A method of generating a musical score file for one or more target musical instruments with a score generation component based on input audio data. The score generation component finds candidate musical notes within the input audio data using a frequency analysis to identify segments that share substantially the same audio frequency, and finds a best match for those candidate musical notes in audio data associated with target musical instruments in a sound database. Note, chord, and/or rhythm information is saved to a musical score file along with a page description header describing print settings. The generated musical score file can then be printed as sheet music or audibly played back over speakers.