Piano Transcriptionist
Audio to MIDI & Score
Free · In-App Purchases
Piano Transcriptionist turns piano audio into expressive MIDI and editable sheet music. Work with the notes of a piece without having to transcribe it by ear.
Transcription (audio to MIDI)
• Import piano audio from mp3, mp4, m4a, or flac files for automatic transcription.
• Choose between two state-of-the-art, highly optimized transcription models.
• Captures the performance’s timing, note lengths, velocity, and sustain pedal, so the MIDI retains its musical expression when played back.
• Remove stray notes and tidy overlapping notes with simple MIDI cleanup tools.
• Export a standard MIDI file to edit, arrange, or play back in other apps.
Score Editing (from audio or MIDI)
• Create a score from piano audio or MIDI, or import an existing MusicXML score for editing.
• Automatic engraving gives you a starting score, with enhanced rhythm analysis† for more accurate measure divisions and beaming.
• Refine the score with tools to:
• Edit notes and fine-tune the notation, including pitches, accidentals, beaming, and measure divisions.
• Notate complex piano passages with advanced tools.
• Adjust the score layout for easier reading and printing.
• Change key signature and choose to show all accidentals explicitly.
• Label notes with numbers, letter names, or solfège syllables.
• Annotate with pressure-sensitive Apple Pencil strokes, or draw with your finger. Marks stay anchored to the beat as the score changes.
• Play back the score in the app, with notes highlighted as they sound.
• Play on a connected digital piano while the app follows your performance in real time and scrolls to the passage you’re playing.
• Export the score as a PDF to print and share.
Piano Roll
• Watch notes flow toward the piano keyboard as the music plays, with haptics in sync.
• Scroll forward or backward to hear and feel notes as they reach the keyboard.
• Export the piano roll as a high-resolution video.
Performance and Privacy
• Optimized on-device machine learning keeps transcription fast on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, even for longer pieces.
• All processing happens locally, so your audio and MIDI never leave your device.
• No accounts and no tracking.
Free, with Optional Tips
• Every feature is free, including MIDI, PDF, and piano roll video export. There are no subscriptions, locked features, or watermarks.
• Optional in-app tips support the solo developer behind the app; they don’t unlock any features.
† Enhanced rhythm analysis requires iOS 27, iPadOS 27, or macOS 27.
more
Transkun is now faster, more stable, and more memory efficient.
• Improved transcription performance by up to 30%¹
• Improved model stability
• Added a Memory Saver option, reducing memory usage by up to 30%²
• Fixed potential crashes in the MIDI workspace
• Added missing localizations in Settings
¹ Internal testing on an M4 Max using the same 5:35 audio file: 6.2 seconds, down from 9.4 seconds.
² Internal testing on an M4 Max using the same 5:35 audio file: 1.5 GB of memory, down from 2.3 GB.
2.6.1 25 Sept
Transcription
• Fixed a potential crash during audio pre-processing.
• Improved the stability of the transcription engine.
• Fixed an issue where the transcription model could not be selected.
Music Sheet
• Improved automatic sheet generation from MIDI and transcribed audio using the new system framework. †
• Measures are now detected automatically, so you no longer need to assign bars manually. †
• Connect your device to a digital piano and let the sheet follow your playing, automatically scrolling as you perform.
• Improved Apple Pencil annotations for smoother, more responsive drawing.
• Added more sheet editing actions, including an option to remove all empty measures.
• Notes can now display letter names or solfège names in addition to numbers.
• Improved note appearance and engraving.
• Improved rendering performance for smoother scrolling, zooming, and panning, especially on long sheets.
• Improved the audio engine to significantly reduce playback lag.
• Fixed a potential sheet corruption issue when changing the key signature.
• Fixed incorrect ledger line sizing.
• Fixed sheet display and refresh issues when the system color scheme changes.
• Improved keyboard shortcuts and context menu action names.
• Tapping the status bar no longer scrolls the music sheet to the top.
Playback and audio
• Fixed an issue where rendered MIDI audio could occasionally contain audible gaps.
• The Play button now changes state only when you explicitly start playback, and remains unchanged while playing a selection.
Files
• Engraving files are now automatically saved after edits.
• Engraving files are now saved atomically for improved reliability.
• Files are no longer unnecessarily saved when nothing has changed.
• Added file actions for moving, sharing, and exporting engraving files.
