Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Synphony pro vs notion vs stave’n’tabs vs others? Which is the best (notation/score) app
Hello i am looking to buy a notation app, but i don’t know which choose...
I was looking videos about synphony and notion, but all videos and comparative are too old, and now the situtation could be different...
stave’n’tabs i tried and its practical but it doesn’t have handwriting option...
So which app with handwriting recognition you would recommend me and why?
Comments
I like touch notation by kawai. I can score very quick using it. Good touch/Apple Pencil ✏️ recognition. IAP for decent instruments and midi out.
My experience is limited, but here is what I know: / Notion could not import midi files from Cubasis. SP works like a charm 2/SP cannot split staves easily. In other words, import a midi file iof a two handed piano piece and it all appears on one staff. Splitting them on SP is near impossible. Don't know about Notion. Anyone reading know if Notion can split midi easily to two or more staves?
Are you ios only? I started with notion on ipad, but soon bought it for my mac. I've always arranged with pen and paper, so I wanted to use the touch screen, but the learning curve on mac was shallow and, once I'd got used to keyboard shortcuts, I was soon able to work much faster than I could by hand, or on ipad. So, to my surprise, I now do any arranging on the mac, not the ipad. If you're ipad only, you still might want to consider notion if you need good instruments for playback - their orchestral sounds are very good.
I use Notion on iPad and PC.
No idea about importing MIDI - never tried. Importing MIDI into a notation program is probably a crap shoot anyway, just because of limitations in the MIDI format.
Notion here too. Does everything I ask of it so no compulsion to try anything else. It also looks rather pretty.
@LinearLineman you could try spitting your performance in the DAW first before exporting the midi. Notion creates two ‘parts’ which I believe you can then merge into a grand staff. Pretty sure I’ve done that before, just can’t remember how.
What’s the problem importing midi from Cubasis?
Thanks @onkey. I will look into that. No problem for you importing midi to Notion? I will let my friend @McDtracy about this thread!
I exported a midi file from Cubasis and when I load it into Notion no notes appeared. So, I refunded that App and looked into Symphony Pro. It loaded the MIDI that Notation would not.
But it put all notes on a given MIDI channel on 1 staff: treble in this case.
I have been requesting a change from Symphony Pro and they committed to doing a Middle C split in their next update. The first request for this feature in their Forum was in 2016. They did provide a procedure to split notes in the App that I was never able to make work (it's a nest menu app so it could be me but the manual didn't help and no videos showing this important if complex process).
I think knowing the companies behind these Apps might be important:
Notion IAPs
Sounds $30 which are damn good to hear while composing
Handwriting $8
Symphony Pro IAPs
Sounds free with purchase
Handwriting $15
Touch Notation
Chord Naming and Auto Accompaniment $5
Sounds $5
Handwritten Font $3 (probably takes hand/pen input be default)
You should get all three and use them for 6 months and report back on bug status.
I curious to know how you can split MIDI tracks in Cubasis based on ranges... is it easy and documented? @LinearLineMan really wants to see his MIDI piano compositions in print and deserves to see them if it's possible. It just has to be user friendly and not something involving 2-3 layers of menu's using terms like "create groupings".
@LinearLineman send @onkey a Cubasis Project and see if he can produce a score and CC me. This little research project was painful and (as you know) I hate puzzles I can't solve but I'll gladly take help where I can find it.
Yes midi import is officially supported. You may find that Notion crashes during the process but if you check its directory the imported file is in fact present. When exporting from Cubasis, make sure Notion is 'in the background' and close all other background apps. This seems to help.
Ignore what I said about splitting the midi in your DAW. Notion automatically creates a grand staff for a two-handed performance with a default split point at C4. I'm unsure whether the split point can be adjusted so you may need to manually move the bass/treble notes that end up in the wrong clef. Do some experimenting on a simple project first. If you get stuck PM me your files.
Thanks @McDtracy for the excellent writeup!
Oh, I got the file exported to Notion without fail (many projects exported to Notion midi files. It just won't display any notes when these files are opened in Notion. Refund. If it's fixed I'll buy it again when I get budget for a $45 App ($15 + $30 for sounds).
Handwriting I can live without. Scanning old sheet music might be a nice feature and handwritten music would be pure magic
but those publishers are still out there and the lawyers will be the last ones to leave the Brill building.
Music Copyright is Copywrong. Licensing is also a bit wonky. Mechanical Royalties? Seriously. Spin that 45!
I remember picking up Notion at AUD$20 fully loaded when it first landed on iOS. Still scratching my head at what a bargain that was considering the pricing of desktop equivalents. But yep $45 is a stretch if you already own something workable.
