Name: Notation Pad-Sheet Music Score
Rating: 4.28329 (4836 reviews)

User Reviews for Notation Pad-Sheet Music Score

4.28 out of 5

4.8K Ratings

6 years ago, #justwantaroommate

Suits my needs

As a music therapist and private teacher, I love this app. I write etudes for students, and use it for transcribing, transposing, or arranging songs. There is a bit of a learning curve to it. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because I would like it to have some more features, and fix an error. The stem of the note for the 3rd line should be written down when played by itself, but on this program it’s written up instead. Sometimes I like to add chord symbols, i.e. Cm7, along with a melody line, but the letters are written so small it’s hard to see. And it gets covered by any notes written above the staff. Also you HAVE to include a tempo marking, quarter note = ?? Bpm, with every score. Sometimes I don’t need to include one and I can’t get rid of it. For the purposes of writing etudes I would like to include a double bar line at the end of every line but can’t seem to figure that out. Little things like that. This app has been a great resource for me. Definitely recommend it!

7 years ago, RCeallaigh

Beginner SongWriter

Love this app. I was watching a vlog on the top songwriting apps and this was suggested as #10. I understand music theory and song progression through learning to playing and playing the violin for so long, but I’ve never created my own music. I’m teaching myself to write music and songs based on my experiential knowledge. This app is amazing for people who can sight read and play an instrument by ear because it so easy to put a note on the page, play it and build on it to make the sound or song as you hear it in your mind. The written notes are placed along a score and helps to remove the necessity of constantly having an instrument available. It’s so easy to use from editing, deleting, adding, saving. It’s so great. Check it out. In my opinion, it’s definitely worth the purchase. It’s not going to create a whole song with the ability to introduce multiple instruments or effects available in a mixing studio. But it’s perfect for creating sheet music verbatim or using it to build the skeleton of a song that you may choose to upload into another program to add Sound FX, vocals, drum beats, etc. I love it. Check it out. I hope I’ve described the app in enough detail on how it’s benefited me in order to know whether it’s a great fit for you.

4 years ago, Guydu

Very versatile and great to use

I am a sophomore in high school that likes to create music from scratch... I don’t have any expensive monthly computer music subscription that is hard to use or expensive... All I have to make music with is a tiny 4 year old iPhone SE... I found this app and after I little whole of searching I was about to give up... I downloaded it and found how easy this was to use and how well it put chords and multiple parts together... I have stretched this app out to its limits with its max of 8 parts along with chords and this second line feature that allows you to put two parts on one line... this app almost perfectly read out the music and can handle a simple duo or solo to even homemade symphonies... this app is definitely worth the money but it has a couple of issues with sound defects and some chords that are supposed to work like octave down G chord (key of B flat) on Trombone is very out of tune... along with other chords on specific instruments... And some of the instruments can’t handle fast moving parts... (contrabass is one) But I’ve found this app very useful and user friendly and I give it 5 big ones.

5 years ago, Paaapssss

Pretty Good

I don’t want to get into the payment details about this but it’s technically worth it. The app is pretty good for when you are not actually able to play/write music at the moment. There are some problems like no swing functionalities and the fact that triplets at the end of the measure and possible unless you change the time signature. The biggest and worst problem are the instruments, look they’re okay but WAY out of tune. Harmony is not possible with two different instruments. I play saxophones and other reed instruments so I can say this about brass. Reed instruments are pretty bad. Saxophones are way to high, the highest note for alto is C but it is generally F sharp on an actual saxophone. Tenor sax is just out of tune completely. Barisax is way to high. Sopranosax is the best one. Clarinets are just way to quite. I mean other than that, it’s a pretty good app. The key board, guitars, basses, percussion, etc sounds pretty well. Although the string instruments always do the start of the note. This makes string instrument kind of robotic. Other than these things, it’s definitely worth it.

