SMuFL replacement for Sonata font?

Dorico
1

Can anyone recommend a SMuFL replacement for Sonata font? Thanks in advance.

2

There’s no SMuFL-compatible version of Sonata, I’m afraid, and the font itself is copyright, so nobody is authorised to produce a SMuFL-compatible version apart from Adobe itself.

The best you’ll be able to do is find another font that looks similar enough to Sonata and use that instead. Or you can replace specific symbols in Library > Music Symbols with glyphs from Sonata, within reason, though where the registration of those symbols differs from the SMuFL specification you will run into problems.

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3

The Overture notation app uses (used?) a SMuFL font that was a Sonata clone, called AloisenU.
You can download the demo; the font may be available elsewhere. You’ll have to check the licence terms. I have made a JSON metadata file for it, which I’d be happy to share.

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4

Thank you for the reply! I’m just looking for something similar to Sonata, not an SMuFL version.

5

Thank you! I will have a look at AloisenU and let you know if I need a JSON (seems so appropriate…) file.

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Unfortunately, the only place I could find the AlosienU font was at Elbsound Music (Elbsound Music Fonts Comparison v2.0 - Aloisen New Font) and it is no longer available for purchase.

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Overture 5 has a demo version that’s free to download. It’ll also install the AloisenU SMuFL font on your computer. The developer uses a mixture of Bravura and Sonata font there.

https://sonicscores.com/downloads/

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8

By the way, Band-in-a-box uses a font called PGMusic which is the same font as Sonata itself. I’m not sure if you can get a demo version of BIAB.

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9

Is that a SMuFL version?

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No it is not.

11

Thank you very much!

12

You are wlecome Jason!

I just wanted to add something. Both Maestro and Sonata look pretty similar, so I’m not sure if one really needs to switch to Sonata. Dorico 5 already comes with the Finale Maestro font, so you can just use that instead.

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13

Thank you again. I’ll start experimenting with Maestro and see how I like it. Much appreciated!

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FYI (for anyone’s interest)
Cleo Huggins (on the staff of Adobe in 1986, designed Sonata, the first music font) podcast interview at Scoring notes. Anyone interested in fonts, music, notation at that time will find it interesting.

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15

It would require some manipulation to work with Dorico, but Noto Music looks very similar to Sonata and is available under an Open Font License.

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She has a nice, quick read about it on her site too:

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