MTF-Improviso – SMuFL
$79.99
A typeface designed to resemble the style of traditional hand copyists, with uniform strokes through all notation glyphs.
Sold By: Notation Central
MTF-Improviso is a typeface designed to resemble the style of traditional hand copyists. It features uniform strokes through all notation glyphs, as if it had all been written with a marker or pen. This typeface was heavily influenced by hand-copied specimens found in the book Music Preparation: A Guide to Music Copying by Ken J. Williams.
MTF-Improviso is bundled with the Playpen Sans text font, an exceedingly well-developed typeface with 8 weights from Thin to ExtraBold. Playpen Sans provides seven different glyphs for each character that are automatically applied as you type, using a built-in shuffler that both ensures variety and avoids repetition. This adds to the overall organic, spontaneous, and authentic feel of the handwritten style — a perfect match for the improvised style of MTF-Improviso.
Music Type Foundry
Music Type Foundry was founded on the belief that computer engraved music doesn’t have to look like it was made on a computer and that each piece of music should look as unique as the person who engraved it. With an eye for artistic and functional detail and a relentless desire to get things done right, Music Type Foundry fonts are inspired by hand-engraved scores so that you can create with some of the most engaging designs found anywhere.
MTF fonts are fully SMuFL-compliant, so you can use them with ease, and switch freely among them, in any modern music notation software that supports the SMuFL standard, like Dorico and MuseScore (from version 4.6 onwards), and work equally well on Mac and Windows.
Each MTF font comes carefully paired with a complementary text font, along with automatic engraving settings to draw out the finest characteristics of the typeface.
Included
- SMuFL music fonts and accompanying font metadata files for use in music notation applications
- MTF-Improviso
- MTF-Improviso Lighter
- SMuFL text fonts for use in text-based applications or mixing musical symbols with free text
- MTF-Improviso Text
- MTF-Improviso Lighter Text
- Complementary text font
- Playpen Sans (with 8 variants)
- MuseScore style sheet to load text font in MuseScore 4.6+
Designers
Abraham Lee; revised by Nor Eddine Bahha
Examples
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Installation
Version History
December 12, 2025 — v. 3.112:
- A horizontal misalignment in MTF-Cadence for upstemmed half notes has been corrected.
- The correct symbols are provided for 1/4 flat and 3/4 flat for MTF-Improviso and MTF-Scorlatti.
- An issue that caused vertical misalignment and was only evident in Dorico’s Print mode and with certain Windows print configurations has been corrected.
November 22, 2025 — v. 3.111:
- Corrected an issue with some of the fonts where the Unicode Range was incorrectly specified, which prevented the font from properly appearing in notation software.
November 21, 2025 — v. 3.110:
- Replaced “Heavy” and “Light” versions of fonts with “Heavier” and “Lighter” versions, respectively, and corrected font metadata to fix a problem where saving and re-opening a project that used these fonts resulted in a “Missing Fonts” dialog.
- Created an uninstaller for users that had installed v. 3.100 of any “Heavy” or “Light” versions.
- The positioning of brass glyphs, such as scoops and falls, has been adjusted.
- Corrected an issue with the metadata for some of the Rounded fonts where slurs were being mispositioned.
- Mirrored the MTF fonts to the Private Use Area.
November 10, 2025 — v. 3.100:
First release of:
- MTF-Gutenberg 1939
- MTF-Improviso
- MTF-Ross
All fonts:
- Expanded glyph set to 1400+ glyphs.
- Alternate versions within typeface, when possible (varies by typeface): Heavy, Light, and/or Rounded version.
- Each music font comes with corresponding music text font, designed for use with text-based applications, or for mixing musical symbols with free text within a music notation application.
- MuseScore style sheets included for loading complementary text font.
- Other fixes and improvements.
March 26, 2025 — v. 3.001:
All fonts:
- Glyphs tab added to product page.
- MTF-Arnold and MTF-Haydn remain at v. 3.000.
MTF-Beethoven:
- Arpeggio Down arrow fixed.
- Trill speed wiggles fixed.
- Kerning in dynamics improved.
- Dynamics ‘punctuation’ added.
- Tuplet numerals spacing improved.
MTF-Cadence:
- Tuplet numerals spacing improved.
- Metrics changed to match other SMuFL fonts.
MTF-Scorlatti:
- Tuplet numerals spacing improved.
February 27, 2025 — v. 3.000:
- Initial re-release.
License
For customers that have purchased the legacy version of Music Type Foundry (MTF) fonts, please see this page for additional information.