4 years ago, Big Bird's nest

Ok but hard to get help

I really like being able to use my iPad to put down & listen to what I’m hearing in my head. The problem I’m having is that it’s not easy to edit the score. Stability is a problem, as Sometimes an action works fine but the same action may not work the next time & instead will mess up that measure. I have questions like: How do I add lyrics? Why do some notes become grayed out so I can’t make changes later? The support is almost non-existent (no answers in the Q&A; nothing on the developer website; the video tutorial goes too fast & has no audio to help vision impaired users). I can’t even find any answers on Google. It takes a long time to do a simple part because I’m pretty much on my own trying to figure things out that should otherwise be easy. UPDATE: thanks for answering some of my questions. I have other questions. Is there a way to select/copy/paste measures so I don’t have to re-enter all of those notes again? Why are some sounds (like pan flute) volume so low? I shouldn’t have to lower all the other sounds way down just to hear it/

6 years ago, Beyay01

I LOVE IT!

I absolutely love this app! I needed an app that would allow me to compose pieces while also allowing me to hear it for my Music Theory Class since I don’t really have a laptop yet and, so far, it’s been absolutely wonderful. The only reason I’m giving it 4/5 Stars is because I have trouble removing notes when I want to tweak something in, say, the first measure but I already have the first sheet of music done. To get rid of that one note, I could get rid of it but it takes forever for that little “x” to come up (maybe it’s because of my big fingers). Another reason why I can’t give it five stars is because I still haven’t tried out the feature that would let me send my homework to my teacher so, fingers crossed that it works. As for the paid stuff, to be honest, I feel like it’s worth the money since most programs like this are about the same amount anyway. All in all, great app and I can’t wait to see how the developers improve it even more ❤️

5 years ago, Guitar Popcorn

Coolness

This app is pretty cool. The free version is great, and I bet that’s exactly what some of you are wondering. You can use pretty much any staff elements and there is a button that you can push that will put a line on the screen that guides you through the notes. Why the missing star? The adds about becoming a paying member are far more annoying and have a secret way of getting out that took me a while to discover: above the sign up, 7.99 a month, there is a sentence in smaller print that says, “or continue with free version”. That is where you click, on the words. If you are bad at noticing obvious things like me and you get the free version (which I would suggest), you’ll be glad you saw this. Also, to the developer, sorry for the previous, harsh review. Enjoy making some music!

5 years ago, Diana.McCall

Far too idiosyncratic

This app works, once you figure it out, but it's far too weird for the $8/week (!) subscription price. It applies very rigid rules: no chord on a rest; no redundant accidentals; etc. Jazz is often written with no key signature, using accidentals for every note, and may use a "reminder" natural on the same note in the next bar. And jazz chord changes are usually on the first or 3rd beat, even if the melody bar begins with a rest. You cannot apply these conventions in the app. The chord symbols are microscopic. Half the icons are actually app store links to other apps by the author; not likely to try them after this experience. I finally figured out how to delete a chord symbol, by selecting it and using the controls to change it to null. Similarly, you can edit a note duration by selecting a different duration in the menu, then selecting the note with the cursor. Of course, there's no internal documentation, just this really fast, silent video, so it's difficult to know how to do things.

1 year ago, Composer🎶🎼🎵

Oh, man……..

I needed an app to write music on, because I’m a composer. So I looked around, and this seemed like a cool app. So I got it. Well, I was trying to write some music notes down on the paper, and it wouldn’t let me. I had never used this app before, so I clicked the button the said ‘tutorial’ thinking it would help. But no, all it did was say “please sign in.” So I tried doing just that and then did it work? No. It did not. It took me to a place where I have to buy a membership to it, and it didn’t have a X to click to get out of there. So I got completely off of the app. Closed it and everything. Then I got back on. Still same screen, with the pleading robot asking me to buy some stupid membership to it. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, if you have some knowledge with software and/or this app, then feel free to use it, but me, I didn’t know anything about it, so if your like me, I don’t recommend it.

6 years ago, Jer of Bigness

I like it

After a bit of getting used to, and some glitches involving getting kicked out of the app when opening a copy of a previously created score (which seems to have cleared itself up), this is fun and mostly easy to use. The cut and paste with window feature is a bit of a pain, and I would really appreciate being able to add lyrics and determine chords, and I'll be looking for an app that does that. I'd like to be able to pick where to start playback, but it's nice to be able to save to a .pdf or .png file. You will have to upgrade in order to add instrument families, vary tempo, and key signatures (instead of having to add accidentals to notes), so I've spent about $15 total. But this has saved me a ton of time over having to write out a manuscript longhand. I don't have PC access right now, so being able to do it on my phone is a kick in the pants.

