I’ve been searching for some decent software to print music and/or play it back. I originally began using PipeWriter which has quite a good MIDI playback feature, and it helped my sight-reading alot! The version I had bagun to play with in 2002/2003 did not print nicely though, so I was on the hunt again for notation software that could present publisher-quality hard-copy music. I’ve compiled a list of what I’ve found on the net and divided the different programs into groups according to their price (free or not) and bagpipe-friendliness. I’ll only post what I have had experience in… I’m not going to go into a long list of programs that I’m not sure of.

Bagpipe-Specific Notation Software

  • PipeWriter – The demo version of PipeWriter v1.4 is available at members.aol.com (Alan Corrie & Lindsay Davidson’s site I assume). I have found a full spec V1.4 at teachyourselfbagpipes.co.uk and since the newest version of PipeWriter (v1.5) is out and for sale (for about $42) on members.aol.com, I don’t think it will do any harm to let you all know about it. I think this is an amazing piece of software. It takes some time to learn how to code the music in, but with a little patience this can teach you a whole lot about the music. Included in the full v1.4 download is a library of about 100 tunes for you to experiment with. I have pushed this program to the limit and have a few tricks and shortcuts if anyone needs them… just drop me a line.
  • PiobMaster – Published by Ceolmor Software & Publishing, this is probably the most advanced bagpipe-specific notation and music score software available. It costs about $50 for a download version and the demo version of Piobmaster 2.3 is free on the site. Ceolmor also has available, for download or purchase, drumming notation software(DrumScriobh 2.3).
  • Bagpipe Music Writer GOLD – An excellent tool to print and play both piobaireachd and small music. It costs around $100 and is very much like PipeWriter in that you have to code the music into the program.
  • EDIT (1/08/2008) CelticPipes – Very useful notation software. This program seems to have many of the problems that I’ve found with other software sorted out. I haven’t played with it very much but from what I have seen, it made a very good impression. The evaluation version (which give you access to all of the features) is available for download on the site. Thanks to Kevin for giving me the heads-up on this one.
  • ( EDIT – 2/10/2008) Electric Pipes – With Electric Pipes 3.0 you can play pipe and drums scores simultaneously, either all in one score or in multiple scores allowing a full band arrangement to be played. It really is your “Band in a Box”! Thanks to Steve for the link.

Bagpipe-Friendly Notation Software

  • Lime & LimeViewer – Lime is a general purpose score and music notation software program. What I like about it is that it’s so adaptable to your needs. I have found it to be excellent at printing high quality sheet music. I have played around with it quite alot and it can have a few issues, but on the whole it’s very, very good. All of the music on my tunes page has been printed using this software. It’s not free, but the download from the site which I’ve linked you to is the full version. it just reminds you to buy every time you start it up, which can be pretty annoying (Registration costs $65). LimeViewer is free viewing software for Lime. It allows you to view and print, but not to edit the scores. I can’t find a download for this as yet though… apologies.

Well… I hope this helps. I learned a ton from experimenting with all this software… I hope you do too.