Music Notation Apps for Tablet

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ESC2367

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I am not sure if this is a place for it...

however, i have been looking into music notation apps for a tablet. Looking on search engine yeilds inconclusive results to what i am seeking.
I wanna kniw three things.
1. a list of apps that i can obtain for a tablet... (not iPad, even though if it comes down to it i would get the Kawai one... but still...)
2. If the app can write things as advanced as some contemporary music.
3. whether or not i can save my files also if i can use my own soundfonts for playback...

I am not worried about cost as long as it is reasonable... i wanna know one for android that has the above qualities

i currently use musescore2 on my laptop... and that is super limiting and i am not sure how long my laptop will be workable...

i am not looking for half assed suggestions. But experienced answers, because i wanna know the ins and outs on what all i can do woth a program before i shell out the little money i have.
 
@Sorn
I seek first hand answers, like what all i can do, as many apps seem to promise one thing but fail to be for what i am seeking. Contemporary. Like Penderecki or Zorn type scores. I have specific soundfonts that i would use as i don't like musescore2's.

i hate how musescore3 interface is... especially with it's voice editing... really tedious compared to two.

Musescore2 is so limiting on what i can do with a score it ends up putting a lot of my works on backburners as they require contemporary writing techniques.

I know Finale is really good for this, but finale doesn't have any tablet integration. (i am still deciding on a tablet, as the purpose for a tablet is so i can notate music with a pen.

Again, musescore is too limiting and doesn't have this integration.

The apps i wanna know more about is;
NotateMe for ios and android.
StaffPad for Windows Surface Pro.
the Kawai one for ios.

The reason i don't like Musescore3 is because it is trying to be a copy of Sibelius before they fired everyone... which became Dorico.

It's easier to write here as there isn't a limit of characters. :3

Any questions?
 
I have worked with Notator for years. Until it was bought out. Then I started with Cubase and was very disappointed with the notation possibilities. Then I looked for other software. Musescore I tried briefly. Finale was recommended to me. I hate it, sorry. I have no idea where to start with it. It is totally cluttered and overloaded. Then I bought Dorico for PC. However, I don't have much need to write music at the moment. Dorico is interesting, and the programmers are still at the stage where they are looking after the interests of the users. This is no longer the case with Wavelab or Cubase. Now that a tablet version for IPad has been released, I thought it might be something for you. Music notation software that really covers everything is unfortunately impossible. It just doesn't work. There never will be. Humans are just too creative to be able to express creativity through a program.
And to be honest, I haven't really looked into apps yet, because I don't think it would give me an advantage over a 4K 28 inch screen.
 
Does Dorico for iPad allow the pen? I have heard some really good things about the PC version... but PC is just too slow for me...

Writing on paper is so much faster... but all those poor trees.

I came to the conclusion that a tablet could provide a means to write it out. lol

If i can write for a modern sized orchestra, with as many as an octet (as i have pioneered the Capeditiean Octet. gotta have my name on it. lol)
for a concerto for orchestra and octet. (my magnum opus.) (which requires a lot of Penderecki's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" style of writing paired with traditional in the same sheet.

a good example of this is my ballet "The Tale of the Bird." at the Moment due to it's complete difference of instrumentation, much like how the ESC2367 series is... but on a much smaller scale.

I would like to have them all on one score. so people don't have to download per movement.

Basically I wanna beable to notate as advanced as tge ESC2367 series. As they can all be notated... but hard to notate with the limitations i have. photo related...1242E979-3C8A-4044-809E-F76BCA2F0E04.jpeg
 
One of my acquaintances was a pen pal of Stockhausen.
I don't think you can represent Stockhausen with Dorico.
Or maybe you can? You can always use a graphical mode with new notation programs,
with which you can also include drawings.But of course you can't play a drawing.
Is that something you still want to use? That you can control MIDI instruments with the notes?
 
my sheet music is meant to be performed, MIDI is a plus. But i am old school, only problem i have with Dorico is subscription services.

this is what i mean by using a pen...
https://www.staffpad.net/

but like with this capability... (sorry for poor quality... but... like so...)

FDBF6E60-D6B6-45DA-94A5-3C7F14DC9563.jpeg
 
Staffpad seems to be interesting.