7 years ago, kirklanded

Need some support

I am not a professional musician, so I am only using the very basic feature of this app, and so far it seems to be working the way it should. However, I need some help, but I can’t find a link where I can ask the developer, so I am going to ask here, and hopefully the developer will answer me. I transcribed a song to the notation pad, but half way through it, I realized that I should have started one octave higher. Is there a way I can move all the notes that I put down on the pad to one octave higher, without deleting all of it and do it again from scratch? Also, is there an easier way to ask questions than through the review, in case I have more questions down the road? Thank you very much.

4 years ago, authordrsilva

Turn back. Can’t even access basic functionality without a subscription.

Can’t even do something as little as change the tempo in the free version. I hit tempo and got a full screen pop-up begging me to start a free trial of the pro version (which, of course automatically turns to a $6.99/week subscription after). There’s no X or way to get rid of that screen unless you start the free trial. Even if you close the app and reopen it it goes straight to that screen so you can’t even test things out. I’ll never support this business model where it’s made to appears like there’s a free version (which is expected to be limited in functionality), but it turns out to be *completely crippled* version that pushes you towards a subscription, and even the most basic functions are behind a paywall. I wish Apple would do a better job at screening this crap. Might be a good app. I’ll never know because I’m not supporting this bait-and-switch business model.

5 years ago, FictionalFangirl

Okay, but....

So. I got this app after literally WEEKS of searching for an app that would let me write lyrics with my music. And I came across this one, and it said that it was great for writing lyrics. I got it and played around with it for a long time, but I could not find anywhere to put lyrics in, and I wasn’t getting much time to look with the “UPDATE TO UNLIMITED” screen popping up in my face EVERY FIVE SECONDS with no way to remove it. Seriously? Maybe I don’t want to pay the $20 for the pro version, okay!?! I’m okay with ads, but this was just annoying. I got the app because it said it was good with lyrics, and yet there was nowhere to put lyrics in once I got there. Does someone know how to put lyrics into this app because I certainly don’t, and the tutorial was no help whatsoever. If there isn’t a way to put lyrics, at least please say so in the app description. Thank you, and have a nice day.

3 years ago, Bappersgal

Mediocre at best

I got this to help me take my music writing to a professional level. It’s quite glitchy and frustrating. When you go to edit, you have to know immediately after you’ve made the error or change your mind. It’s supposed to be easy, but it doesn’t reliably do the actions your expecting to do. It could be intuitive if it consistently worked. I was hoping that if I hovered over the icons it would tell me what action I was dealing with. I can’t write lyrics or vocals on this program, unless I’ve missed that. The tutorials are very basic. Not at all what I needed to help me with the more advanced and detailed work in need to perform. I’m sure this is fine for amateurs, or very basic work, but it isn’t anything like what I’m used to with Finale.

6 years ago, Clover91832783179123

It’s okay

It’s really helpful for my composition work, but there are a lot of seemingly simple features that it lacks that could make it a lot better. For example, I can’t copy and paste measures between sheets of music (and copying/pasting in the SAME song is a real pain.) You can delete notes and rests, but you can’t delete accents, dynamics, repeats, or anything like that. You just have to remove the entire measure. That’s really irritating. Everything it can do really isn’t worth $10... for $10, I would expect more easy-of-use user interface design. It’s pretty simplistic, for the most part. It’s really dumb that adding a key signature to the sheet music isn’t featured in the “free” part of the app. But yeah, I wouldn’t really recommend this to a friend unless they were in great need for a simple music composition software.

6 years ago, marisspriss

Great So Far, But...

