What are MuseSounds?
MuseSounds are sample libraries made for MuseScore Studio. They play your score with recordings of real musicians and follow the dynamics, slurs and articulations you have already written. MuseHub has 72 MuseSounds libraries, and 12 of them are free.
Below you can hear one short score played three ways, then see what the free libraries cover, what the paid libraries and MuseSounds Pro add, and how to install them.
MuseSounds essentials
How MuseSounds work
MuseScore Studio needs a sound source to play a score. Out of the box it uses MS Basic, a soundfont, which is one compact set of recordings for every instrument. It is small and loads instantly. It also has only a few recordings per instrument, so most dynamics become simple changes in volume.
MuseSounds replace that sound, instrument by instrument, with libraries recorded note by note, at several dynamic levels and in many playing techniques. MuseScore Studio then picks the recordings that match what you wrote. A slur plays legato. A staccato shortens the note. A hairpin moves through recordings made at different dynamics, so a crescendo changes the tone of the instrument as well as its volume. Text such as pizz. or con sord. switches the playing technique.
There are no key switches to learn and no MIDI to edit. You write the score and press play.
Hear the difference
The quickest way to understand MuseSounds is to hear one score played three ways. We took the opening of the second movement (Largo) of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”, and kept only its first seven bars. Then we played them in MuseScore Studio three times, changing only the sounds:
- MS Basic, the soundfont that comes with MuseScore Studio.
- Free MuseSounds: Muse Woodwinds, Muse Brass and Muse Strings.
- MuseSounds Pro: Vienna Woodwinds, Vienna Brass and Vienna Strings from Vienna Symphonic Library, three of the libraries included in the MuseSounds Pro subscription.
The tempo, the mixer, the reverb and the export settings stayed the same each time, all at their defaults.
Look at the score before you listen. The movement opens with a chorale for woodwinds and brass marked ppp, as quietly as an orchestra can play. It swells to forte in the fourth bar, where the timpani comes in fortissimo. Then muted strings enter, again at ppp, and in the last bar the cor anglais (English horn) begins the melody this movement is famous for. In seven bars the music goes from almost nothing to loud and back again. Try to imagine how that should sound, then press play.
1. MS Basic
First, the soundfont MuseScore Studio uses until you install anything else. Notice how loud the opening is, even though the score asks for ppp. With so few recordings per instrument, a soundfont can’t really play quietly. When the chorale swells in the fourth bar, the sound gets louder than the audio file can hold, and the loudest chords distort. This is called clipping, and here it comes straight from the default settings. Also try to find the timpani in bar four. It is marked fortissimo, and you can barely hear it.
MS Basic
2. Free MuseSounds
Now the same seven bars with the free Muse Woodwinds, Muse Brass and Muse Strings. The opening is quiet this time, as the score asks, and the swell in bar four grows from soft to loud.
Listen for the timpani again. We didn’t change it. It still uses the MS Basic sound, because we replaced only the woodwinds, brass and strings. Yet now you can hear it clearly. What changed is the orchestra around it. When the other instruments play at the dynamics written in the score, the timpani has room to be heard.
Free MuseSounds
3. MuseSounds Pro
Finally, the Vienna libraries from MuseSounds Pro. Pro libraries are usually recorded at more dynamic levels and with more playing techniques than the free ones. Listen to how the chorale changes as it swells, and to how far away the muted strings sound.
Pay attention to the last bars, too. They sit less comfortably here than in the free version. We didn’t adjust the score for this library, and in a real mock-up you would. Each library responds a little differently to the same notes and dynamics, so arrangers adapt their writing to the library they use.
MuseSounds Pro
What the free MuseSounds include
The free MuseSounds are complete libraries, not demos or trials. There are twelve of them, 17.3 GB in total, and they stay free. You need a free MuseHub account to install them.
| Library | What it covers | Download size |
|---|---|---|
| Muse Strings | Full string section | 5.46 GB |
| Muse Woodwinds | Full woodwind section | 4.77 GB |
| Muse Brass | Full brass section | 1.80 GB |
| Muse Percussion | Orchestral percussion | 1.82 GB |
| Muse Choir | Choir singing on vowels | 0.64 GB |
| Muse Keys | Piano and keyboards | 0.38 GB |
| Muse Harp | Concert harp | 0.17 GB |
| Muse Guitars Vol. 1 | Acoustic and electric guitars | 0.99 GB |
| Muse Handbells | Handbell choir | 0.41 GB |
| Muse Drumline | Marching percussion | 0.78 GB |
| Muse Music Box | Music box | 0.01 GB |
| Free Vienna Bass Trombones | Bass trombones | 0.04 GB |
Together they cover a full orchestra, a choir, keyboards, harp and guitars. Muse Drumline was recorded by The Blue Devils, one of the most decorated drum corps in the world. Free Vienna Bass Trombones comes from Vienna Symphonic Library, so you can hear that maker’s sound before buying anything from them.