Smaller app size
• The piano sound library and piano transcription model are now downloaded only when needed. This can significantly reduce the initial app size, especially if you mainly use the app for audio transcription.
Other improvements
• Added a new app icon.
• Various UI fixes, performance improvements, and stability improvements.
† Requires iOS 27 or later.
2.6 14 Sept
New Transcription Model
This update introduces a new default transcription model based on Transkun. (#6)
Built on a transformer architecture, the same family of models used in modern AI chat systems, it provides better context awareness and improved transcription accuracy.
The transcription pipeline has also been optimized with parallel CPU and GPU processing. Because the new model is more computationally complex, it may still run slower than the previous model on some devices.
You can switch between transcription models at any time in Settings.
Bug Fixes and Improvements
• Improved the bug report view on iOS.
• Transcription tasks are now properly cancelled when closing the transcription window on macOS.
• Improved localized window names on macOS.
• Improved efficiency when transcribing multiple files at once.
• Fixed a sustain-related bug when importing MIDI files.
• Improved the audio normalization algorithm. The previous version could be too aggressive and sometimes caused notes to be cut short.
2.5 4 Jul
New Features
- New editing sidebar on iPad and larger iPhones in landscape
- New Insert Note and Edit Pitch dialogs on iOS/iPadOS for easier pitch editing
- New score markup functionality
Improvements
- General stability improvements and bug fixes to significantly reduce crashes and errors
- Improved session resume after long inactivity (audio engine now restores correctly)
- Fixed timing issues when importing MIDI files with variable tempo
- Localization updates and fixes
- Undo/Redo improvements: consistent labels and more reliable behavior
- Fixed memory issues caused by unreleased objects and circular references
- Undo history is now properly cleared when entering a new view
- Fixed cases where some buttons could become unresponsive
- Exported MIDI resolution updated to 4800 PPQ to improve compatibility with other software
Music Score Editing
- Smoother scrolling in the Engraving view
- Engraving view now auto-fits horizontally when opened
- Fixed top margin so content isn’t obstructed by the toolbar or Dynamic Island when scrolled to the top
- Fixed an issue where shifting chords across measures could result in incorrect pitch
- Clearer labels and improved Info/Help screens
- Selection handling for edit actions + Undo/Redo is now more consistent
- Moving notes can no longer creates duplicate notes in block chords
- Fixed “Insert Note” placing notes in unexpected locations
- Layout engine rewritten for better performance and fewer layout issues
- Measure lengths are now correctly fitted on import
- Added thumbnails for engraving files
- Fixed a critical issue that could distort imported MIDI
Localizations
Thanks to agentic coding and WWDC 27, the app is now available in Japanese, French, and German.
Please note: since the developer doesn’t speak these languages, some translations may be inaccurate. If you spot any issues, please report them to help us improve.
2.4 13 Jun
- Music Engraving view is now center aligned.
- Add `Mark All Accidentals` feature
- Add `Limit Duration` feature
- Improve video rendering pipeline for OS26 devices.
- Improvements and bug fixes.
2.3 19 May
New Features
- You can now import MusicXML files.
- When you import a MIDI file, the app will ask if you want to make music sheet or view piano roll. (Thanks to @vinhquach for the suggestion) #3
- You can now create octave shifts.
- When you open a file created using a newer version, this app will attempt to open it. If it does, it will make a copy to prevent data loss.
- Improves toolbar style on iOS.
- You can now refine the note velocities in an imported score by providing the original audio. The app will analyze the audio’s dynamics and applies them to improve the score’s velocity data.
Bug Fixes & Improvements
- Fixed crash when you shift part of a beam to other measure, then shift it back without using redo, then redo.
- Distance between two staves is now adjusted automatically.
- Fixed the bug where selecting multiple notes only plays the last note.
- Engraving Engine improvements.
- Resolved FLAC import issue. (Thanks to @vinhquach) #2
- Fixed potential write issue on macOS. (Thanks to @vinhquach) #4
- You can now long press undo / redo buttons in EngravingView to view action name. (iOS only)
- Undo / redo improvements & localization fixes.
