2022-06-24
Absolutely Unintuitive
The user interface is awful. There isn’t even a Grand Staff option. Unbelievable
Updating
iPhone Screenshots
iPad Screenshots
Description
With almost 10 years in the App Store, Notion is a best-selling music notation app for iPad and iPhone from PreSonus. Notion has been featured in various Apple campaigns including the 2014 YourVerse television commercials and has won several awards, including a prestigious music industry NAMM TEC Award for Best Smartphone/Tablet App.
Notion is a notation editor and playback tool for your iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, (any iOS9 or later compatible device) giving you the convenience of an easy-to-use music creation tool right at your fingertips—and you can sync your music files across multiple devices! With a user-friendly interface and simple interactive piano keyboard, fretboard, and drum pad, and even optional handwriting recognition, Notion makes it easy to get started composing your music. And, with Notion's abundance of advanced functions you can take your most basic ideas to an entirely new level right on your iOS device or share with Notion 6 for Mac or Windows.
You can also hear your music performed with the most realistic playback possible, using real audio samples performed by The London Symphony Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Notion comes bundled with piano and orchestral samples as well as popular instruments such as guitar, bass, and much more. The initial app download contains piano - you can then manage which of the bundled sounds to have on your device, or keep in the cloud, just tap on Sounds. Once you have the sounds, you can create the perfect balance using the full-featured multi-track mixer with effects.
Once you are happy with your creation you can share the Notion file, or MIDI, MusicXML, PDF or audio files. Share files with other apps on your device, or with AirDrop using the Send To.. feature. Print via AirPrint, e-mail from the app. You can automatically sync your scores across devices, and with Notion 6 for Windows and Mac, by using iCloud Drive or other cloud providers such as Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive.
Notion Features:
- Handwriting in-app purchase for iPad now available
- Enter, edit, and playback notation, tab, or both
- Orchestral samples by The London Symphony Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
- Piano, keyboards, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, electric bass
- MIDI step-time entry with your favorite MIDI device or MIDI Bluetooth device
- Record real-time MIDI input into your score.
- Audition Mode: Use the on-screen virtual instruments to hear sounds before entering them into your score.
- Clean and intuitive user interface
- Support for retina display
- Native 64-bit support
- Option to tap in notes with finger or stylus
- Interactive piano keyboard, 24-fret guitar fretboard and drumpad for step, and realtime, entry
- Quick and simple selection palette
- Distortion and reverb effects
- Full audio mixer
- Full range of orchestral functions and articulations including: Staccato, Flutter tongues, Trills, Vibrato, and much more…
- Full range of guitar functions and articulations including: bends, vibrato, slides, hammer on, pull off, mutes, whammy bar techniques, bass slap, harmonics, and more…
- Drag score items such as dynamics
- Switch Instruments
- Transposition
- Insert text
- Rehearsal Marks
- Lyrics
- Chord Symbols and Diagrams
- Rhythm Slashes
- Cross staff beaming for grand staff instruments
- Swing
- Continuous and Page View
- Quick “Undo” and “Redo” functions
- Chord and melody modes
- Easy delete and erase capabilities
- Enter and edit title and composer information
- Save as an audio file
- Import .notion, MIDI or MusicXML
- Export/email .notion, mp3, PDF, MusicXML, .WAV, AAC or MIDI files
- Supports Apple's Files App, so easy sync with iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and more
- Print to AirPrint enabled printers
- Expand your bundled sound library with in-app purchases
- Help Files
- And much more…
What's New in Version 2.6.3
Welcome to Notion iOS 2.6.3
Improvements:
-Issue fixed with reported duration of exported mp3 audio files
-Registration for unlocking free instruments fixed
If you're looking for tips and help, then join our friendly Facebook community group. Search for 'PreSonus Notion Users', or just follow the Groups link from the official 'Notion by PreSonus' page.
Seller
Name
Notion Music, Inc.