I just downloaded this app because I needed a portable program to easily write sheet music. I decided to try it out. It works really well; much better than the computer program I use, but I'm a little disappointed about one thing. I tried to change the key signature, but it said I needed to buy the extras pack to do so. I read the details, and it seems other things that I would like to use also require the purchase. I don't think it seems fair that I need to pay to change the key signature and tempo, change the clef, and add a pickup bar. I'm not giving the app up just yet and I will buy the purchase as soon as I can, but I just thought I'd share my opinion. My main question: Why DO you need to pay for those things, anyway? And one more thing: I've noticed that there isn't an option for certain sound effects that can be played on other instruments, either. Do you think you could add those in a different update? If so, I'd appreciate it.

6 years ago, Darla Delozier

Easy to use, VERY difficult to print

I downloaded this app in order to arrange music for my choir, and I was very impressed by the options available to me. After a couple of days I purchased the $7.99 A WEEK package in order to have more musical liberties, and it was worth the $16 to be able to use those features for 2 weeks. Once I was done arranging the piece, I was VERY disappointed to learn I had spent $16 for TWO WEEKS of a service only to have it print with a notation pad watermark. I can simply buy a copy of music off of any website for $3-$7 and it will have nothing but a small note in fine print to indicate the service it came from. It is unacceptable to make your customers pay a ridiculous amount of money each week only to leave them with marked copies of music that THEY composed. I recommend finding a different app for a musical outlet.

7 years ago, Hgfgghc

Best notation app (question for devs)

As far as a notation program, you are better off using a computer, but I really love using this app when I don't have access to a computer. It has every basic feature needed. Overall, It is more of a 4 star app, but since its the best of its kind on the AppStore it deserves 5. It would be amazing if there was an online forum or way to contact the developers in case you have any questions. Question for devs: I was writing a song and somehow got some notes to turn up grey which would allow me to write another voicing with a different rhythm. How do I enable and disable this feature?

4 months ago, MrTristan56

Good, but serious limitations.

It’s okay, but has some stupid restrictions. In order to change the tempo, change the key signature, or do anything other than write music, you have to get premium. Like, what? How is that fair? This isn’t pro features we’re talking about here, this is core functionality needed to write music. I find it ridiculous that you have to pay for things that you need to write music. Things that are simple. I would recommend this app to any beginners unless you’ve got a lot of cash. Instead, maybe get an alternative app called, “Notion” it’s much better and doesn’t make you pay for doing things as simple as changing the key signature or tempo. It’s also got a beautiful intuitive interface, and way of writing music.

5 years ago, Johannes Seb. Bach

The most senseless money grab

As far as the premium features of the app are concerned I cannot speak to the quality. The reason for this is that I wanted to try the app first before I did. So I created my first project and went to set the key and found that ‘feature’ paywalled. Further when the screen popped up telling me to pay for the feature there was no option to simply return to the previous screen. I had to close the app completely to get back to my project. After trying to do what I think of as basic functions for a couple minutes I found that they had paywalled everything needed to scribe anything other than Mary had a little lamb. The price is absurd for an app where you don’t even get to opportunity to test drive the before needing to upgrade. Atrocious.

6 years ago, mojo191

Delete function doesn’t fully function; Sorely lacks a user manual

I don’t know if this is a bug in the Notation app, or what. But, it’s nearly impossible to alter the notes one has written. At most, one occasionally go a step or two backwards. But, beyond that, it’s not at all clear how one would alter a more complex structure one has composed. It’s also not at all clear how one would insert rests before the notes one has already written. The lack of any user manual makes figuring out how to do such things quite daunting. A detailed user manual would be a very welcome addition to the Notation Program — an addition that is sorely needed if one is to be capable of utilizing the program to its full potential. I’m hoping to hear from the author of the program as to how to carry out the functions I’m having a problem with.

6 years ago, Purest Strain Of H8, M8

Why. Why are there no real drums.

This might actually be a decent app. But I wouldn’t know. Because the only thing that I got this app for was writing in percussion clef. So I bought all the god forsaken extras (ten bucks just to EDIT TEMPO?!) and all of the percussion instruments because I *assumed* there would be a kit option. Even though it wasn’t listed as “kit” or anything, I put my faith in the “synth drums” instrument, because a lot of synths that have a drums setting can do almost anything I would possibly need. Then I found out that “synth drums” is literally just one tom pitched up and down. It’s literally just a piano with some slight attack to it. It serves as nothing but an insult to (highly) paying customers. Sigh. All I know is that Noteflight better get it together and release a mobile app or I’m going to continue being a sad little girl. Please introduce at least a basic drum kit. For real, look at Noteflight’s drum notation software and take some notes. If you add FX cymbals (china, splash, bells, swishes, etc.) I will literally leave Noteflight entirely behind and use this app exclusively. All I need is a decent kit. Can we get a percussion clef, please?