- Improves how lasso select gesture interacts with scroll gesture. (iOS only)
2.2 5 Apr
What’s New
• Smoother engraving export and a new Settings & Info menu
• New option in Settings to disable GPU for CPU/Neural Engine–only processing
• Auto-normalization is now enabled by default (your existing custom setting is preserved)
• Now supports transcription workflows via the Shortcuts app
• Improved post-processing descriptions to make features easier to understand
• Refined engraving editing style, context menus, symbols, and measure configuration view
• Improved keyboard shortcuts and Undo toolbar
• “Steepen Beam”, “Flatten Beam”, and “Merge Into Chord” now produce better results
• Edited MIDI files in MIDI Workspace now automatically replace the originals to keep your projects tidy
Engraving document compatibility
• Stem steepness information is now stored in a new format. If you open a file created with this version in an older version of the app, stem steepness data may be discarded.
• When you open older documents in this version, their existing stem steepness information is preserved and migrated to the new format.
Stability and bug fixes
• Fixed issues with Music Engraving stem editing when only some notes in a subdivision are selected
• Fixed cases where playback could continue after leaving the engraving view or closing it while playing
• Fixed a soft-lock when opening a file with Express Mode enabled
• Fixed undo/redo issues after refreshing and a potential crash when undoing
• Fixed selection edge cases and potential file import bugs
• Fixed a visual issue with sheet coloring after inserting a new measure
• Fixed various localization issues
Reviews
• The app may occasionally ask for a review at an appropriate moment to help others discover it. You will only be asked once.
2.1 8 Jan
What's New in Version 2.0.2:
- Improved What's new placement.
- Improved info views
- Toolbar play button now reflects states.
- Improved measure config view:
- You can now play a measure in measure config view. This should help with finding measures.
- Now automatically fits vertically
- Pinch to rescale, and no longer breaks the view
- Scroll position remains consistent across rescaling.
Recently Updated Version 2.0:
In this version, we introduced music engraving. You can now generate and edit piano scores derived from your audio input.
2.0.2 19/12/2025
Major Update:
In this version, we introduced music engraving. You can now generate and edit piano scores derived from your audio input.
Bug fixes and improvements:
- Improved descriptions for thresholds.
- Added new algorithm for removing artifact: Raw Data, which uses information from transcription for more accurate results.
- Fixed a overflow error when running normalization
- Fixed a potential crash when running piano roll
- Fixed a highly probable crash when loading FLAC documents
2.0.1 13/12/2025
What's New
- New app interface and icon, aligning with the latest design for OS 26. *
- "Express Mode" to focus on only one file and is enabled by default for mobile devices. You can disable this feature in the Settings.
- Piano Roll and MIDI Workspace now automatically seek to the leading note
- MIDI Workspace now fits automatically in its vertical space
- You now have an option to merge all notes when all selected notes are with the same pitch in MIDI Workspace.
- (macOS only) you can now choose to disable selection tracking in MIDI workspace
- You can now double tap to pause and unpause piano roll
- (mobile device only) You can now render piano roll while the app is in background. However, the system may choose to cancel the export. *
- (mobile device only) You can now use voice control to use this app
Bug Fixes
- macOS windows now remember its previous position.
- Improved the transcription algorithms a bit
- Improved text descriptions and help messages
- Improved localization
- Improved sheet presentation on mobile devices
- Resolved an issue in the normalization process where overlapping notes could occur.
- Fixed potential consistency issues with the transcription.
- Failed imports no longer jumps to finish screen.
- Fixed issues with piano players
- Fixed playhead being reset on interruptions in piano roll
- Fixed piano roll toolbar animations.
- Fixed piano roll rendering.
- Fixed macOS opening music files.
- Fixed "Select from selection" in MIDI Workspace
- Fixes various potential crush with particles
- Fixes a potential crush with reading MIDI
* requires OS 26
1.7 11/09/2025
Bug fixes and improvements
- Fixed issue with undo / redo, they are now working properly again
- Fixed crash with artifacts removal
- Fixed a potential bug that could cause Observation to run into infinite recursion
- Fixed renderer memory usage issue
- Fixed a crash in normalization caused by specific audio file
- Core Improvements, reduced app size by ~20MB by doing more work manually
New Configurations
- *Always Normalize*: You can now choose to have transcribed pieces normalized automatically. This action is undoable, and you revert to original version by undoing in the tuning window.
- *Memory Saver*: Reduces memory usage significantly at the cost of performance (mobile devices only).
1.6.2 06/06/2025
This update brings improvements on rendering speed.
1.6.1 16/05/2025
This update brings piano roll renderer & options panel, along with bug fixes and improvements.
