{"slug": "lilypond", "name": "LilyPond", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 8, "warners": 2, "score": 1.599, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-12-04", "latest": "2026-08-02", "why": "I always considered it superior to Finale and Sibelius anyway.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I always considered it superior to Finale and Sibelius anyway.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "lilypond.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://lilypond.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["LilyPond"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 782443856, "item_id": 48902741, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48902741", "by": "tunesmith", "date": "2026-07-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I always considered it superior to Finale and Sibelius anyway.", "excerpt": "I use it for lilypond for notation. I always considered it superior to Finale and Sibelius anyway. Not sure how it stacks up against the more modern commercial notation apps. But I love having a real trackable version history of my pieces. What's also cool is the more advanced llms know lilypond and music theory too, so they can do things like... I don't know, check for counterpoint errors. I've used it with limited ", "context": "composer", "use_case": "music notation with version control", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Git history command deserves more attention"}, {"id": 741663440, "item_id": 46353965, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46353965", "by": "oliverpaddock", "date": "2025-12-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "inspired by LilyPond", "excerpt": "A few months ago I outlined a spec for a new modern programming language inspired by LilyPond I call Capo. I haven\u2019t done anything with it yet but the idea is that it compiles to MNX, which is the (still in development) successor to MusicXML, becoming a language that could be used as a scripting language in any program that supports MNX or as a standalone text-based music tool. Thought this group might find it intere", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Programming languages used for music"}, {"id": 738381296, "item_id": 46148831, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46148831", "by": "ramses0", "date": "2025-12-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Lilypond isn't well-known enough!", "excerpt": "Lilypond isn't well-known enough! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LilyPond#Integration_into_MediaWiki https://www.mutopiaproject.org https://lilypond.org/text-input.html \\relative c' { \\key d \\major fis4 fis g a a g fis e d d e fis fis4. e8 e2 } ...but why is it so complicated? A novice interpretation of \"music\" is \"a bunch of notes!\" ... my amateur interpretation of \"music\" is \"layers of notes\". You can either spam 10", "context": "", "use_case": "Music engraving and notation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: MTXT \u2013 Music Text Format"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 764940256, "item_id": 47808766, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47808766", "by": "jancsika", "date": "2026-04-17", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "some serious flaws in\nLilyPond regarding Gregorian notation", "excerpt": "Circa 2024[1]: > Note, however, that there are some serious flaws in LilyPond regarding Gregorian notation (especially the non-modern version), and right now there is nobody who works on improving that... 1: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2024-10/msg00087.html", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Gregorio project \u2013 GPL tools for typesetting Gregorian chant"}, {"id": 764934528, "item_id": 47808408, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47808408", "by": "jdelfuego", "date": "2026-04-17", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Lilypond is a very good tool, but the part on Gregorian chant is not maintained", "excerpt": "Good question, they considered it at some point: > Lilypond is a very good tool, but the part on Gregorian chant is not maintained and very deep modifications would be needed to perfectly align the notes and text. Source: https://gregorio-project.github.io/gregoriotex/index.html", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Gregorio project \u2013 GPL tools for typesetting Gregorian chant"}]}], "who": [{"by": "tunesmith", "context": "composer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48902741", "date": "2026-07-13"}, {"by": "coolhand2120", "context": "musician", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46491407", "date": "2026-01-04"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["music notation markup", "music notation with version control", "music notation", "generating sheet music and midi", "music engraving and notation"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47806899", "title": "The Gregorio project \u2013 GPL tools for typesetting Gregorian chant", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49143967", "title": "Twenty Years of RISC OS Open", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48901010", "title": "The Git history command deserves more attention", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48085993", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (May 2026)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46428922", "title": "Experiments with Ableton-MCP", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46338437", "title": "Programming languages used for music", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"warn": 2}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 786403920, "item_id": 49150245, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49150245", "by": "somat", "date": "2026-08-02", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I