5 years ago, Therespooonmyshoe

Free version is practically useless

The app is pretty much made so that you need to have the paid version—which is outrageously expensive (7 days free and then $7 a week) for anyone who isn't using the app for business purposes. Without premium there are so many features that aren’t included, you can’t change: key signature, BPM, time signature, instrument etc. Furthermore, every time I open the app, a huge ad forcing me to pay for the premium version pops up, and I cannot get rid of it unless I press “upgrade” and cancel my purchase. It’d be easier to just write letters in my notes app. In conclusion, the free version of the app is completely useless and worthless for anyone who wants to write longer and more complicated compositions, and the paid version is way too expensive in my opinion.

6 years ago, Paempaem!

Pretty good, but overpriced

The app itself is quite wonderful, but to buy every feature costs $15. Definitely overpriced. However, the app is amazing. I can test out anything I want and design any song I want, any key and time signature, any tempo, a wide selection of instruments. I would however like to point out that there are no non pitched percussion instruments like bass drum, snare drum, cymbals. But the app is still excellent. It has so many features that I don’t even recognize some of them. I would definitely recommend this app if you want to make a song or just a piano score.

5 years ago, prodigy55

Disappointing

I own a flute, and the only reason I really downloaded this app was because I had begun messing around and creating my own little tunes. I just wanted to keep track of them, not lose something special to me, y’know? Well, I trued to watch a tutorial, and it told I had to pay. So I skipped that and went to the creating part. I figured out how to place notes, but everything else was hard to figure out. I couldn’t find eight notes, change most things with out a weekly payment, but what frustrates me the most was that I couldn’t figure out how to listen to the song played on a flute! Is there even a way to change instruments? I deleted a few minutes after and started browsing again. Please make it, I don’t know, cheaper?? Easier to follow? Just fix it.

5 years ago, Girl Who Loves Apps

Can’t Do Anything - Now Solved

Edit: Does anyone know how to put in the notes? I’ve tried dragging, clicking, almost everything and it isn’t working. This app got me really excited, but the first few seconds an ad for a free trial popped up for the pro version of this. This would be no biggie, but there was no way to X out of it and I couldn’t find a way to ignore it. I tried reuploading the app, refreshing my iPad, getting rid of the tab, and nothing worked. I really hope I can get this issue fixed because it seems like it would be a good & useful app. Please have an x button on our free trial pop-up. - Lol, figured it out. It was hard though, for a brain like mine.

3 years ago, Bunni.exe

Would be amazing

Got this app in a rush to write down a bass line for a song I randomly came up with and was actually pretty good!… It’s takes a little looking around because there’s no tutorial or anything, but even then it’s still quite clean and simple to use. until I try to change the time signature. I get met with a “Buy the pro version!” Ad, pretty standard for any and everything online but there’s no option to close out the window. Only a link to purchase it and a link to start the free trial. There’s no way for me to go back to my Notation because of the pop up. Would’ve loved to make this my new notation app but I can’t stand that.

2 years ago, Nethan'el

Would recommend, but ….

I really like this app and I would definitely recommend it to other music lovers. However there are some things that can be improved on. For example: I came out of one song I was working on to work on another song. When I came back to the first song, I couldn’t use the undo button. That was very frustrating. Other than that and a few other things, the app is very good and I enjoy using it.

6 years ago, T. Virginia

Pretty useless.

First, I should admit that I have only tried the free version. EVERYTHING you could possibly want to do costs extra though. All of those little costs add up. Might as well drop the $15 and buy an actually good music notation app, rather than download this free one and get charged for every little thing you could possibly want to do. Also, It’s super tedious to try and use. I’m a pretty small person yet even my fingers couldn’t seem to hit the tiny buttons on this app. It’s also really not intuitive at all. Trying to figure out how to do simple things like erase notes, add double bar lines, or switch between rhythms is confusing and time consuming. I hate this app. I don’t think it’s good for anything. Absolutely useless.