A free orchestra and choir
The paid libraries
Sixty more libraries are sold individually, mostly by sample-library makers known for film and orchestral work. You buy each one once and keep it.
| Partner | Paid libraries | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Cinesamples | 13 | The Cine series, recorded on a Hollywood scoring stage, and solo instruments played by named artists such as cellist Tina Guo |
| Spitfire Audio | 11 | The Symphony series, Chamber Strings and the organ of Union Chapel in London |
| Vienna Symphonic Library | 9 | The Vienna series of orchestral sections and solo instruments |
| Orchestral Tools | 8 | The Berlin series, recorded at Teldex Studio in Berlin |
| Audio Imperia | 5 | Nucleus, a complete cinematic orchestra, and Solo, a set of expressive solo instruments |
| Muse Group | 4 | Muse Guitars Vol. 2, Muse Pipe Organ, Sidecar Jazz Trio and Ambience |
| Tapspace | 2 | Virtual Drumline and Virtual Percussion, for marching and concert percussion |
| Audio Ollie | 2 | LA Modern Percussion and Scoring Synths |
| ebbandflow | 2 | Euphonium and Bell Piano |
| Other makers | 4 | Cantai, Antique Keys, Team Recorder and East Asia |
One of these libraries works differently from all the others. Cantai sings the lyrics you write under the notes. It synthesises the voice instead of playing back recordings, which is why the whole library is an 11 MB download. Write a hymn or a choral part with words, and the playback sings them.
What MuseSounds Pro adds
MuseSounds Pro is a subscription that gives you 29 of the paid libraries. It costs $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year, and there is no free trial. It adds to the free libraries and doesn’t replace them.
In the US store, those 29 libraries add up to $1,224.71 at their regular prices, about six times the price of a yearly subscription there.
Not every paid library is in Pro. The Orchestral Tools Berlin series, the Cinesamples libraries and both Tapspace libraries are sold only individually, along with a few titles from Audio Imperia and Spitfire Audio. A few examples:
| Library | Partner | In MuseSounds Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Vienna Strings | Vienna Symphonic Library | Yes |
| Symphony Strings | Spitfire Audio | Yes |
| Nucleus | Audio Imperia | Yes |
| Cantai | Turing Opera Workshop | Yes |
| Berlin Strings | Orchestral Tools | No |
| CineStrings | Cinesamples | No |
| Virtual Drumline | Tapspace | No |
| Felt Piano | Spitfire Audio | No |
If you cancel, the Pro libraries stop working at the end of the billing period. Libraries you bought separately keep working, and your scores stay as they are.
MS Basic, free MuseSounds and Pro at a glance
| MS Basic | Free MuseSounds | Paid libraries and Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | The soundfont included with MuseScore Studio | 12 libraries recorded for MuseScore Studio | 60 libraries from partner makers |
| Recordings | A few per instrument | Several dynamic levels per note | Usually more dynamic levels and playing techniques |
| Dynamics | Mostly changes in volume | Played from recordings at different dynamics | Played from recordings at different dynamics |
| Articulations | Limited | Read from the score | Read from the score, with a wider range |
| Cost | Free, included | Free with a MuseHub account | Bought individually, or 29 of them with MuseSounds Pro |
Where MuseSounds work
MuseSounds play only in MuseScore Studio. They aren’t VST, AU or AAX plugins, so they won’t show up in a DAW (digital audio workstation) such as Ableton Live or FL Studio. Some partners sell separate DAW versions of their recordings, such as Vienna Symphonic Library’s Synchron products or Audio Imperia’s Kontakt libraries. Those are different products, intended for different platforms.
You install MuseSounds with MuseHub. The MuseHub app is available on macOS and Windows. For the free MuseSounds on Linux, download MuseSounds Manager instead. Support for paid libraries on Linux is limited.
How to get started
- Create a free MuseHub account, then download and install MuseHub on Windows or macOS.
- Install MuseScore Studio from MuseHub if you don’t have it yet.
- Open the MuseSounds section in MuseHub and install the free libraries. Start with Muse Keys and Muse Strings. Muse Keys is the most downloaded MuseSounds library, and piano is what MuseScore Studio is used for most, so it’s where you’ll hear the difference first.
- Restart MuseScore Studio if it was already open.
- Open a score, open the Mixer, and choose a MuseSounds sound for each instrument.
On Linux, download MuseScore Studio and MuseSounds Manager instead of MuseHub, install the free MuseSounds with MuseSounds Manager, and then follow steps 4 and 5.
How to use MuseSounds in MuseScore Studio walks through each step with screenshots and the most common mistakes.
FAQ
Next steps
Install the free MuseSounds and play one of your own scores with them. To set up the Mixer, follow how to use MuseSounds in MuseScore Studio. To compare the free Muse libraries with other free instruments, see the best free virtual instruments. For a closer look at one partner, read Vienna Symphonic Library on MuseHub. You can browse every library in MuseSounds on MuseHub, or download MuseHub free.
