bitmapping. She recalls the various sources of inspiration and research she did — everything from Bach’s manuscript to the Music Writer, to Notaset dry transfer sheets — and the process of regularizing beautiful calligraphy without losing the distinctive elements of music notation. She also recalls thinking about all the minute details from careful placement to the key mapping of each character, and the feedback received from early music software pioneers eager to incorporate Sonata into their programs. Cleo’s career moved on from Sonata to a variety of endeavors, all propelled by a deep curiosity and propensity to good, and we talk about that too — and ask her if she’d ever come back to the world of music fonts, with all of the progress that has taken place in the nearly four decades since her groundbreaking work transformed the history of music notation. More on Scoring Notes: Music Type Foundry fonts newly revised and re-released Download and install all Finale fonts on Mac and Windows MuseScore Studio 4.6 adds full SMuFL support, other engraving and playback updates Cantorum, a plainchant font for Dorico Introducing Lelandia, a new suite of music fonts for Sibelius Daniel Spreadbury on music fonts: past, present, and future Music fonts and open standards with Daniel Spreadbury A brief history of music notation on computers Back to the future of music notation on computers How to make a SMuFL font A fount of fonts at Notation Central Introducing the Norfolk and Pori chord symbol fonts for Sibelius — and an angled slash variant From the Finale Blog: Meet Steve Peha, creator of Petrucci, Finale’s first music font A brief history of Finale fonts

Recent updates abound in Dorico, MuseScore Studio, Sibelius, and across the Apple operating systems. Whether you use all of these products or just one of them, we help you get current with the latest features and improvements, so that you can make the most of the notation software and the operating systems they run on. More from Scoring Notes: Music notation software and macOS Tahoe Dorico 6.1: Select more MuseScore Studio 4.6 adds full SMuFL support, other engraving and playback updates Sibelius 2025.7 brings note spacing control, UI updates Sibelius updated to 2025.8 File system tools mentioned: Onyx CleanMyMac

Freelancing is a kind of freedom. Freedom from a regular schedule, an office, or a permanent boss. But with freelance work comes responsibility. Part of your job as a freelancer is deciding what the work should be and finding the clients who are going pay you to do it. Not only are you responsible to them, but you’re responsible for yourself, your family, the tax man, and more. In the music notation software and related technology world of Scoring Notes, it’s possible to have freelance work in which those tools are used regularly. Paul Beck is principal librarian of the Milwaukee Symphony, concert librarian for Renée Fleming, and formerly librarian at, among other institutions, The Metropolitan Opera, The Juilliard School, and the Aspen Music Festival & School. Paul joins Philip Rothman and David MacDonald to talk all about his decades of experience both as a freelance music preparer and salaried performance librarian, and to offer a wealth of insights and practical advice for anyone seeking freedom — and responsibility — as a freelancer. This wide-ranging and detailed conversation explores the methods and manners of pursuing freelance work; the differences and similarities among being a freelancer, independent contractor, part-time employee, and full-time employee — and the benefits and drawbacks of each; managing your time and boundaries as a freelancer; the importance of mentors; essential tools; and specific advice about finances, invoices, and payment processing options. More from Scoring Notes: An interview with librarian Paul Beck Road report: Copland’s Rodeo in Milwaukee How to charge for music preparation Chronology of a perfect music printing job The tale of the tape The staples of printing self-published music

We open the Scoring Notes mailbag, contemplate the musings of our audience, and try to leave no question unanswered in this fun and informative podcast episode. More from Scoring Notes, referenced in this episode: Finale’s twilight zone: Ensuring a smooth ride into the sunset Using Finale in the unsupported era Leaving Finale behind The rights stuff, with Jim Kendrick Scanning the current OMR landscape Partying with parts, part 1 Partying with parts, part 2 Working with page numbers in Sibelius Better Sibelius slurs for opposite stem direction on outer notes Marie Chupeau and the human side of Newzik’s artificial intelligence From “zero to slice”: Soundslice takes on optical music recognition with AI Sibelius 2022.5 brings multi-section headers, other workflow boosts

