Daniel Ray “muses” about Audacity and StaffPad

Daniel Ray returns to Scoring Notes to talk with Philip Rothman and David MacDonald about Muse Group. Daniel is the head of strategy for Muse Group, the company that originally started with Ultimate Guitar and later acquired MuseScore, the free and open source music notation software. Most recently, Muse Group acquired two more products: the widely-used audio editing software Audacity, and StaffPad, the pen-and-touch tablet-based composition app well-known to many Scoring Notes listeners already. Daniel talks to us about these recent moves, and what they mean for his company, for users, and for the entire industry. We discuss how software can be free or open-source, and still be part of a viable business strategy for companies like Muse Group, and Daniel shares some plans they have to integrate aspects of its various products into each other in new ways. We also cover StaffPad’s recent announcement about audio staves and transcription, and what the future of that application looks like as part of the Muse Group portfolio. Also: Last chance to register for the 2021 MOLA Conference, featuring the “Scoring Notes Live” presentation comparing the major music notation programs, on Monday, May 17, at 2:00 pm. More on Scoring Notes: StaffPad acquired by Muse Group; audio support planned Muse Group formed to support MuseScore, Ultimate Guitar; acquires Audacity David William Hearn and StaffPad Daniel Ray, Martin Keary, and MuseScore