wonder if at some level of complexity the job would be better served by a markup language? https://lilypond.org", "excerpt": "That was pretty great, Many times when someone does not like something they are unable to unable to articulate why. That video is a master class in how to critique a thing. I couldn't compose my way out of a wet bag, but I wonder if at some level of complexity the job would be better served by a markup language? https://lilypond.org I know for complex documents, I start to really despise the word processor, Much bett", "context": "", "use_case": "Music notation markup", "switched_from": "", "story": "Twenty Years of RISC OS Open"}, {"id": 782443856, "item_id": 48902741, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48902741", "by": "tunesmith", "date": "2026-07-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I always considered it superior to Finale and Sibelius anyway.", "excerpt": "I use it for lilypond for notation. I always considered it superior to Finale and Sibelius anyway. Not sure how it stacks up against the more modern commercial notation apps. But I love having a real trackable version history of my pieces. What's also cool is the more advanced llms know lilypond and music theory too, so they can do things like... I don't know, check for counterpoint errors. I've used it with limited ", "context": "composer", "use_case": "music notation with version control", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Git history command deserves more attention"}, {"id": 769483264, "item_id": 48092704, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48092704", "by": "jmusall", "date": "2026-05-11", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I don't know if you can write drum sheet music with it.", "excerpt": "Related: https://lilypond.org/ I don't know if you can write drum sheet music with it. I really like your editor with the transcription view. Maybe a spectrogram would be more helpful than a simple waveform display.", "context": "", "use_case": "music notation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (May 2026)"}, {"id": 764940256, "item_id": 47808766, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47808766", "by": "jancsika", "date": "2026-04-17", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "some serious flaws in\nLilyPond regarding Gregorian notation", "excerpt": "Circa 2024[1]: > Note, however, that there are some serious flaws in LilyPond regarding Gregorian notation (especially the non-modern version), and right now there is nobody who works on improving that... 1: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2024-10/msg00087.html", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Gregorio project \u2013 GPL tools for typesetting Gregorian chant"}, {"id": 764934528, "item_id": 47808408, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47808408", "by": "jdelfuego", "date": "2026-04-17", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Lilypond is a very good tool, but the part on Gregorian chant is not maintained", "excerpt": "Good question, they considered it at some point: > Lilypond is a very good tool, but the part on Gregorian chant is not maintained and very deep modifications would be needed to perfectly align the notes and text. Source: https://gregorio-project.github.io/gregoriotex/index.html", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Gregorio project \u2013 GPL tools for typesetting Gregorian chant"}, {"id": 743862514, "item_id": 46491407, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46491407", "by": "coolhand2120", "date": "2026-01-04", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "a VST that leverages an LLM that can create LilyPond format music", "excerpt": "This is awesome! I started experimenting with LLMs and Ableton over the break too. I used a few off the shelf VST templates to create a VST that leverages an LLM that can create LilyPond format music. This creates multi track VST output (MIDI) from the parsed LilyPond. I have a system prompt that explains LilyPond to the LLM (it already knows anyhow), and then I give it a prompt like \"Megaman, 64 bars, ice man level\"", "context": "musician", "use_case": "generating sheet music and MIDI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Experiments with Ableton-MCP"}, {"id": 741663440, "item_id": 46353965, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46353965", "by": "oliverpaddock", "date": "2025-12-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "inspired by LilyPond", "excerpt": "A few months ago I outlined a spec for a new modern programming language inspired by LilyPond I call Capo. I haven\u2019t done anything with it yet but the idea is that it compiles to MNX, which is the (still in development) successor to MusicXML, becoming a language that could be used as a scripting language in any program that supports MNX or as a standalone text-based music tool. Thought this group might find it intere", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Programming languages used for music"}, {"id": 738381296, "item_id": 46148831, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46148831", "by": "ramses0", "date": "2025-12-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Lilypond isn't well-known enough!", "excerpt": "Lilypond isn't well-known enough! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LilyPond#Integration_into_MediaWiki https://www.mutopiaproject.org https://lilypond.org/text-input.html \\relative c' { \\key d \\major fis4 fis g a a g fis e d d e fis fis4. e8 e2 } ...but why is it so complicated? A novice interpretation of \"music\" is \"a bunch of notes!\" ... my amateur interpretation of \"music\" is \"layers of notes\". You can either spam 10", "context": "", "use_case": "Music engraving and notation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: MTXT \u2013 Music Text Format"}]}