Printer for Text Only

I don't have any advice about printers, there's too many out there. You will have to formulate your own opinion.

Most printers have three or four settings, such as draft (uses the least ink) to photo(uses the most ink)

Draft setting is fine for most work.

You can also buy refill kits for cartridges which reduce the cost significantly.

Cheapest way would be to use an old style dot matrix printer.

These are still available and in use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_matrix_printer, see advantages and disadvantages.

You could also visit a swap-shop and buy a second hand golf ball or daisy wheel printer.

for professional looking typing.

Print only music with lots of Rests?

Sorry bout that. Draft mode on printer is good idea as was suggested.

Can you set DPI to a lower number in your output program?

can you change from printing the document in its native prograqm into an image in Photoshop or some other program where you can alter dpi and opacity settings?

I had the same problem and bought an old Sharp -2030.They may have one

at a state surplus auction or in the classifieds.

What you can do is find out the cheapest printer cartridges first on a place like ebay. Maybe buy a bulk lot ...then get a printer to go with them. david

Another thought is...sheet music is composed (ha!) of lots of odd wiggles is it not? So a text only printer like a golfball or dot matrix is not going to be much good. I would go with inkjet since they can make all the odd shapes and do the odd bit of colour if you need it. Yes look on ebay for cheap cartridges then get printer for them. If you were printing tons and tons then a laser printer (with higher initial cost of printer) might be economic. david in uk

Printed music sheets count as graphics not text, so I cannot recommend a dot matrix printer due to the quality of the printing in this application.

My advice would be to look at inkjet and laser printer review sites on the internet for a cost-effective printer solution that you can purchase locally.

As lynlynch points out, draft printing and ink cartridge refills work well. I would further add that if you are doing a lot of composing then either using blank sheet paper and writing the notes on in pencil would be a good alternative, or alternatively writing the sheet music on a computer and playing off the screen may be an alternative for a truly paperless and inexpensive alternative.

Kodak and Lexmark are offering printers that use a cheaper ink. If you are going to do massive printing, look into a laser printer that you can refill the toner from a bulk toner container. You can find bargain ink and toner cartridges online, too.