6 years ago, Lizzie5101520

Good start but needs improvement

It’s really pretty good for on-the-go notating, which is super helpful, but there are some pretty obvious issues that I’d love to see fixed. One- being able to format the systems/lines of music- often it will end with just one enormous measure at the bottom of the page, which looks ridiculous. Two- there doesn’t seem to be a way to add a second line of lyrics for a verse 2. There’s a button for it, but it doesn’t seem to work unless you add in completely new notes for the second verse, which seems pretty silly. I just want to add new lyrics for the same melody as the first verse...

5 years ago, ThatNerdFpx

It functions, but barely

This app is in the very minimalist sense of the word functional, with many stupid design choices and annoying things that could very easily be fixed. For one, when the app shows you the pro subscription screen, there’s no way to click out of other than clicking the ad and going back to the main screen. Secondly, the app doesn’t show rests when notating, and makes it very strange when writing. If you write a note, it won’t show the rest of the measure as rest but simply only show that one note, which is strange. Also, the music doesn’t play when you’re not wearing headphones, which is a strange issue. Not good 2/5

7 years ago, 00891014702544

A WASTE (if your instrument is anything but a piano)

I purchased this app with high hopes but you literally can't do anything without additional purchases. I was hoping to compose a violin trio and I had to pay extra to change the acoustic piano instrument to violin only to find out that 1.) you can't get rid of the bass clef without paying extra (even if it's in VIOLIN mode) 🙂 2.) you have to pay extra to add in other parts 🙄 Other than that you can't change the time signature or the tempo. SO BASICALLY this app was only made for pianists playing 4/4 at 120 bpm. Also, there's ads everywhere! Seriously! In between going to the settings, menu, and the actual sheet music, there's 3 different ads, which I find very inconvenient.

5 years ago, I_am_sandwich

Please read but I love this app

I use this app to write songs for fun when I’m bored or even when I need to practice something I can write it into music and hear how it sounds then be able to learn it that way but only a few more things should be implemented such as quintuplets or sextuplets related to a regular triplet or other things in music that haven’t been added but other then that I love to use this anytime and I probably will be buying the full version once I get the money

2 years ago, Adam the Fox

An ad machine disguised as a music app

So the actual editing feature is ok when it the screen doesn’t lock up - I’d love to tell you more about the functionality of this app, but it was too busy playing full-screen video ads at me every few clicks. Playback doesn’t actually make a sound. At least half of the buttons, when clicked, will bring up a window demanding you sign up for a subscription that costs more than my phone plan just to use the rest of the features it supposedly has. This sort of software has not changed appreciably since Finale or Sibelius in the early 2000s - why the subscription runaround?

5 years ago, Find a better app bro

waste of time and effort

I have no idea what these other people are doing with the reviews but this app stinks. it’s a complete waste of time and energy. u can’t get anything done without it spamming u with “buy our premium version for way too much money and in a week forget that u paid for it and we’ll charge u without u knowing because u forgot about this app and probably deleted it” u literally can’t get anything done and it’s a painfully slow process. also incase u were wondering... yes u basically have to get premium if u want to do anything. can’t even change the beats per min (which is very important). look around a little more and find a better app.

5 years ago, Luke W. Roberson

Can’t get off the screen that is asking for the premium

Great App, even without the premium feature. But after about 5 minutes, it brings me to a screen that does not have a ‘cancel’ or an ‘x’ to take me off to keep using the app without the premium. The only way to get back to the app without the premium is to delete the app and download the app again. This is probably on purpose, but it certainly is annoying for someone who doesn’t want to pay for anything. If this is you, I don’t recommend this app.

