Free high quality music engraving program LilyPond

[Tony Edge]

LilyPond  the free GNU   runs in Linux, Windows, Mac.
http://lilypond.org/text-input.html
LilyPond is a compiled system: it is run on a text file describing the music. The resulting output is viewed on-screen or printed. In some ways, LilyPond is more similar to a programming language than graphical score editing software.
You do not write music by dragging notes from a graphical toolbar and placing them on a dynamically refreshing score; you write music by typing text. This text is interpreted (or ?compiled?) by LilyPond, which produces beautifully engraved sheet music.
People accustomed to graphical user interfaces might need to learn a new way of working, but the results are definitely worth it!
LilyPond is a music engraving program, devoted to producing the highest-quality sheet music possible. It brings the aesthetics of traditionally engraved music to computer printouts. LilyPond is free software and part of the GNU Project.

[Tony Edge]

Import Band in a Box music with lilypond

Windows users have millions of pages of music in Band In The box format for free download
very compressed a bit like midi but the format is for PG  Band In The box program.

http://www.brenzi.ch/builder.php?content=projects_biabconverter&lang=en



Here's the solution for Linux (windows version available)

Biabconverter is a perl script that reads most BiaB files and produces MMA and Lilypond output.
Lilypond is open source notation software.
MMA(Musical Midi Accompaniment) is an open source accompaniment software to produce MIDI from Chord Changes, a bit like BiaB
Thanks to Alf Warnock and Matthias Neeracher for his contributions.
features

customizable melody quantization
handles 3/4 and 4/4 time
automatic style mapping from biab to mma styles
automated conversion of whole directories
probably nicer notation output than biab thanks to lilypond
user-customizable Lilypond template
files

biabconverter-0.6.8.tar.gz
gentoo ebuild
MAC users check for the Fink package (http://fink.sourceforge.net)

[Tony Edge]

The free program musescore can read many different music formats and export to lilypond *.ly format
The very high quality engraving software.
http://musescore.org/

MuseScore is a free cross-platform WYSIWYG music notation program that offers a cost-effective alternative to commercial programs such as Sibelius, Finale and Capella.
You can print beautifully engraved sheet music or save it as PDF or MIDI file.

Some highlights:

WYSIWYG, notes are entered on a "virtual note sheet"
Unlimited number of staves
Up to four voices per staff
Easy and fast note entry with your keyboard, mouse, or MIDI keyboard
Integrated sequencer and FluidSynth software synthesizer
Import and export of MusicXML and Standard MIDI Files
Available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Share with other music software & Karaoke
MusicXML (*.xml)

Compressed MusicXML (*.mxl)

Compressed MusicXML MIDI (*.mid, *.midi, *.kar)

Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)

LilyPond (*.ly) (Export only)

MuseData (*.md) (Import only)

Capella (*.cap) (Import only)

Bagpipe Music Writer (*.bww) (Import only)

BWW files are created by the niche scorewriter, "Bagpipe Music Writer".

BB (*.mgu, *.sgu) (Import only)

Overture (*.ove) (Import only)