Notion 4+

I did manage to hack out a (very) simple score with this app but it took literally hours! The “undo” function represented by the counter clockwise symbol sometimes fails to erase the highlighted note or chord. The “redo” function, which I assume is the clockwise symbol, never worked! I frequently resorted to cutting the measure contents and reinstalling the notes one by one. Also, it’s unclear how to edit a note in the body of the song without backing up from the end or cutting an entire measure. I wanted to write for guitar and the interactive fretboard is a nice feature but it still rings out like a piano even after a guitar is selected. Not a big problem. The notes work but it would be nice if it sounded like the instrument I selected. Perhaps I missed something. That said, printing the resulting page was a snap! I also appreciate the ability to save to iCloud as well as to the device. If I need to do a more complex piece of music, I don’t know how long it would take! If this has the ability to use the built in mic to transpose the notes it hears, I could not get that feature operational. This really has the potential to be an extremely useful tool for someone like myself who has some basic music education but is a bit sketchy on writing music. Unfortunately the quirky “undo” feature as well as the less than intuitive interface could use some work!

Thanks for the feedback. Couple of answers that might help...

'Undo' rolls back the last user action, rather than erase anything selected. 'Redo' then only works if you have 'undone' something.

By default the app downloads with just the piano sample sound to save space on your device - it is then up to you to download additional sounds from the the Sounds menu. If a sound has not been downloaded, then the piano will sound by default.

Notion cannot analyse audio via the microphone - however it does support MIDI input (with a MIDI instrument either connected via a USB cable and the Apple Camera connector kit, or via wireless connection with a MIDI Bluetooth enabled instruemnt)
And there are various other methods of entering notes, from the onscreen fretboard/keyboard/drumpad, to tapping in with a finger (akin to how a mouse would work) to the optional handwriting recognition (an in-app purchase)

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This app works very well for most of my purposes composing and arranging pieces for my guitar students. I can create alternate tunings, fair quality midi files (not pro sounding), and the click and point system works well with Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil.

However, it needs a few tweaks to be a pro level app for the composer/musician. Only 2 voices are available, and the system easily gets confused with complex rhythm figures like rumba arpeggios that have syncopated sixteenth notes in one voice against longer 8th note grouping in the lower. This means I constantly have to correct measures and erase notes that don’t fit in a measure. Staff spacing gets wonky and spread out when adding “pima” and left hand finger numbers.

The inability to put in a 3rd middle voice is the really frustrating thing. If I’m writing a Sor style piece where I need a middle voice to rest between a treble and bass voice I can’t do it, or if I want to join a treble half note with an up stem to an 8th note grouping with a downstems to show that a high note floats over a flowing arpeggio: it’s impossible to do. I don’t seems to be able to fuse a voice so it can be a unison which is often a function in right hand arpeggios so that unnecessary rests are not required to fill in the 1st beat before the 3-16ths after the beat. This has me eyeing Orchestra Pro etc . . .

Hi, thanks for your review and glad you are mostly enjoying the app.

Yes, Notion iOS has two voices per staff, whereas its big brother Notion 6 for Mac/Win supports up to four voices per staff. This is a popular request for a change however.

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I’ve been using this app to compose piano music for 3 months. One of the reasons I got an iPad Pro was to find an app like this, where I can easily input notes directly into the score on the screen. It works so well! The handwriting is fun to use, too. I’m discovering a couple of things that I find to be a pretty big deal for a pianist. The only pedal markings available are the cursive “Ped” and the “asterisk” method, rather than horizontal lines and carrots, which is much more accurate to use. I’m also finding it difficult to place finger numbers beneath the notes, as you would for bass clef notes. The program doesn’t leave enough room for them, which is awkward to mess with. I’ve found work-arounds for other issues (for example, the whole rest in 6/8 translates as too many beats)... I’m hoping they will update the space beneath the bass clef and especially the pedal marks. I may not stick with this program at some point, but it seems so easy to use otherwise!

Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. In answer to some of your questions...

You don't need to manually enter whole measure rests at all in Notion iOS - just make a selection (or select all/part), and then More>Fill with rests. Notion will then enter all whole measure rests automatically, regardless of time signature.

The rest you mention above is literally a whole note rest (e.g. the length of 4 quarter note beats) and not a whole measure rest so would indeed be too long for a 6/8 or 2/4 measure. (Note you can manually add whole measure rests in Notion 6 for Mac/Win).

Finger numbers, there's two ways you can add these underneath the LH bass clef staff when writing for piano. Add all the numbers, then make a selection, then More>Attachments>Show Below. The staves will respace to make sure there is enough space between the lowest note and its number, and the following system.
Or you can use the Lyric tool to add your finger numbers underneath - you can change the font of the Lyrics to better match fingering format text style if you wish. Again Notion will respace following systems to make space for the text.

As noted, there are no pedal lines as yet in Notion iOS, but this would be a great feature request! You can post feature and instrument requests here and other users can them vote them up
https://answers.presonus.com/notion-feature-requests/notion-ios-feature-requests