I don't know if you can already draw like this with Dorico. I think rather no.
I would like that too. But now the question arises, why do you want a tablet?
Tablets are not as universally usable as a PC. I own a graphic display drawing
tablet that plugs into the PC. I can draw on it with a pen. The disadvantage
compared to a tablet is, of course, that I can't use it on the go. But as a
display on a piano I could imagine something like that. You want to quickly
test the harmonies with the instrument before you write them down.
 
i have two screens for my laptop. The small laptop screen, and a screen literally 4X the size. i use that second screen due to the bulkiness of musescore, however, the way my room is set up the second screen is primarily used for two things, watching films or writing music.

however, writing music is click and point. (or typing out the coresponding letters.)

I can probably write up to 5 measures before a kink in my neck which results in a migraine. Which then breaks my creative focus.

With a tablet i can sit on my bed like with my phone, in a portrait frame, and simply write the notes. with out having to troubleshoot every few moments... and with the several mistakes or changes i would save on paper.

I can fit the tablet in my purse and pull it out when a creative thought arises while writing a piece if i happen to be somewhere... (there is a lot i have missed out on writng.)

And carting the laptop around would be way too long before i can accurately use the app... let alone see the full page upon review.

A phone is way too small and requires a pen still as fingers are not helpful. (i really don't want to give apple any more money... because they won't let me drag and drop transfer my music files.)

Tablets seem to be a happy median between the two.
 
I'm just thinking about what combination would suit you.

If I wanted to quickly put my ideas on a "sheet":
Maybe I would use a drawing program like Inkscape to write the notes graphically.
This is much faster than typing and clicking. Later, it could be played or typed into the computer at leisure.

It also depends on whether you're recalling the notes from memory, or if you need an instrument to do it.
When I want to write melodies that I already have in my head, I take my midi guitar
(I'm not a pianist, unfortunately) and play to a metronome in Cubase.
Later I sit down at the PC and painstakingly enter the other parts on the screen.
For this work, a graphic tablet input would be much better, of course.
Maybe I will try this Staffpad on my graphic display

See if you can get to the Steinberg forum page:
https://forums.steinberg.net/t/dorico-with-a-graphic-tablet/138632/10
 
I would be totally down with spending 700+USD for a windows surface pro with a pen... however... i would much prefer the Kawai app. (but it's for ios.)

StaffPad appears to have the essentials, but unsure on if i can do it.

I don't write simple ideas down... i write entire pieces down. (i can improv everything in real time.) that is basically the rate i want to go with writing but per instrument in real time. (much like writing with words.) So like if it is a piano trio i would write a phrase and it's counterpoint witb the basso continuoso in a few moments.

Give me a good app that does that, and a span of three hours and i can write a symphony worthy of being A-Tier. (5 hours would be an additional hour of thought and an hour of revision. to make it S-Tier.)

if i am recharging my social battery, i could easily write 100-200works per year.
 
got side tracked with my ego...

but yeah, i want it to be like writing on paper with the fluidity of it but so if i make a mistake i can easily delete it or change the note... as to prevent a killing of creative thought...

i don't need an instrument to write.
 
i think the mention it in the FAQs...
 
Theoretically, it should work, since character recognition also works. But I would still like to hear it from them.
For you it would almost not matter. A Surface costs money, a pen display also costs money. But you can take a Surface with you everywhere.
Maybe you know someone who owns a Surface. Staffpad people also write that you should contact them if the program doesn't meet your needs.
 
i am thinking that is what i would do. :3 i shall look into which Surface i require.


edited to add... the one with the specs i require is 1300USD... i'd wanna only spend a third that.
 
Last edited:
I've got an answer:

Me

Aug 21, 2021, 21:01 GMT+1

Is it possible to use Staffpad with a pen display on Windows 10? Windows character recognition works fine with my display. Can I then expect Staffpad to work as well?

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StaffPad-iconcolourBG.png

Steve


Aug 23, 2021, 15:55 GMT+1

Hi M- StaffPad is optimized for recognizing writing music notation with the pen and some limited recognition of text (you can write dynamics like "mf" for example, but that is really it). You can add text fields, but that is something you type in with StaffPad.

Best,
 
So no writing lines to make violins microtonal?

Someone needs to make one better for avant-garde...
 
You just don't compose mainstream.
It will be difficult to find a suitable software.
You must also remember that character recognition is always difficult to program.
How much more complicated will your requirements and wishes be?
Let me know if you find something.
 
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