DocumentationGetting Started

Getting Started

Viritura is a web‑native music notation editor for composing, arranging, engraving, and sharing scores.

This guide gets you from the Start Center to an edited, saved document.

Open or create work

Launch the editor from the landing page (Open Editor) or go straight to app.viritura.com. The Start Center offers four paths:

  • New Project… creates a versioned project in a folder you choose.
  • Open Project Folder… is the recommended option for ongoing work. It keeps the MNX document, Git history, source files, and exports together in one project folder.
  • Import… converts a MusicXML or MXL file into an MNX document.
  • Open MNX file opens a standalone .mnx document for quick edits or viewing, without the project folder, source files, exports, or Git history.

You can also start with a bundled example document. Local files work without an account.

When you create a project, Viritura creates an MNX document named after its folder and opens Setup with an empty ensemble. Setup is Viritura's score-creation workspace beside the live score, and its settings remain available throughout the project.

Setup mode

Setup stays beside the live score and contains project metadata, opening music, the instrument roster, and score/part layouts. Start with those four tabs, then return whenever the document's structure changes.

See Scores, Parts & Layouts for the complete Setup workflow. Unpitched instruments are covered in Percussion Maps.

Find your way around

The Activity Bar on the left organizes the workspace by task:

Icon Activity Use it for
Setup Metadata, instruments, scores, and instrumental parts
Write Note entry, selection-based editing, palettes, and inspector
Engrave House style, page setup, systems, condensing, and fine layout
Play Transport, mixer, sound assignments, and spatial placement
Roll Read-only piano-roll playback visualization
Picture Video reference, timecode, spotting, and tempo solving
Review Git history and semantic visual score comparison
Publish Page-format checks and batch PDF export

The account, Live collaboration, MCP client, and Settings buttons sit below the activity list.

Within Write, two interaction states control how keystrokes behave:

  • Normal mode edits the current selection.
  • Note input mode enters new music and advances the cursor.

The status of note input is always visible in the toolbar; press N or Esc to leave it.

Enter your first notes

  1. Press N to enter note input mode.
  2. Pick a duration — click the toolbar or press 1–8 (1 = 32nd … 4 = quarter … 6 = whole).
  3. Either click the staff where you want the note, or type a pitch letter A–G. The note lands at the nearest octave and the cursor advances.
  4. Press N or Esc to leave note input.

See Note Entry for chords, tuplets, accidentals, voices, and the full input workflow.

Select and edit

Press N or Esc to return to normal mode, then click notation to select and edit it. See Notation & Editing for selection, transposition, palettes, radial menus, the inspector, clipboard history, and the Jump Bar.

Save and share

  • Ctrl+S saves the current project document or standalone .mnx file.
  • Ctrl+P opens Publish for print‑ready page output.
  • Project folders keep Git history. Use Review to compare revisions and inspect musical changes.
  • The Live button creates a temporary collaboration link when you want to edit with someone else.

Where to next