Information
Developer
Categories
Version
2.6.3
Size
218 MB
Game Center
No
VPP Device Licensing
Yes
Rating
Rated: 4+
Compatibility
iOS 9.0 or later
Devices
iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone SE (3rd generation), iPad 2 (Wi-Fi), iPad 2 (3G), iPad (3rd Generation) (Wi-Fi), iPad (3rd Generation) (4G), iPad (4th Generation) (Wi-Fi), iPad (4th Generation) (4G), iPad (5th Generation) Wi-Fi, iPad (5th Generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad (6th generation) Wi-Fi, iPad (6th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro, iPad Pro (Cellular), iPad Pro (9.7-inch), iPad Pro (9.7-inch) (Cellular), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro (10.5-inch), iPad Pro (10.5-inch) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro (11-inch), iPad Pro (11-inch) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air, iPad Air (Cellular), iPad Air 2, iPad Air 2 (Cellular), iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad Air (3rd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini (Wi-Fi), iPad mini (4G), iPad mini Retina, iPad mini Retina (Cellular), iPad mini 3, iPad mini 3 (Cellular), iPad mini 4, iPad mini 4 (Cellular), iPad mini (5th Generation), iPad mini (5th Generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad (7th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air (4th Generation) (Wi-Fi), iPad Air (4th Generation) (Wi-Fi + Cellular), iPad (8th generation) Wi-Fi, iPad (8th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th Generation), iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th Generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad (9th Generation), iPad (9th Generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini (6th Generation), iPad mini (6th Generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air (5th generation), iPad Air (5th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPod touch (5th generation), iPod touch (6th Generation), iPod touch (7th generation), Apple Watch Series 4, Apple Watch Series 5, Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS), Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS + Cellular), Apple Watch Series SE (GPS), Apple Watch Series SE (GPS + Cellular), Apple Watch Series 7 (GPS), Apple Watch Series 7 (GPS + Cellular)
Languages
English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
App Store: Customer Ratings
Ratings & Reviews
3.8 of 5 (586 Ratings)
App Store: Customer Reviews
2022-06-14
No Great for drums
Disappointed. Scoring for a drum set is not rocket science. Unfortunately, this app is built for launching a rocket, or something else… This may be great for full music scores but it just gets in the way for what I want. Glitchy and not much support based on the very few answered questions on the Q/A page …. I paid for the handwriting add on and it makes it worse - writing 4 quarter notes for kick drum produced a wild melody all over the staff. I was hoping for more.
2022-05-08
Can’t even connect to server
The app keeps asking me to connect to the server but they never provided a server address.
2022-04-15
Pls help
This might be only me, but my iPad restarted, and I was like, ‘Oh well. The app automatically saves.’ But, it didn’t. We checked everywhere. We tried everything. But, the song wasn’t saved. I had just finished the song, and I was really disappointed.
I looked frantically for any save button to find after I rewrite the song, but the closest I could find was where it “saved”.
If there is any save button, then maybe someone can tell me where it is? Ty.
Also, I wish that the app wasn’t so laggy. When I put a note down, I do it to “fast” for the app, and it makes it all one note, so I have to play it really slow.
I ty for taking your time to read this, and i highly recommended the app for young composers like me!
2022-04-14
After years using this app as a music instructor
I recommended this app for all my students, This is the best app in Apple Store, really close to Sibelius or other softwares that every educator use to write music. The only thing I wish and request for the designers is: 1. The option to add multiple chord finges numbers and fix bass clef position finger numbers, it’s supposed to be on the bottom. 2. The option to have have different measures number per systems (example; 5 measures in the first stuff, and then 4 measures at the second stuff), forcing the measure to break is an option but the final system looks smashed if there is only 4 measures.
I think I’ll give 5 stars after that. 3. Scan sheet music to make in motion file or xml Thank you for the good work, hope you can read my comment and take it in consideration.
2022-04-06
Buggy and painful
Cannot change key signature, cannot remove part name, this last update stinks!
2022-02-16
Registration
What a complete disaster. Can’t register product. When I cal tech support, I’m told “You have to register product before we can help u roster product.” Really?
2022-01-13
Can’t handle anything complex
I have tried several times to send as an mp3 file, but it keeps crashing on me if I have more than 3 lines of music.
2021-11-11
Too complex and poor in app help
Too complex and poor in app help
2021-11-05
I used to love this
I’m not sure what happened, but I can no longer open the notion app. It takes me to documents. I even tried deleting the app and reinstalling, but it still didn’t work. So disappointing, because I really liked the app!
2021-10-28
What is happening?
Is there no one keeping this app up to date? There seems to be more and more bugs and glitches appearing. The tie function isn’t working as smoothly. If I click a repeat sign to set the number it crashes.
It didn’t used to be this bad.
2021-10-20
Poor Chord Diagram —-No Editing!! Small Chord Library
For a guitar based app, the chord diagram features and it ability to edit chord (diagram) is poor and glitchy. Add to that a small library (I can’t even find an Eb9 chord) of basic chords to choose renders this app unusable for everyday (any day) use IMHO. Dorico & Symphony Pro handle the things ease and aren’t breaking the bank either. Anyway, I’ll keep coming back looking for improvements but unfortunately no luck at this.
2021-09-20
AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!!!!
Finally! An app that makes writing music visually easier! When I print my music, I’m able to view the notes perfectly! Thank you Notion! You’re awesome!
2021-09-02
Best for scoring on iPad
This is the best on iPad. But I don't know why it hasn't upper and lower mordent signs?! 😕🤔
2021-08-13
No Tabs for guitar?
I think it's pretty useful app for musicians but not for the guitarist..
Hopefully it will be updated soon tho..
2021-08-10
Hoping For Fixes
I want this app to be awesome. I love it so much. It’s simple, fast, and extremely functional. It does what I need. I’m a middle school band director and a trumpet instructor. I have premiered pieces with it and written SO MANY exercises with it. However there are a lot of bugs that make it frustrating. I would pay more money to have a constantly updating and improving app. I have maneuvered a lot of random bugs, like if you accidentally system break a measure twice in a row, it undos all of your recent updates the next time you open the document. However, it just started deleted all of my content in measure 7. It has done this on my past two projects and it has rendered the app useless. I thought it was my iPad but I have done all forms of restarting/quitting deleting/updating and none of my other apps are weird. I hope this gets fixed soon.
