MaxScore provides standard western music notation in Max and Ableton Live via Max for Live.

MaxScore is a Max object which accepts messages that can create a musical score, add notes to it, transform the notes, perform, save, and load the score, and export the score to popular formats for professional publishable results.

MaxScore is more than a notation tool. It is an interactive performance object. MaxScore can play back a score and drive your MSP patches through an instrument interface. Scores can be created and modified in real-time. You can add notes explicitly by specifying durations, pitches and dynamic, or use Max to generate an arbitrary stream of musical events and use MaxScore’s Transcriber to notate them automatically.

MaxScore currently exports to MusicXML so you can load your scores into Finale and Sibelius. MaxScore also exports to the GNU LilyPond automated engraving system. In addition, the MaxScore / LiveScore Editors will give you the power of a notation environment with floating palettes, plugins and graphics with the option to also create traditional or graphical scores and to export them to pdf for printouts. The Editor also offers XML import for scores created with other applications.

MaxScore was programmed in Java Music Specification Language by Nick Didkovsky (but requires no Java programming to operate). MaxScore was commissioned by “Bipolar – German-Hungarian Cultural Projects.” Bipolar is an initiative of the Federal Cultural Foundation of Germany. While MaxScore is freely available to the public, it requires purchasing a JMSL license to run (see below).

Read what users have to say about their experience with MaxScore.