NYC Music Services End User License Agreement
This End-User License Agreement (“EULA”) is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and NYC Music Services (“Licensor”) for the Font Software (“font”) sold to you by Licensor or its authorized agent. By exercising your rights to make and use copies of the font, you agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA. If you do not agree to the terms of this EULA, you cannot use the font.
Font Software License
The font is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. The font is licensed only, not sold, and is non-exclusive.
Grant Of License
You may install and use the font on any device to create graphics on any surface. You may use the font for any purpose. There is no restriction on the number of impressions, number of items sold or total revenue raised from sales associated with the use of the font.
Limitations
The number of devices this EULA allows you to install the font on is four (4) devices, including computers, printers, and similar devices. You may install the font on a computer network with up to four (4) workstations. You may make up to four (4) copies for backup and archival purposes. If you wish to install and use the font on more than four (4) devices, additional multiple-use font license fees apply. Please contact Licensor.
Third Parties
You may not provide or make accessible the font to any third party except for embedding as described below in Embedding. You may create works using the font for a third party, but you may not provide them with a copy of the font. If a third party wishes to install and use the font, they must purchase their own license from Licensor.
Embedding
You may embed the licensed fonts into any document you send to third parties. These documents may be viewed and printed, but not edited, by the recipients.
Modifications
You may convert characters from the font into outlines using a graphics or drawing application and modify these outlines for use in works as specified in Grant Of License. You may not modify, adapt, translate, decompile, reverse engineer, or create derivative works based on the licensed font itself without prior written consent from Licensor.
Copyright
All title and copyrights in and to the font, any accompanying printed materials, and any copies of the font, are owned by Licensor. The font is protected by copyright laws and international treaties. You must treat the font like any other copyrighted material.
No Warranties
Licensor expressly disclaims any warranty whatsoever for any use or purpose for the font. The font and any related documentation, as the case may be, is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, and without limitation, the implied warranties or merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. The entire risk arising out of use or performance of the font remains with you.
No Liability For Consequential Damages
Licensor and its agents shall be held harmless and without liability for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of, or inability to use the font, including when Licensor and/or its agents shall have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Unauthorized copying, resale, or redistribution of the font is strictly prohibited.
This agreement is governed by the laws of the United States of America. Copyright © 2025 NYC Music Services
License for text fonts
The text fonts (only) bundled with MTF fonts are licensed under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1. This license is available with a FAQ at: http://scripts.sil.org/OFL
Credits
Abraham Lee started designing fonts in the mid-2010s borne from a relentless passion for high quality music engraving. His inspirations were real engravings from what he called the “golden era of music publishing”: legendary designs from Bärenreiter, Henle, and Edition Peters. Abraham’s passion didn’t stop, though, with the work of the plate engravers; he recognized that fine music setting could also be the purview of music resources and even wholly digital sources, like the beautiful work of pioneers such as Leland Smith, the creator of SCORE.
Drawing upon these sources, Abraham set to work creating some of the most elegant music typefaces of the modern era, initially supporting only Lilypond and Finale software. His work culminated in 2016 when offered his fonts from his new Music Type Foundry. In addition to updating all of his fonts and prefixing them with “MTF” to denote the quality of the commercial fonts, he also crucially began supporting the SMuFL standard in some of his fonts. This made MTF one of the earliest purveyors of Dorico-compatible third-party fonts, allowing users of that software an alternative to the small number of fonts that shipped with the software.
In time, Abraham moved on to non-musical pursuits full time, and, rather than let his creations wither on the vine, without support, he made the difficult but respectable decision to shut down Music Type Foundry and to stop offering his fonts for sale in early 2022.
Fortunately, this decision didn’t preclude the possibility of finding a way to revive the MTF catalog in the future. Partnering with Notation Central as exclusive publisher and distributor, we’ve worked with music engraver Dan Kreider, who in the intervening years has gained tremendous acclaim in the notation community and beyond for his specialty fonts such as MusGlyphs, MusAnalysis, MusFrets, and Cantorum, and, later, type designer Nor Eddine (Nordine) Bahha, an accomplished pianist and composer who has been at the forefront of contemporary music typography, to bring the foundry into a new generation.
Nordine and Dan have gone through each glyph of the SMuFL-compatible MTF fonts, standardizing the set of glyphs, along with fully updating the accompanying metadata file required for each font, ensuring a consistent experience when switching among them in Dorico or any SMuFL-supported music notation software. The fonts also come in Windows and Mac installers for the first time, simplifying their installation for the less-technically savvy user.
The result is a release of new versions of these premium fonts, making these historic fonts available for the modern era of music notation and scoring applications.
Specs
| Operating System | Mac, Windows |
|---|---|
| Platform | Dorico, Finale v27+, MuseScore |
| Font Type | SMuFL |
| Font Style | Handwritten |
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