Thanks for all your answers, i forgot to mention, which is more practical or looks better at the moment of lyrics, becuase i like how it works in stave’n’tabs. I belive that i saw a video with lyrics of notion and it was a little annoying, i mean at least in the version that i saw, maybe they updated that, but you had to choose each note to write, you can’t write continuosly like a normal note app.
I may have misunderstood the question, but you can write continuously in Notion in the sense that once you select a note length (quarter-note, eighth-note, and so on), you can just keep adding notes of that length using the virtual piano keyboard or guitar fretboard. But of course you have to select another note length when needed.
About MIDI imports totally failing: I've never had that happen, whether importing into Notion from Cubasis or Audioshare. But it is definitely necessary to have things neat and quantized prior to MIDI import into Notion, otherwise the result will be very messy.
@LinearLineman creates all his projects with a MIDI controller and he uses both hands so his MIDI tracks cover a potential 88 key range. But Notation programs don't handle these MIDI files well. Notion opt'ed to simply not display anything when given a pretty simple @LinearLineman project file: 1 track with choir voices like a Bach Chorale.
Symphony Pro showed all the voices but all in the treble clef using up to 5 ledger lines to reach a low F. Totally unuseable.
It was an experiment in Notation that I considered a fail overall.
These IOS Apps are just too immature for complex MIDI input.
We never even got to a consideration of the quantization to get something close to elegant rhythmic notation.
Later, I tried playing a new piece directly into Symphony Pro as a potential composing workflow and discovered a new set of Application bugs related to recorded tracks not playing along correctly with the clock so I could add more tracks and hear the results. I concluded these Apps are coded for patient non-realtime input like I used to do with a pencil on paper in music school. I hated not knowing what something would sound like and this app does solve that problem by connecting a composition to a sound engine. They are worth $15 for that capability assuming they are just riddled with bugs.
Personally, I don't need a score anymore and would just like to record MIDI into a DAW and skip the paper artifacts entirely.
I think @Linelineman wants to see his Synthony's in print. Fair enough but I don't think these Apps are up to the task. Too many notes and not quantized rigidly to a clock. He would have to change his creative process (not improvise) to get anything close to a printed project. That won't happen I'll bet.
Thanks @McDtracy. Yes, seeing my stuff printed, especially improvised lines, interests me but only if it is easy. I wrote to SP about this staff splitting issue but they have not responded. I interpret this to to mean they do not intend to provide an easy staff splitting feature and that they do not really consider my needs ( and probably a large number of others who would like midi data translated to a printed format) a large part of their consumer market. It sounds like Notion is more accommodating on that score (!) but still has problems. For those who enter notes one at a time there probably is no real difficulty with either app.
Btw quantizing was easily done in SP after importing the midi data.
You can't have everything and this is a small desire that is no problem giving up. Onward!
Symphony Pro committed to adding this feature to their next update. I think it's a very small development shop struggling to improve the product and stimulate sales to keep going.
So, I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt since overall it's the cheapest product available that has a sound engine. I'd like to see them succeed and not be forced out by Presonus or Kawaii.
So, let's treat them with respect for attempting to give us what we ask for. They DID offer me a "beta" look at the update but I declined because I'm not really passionate about seeing Notation.
I might go back and re-purchase Notion to see if their Realtime input actually is bug free because composing does benefit from doing some analysis of the harmonic patterns between instruments. It just uses another set of musical tools for anyone that was trained to analyze music from scores. It's like an actor reading plays and considering how the author's ideas were created. Looking at music shows patterns we hear but don't conceptualize... at least I don't. You probably hear music on a different level given your deep work with improvising over song structures and considering the possibilities the song presents.
I think you hear/see music they way a chess master might see a chess board: as a set of options and consequences for choices.
I'm just guessing but I suspect that's how an improviser hears vs a casual player. Wr try to immitate our heros and you try to avoid their most cliched patterns for something we haven't heard before. Two different levels of "play".
@McDtracy , I didn't know they had committed to add that feature in the next update. That's great. Good work!
As far as my way of improvising, I am afraid it is quite different than you describe. It is like an incoming telegraph message. I only "see" what is happening in the moment. The future is totally unknown until the message is received, and then, of course, it isn't the future but the present, other improvisory probably do see it as he way you suggest. I am an improvising anomaly perhaps.
Interesting. I'm just taking shots in the dark to guess where your ideas come from.
I have heard it said that a broken clock is right twice a day but I think that's a useless idea unless you have a working clock handy to spot those 2 precise moments when the clock might be worth something to someone. Look it's right... never mind.