Have you ever listened to an episode of the Scoring Notes podcast and wished you could ask a question directly on the show? Two years ago, we opened up the phone lines directly, so to speak, and they were jam-packed! So much so, that we ended up devoting three episodes to answering those burning queries. You can find Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 in the podcast archives. Well, time and technology moves fast, so it’s time we do it again. Whether you’re a “long-timer” or a “first-timer”, all are welcome to ask a question about anything in the world of music notation software and related technology — or really, any one of the adjacent subjects we’ve covered on the Scoring Notes podcast or web site, and we may feature it an upcoming episode. Just record your question as a voice memo and drop it directly here, or send it as an email attachment or as a file-sharing link to podcast@scoringnotes.com. We’d love it if you provide your name (first name only is OK), where in the world you’re calling from, and what music notation software you use — or if you don’t use it at all (yes, we have quite a few listeners in that camp). If you’re shy, you can alternatively write your question in an email and send it to us. Send us your question no later than Monday, July 14, 2025. From the archive: How we don’t use music notation software (but do use related technology) The rest of today’s episode is a classic one from March 2023, and perhaps it will spur some new questions. Sometimes music notation software is perfect for the job, but other times, it’s the related technology that’s better suited to the task. Fortunately, we cover both sides of the equation on Scoring Notes — and it’s the latter part that Philip Rothman and David MacDonald discuss on this podcast episode. When creating scores and parts, music notation software is clearly the choice. But what about front matter — the pages of text and sometimes other markings and symbols that preface the music? For that, better options may exist. We look at the pros and cons of making that material directly in music notation software, and suggest apps for when it’s helpful to split the job. We talk about some of our favorite apps specifically for working with PDFs and the surprising number of ways that you can edit a file using those apps — and may need to do so — without actually having access to the music notation files or the software. What about when you need to make music notation outside of notation software? For that, there is a whole suite of fonts designed to create music notation within non-music apps. They’re called MusFonts, and Dan Kreider created them to fill this niche. For many users, creating audio is an essential component of music notation software, and we outline ways to complement the built-in process of making MIDI mockups with other software without getting too complicated. Finally, we give a shout-out to our favorite piece of related technology. More from Scoring Notes: Export PDF to true black in Finale, and a macro for all parts Fix printing problems with Sibelius, PDFs, and Acrobat Quickly scale many PDFs with PDF-BatchScale Make booklets and 2-ups with PDF-BatchBooklet PDF-MusicBinder and PDF-BatchStitch utilities for music printing File renaming and PDF batch utilities MusGlyphs, an advanced music text font MusGlyphs updated to 2.1; text version added MusAnalysis, an advanced font for musical analysis MusFrets, a font for chord diagrams Introducing Ambitus, a new font for pitch incipits, scales, and range diagrams Preparing teaching materials in music notation software “Playing” with notation software, part 1 of 2 “Playing” with notation software, part 2 of 2 Apps and fonts we talk about: Microsoft Word Apple Pages Affinity Adobe Acrobat PDF-BatchScale PDF-BatchStitch PDF-BatchBooklet PDF-MusicBinder PDF Squeezer PDF Expert MusGlyphs MusAnalysis MusFrets Ambitus

Hosted by The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the 43rd annual conference of MOLA: An Association of Performance Librarians ran from May 30 through June 2, 2025, and brought together music librarians, publishers, vendors, composers, performers, and technology enthusiasts. The 2025 conference was the first one hosted by a university, reflecting the organization’s broader membership. It spotlighted the working environments of the academic performance librarian and offered opportunities to cross-pollinate ideas across ensemble tiers and types. On the podcast, David MacDonald and Philip Rothman recap the 2025 MOLA Conference recorded in person from the University of Michigan, with a summary of the tech fair and conference sessions on broadening access, copyright, professional development, IMSLP, and much more. And, if you like your podcasts in video format, we have a special treat for you: A video of this podcast episode, recorded live. More from Scoring Notes: Road report: MOLA 2025 Conference

Steinberg’s product marketing manager Daniel Spreadbury returns to the podcast to discuss Dorico 6 and its bevy of features for music composers and preparers. Daniel talks in-depth with Philip Rothman and David MacDonald about a few of the headline items, especially those that are unique to Dorico. The new proofreading tool continuously scans a project looking for potential pitfalls, and the cutaway scores feature makes quick work of what was once a tedious effort. We explore those key elements of Dorico 6 along with cycle playback, grids, fill view, chord symbols, and more, learning more about their origins and what’s planned for the future. We also reflect with Daniel about the software’s trajectory in the past decade. Dorico has gotten ever more capable in the audio area in recent years, more deeply integrated with Cubase, Steinberg’s digital audio workstation, and Daniel takes us behind the scenes to tell us about the decisions and development plans in those areas. Finale’s end has also brought challenges and opportunities for the Dorico team, and we discuss how Steinberg’s partnership with MakeMusic and its endorsed path to Dorico has influenced the product’s direction over the past year. More from Scoring Notes: Dorico 6 review: Proof positive

We’re very pleased to bring you this episode, and more to come in the future, thanks to our friends at Twenty Thousand Hertz, a podcast that tells the stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds. From electric guitars to samplers to drum machines and beyond, the music we love is only possible thanks to the technology used to create it. In many ways, the history of popular music is really a history of technological innovation. In this episode, Twenty Thousand Hertz partnered with BandLab to unpack four inventions that changed music forever. Featuring author and journalist Greg Milner. Music featured in this episode: Original music by Wesley Slover Prelude by Ghostnaut To Little, With Love by Elvin Vanguard And All the Rest by Dream Cave Subtractions by Epocha To Find You (with KYAND) by Modera Out Linear by Sweet Stare Grumpalo by High Horse Grand Theft by Katori Walker One Day by Ten Towers Hopscotch Bop by Stan Forebee I Feel You by Yuppycult Swing Step by iamalex Here With You by Super Duper Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced out of the studios of Defacto Sound, and hosted by Dallas Taylor.