LilyPond

LilyPond is capable of generating elegant sheet music from basic text input. Just tell the application what notes to use and how, in a simplified language and it will take care of the rest. Spaces, line brakes and many other aspects won't be your concern anymore. The application's main focus is to turn ugly-looking computer-printed sheets into something more beautiful.

The basic principle behind LilyPond is quite simple. All you have to do is type in your notes and annotations in a plain text document. When you are done, you only need to save the document, run LilyPond and select an option in one of the top menus. The application doesn't come with a user interface, so you don't have to spend any time learning any controls.

Based on the notes and annotations you type, the application will generate a beautiful musical sheet, without asking for any user input. Sheets are stored automatically, in PDF format, in the same location as the plain text document. You may need some time to figure out how to annotate with plain text, but once you've mastered all the commands, you will be able to create your music, without thinking about the process itself.

When it comes to creating sheet music, LilyPond gives you the possibility of focusing on creativity, rather than the creation process.