After the latest updated versions, go for NOTION. Both will serve you well, but the gruesome samples in Symphony Pro is a turnoff. Notion also has more finesses. And handwriting with the Apple Pencil.
Did you contact Presonus tech support and give them a copy of the file? If not, I'd recommend it. I like Notion and have received good support when I have reported problems.
I did not. I just asked for a refund. I was only testing it for @LineLineman and it did not work for his needs.
The Symphony Pro sounds are not the best but they are included for $15. The Notation sounds are better but have the $30 IAP upgrade fee. I recall you can slice and dice the choices into smaller purchases, I think. I bout the bass first and later went for the whole enchilada. Then refunded the meal when no notes displayed from the MIDI import from Cubasis.
I've liked Notion for a long time. I have no idea what I'm doing. I have high hopes.
Does anyone know of a way in either Notion or Symphony Pro to split the notes of a polyphonic track (such as two-handed piano playing) so that they appear on two staves of a grand staff. I have some MIDI files of piano improvs that I’d like to turn into piano notation to refine the pieces into compositions. MIDI is importing fine into both apps for me. But I end up with all notes on one staff. I’d love to have them split by pitch.
@espiegel123, this is exactly the feature I am longing for. I conversed with Philip at Symphony Pro, and he said it would be coming. Don’t know why this split thing is so difficult, but I wish it was implemented somewhere. Contact
Philipmat Symphony Pro if you are curious. Maybe you can get an idea is they will add this feature Going forward, you might record th3 left and right separately as midibwith MidibTools keyzone... but then you have to be able to combine them in a notation app. Hmmm.
Notion automagically creates a grand staff with a default (fixed) split point of C4 so you end up with something looking like this.
By no means an elegant solution but it’s a start. If anyone knows how to easily switch notes between staves please do share.
Hmm. When I imported my MIDI file with Notion yesterday, it imported onto a grand staff but put all the notes (5 octave range) in the treble staff.
I wonder what I did differently than you. Was this from imported MIDI.
@onkey : this is what it looks like for me when I import after switching to a grand staff (by default Notion is importing into a treble staff):
NOTE: I was @McDtracy and I dropped the "Tracy" tag after moving 360 degrees away.
"Notion" was an application company that was purchased by PreSonus (Studio Audio Interfaces/Mixers/Monitors folks) as they started acquiring software assets to complete their portfolio. It gets support from a company with diverse income streams and is probably best in class on IOS. They have a Desktop DAW too called "Studio One" to compete with Pro Tools and the other Desktop DAW's.
"Symphony Pro" is the small software start up. It's a good product at an entry user's price. Not too complicated to learn but they are all tricky to master and get everything you might want on the page.
@LinearLineman plays piano without quantizing so the MIDI import of his recordings are generally useless if you can get them imported at all. We had issues with Notion recognizing the MIDI files as Cubasis made them. Probably something that could be addressed by just creating directly in the app and not expecting this feature from the start of purchase. Splitting the "grand staff" around middle C seems like a no brainier but Symphony Pro has been working on it. For all I know they have to working now but I gave up on the "make me a music sheet from the MIDI track" a long time ago as an experiment in endless disappointment.
Composing on these apps is the key. Play the parts and patch the errors. It beats pencil and paper and the Notion "sound play back" lets you hear your symphony as you build it.
I bought both and asked for refunds on both when I couldn't make piano sheets from complex MIDI's. I got the Notion refund but the Symphony Pro refund was refused.
I'm a "musical millianial" now: I don't use any writing implements. In 20 years I will forget how to do so. I play into computer apps and get instant results. Nothing even gets printed. Just uploaded to the cloud as finished goods.
Interesting! How are you importing the file? I’m sharing from Cubasis or Dropbox. I can’t see anything anything obvious in the Notion settings window which would dictate this behaviour. I’ve also read all 60 pages of the manual it makes scant reference to the import feature. Curious...
Staves and Tabs is slightly better than Notion for composition although the UI isn’t very intuitive at times.
You will need a competent Daw like Cubasis for the midi arrangement if you are importing midi. Staves only opens one midi file at a time (with multiple tracks). It can get things like rhythm inaccurate and correcting it is pretty confusing.
Steinberg has Dorico which in my research is the cheapest of the PC notation softwares compared with Notion and Finale. Sibelius is a wreck I’ve heard.
I have openec it two ways: Copy To from Files and by manually placing the MIDI file in Notion's iCloud folder and opening from the home screen. I have exported both from Xequence and Auria Pro with identical results.