2021-07-15
Pretty Nifty for the Most Part
I do not have access to the drum pad in order to write multiple voices for a piano arrangement. While the end results do sound pretty nice, the app itself can be quite unintuitive when you’re doing something advanced.
2021-06-24
Great app!
But…. No falls/scoops? Plsss
2021-06-05
Update broken, wait to buy or upgrade
This iPad app used to be quite good, years ago. Along with string quartets, and woodwind quintets, I entered an entire four movement modernist serial orchestral piece with about 30 different instruments, and made stereo mixes that sound quite good.
With the limits and changes over the years, I find it’s not worth the effort to input a single staff Bach guitar piece. I’m rather upset as I’ve invested a lot in add on instruments. With the new insanely powerful iPads, they could make it good again. I wonder if they will.
2021-05-31
I’m going to need a refund I think…
Why can’t you just write in tablature and have it just convert to music notation??
Why does the guitar fretboard diagram have the blue notes not in the center of the fret for ease of viewing. Having the blue note of to the right is kind of a really annoying thing to contend with. I hope you write me back with a way to fix these issues. I hope it is just me being dumb and not this $20+ app. Being able to write in tab and learn what it is in music notation was the whole reason I bought this app in the first place.
2021-04-28
Having weird issues
I’ve tried to use this app a few times recently. It’s not too hard to learn to put in notes, but the dynamics and slurs are not very easy to use. Sometimes the hairpin just randomly go longer or shorter for a bar that only has a whole note, and when I try to manually adjust it, suddenly a huge vertical space appears between staves, and I had to just undo my adjustment to get rid of that space (and the adjustment wasn’t successful anyway). And for slurs, when I tried to connect the notes in the lower layer of the staff, the slur always appears above the staff including one note from the upper layer. I even tried to Clear out the notes from the upper layer first, draw the slur, then add the notes back. But it’s still all the same. This is not a big sample size, but I’m not as satisfied as I expected. If there are ways to solve this (‘or if it’s because I didn’t do something correctly), please inform and I’d be happy to update the review.
2021-04-27
Question about the Ap
I love this ap, but I’ve noticed lately, there is an issue trying to open Guitar Pro files. Not sure if it has become a proprietary thing with Guitar Pro or if you guys are working on a solution. I hope this issue gets resolved, because I use it to create but also open pre-existing Guitar Pro files.
2021-04-11
Lyrics
I am a choral director. I understand and know how to type in lyrics using Notion. However, I am at a loss about how to import lyrics when importing choral or vocal scores.
For example, importing choral scores using music sheet scanners will only import notes not lyrics with notes. If you don’t have this feature, you should consider it.
Respectfully yours
2021-03-28
Not compatible
It’s been months since I’ve been able to use it, it’s not worth buying it and the fact that the Apple Pencil option is a separate purchase is hard to justify. If I could I’d like to get my money back because it’s obvious they don’t optimize frequently as it’s constantly buggy and doesn’t respond. I use this app on a 2020 iPad Pro
2021-03-27
Please update
So much potential. Please update
2021-03-11
Taken my fear into this terrifying thing
Hey! There is just 1 problem with the app. And some suggestions to put into this app.
My only problem with this app is that it give me this thing saying “You did not select enough sounds for some instruments”. Take it off
1. Real instrument sounds
2. Real ornaments
3. Real crescendos/diminuendos
4. Real trills/cross shakes
5. Real articulations
2021-02-25
Good app!
I just got this app today and so far I love it! It took me a little while to get the hang of it and figure out how to work with it but it isn’t hard to use.
Although I am having trouble changing the key signature, tempo marking, and entering a name for the title & composer.
Is there a way to change the tempo?
Otherwise this is a good app.
2021-02-25
Great app but far from perfect
I’m a professional musician writing music daily. Have been using this for a few months. I’m trying to move into the IPad completely but I have to admit there are some very annoying bugs and missing features. I downloaded all additional contents and sound, and I think you can do better. Not sure if there’s a better app for IPad but I’m sure PreSonus can do better.
Feel free to contact me for some observations...
2021-02-24
Won’t share suddenly
I have used Notion for years now and I love it. I normally create my lesson sheet in Notion and then share it to PDF Expert to save it as a PDF. It has worked great for years but today it won’t do it. I tried sharing it with PDF Creator and it would not do that either. I uninstalled and reinstalled both PDF Expert and Notion, then restored my Notion purchases, but I still cannot share my Notion files with any program. Can you please help me ASAP as I need to upload PDFs to my Patreon that supports my YouTube channel?
Thank you!
