악보 스캐너: 피아노 배우기, 기타 ‪앱‬ 4+

This app allows you to input music either by taking photos of it (easy, but the least reliable transcription method), using your own scanner (better), or downloading a PDF (best)…and, crucially, you can separate multiple staffs from each other, in order to—for instance—separate out the alto part. Note that if two parts are on one staff (soprano and alto, for instance), this app cannot separate them…but I can usually figure it out when there are only two parts to decide between. You can also play all the parts together, so you can get used to how your part blends with the others. You can change instruments for the playback, and a setting under the instrument panel allows you to adjust the pitch by semitones in case you need to transpose. You can also change the tempo as needed. There are extra features available if you upgrade, but for my purposes, this inexpensive pay-once app suits me fine! To improve transcription: if you’re taking a photo, try to do so with even lighting. If you’re scanning, try to use pages that have NOT had holes punched in them; problems will occur if, for instance, the hole excised a flat in the key signature. If you notice a lot of grayed-out notes (meaning the app couldn’t read them), ask your choir director if they have a clean PDF they can email you, and when you download it to your device, tell it to open the music in the Sheet Music Scanner app

This app really stands out to me compared to a lot of the other ones in the App Store. The fact I can use it to practice my part accurately and adjust the tempo or instrument as needed is a great feature, though I hope we will eventually be able to select which parts we want to play versus the one or all approach you currently get. Not a deal breaker by any means, just something for the future.

If there were two areas I think could use some improvement then first it’s the ability of the app to recognize multiple staves/staffs in a group. Sometimes it does this really well and I have no issues, and sometimes it will seemingly ignore the bottom stave in a group and treat it as an additional line instead of part of the entire ensemble. This is especially apparent in instances where a song might have just two staves in the ensemble and expand to three or four later on, though I have seen this in music that is consistent as well.

The only other feature would be for the app to recognize Coda’s, it I recognize that’s a complex ask you don’t see too often and so I won’t complain that much. Other than these two issues the app suites my needs at a very affordable price.

I’m a music teacher who is constantly coming into possession of old/obscure sheet music, many of which have no online records of their existence. The only way for me to hear how they’re supposed to sound is by tediously transcribing them into a music notation software. I was hoping that this app would be able to reduce that time and let me hear it straight away, and to say I was disappointed was an understatement.

Let’s get one thing out of the way. All the music I inputted was scanned beforehand, so legibility issues were not the problem. The problem is that the app doesn’t know how to read what it’s given. Timing was god-awful, notes were completely passed on, and it can’t distinguish between separate lines and voices to save its life. When I tried to put in a clarinet/piano duet, it sounded awful. Because there’s no way to tell the app that it was not looking at a piano piece with three staves, and therefore no way to transpose the clarinet properly. And even if it COULD distinguish, transposing only affects the whole piece, not the individual instruments, so don’t even try imputing an orchestra/concert band piece into here.

If you’re an instrumentalist who just wants to hear what your own part sounds like, maybe this app will work better for you. But even still, I’m not so sure if the price makes it worth it. Definitely not an app I would recommend. Guess that’s 5 dollars down the drain…and on a teacher’s salary no less!