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.
Notion vs StaffPad
Actually Staffpad is on sale. I already bought a PreSonus controller, and I think PreSonus is very professional. Apart from this introduction, I was used to classic PC sequencers, with staff view. I know that MTS does it, but I don't like a lot (I bought it many years ago).
Actually I would edit a midi file with Cubasis, then import it on the notation software, keep only the voice track, eventually correct its design, and manually add chords and export a PDF. If I can hand write chords it would be better.
Which is better to do this kind of workflow?
- Which software?9 votes
- Notion44.44%
- StaffPad55.56%
Comments
I vote for StaffPad based on the quality of the built-in instruments, assuming that is important to you. I would only try importing MIDI which is quantized otherwise it won’t look great and I think people have struggled to import unquantized MIDI into StaffPad.
Have you tried MTS scoring with the recent keyboard update? I noticed the other day that the note entry is really fluid if you are using a mouse and keyboard. If you have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse connected then holding the alt/option key lets you click on the score to add new notes and you can use the mouse to drag notes around. I was very pleased when I discovered this and wish StaffPad had such a good interface for entering notes.
Someone mentioned (May have been @MisplacedDevelopment) that using something like flat.io may be the way to go for importing midi into, then converting to MusicXML to import into StaffPad.
Staffpad is on sale currently $30 off
Be advised that MIDI and XMLmusic import is NOT robust on StaffPad. The focus is on handwritten notation using the Apple Pencil. I have been able to imports short stems of MIDI but nothing like the usual General MIDI score files.
This may be a problem. And how is on Notion? Better?
I didn’t do a lot of MIDI importing into Notion but I’d expect it to be more robust. The IAP sounds are pretty SF2 usual meh, IMHO.
StaffPad digs into notational details that drive rendering specifics for attack and embellishment. For MIDI into Notation and reversed I’ll wager the desktop options manage file conversions better than we’ll get on IOS anytime soon. Frankly, iPads tend to shine when the touch interface is better than desktop and Pencil certainly fits that rubric.
I did.
I found in my MIDI tests that Flat.io is more precise than Notion.
I just bought Notion. It seems fine although I have a lot to learn. I can't justify the expense of Staffpad so hopefully this is in the ballpark. I got a heap of features and sounds for less than half the price of Staffpad alone.
Can you gently try this workflow: import a General Midifile, delete all tracks apart one, export a pdf? Is it easy? Regards!
I also think that Staffpad is really expensive.
Yep, pretty straightforward. Did it without the manual. Only thing I didn't get was the pdf output. It appeared in the Notion Files folder but I didn't see many options. I selected pdf as output and hit continue. Maybe I missed something in that last menu about where it was going.
Thanks a lot!
@ecstaticax it's easy to import midi and export pdf's - you can export the whole score or single parts etc. Here's a quick example of a string section. This is a direct wav export from the app - the sounds are pretty good (LSO samples), but of course nowhere near the high quality of the Spitfire samples in Staffpad.
Thanks a lot for the sample. I think I will go with notion.
Consider Staffpad is on sale for $60.00 (until TBD date).
PM me a MIDI, Music XML file and I'll render in standard Staffpad instruments.
The difference is sound will shift many buyers to spend the extra $'s.
Notion is free but the IAP's are subscriptions:
Notion — Personal Pro Monthly $4.99
Notion — Personal Pro Yearly $47.99
Monthly is a bargain or push on cost for year 1. But starts to go south year in year 2.
If you want the ability to render the score in Notion. Maybe free is fine for many.
We can keep this thread going and define the best reasons to use one or the other
and share tips and tricks.
Here's a use case that neither app-type satisfies.
@Linearlineman sent me one of his piano midi's to into Symphony Pro, Notion, Staffpad, etc. But the whole project was a failure since he tends to record without attention to any clock and finding the pulse in random MIDI recorded at some arbitrary BPM is impossible to solve on IOS, IMHO. MIDI has to record notes with respect to a clock to be of much use
in notation.
Playing to clock also tends to generate rhythmic notation that is beyond comprehension unless the tracks are quantized and @LinearLineman tends to prefer his expression of
time over the decisions of the quantizing code.
I'd be curious to hear from anyone that routinely improvises and gets a finished file into PDF via a notation conversion workflow. Quantizing to 64th notes for example and then
maybe hand editing. I suspect some notation apps understand the "swing" concept for
playing 8th's with a triplet feel.
What's this? If you are talking about Presonus Notion iPad its outright purchase. Apologies if I misunderstood.
BTW I voted Notion above. Sooooo much cheaper. I suppose it comes down to how big of a thing writing this way is. If I played an oboe and was heavily into. that I imagine I would have staffpad and (perhaps) a hell of a lot less of every other music app. As it is a program like Staffpad is a plaything, a learning learn, an experimentation tool, an occasional writing tool and that is probably the reason why I am happier to choose the cheaper option.
Honestly I don’t mind the quality of instruments. I use Cubasis and auv3s, then I want to render a voice track with chords, no more. Probably Notion will be much better, because I have read that SP may have problems with big midi files.
@McD: the Notion that is a subscription app is NOT the music notation app. I think you are quoting the prices of a totally unrelated cloud-based organization tool.
The Notion music notation app is not subscription-based.
In that case I would certainly choose Notion for what you are trying to do so you can swap my vote from StaffPad as the quality of the sounds are the reason I chose that.
Oops. (Notion "note taking" app is free).
StaffPad on sale $60
NOTION Music, Inc. "Notion" is $15
In-App Purchases
Handwriting $7.99 (optional... no enforced use of Pencil costing $99)
All Sounds Bundle $29.99
TOTAL $53
I'd say for the extra $7, StaffPad destroys Notion for rendering. Even at the standard pricing
of $90 it's worth the extra for the reality of the rendering. But the $99 or more for a require Apple Pencil is also worth disclosing. I only use the pencil for this app.
For an iPad upgrade I'll also need to buy a new Pencil. My old pencil just can't cut it. Probably something to do with digital "Pencil Disfunction".
The VSO Orchestra samples have vibrato on the samples and the results sound robotic and
fake, IMHO. To really fool the listener you need an excellent sound library and SF2's fall short.
The default library in StaffPad is stunning and in many case superior to the IAP options.
There are some IAP's that are worth every penny and more... (Tina Guo Cello, IMHO.)
VOXOS Choirs on sale? There's a soprano in the product that defies description on IOS
for vocal rendering. She makes this project work for me:
AFTER (soprano comes in at 32" and goes crazy at 54" - Tina's Cello at 2:05") Both on sale now. Still... slippery slope of money to get these types of renderings.
BEFORE
My wife rarely gushes over my projects but on this one she said "This music is like a character in the movie." High praise indeed. I haven't written a note since. Just importing Piano Motifs without the need for a pencil using cut and paste gestures.
Only 16 bars generated as a status on a Piano Motifs update:
One can use Notion for notation without all those IAPs.
That's a good question. Notion has every type of instrument covered in the base purchase. The added IAP must just add some extra quality. Although there are some things like a banjo that is not in the default. I appear to have every type of instrument I would need without any IAP. So all I bought was the app and the handwriting feature. What instruments come with Staffpad?
Quick and dirty answer is "over 55 included instruments". /
15 woodwinds including the 4 saxes, 10 brass, 23 perc, 6 strings (violin 1 and 2, viola, cello, contrabass, plucked upright bass), piano, celesta, harp, one vocal
They are all very good but like most SFZ of SF2 sets there are some you tend to avoid using but not many. You tend to get seduced by the extra libraries because they recorded some special case like glissandos or slides into and out of pitch.