Free Software

NOTE: You may need to empty your browser cache to see the current software update information in the table below. Documentation is included.

  To download the software, please type the following word (this is necessary to keep web robots from downloading the files): music

If you are having problems with the font, please visit the FAQ page.

If you find a bug or you would like to request a feature, please visit the corresponding software reports page:

User Manuals and Additional Files

Tonal Plexus

Tuning Box

Sound Fonts

Some Archived Quality Free Sound Fonts (all platforms, public domain)

Links to More Quality Free Sound Fonts (all platforms, links open new pages, some files may require sfArk)

Sound Font Archives (see Sound Font Facts below)

Convert Your Sample Libraries to Sound Fonts

  • Mac and Windows: Translator from Chicken Systems. (commercial)

Create Your Own Sound Fonts (from scratch)

Sound Font Facts

  • Sound font is an open standard sample set format, trademarked by E-mu and maintained by Creative Labs.
  • There are sound font formats other than .sf2 which are not compatible with H-Pi software.
  • Some sound fonts are multi-timbral and others are monotimbral.
  • Some sound fonts leave MIDI channel 10 blank and others do not.
  • Some sound fonts limit the MIDI note range, for example, 88 MIDI notes instead of 127 in a piano patch.
  • A common problem with public domain sound fonts is tuning, particularly where samples loop.
  • Mac users - although all .sf2 soundfonts are compatible with the Apple DLS Synthesizer, some soundfont files on the internet are compressed using a utility called SFPack, which is not available for Mac. Look for the .sf2 extension on the file, or for .zip or .rar extensions; these should all open without problems, although sometimes these files have been encoded to open only on Windows. If you see a sfArk indication, most but not all of those files will decompress using the sfArk utility for Mac OSX.
  • Learn more about sound fonts at Wikipedia.

MegaStaff Manuscript Paper


Here is free MegaStaff manuscript paper in various sizes and layouts, in pdf format. Please note the following:

  • The staves will look wrong when viewed on the screen.
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader does not print the staves correctly:
    • Mac users should use Apple's Preview application to get correct results.
    • PC users should use something like pdf995.

Printing Instructions:

  1. Open the file in Preview (mac) or other non-Acrobat application (PC).
  2. Go to Print Setup
  3. Choose the correct paper size (make sure it agrees with the file name)
  4. Choose Portrait orientation (this may not agree with the file name)
  5. Choose 100% scale
  6. Print

Printing the files at the incorrect orientation or scaling will result in errors. Some scalings work OK while others will print lines spaced unequally or with incorrect thicknesses.

Download all pdf files as a zip archive:

Download an individual sheet as a pdf (NOTE: staves will look wrong when viewed on-screen, and will not print properly from Adobe Acrobat Reader, see above for printing instructions):

No. of StavesLandscape OrientationPortrait Orientation
6- A3 US Tabloid
5- A3 US Tabloid
4 A3 US Tabloid A3 A4 US Tabloid US Letter
3 A3 A4 US Tabloid US Letter A4 US Letter
2 A4 US Letter A4 US Letter
2 Grands A3 US Tabloid A4 US Letter
1 Grand + 1 Solo A3 A4 US Tabloid US Letter A4 US Letter
1 Grand A4 US Letter-

Free Books on Tuning

Several significant works on tuning are now in the public domain. Each link below opens a new window with a page allowing you to download the complete book for free.
NOTE: The ideas and opinions expressed in each of these works belong solely to their authors, and are not necessarily endorsed by Hπ Instruments.

An Elementary Treatise on Musical Intervals and Temperament (1876) by R.H.M. Bosanquet
Essay on Intervals, Harmonics, and the Temperament of the Musical Scale (1835) by Wesley S.B. Woolhouse
Theory and Practice of Just Intonation (1850) by T. Perronet Thompson
On The Sensations Of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music (1875) by Hermann L.F. Helmholtz (English translation of the third German Edition)
Multiple Division of the Octave and the Tonal Resources of 19-Tone Temperament (1961) by Mayer Joel Mandelbaum
Divisions of the Tetrachord (1991) by John Chalmers
21st Century Orchestral Instruments (1997) by Patrick Ozzard-Low