• Core Enhancements
– Achieved ~50× faster normalization and editing workflows
– Refined normalization algorithms for greater accuracy
• PianoView Updates
– Improved sustain styling
– Added an Export button for exporting MIDI
– Notes now auto-fit to the view’s height by default, and improvement regarding vertical over-scroll behavior
• PianoRoll Improvements
– Introduced an Options panel, where you can set key highlight, particles, and music haptics.
• Render PianoRoll
- You can now render piano roll view
- However, the particles can not yet be rendered
• Main View
- Fixed missing progress animation on iOS (finally)
1.6 15/05/2025
• Piano Roll
• Further tunings to normalization
• Changed sheet presentation styles a bit
• Changed completion controls presentations
• New icons: now with a gradient
• Improve tuning view
1.5 28/04/2025
- New Tuning Presets:
- Remove Artifacts: Eliminate the minor artifacts that may have been introduced during transcription.
- Normalization: Trim the notes appropriately.
- View Optimizations: The tuning view has undergone a complete rewrite. It now loads faster with reduced hitches, resulting in significant performance and animation enhancements.
- Key Notations: The piano key notations now adhere to the standard MIDI convention, where the leftmost key is A0 and the middle C key is C4.
- Piano Engine Changes: The playback is now executed on a background thread, eliminating playback glitches.
- macOS Settings Color Fix: The color of the macOS settings has been corrected.
- Launch Crash Fix: A rare crash on launch has been resolved.
- Core Improvements: Various internal improvements have been made to the algoirthm.
- Audio Segment Completion Error Fix: The error where the last segment of audio is dropped has been resolved. Transcription failure when the audio is short (less than 5s) has also been fixed.
- Localization Improvements: Enhancements have been made to the localizations.
- UI Changes: Some UI elements have been modified.
- PianoPlayer Auto-Stopping: The PianoPlayer now automatically stops when finished, and when exiting tuning view.
- Crash Fix for Playing Without Content: A rare crash when attempting to play without any content has been resolved.
- Miscellaneous Fixes and Improvements: Various minor fixes and enhancements have been implemented.
1.4 09/01/2025
Small Improvements
1.3.2 13/10/2024
Fixed display error
New main interface
New Tuning View / MIDI Preview
- Customized MIDI player
- Simple MIDI Editing
- Improved Interface and Interactions
1.3.1 07/10/2024
This version incorporates bug fixes and enhancements.
- Enhanced & fixed the core functionality. Now, audio files load asynchronously, resulting in performance improvements.
- Resolved issues and improved the user interface of the tune view.
1.2 28/04/2024
Improved performance significantly.
In this version, a native neural network layer of GRU was implemented. Some really dirty and low-level work was done; inferencing is now over 20 times faster. When testing on my Mac, a 9-minute audio file, which used to take around 3.5 minutes, now completes in only 13 seconds.
This version also includes some bug fixes and UI improvements.
1.1 02/01/2024
This update includes major improvements on efficiency and UI bug fixing
- Improved inference speed by around 20%, with and without memory saver
- Improved post-processing speed significantly while reducing source usage
- Fixed some bugs with the Tuning View
- Fixed the frustrating misalignments
1.0.5 15/12/2023
Issue #2: Fixed the coding error that caused pedal inference to be completely wrong. Thanks to greg88rx.
1.0.4 06/12/2023
Thank you for using this App. In this version
- Fixed the threshold view
- Resolved crash when the audio is extremely short
- Fixed playback on iOS
- recompiled the models so it can run faster
If you encounter any crashes, please do submit a report to me.
1.0.3 24/09/2023
This version comes with various improvements on the post processor.
- Preview the audio within the app
- Optimized post processor
- Preview of result midi while adjusting thresholds
1.0.2 26/08/2023
- Translated into Chinese (Hans)
- Memory Saver mode for devices with low memory
1.0.1 15/08/2023
Transkun is now faster, more stable, and more memory efficient.
• Improved transcription performance by up to 30%¹
• Improved model stability
• Added a Memory Saver option, reducing memory usage by up to 30%²
• Fixed potential crashes in the MIDI workspace
• Added missing localizations in Settings
¹ Internal testing on an M4 Max using the same 5:35 audio file: 6.2 seconds, down from 9.4 seconds.
² Internal testing on an M4 Max using the same 5:35 audio file: 1.5 GB of memory, down from 2.3 GB.
more Version 2.6.1 25 Sept
Data Not Collected The developer does not collect any data from this app.