2021-02-16
Keeps crashing on latest iOS
Spent the better part of a day transcribing a piece only to zoom in on a line and, Crash! Lost 6 hrs of work. Never again. Just not worth it. And I paid for it....😡🤬
2021-02-13
Glitchy
I have only been using this app for a couple of days now, but I have managed to understand the layout of the app easily enough to start a woodwind quintet. The piece I was working on last all of a sudden stopped playing properly. I can still add music to the score, but the mp3 has stopped consistent flowing and now only plays one note at a time. I’m not sure if this is just a feature (which would be super helpful if it was) that I accidentally hit without knowing how to turn it off or if my piece had corrupted. Other minor glitches like force shutting off have also occurred
2021-02-09
The End?
A few years ago, I would have recommended this program without hesitation. Now, between sudden crashes and the unresponsiveness to basic editing commands, I can no longer do so. Too much productive time has been lost trying to find workarounds. I was very fond of this program until a flood of problems began surfacing in the last two years. I have just suffered another crash/freeze-up after spending an entire day scoring. Recent iOS updates have made it more unstable.
2021-01-30
Gone
I had 5 songs completed and 20 in progress and all of them are go e now, just removed from the app. Don’t waist money on this app gusta use files from apple they have the same interface and housing. Had very high hopes for this app but all that I deal now is disappointment.
2021-01-27
So far not accessible app
I am visually impaired. I downloaded this app because I saw an interesting tutorial on YouTube. I needed a notation app and I think this one is good enough for what I need. However, it doesn’t apply the smart invert option for a coloring version available in the accessibility settings on any Apple device. That is why I’m giving it a three. Please, make the app compatible with the accessibility options of the Apple devices. Once that is available, I’m sure I could give the app a four or a five rating.
2021-01-06
Has potential but falls very short
Very difficult to transcribe guitar.
2021-01-05
A good app for DRAFTing assignments, tabs, etc for a guitar teacher
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 . . .
2020-12-01
Meh
I have had this app forever and I find it frustrating to use. Maybe if the keyboard was resizable and more responsive it would be better.
2020-10-24
Importing problems, but cool app
I can’t import xml files or midi files from google drive.
Other than that, this app has been super easy to use and super fun.
2020-10-17
My students and I, after taking a bit of time to fully figure it out, love this app!!
The free version has been perfect for our compositions and arranging needs.
2020-10-01
I want to love this app, I almost do...
I just purchased the handwriting tool and it is beyond buggy when trying to write any “tuplet” rhythms. You also cannot have a measure of pure sextuplets, even if there are 24 notes in a 4/4 bar (6x4=24) it pairs one of the sextuplets with the group prior ( making 7 and 5) and gives a red error indicator... I have tried to copy and paste one beat of clean sextuplets four times and it auto pairs one note to make 7 and 5 on the last beat no matter what. Quintuplets are not an issue, but when you want six it becomes a problem. I am trying to write a technique book with varied rhythms and literally cannot write a sextuplet measure after trying for an hour now. I am a bit mad, and I’m trying to understand why it is happening, but I can’t understand it as there are only 24 sixteenth notes, all with a 6 over the groupings, but Notion auto pairs 1 sixteenth to make 7 and 5 on the last two beats of the measure, and I can’t fix it. Please look into this issue and resolve it!!!
2020-08-22
I want to write for Marching Percussion
This app is very well made but, an expansion for marching drum line sounds and notation would be greatly appreciated!
2020-08-18
Has something happened to the app?
I tried using it this morning and I just get bizarre low notes with it. Can’t compose anything.
2020-08-17
Usable but glitchy and unintuitive
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!
2020-08-17
No sharing option
Notion has been presented as the best option since finale can’t run on the IPad platform. I’ve been using the app for about a month now and there are some problems and obstacles I have encountered. It seems to be impossible to delete blank measures Copying or cutting and pasting to move a group of measures forward or back one measure does not seem to be a work-around option
Although Score settings for measures per system options say its possible to get four measures per system the execution does not seem to be there.
I’m sure more problems are likely to be encountered. I thought by upgrading to notion 6 the program would be easier to use but I found out after paying for the upgrade that its does not work on IPad OS 13.6.
Overall Notion does not look like a satisfactory alternative to finale when using IPad.
2020-08-16
Drumline score
By any chance does anyone know how I can write drumline scores on this app?
2020-07-31
Nice app but could be better
This is only the second music score app I’ve used but I really like it. Adding notes and lyrics is much easier with this app. One thing it doesn’t have that my previous app did was the ability to listen to a voice before selecting it. That would be a nice feature to have, especially if the voice you are interested in is not free. This app could use a few more voices, like a jazz organ, Irish tin whistle, steel pan drum, just to name a few. I really like the option of exporting files in MP3 format. Most other apps only offer MIDI. I have recently started having a timing issue with MP3s. When I play an MP3 created in Notion, the time remaining is way off. For example, a 3 minute song will show as 6 minutes. Another one shows as 13 minutes, no matter what player I use. I wonder if anyone else has encountered this?
2020-07-19
Not good for drums
This app is not good for drum set notation, or really any notation where you’re thinking of the measure as a subdivision of parts. Instead it forces you to write sequentially with rests, which quickly becomes a mess. Might be fine if you’re just copying down an existing rhythm, but don’t use it to compose drum parts.