6 years ago, nfnitloop

Usable but plenty missing

The description of this app mentions lyrics, but a separate app is available that also describes lyrics and neither of them appear to do so. It is not clearly described that almost ALL functionality is hidden behind a few separate (!!) In-App purchases. There are a few other things that are limitations: 1: the “pages” do not nicely fill a printed page when exporting to PDF 2: the Transpose function doesn’t do anything but change the audio output when previewing the song - the actual notation remains in the original key! 3: Copy/Paste functionality is pretty simple, and hard to get working right (but repeats/codas seem to work properly when testing using the audio playback) 4: when adding volume or tempo decorations, there is not a way to REMOVE them - resulting in more than one kind of “f f f f ffff fff MF ppppppppp”! 5: crescendo marks are temperamental, difficult to place, and don’t “look right” to me (I can’t think of another way to put it)

6 years ago, Raz0rblade654

Great! But....

This app is incredible for writing music. There are a few flaws, though. It can get sluggish if a song exceeds around 150 measures. I also wish you can use more than just 8 separate instruments. And the biggest flaw is that transposition ranges from sounding a full octave below written, to a full octave above written. This doesn’t allow some instruments to be charted properly, such as the tenor, and baritone saxes. Fix these few things, and it’s easily 5/5 stars.

7 years ago, Cardinalhawk1852

This is great!

I am an up and coming composer, five foot five, fourteen years, and I think this app is great! I've been taking piano for about 9 years now, and I must say: This sure beats handwriting! The app is great because not only does it allow the user to create amazing sounding music, it also plays the music quite nicely. Overall, I think this app has great potential to become your next music composing tool of choice (besides your brain obviously).

4 years ago, c.moff

Can’t even try it out?

I assumed since there is an unlimited access version that there would be a limited access version to see if I liked it. There isn’t and you have to pay to even give it a shot, so I’ll try a different app. How disappointing. If I would have been able to try it, I might have ended up buying it. Response: it wouldn’t let me try anything for free. The screen to pay took over the entire app with no way to get rid of it. But the quick reply by the dev was polite, so deserves a star boost.

7 months ago, mmm9779

Ads make this unusable

I couldn’t even start to do anything in this app. Every time I clicked on anything an ad, either for the premium version or just some annoying video ad, would pop up. Also, a couple of things I clicked on took me to the app store. The app claims it can write music for 100+ instruments, but I couldn’t get to anything other than piano. Maybe you have to pay for that? I don’t know. But if you do have to pay for that it should be very clear in the app info. I’m definitely not going to pay for an app that does nothing it claims in the free version.

2 years ago, Platham

Terrible

I really loved this app until I noticed that in the treble clef that the B’s stem was up and it’s supposed to be down once you get to the middle of the staff. And I was mad I didn’t want to make music with mistakes I’m 13 and I still know that and another thing is that when I have my dynamics or I have a certain note sometimes a slur, accent, or a staccato touches that note and becomes more messy I deleted the app ever since and if it was better I would get it back I remember there were some other errors but I can’t remember since I haven’t been on here in a long time Get noteflight it’s way better

4 years ago, BoopBoop13

Good but think it’s crazy how it works

Ok 👌 so I like it because you can create songs buuuuuuuut there are issues I can’t save because of VIP craps 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩ha ha anyway so were was I oh ya you can’t save uless you have VIP🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 hope you fix the problem 😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷Corona Virus is out there and people get bored with nothing to do so hurry the up USA 🇺🇸 also president trump is a great man 👨 ceep up the great fight 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

6 years ago, Rahuran

Scam

Literally cannot unsubscribe. There is no button anywhere that lets you. The only thing I haven’t tried is the Get VIP button, which is currently non-functioning. Looked for support; the support link links to an ad for the app. Googled support; only found ads for the app. Logging in only lets you change your name. Settings offer background color changes in exchange for 5 star reviews (hence the inflated positive rating), a FAQ with two questions (none related to account payments), the ability to share, a bug report (which I just submitted under the assumption that INABILITY TO UNSUBSCRIBE is an unintended feature), a video tutorial, and little else.

4 years ago, Shy Man Blindside

Annoying

This app is almost on the same level as the latest version of Marco Polo. This app showed a lot of promise as a basic and free version, but it hounds you to upgrade to a paid version and you basically cannot do anything outside 4/4 time. One should at least have some of the standard times, like 2/4 and 3/4 as part of the basic package. At least you aren’t limited in the actual writing of the music-which I fully expected with how it grubs for an upgrade. On top of it all, it has ads that pop in somewhat frequently. Thus, my title to this review.

