Divisi is where your ensemble keeps the current score, the parts that came from it, and the versions that came before. This is the walkthrough for that first hour: account, ensemble, arrangement, working copy, release, parts.

By the end you should have a numbered version, engraved parts, and a place to send people instead of another FINAL-USE-THIS.pdf.

The free plan is one ensemble you own, up to 15 arrangements, and unlimited members. Start there.

1. Create an account

Open app.divisi.ca/signup. You can sign up with email, Google, or Discord.

If you use email, check your inbox to verify, then log in. You’ll land on Ensembles. If the list is empty, that’s expected — you’re about to make the first one.

2. Create your ensemble

An ensemble is the container for a show, pit, or group: members, charts, and part books all live here.

Click Create Ensemble. The page is titled Get started with Divisi. Give it a name (names are unique) and pick a default style for arrangements:

  • Broadway — musical theater numbering and setlist order
  • Jazz
  • Classical

That style is a starting point. You can still set style per arrangement.

You’re now looking at the arrangements list for that ensemble. You’re an Admin.

3. Invite the group

You can do the rest solo. If other people need the music, invite them now.

On the arrangements page, click Get Invite Link and send the URL. Recipients open it, log in if they need to, and hit Join Ensemble. They join as Members.

Admins can later change roles or remove people from the ensemble Overview.

Collaborators don’t pay extra. Invite the pit, the copyist, the MD — anyone who needs the current book.

4. Add an arrangement

An arrangement is one chart. Creating it does not upload a score yet — it’s the title page and the folder the files will hang off.

Click Add New Arrangement. Fill in:

  • Arrangement Title (required)
  • Subtitle and Composer if you have them
  • Style, if this chart shouldn’t follow the ensemble default
  • For Broadway, a Score Number (setlist order — 1-2 is fine)

Save. You’ll be back on the arrangements list with an empty chart waiting for music.

5. Save a snapshot (a commit)

This is the distinction that makes the rest of Divisi make sense.

A commit is a snapshot of your working copy — the same idea as a git commit. You edit the MuseScore or MusicXML file on your computer; any time you want that state saved, you upload it. A version is a release generated from a commit, give it a number, and Divisi engraves the parts. Commit the working copy often. Put paper on stands from versions.

Open the arrangement and click Upload new file (on the list, the tooltip is Upload New File).

Accepted formats:

  • MuseScore: .mscz
  • MusicXML: .mxl or .musicxml (Sibelius, Finale, Dorico, and friends)

Add an optional commit message if you want a note for later, then Upload New Commit. Processing can take a minute — stay on the page.

When it finishes, the commit shows under Latest Commits. The list may badge it as an Unversioned commit, which just means this snapshot of the working copy hasn’t been released yet.

6. Publish a version

From Latest Commits, click Create Version.

Pick a bump — Major, Minor, or Patch — the way you’d version a chart that actually changes (1.0.0, then 1.0.1 for a fix, 1.1.0 when the dance break grows). Leave Use Divisi Part Formatter when exporting parts on unless you have a reason not to. That’s the engraving step: house-style parts every time you release, instead of cleaning layout by hand after every rewrite.

The formatter adds line breaks and page turns to parts automatically. It does not rewrite line breaks on the conductor score — keep those in MuseScore yourself so the score’s page turns stay readable. Automatic conductor layout is coming soon.

Click Create version. Export runs in the background. The arrangement will show Score Exporting… until the PDFs are ready.

That’s the loop you’ll live in: edit the working copy → commit (snapshot it) → version (release). A half-finished rewrite doesn’t land on the stand.

If you want the why behind the layout, read Engraving.

7. Get the music out

When export finishes, the arrangement is the source of truth:

  • Download Score & Parts — combined PDF
  • Download all parts, or individual part PDFs
  • Download Latest commit mscz — the working copy, if you’re still writing
  • Formatted and raw MuseScore files from the menu, when you need them

Musicians shouldn’t have to hunt through a combined PDF for Reed 2. Give them the part.

When the book is a whole show, not one chart, open Parts & part books (or the Part books tab on the ensemble). Admins can Generate part books: one merged PDF per part, across every arrangement, with tacet pages when that part sits out. Use those for the stand.

When two people write at once

You don’t need this on night one. You will need it the first time two people rewrite the same chart.

If you upload a commit after the arrangement has moved on, Divisi tries a three-way merge — the same idea as git, applied to MuseScore and MusicXML. You rewrote the brass, they rewrote the woodwinds: both land in one file. You both changed the same measures: Divisi gives you a conflict score. Open it in MuseScore, choose what to keep, and upload again.

Invite early. Merge when it happens. Don’t wait until tech to find out two people saved over each other.

More on that model on Features.

Try the formatter without an account

If you only want to see the engraving on one MuseScore file, you don’t need an ensemble yet. Drop a .mscz on the Part Formatter. For a real show, use the commit → version path so the formatted parts stay attached to the arrangement.

Same caveat as when you publish a version: line breaks and page turns are optimized for parts. Set conductor-score breaks in MuseScore before you upload if you care about how the full score turns — automatic conductor layout is on the roadmap.

That’s the loop

  1. Ensemble
  2. Arrangement
  3. Commit (snapshot of the working copy)
  4. Version (release + engraving)
  5. Parts and part books to the people who play them

Do that once and the folder archaeology is optional. The current music lives in Divisi; the previous versions are still there when someone asks “which PDF is the latest one?”

Create an account and make your first ensemble. If you already have one, open the app and upload a chart.