2020-06-27
Does not work
Necesito un reembolso esta app no funciona , yo compre toda la app y esto no funciona necesito el reembolso de mi dinero PÉSIMO
2020-06-27
Incredibly buggy
Wow, I can’t believe I just wasted 15 bucks on this :(
2020-06-26
Tends to crash
I want to like the app but the stability is poor. So I question my time investment if it’s not gonna be reliable.
Update:
Developer responded that I can report what I was doing when app crashed. While I would be happy to turn on crash reports, I don’t want to donate my valuable time to manually report issues - especially since there appear to be a multitude of problems.
Here is an example of weird unreliable behavior. The names of instruments on staves is not same as those shown in the mixer. Why?
Also I opened a project I had been working on and touched the screen. Something got pasted over part my score. I didn’t recognize where it came from and Undo didn’t take it away. Quitting out of that score and going back to it did restore that part of the score but it appeared to me that some other smaller part had been removed. Again the undo made no difference.
I have not ramped up fully on using this app. So perhaps becoming an expert would allow me to avoid the pitfalls. But that’s not the level of quality and usability I expect from Presonus as a long time customer of their other products.
Update 2: I learned more about the weird behavior of instrument names on staves. There are multiple names for each one and I managed to get them to be as I wanted - EXCEPT FOR ONE which refused to update. It’s a bug. I have spent decades developing software, and this would seem to be the kind of bug you can only have if the code is implemented in a fatally messy way. Really does not inspire any confidence. I am attempting to use the app on iPad Pro 2nd gen. I really want to like the app.
2020-05-18
Take your time
Don’t expect a God-tier Ableton Live, Photoshop, Logic Pro experience. Don’t expect a serious contender with a full product like Sibelius. Expect a really well made iPad app.
If this is a vision for the future, thank God. It’s frustrating. It’s not perfect at all but it’s still great. Take your time. Chill. Learn it. Use it. Appreciate it. Don’t jump the gun judging it.
Once you accept it for what it is and learn to use it it’s better than using even Sibelius. The ability to use a stylus and iPad to compose is amazing. The vision you have is what counts, trust me.
2020-05-15
Buggy, does not work well on iPad pro.
I've used this program on and off for a while, it's always been finicky, and not the easiest set up to learn, but today takes the cake: I cannot type in lyrics without the program freezing, I cannot easily select measures to copy/delete or add parts without the program eventually freezing. It seems to be on a steady decline to completely freezing up as I use it, in spite of resetting; even turning off my iPad after waiting for it to come back to life. For a paid program it's always been "just barely worth it." but at this point I'm surprised it was ever a paid program. Update: Now, removing a dot from a dotted half note has caused it to crash 4 times :/
2020-05-08
Buyer Beware: MIDI keyboard entry crashes the app immediately.
When I reported this to Presonus support they confirmed MIDI entry is not working.
Problem: For many MIDI keyboard entry is core to using a notation program. It’s also a basic function that works on so many other iPad apps.
MIDI specifications date back 39 years ago in 1981.
It also surprised me that their advice was to have me check updates from their developers. They simply could queue me and others experiencing this and send out a bulk email when it was fixed.
Again, this is base functionality so if you were hoping to enter notes with a MIDI keyboard you’re out of luck.
Here was my final exchange with support. Notice, I was surprised that an advertised and industry standard function for this product was a known issue.
Me: Wait? What? Are you acknowledging this as a problem for all midi entry?
Presonus Support: That is correct. The issue has been logged with our development team. Please take a look at the release notes for the next update to see if it has been addressed.
2020-04-22
Awesome to get going... so far
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!
2020-04-07
Great idea but doesn’t actually work
Wow after dealing with crashes and bugs constantly I stopped using it. It’s not a useful app. I recently updated it thinking it would improve and it actually GOT WORSE!! Now I can’t even use it at all. Just since the update: split screen doesn’t work anymore, slur markings don’t work now, undo function doesn’t work now... and those are all NEW problems! They didn’t even fix the old problems. Don’t waste your money. I’m still waiting for this be a functional app but it’s just not there yet. I am a working composer and need an app that actually works. 2 stars because it’s a good idea and would be useful if they can fix all the problems but one would think that after 10 years (which they like to brag about) it would actually function like it’s supposed to.
2020-03-27
The latest update FIXES EVERYTHING!
The previous update to Notion caused many users ( myself included) to lose access to files that were stored locally. This issue apparently only affected iOS 9 and 10 devices. However, the latest update fixes this problem! If any of you lost your scores after the last udate, DON'T PANIC. They aren't truly gone, and this latest update will make them accessible once more.
Many thanks to the developers for correcting this egregious error!
2020-03-14
Nice Tab Editor, But No Keyboard Support
I have been looking all over the App Store for a guitar tablature editor that actually lets me WRITE my own music (unlike the Guitar Pro App), and PLAY IT BACK to me (unlike most apps I’ve found on the App Store), and I found it with Notion.