7 years ago, Ryan Stailey

Awesome app, and I really wanted that eggshell background

No BS, this app is very helpful and what I’ve been looking for. Been reading intensive theory, so having this app alongside counterpoint and various harmonic exercises helps me greatly in digesting material quicker. However, I find the rating to be a bit misleading when certain customizable options (namely the background-color adjustment) is available only after a five-star review is exchanged.

8 months ago, Love the show, hate the app

Pretty decent for quick ideas

Fairly intuitive, but the editing functions leave much to be desired. To me, the most annoying feature is that it puts rests in for you if you go to another measure and leave one incomplete, then you have to erase the rests to plug in the rest of your notes. Also, the sounds are real rough and dynamics aren’t well rendered. That said, this is really useful and allows ideas to get down “on paper” very quickly.

7 years ago, Sam B Smith

Pricy but invaluable on the go

Write a lot on the side. Has more features than a free one and highly reliable but don’t expect to put more than 5 instruments; unable to break stems or rearrange notation symbols. :( Still the best thing for me; invaluable for those with bouts of inspiration but little time to prep a paper; it’s literally there when you need it! Haven’t tested limitations but will in the future! Ty developer for a very useful app. c:

5 years ago, Judgeman249

Pretty good, but...

I gave it a 5 star rating because of its user friendliness. However, it’s flaw is that you cannot change the key, time signature, and a bunch of other stuff without paying. For a young, broke person like me, this makes it pretty hard to use. However, I was able to work around it by just putting those details in the name of the song.

5 years ago, biplatformer

There is better out there for free

This app is for one thing not intuitive. A digital keyboard would make notation much better, but of course that’s a part of a separate app. Virtually all useful features are behind a ridiculous paywall of $7.99 a week, totaling $415 a year. I tried another app, “Flat”, and was blown away by how many features were included for free, with useful but not necessary upgrades behind a $50 annual subscription. There should be no reason I need to pay $415 a year to be able to do simple things like change the tempo or time signature or even key signature. Seeing apps like “Flat” make this unredeemable.

Description

A sheet music creator and music notation editor on iOS. For any music lover or composer, Notation Pad gives you the ability to read, compose, edit, playback music scores and write lyrics. With it you can be a talented composer and great sheet music maker anywhere. As long as you have a little knowledge of sheet music, you can write music composition simply by touching and moving. You could use it as your songbook or scoresheet. It is also designed for a beginner who wants to learn music score, music notes and tablature. It can handle ensemble, choir or symphony score, also it supports for a single track piano score. With the help of it you could easily record the flashes of inspiration wherever they strike. Are you ready to compose music in a simple way? ----------------------- Features: -Realtime multi-person collaborative editing via SharePlay. -Export/Import the industry-popular MusicXML file format, allowing for exchanging sheet music with other software (Finale, Sibelius, Encore, MuseScore, etc). -Export MIDI file. -Export PNG image and PDF document. -High quality sound for playback. -Support editing up to 8 staff at the same time. -Support over 100 kinds of musical instrument. Piano, organ, guitar, violin, sax, flute, brass, bass, etc. -Support multi-voice. -A great lyric app. ----------------------- Supported notation: *A variety of music note types, from whole note to 128th note and dotted note *Chord, staff, track *Treble, alto and bass clef *Edit lyrics *A variety of time signatures *All standard key signatures *Adjustable tempo *All accidentals (sharps, flats, double sharps, double flats, and naturals) *Tie, slur, and tuplet *Many types of ornament *A wide range of dynamics ----------------------- UNLIMITED ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION - Support up to 8 staff - Config parts(add, delete, reorder) - Change key for each part - Change beat type and tempo - Config clef for each staff - Config sound for each part - No watermark image export - No Ads - Support 2nd voice part - Transpose instruments - Pickup bar - Import data file - Edit downloaded music score - Unlock all 100+ instruments - The subscription is $6.99 weekly with trial - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that service, where applicable - Terms of use: https://service.notationpad.com/terms_service.html