I was excited about the Apple Pencil support. You mean I can write my own tabs with the pencil instead of typing it out? Awesome!
Except you can’t write actual tabs with the Pencil. You can write notes, but not numbers. I can’t really read music, so this doesn’t help me.
Well, I don’t mind typing my notes.
Oh wait, I can’t do that. This app was built for iPhone, and not something with a keyboard. There appears to be no keyboard support whatsoever.
So I’m forced to use this touchpad interface which is just not that user-friendly. It just feels tedious. This app, or any other guitar tablature EDITOR app with PLAYBACK on the App Store NEEDS keyboard support. If this app received Keyboard Support, I would find it much more useful and give it a much higher rating, but as it stands, I don’t get much use out of it without being able to easily write my own music.
2020-03-10
Great App!!!
I am really enjoying this app. I can whip up professional looking arrangements on the go and in a short amount of time. There is a slight learning curve but this app has been very reliable so far so I’m willing to put in the time. I would have given this app 5 stars however I would like to see two things added. More mallet keyboard instruments in the orchestral percussion section but most of all “THE ABILITY TO DISPLAY LETTER NAMES IN THE NOTE HEADS”. I am an elementary school teacher and this is an invaluable feature that is offered by a couple of other music notation writing softwares (Sibelius and Finale). If at all possible, PLEEEEASE add this feature in a future update! I’d be eternally grateful and definitely give this app 5 stars!
2020-02-17
Works Well, With some Major Issues
As someone who has used both the desktop and this mobile version of Notion, the program and a lot of what it has to offer is there, and works well enough, but there are some serious flaws in this mobile version that need to be taken care of. Even after the fixes with the handwriting engine, it still will crash after even a moderately long work session. I am even seeing crashes after mere minutes of doing work, which is not a huge deal. That is, except for the fact that it does not cloud save super often, leading to times where I have written a passage or phrase out, and it would crash, leading to me reopening it only to find that the passage was gone. Another issue is that I still cannot write slurs using handwriting over long phrases, I can only write slurs over a few notes.
Overall, it works well for basic notations and short notations, but the hassles that are still present prevent it from being truly great software.
2020-02-11
Oh wow!!!
They partially fixed the app! This thing is working fairly well now and I’m somewhat impressed at how well this whole thing is working and how much they improved the stability as well as the voicing!
I thought they had abandoned the app and that it’s main competitor was going to hit the iPad and take over, I was wrong! This is a big improvement.
However, I have to say they’ve only fixed it for treble clef, the bass clef in the piano is still struggling with multiple voices of different values.
2020-02-09
A lot of potential, but very difficult to learn to use
I can see that this app has a lot of potential, but how do I use it? The “Help” guide is more of a quick-reference guide, describing the menus and all, but it is very difficult to find help when you need to do anything. For example, I want to change the number of measures per system/line of music. Or I want to change the key signature mid-piece. How do I do those things? I’m sure the answers are buried (or implied) somewhere, but I can’t find it. I’m sure things will go faster after I’ve done them several times, but the app is very difficult to learn. In the past, once I’ve gotten a score set up, the actual note entry wasn’t too bad, and I was able to use my Apple Pencil to do it—pretty slick.
There are things that don’t work as one would expect. I wanted to turn off the metronome marking, so I found the setting, switched it off, and it wouldn’t go away. Only way I could get it to disappear was to type a space in the text field. I found other settings that acted unexpectedly, as well.
I guess that since all I want to do right now is create a chord chart, I’ll do it in iReal Pro; it is a fake-book app, after all.
Too bad. I wanted this to work. Not sure what the future holds for Notion iOS; it hasn’t seen an update in two years.
2020-01-05
Amaizing but a little buggy
This app has been absolutely fantastic, and a joy to use. I can write my musical ideas wherever I am so I don’t forget them by the time I have access to a computer. When it’s not bugging out, I can easily write music, and with the handwriting add on, it has improved my music handwriting skills, and I can write so much faster. The bugs that I have run into are as follows: sometimes it randomly won’t let me change the time signature, or the tempo, but a simple restart fixes it very fast, and it auto saves your progress so restarting is a breeze. Also every now and then the handwriting feature won’t do what I’m trying to get it to do, but it’s not that hard to just manually put it in and resume handwriting. Overall it’s a fantastic app that I have been enjoying thoroughly.
2019-12-05
Great for what I need it for.
I’m not a budding composer, but I use this program in various ways. I find that for the most part this has been a very simple program to use. When you do have problems, for me, it has always been that there was not an obvious clue to guide me on how to solve it. Example: in setting the time signature it comes up 4/4. To my way of thinking tapping the numbers would have brought a drop down menu to make your selection from. It didn’t. By accident I hit one of the numbers in a sliding motion and discovered the numbers rotated and that is how you make the selection. I actually think that is a good method of selection, but had been frustrated because there was no clue that was what you need to do. I gave it four stars because there is always room for improvement. I like the other major competition too, but found this to be way easier and faster to use. Lot less out of pocket as well.
2019-12-03
It’s fine. Needs an update.
I mostly use this on the go for emergencies, or when I need to put something into musicxml for me to actually work on in Sibelius later. It’s fine for what it is but the program practically seems abandoned, with the same bugs plaguing it for years. Why does the chord symbol entry box always not update and display the wrong roots? Most importantly, chord symbols can disturb the alignment and spacing of notes, overriding all other note spacing. You can’t really make a good looking lead sheet if your melody is eighth note based...a chord symbol on the downbeat causes there to be an off amount of space between the first and second eighth note if your chord is longer than a single letter, which looks sloppy and unprofessional. Text placement of all kinds is wonky and buggy, also. That being said, there’s nothing better right now. If this program was better or better supported I would happily paid twice as much — and I’m not expecting Sibelius or Finale quality, here — but there is so much potential here and it’s nowhere as good as the free MuseScore.
2019-11-11
Great and powerful app with a potential.
It’s indeed a great app but I want to use not only hand writings but also keyboard. It would be easier to work both on the qwerty keyboard system with Ipad. Input notes, values, move with cursors would be amazing.
Notion provides professional notation system from basic notes to expressions and articulations. However working with apple pencil is very sensitive which is not always in good ways. It would be nice if I can able to control the sensitivity of the apple pencil. For example, Choose some options with the check boxes and let the apple pencil recognize the information clearly. The options would be note values (usually one doesn’t use 32nd note), articulations, symbols(+), bars(double or final) etc. Because I don’t usually use double bar on the middle of the piece. And if we can select the options what the pencil decides to recognize, then it would be very clear.
2019-09-05
It’s good, not perfect.
Major Conservatory-trained composer who taught Finale for 20+ years is a convert to Notion. I like the simplicity of it, but wish that the documentation was a bit better and that updates were given a bit more frequently. I do use the handwriting features, but find certain gestures to be enigmatic to the recognition engine. One big suggestion I would give the developers would be to have a handwriting option that lets you notate an entire measure at a time and then click a button or move to the next measure before it’s interpreted. I tend to write all my noteheads first, then the stems, then the beams, then the dots, and the engine starts recognizing what I’m writing too soon. Also - a free-form handwritten staff would be VERY useful for jotting down notes and ideas without it being rendered into anything. Otherwise, it’s a great little tool to have with me wherever I go.
2019-07-16
ADD MORE RANGE TO BRASS PLEASE!!!!
I absolutely love this app! I’ve made tons of brass scores for the band I’m in, in high school. Me and my friends can do Carolina crown tuning sequences because this app allows me to write out the sequences and the parts for their big hit of their drumcorp show!! But when I add high notes for trumpet like the double notes, you can’t hear it, the app doesn’t have that sound registered for trumpet and souped low pedal notes for tuba, it doesn’t even have under the staff Bb for tuba but it does for for euphonium!! What!!?!? Please add more overall range for Brass!! But especially trumpet high range, ADD THE SOUNDS!! I want to hear a trumpets double g!! I still love this app as a 5 star just please add this!! PLEASE!!
2019-06-15
Probably awesome.
At $15, better than the free version of Finale, and a fraction of the $600 Finale. But I would pay $50 for a even simpler Notion. I’m not writing scores, just lead sheets for a cover band. I despise the “chords over lyrics” MS Word format. I like measures to show some type of timing of a song. But with Notion, it’s difficult to add lyrics without a written melody, or at least beat symbols. You can add a single six-syllable word over one beat, but small words that would fill up one, or 1 1/2 beat, for example, “have to go to the” would take up over one measure.
In short, I would adore a way to just add free style lyrics, irregardless of any beats in a measure, with the chord(s) above the measure. The ability to change the key simply is awesome. Maybe I will find a way to add lyrics quickly, but at the moment I’ve gone back to using Word so at least the other band mates have some kind of sheet.
2019-05-17
Difficult learning curve
I purchased this app for the specific reason of writing out a horn charts for Saxophone. I am sure the app does everything that it specifies however some of the directions seem to be lacking. I tried to add a multi measure rest. I followed the Instructions in the help guide to a T and it did not work properly. I emailed customer support and they sent me a link to the same instructions that didn’t work the first time I tried it. When I got back to them they said to send them a copy of the chart which I can’t do because I don’t have a desk computer. Come on guys I’m sure you can simplify things a little better. This seems to be an app with much potential but very difficult to understand. I just want to write a horn chart with an easy way to write multi measure rests and add measures. Would give it five stars if there’s an easy way to do this. Until then I’m going back to the free app that I’ve been using. It doesn’t have the hand writing option in that notion does and it takes longer to write the charts but it’s much easier to navigate.
2019-05-05
It’s convenient
Notion is very convenient if you’re not someone who carries a laptop everywhere. However, despite its convenience, it has many issues. One that I am sure many Notion users can relate to is the constant crashing. Notion currently only supports 14-16 instruments at the same time, meaning that playing back a larger score means that the app will crash. Another issue I have is that every time I try to export audio files of my projects to different apps, they always end up being a little more than a half-step off key. If Notion were to fix all of these issues, I feel like it would be an amazing software. For now, it needs improvement
2019-03-21
Incredible app, haters go away
I have purchased every upgrade and instrument. I have the handwriting upgrade. It is not perfect, but incredibly useful. I don't understand how people expect perfection because not will never happen. What makes a program incredibly good is not if it is perfect but if it is useful in spite of its imperfections. And as usefulness goes, this programs is almost unsurpassed. I have not found a music writing app that has more usefulness than this one, and I have purchased them all. This program accommodates the different styles of different writers and allows many input methods. None are perfect but they all work very well! This app tried and succeeds better than any other app to STAY OUT OF YOUR WAY, and let you create using the same symbols and notations you would use if writing by hand. If Mozart or Beethoven we're to use an app, this one would be easier to adapt to than any other because all the symbols they are used to are there, and as little as possible is added.
2019-01-02
Annoyances are accumulating
The notation system gets confused at very simple things: I mark a single measure to be in 3/16 meter, and the surrounding measures as 4/4, yet on playback, empty beats manifest after the three sixteenth-note beats in the 3/16 measure.
Sometimes using the <, > buttons at the lower corner, for navigating through notes, *changes* selected notes when you move past them; other times it doesn’t.
When using the keyboard feature to add notes into a single chords (i.e. stacking pitches), moving > to the next beat to begin stacking a new chord for some reason replicates the previous chord in that spot, in the way of the new one you want to make.
It’s confusing and odd to have *both* the green-highlight-select and the tan, note-editing select, completely independent of each other. This leads to confusion if you’ve been editing a note or chord, and then want to hit play to hear it.
This is why Noteflight recognizes one, unified form of selecting a note or section.
2018-11-28
Good, not yet best but recommended
This app has a lot to recommend it. It has many good features and has a usability that combines to make it a very useful app. There are definitely limitations but most of these will not affect every user and I hope that these limitations will be worked out to iron out the frustrations.
This sounds like it is full of problems but I do recommend it because it has allowed me to prepare lead sheets for recent songs that I had not been able to do since I struggled to use the laptop (Disability) and Sibelius. It has been good enough and easy enough to allow me to do that so that is worth the 4stars for me even though there are improvements still to be made.
2018-10-28
No alternate endings? Also...forget about the pencil!
So you get 1st and 2nd endings, but that’s it??? Never heard of a 3rd or 4th? How about one ending that is 1st, 2nd, and 4th, and one that is 3rd, 5th, and 6th? Basically this app has a LONG ways to go before it will be replacing my freeware on my computer.
Also, I mainly bought this terrible app because I just bought a brand new iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil...just forget about that RIGHT NOW. I spent hours trying to perfect my ability to use the Pencil. The app doesn’t work with it. Period. Plain and simple. It’s a total rip off that they charge you extra to use the Pencil. So frustrating because you can write it near enough that even if it didn’t change it into notation, it would still be very legible, and the app just erases what you wrote or mucks it up into something totally unrelated. It’s a joker. So you are stuck using the very slow input way that came with the $15 version. I paid an additional $10 to be even more frustrated.
2018-10-17
I want this to work so much better
I have used the app for several years, or rather I remember that I have purchased it and then try to use it again every several months. To be honest it boasts some nice features, but every time I go to use it I am frustrated. For example, the other day I had added some text above a line of music. I realized that I would like to bold the font and change the size. The software would for the life of me not select the small A at the right of the text to allow me to format. I had just done the same function on some text several systems higher. I sat for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to get the text moved so I could select the formatting button. No go, I finally deleted the text and started over. I have had the software intermittently refuse to show me use upon holding on an item and other functional hick-ups. What does it equate to? Frustration over very simple things. Want to hide that note? Well, for some reason it won’t give you the menu. Try restarting the app...oh it works! The handwriting tool is awesome, the sounds are great, like I said, I really want to like this app but it is a constant source of frustration for me.
2018-08-05
Very useful & helpful
It’s a great app that had help me in my studies and also in my work. The handwriting is very good, but sometimes doesn’t work perfectly, but that’s a minor problem.
The would recommend to create an option that let us vary the measure number per system. It would be very helpful for finishing a work for the print view and make easier the sight reading.
Another thing that it’s a problem is that sometimes when I try to open a file the app crashes and doesn’t let me work. That would be the greatest problem. I hope that you can fix it. Thanks!
2018-07-28
Satisfied
I’ve been using Notion for a month now and it is pretty much doing what I need it to do so far. I got it because many of the other apps looked like they were going to nickel and dime me for every feature and Notion provided almost everything. Entering text can be frustrating and extremely inconsistent. One moment it is acting like you would expect and the next it just won’t allow you to hyphenate or move to the next syllable. Cut/Paste will start changing note pitches or paste random clippings. All and all thanks for a decent product.
2018-06-02
Better than some, but abandoned by developers?
Maybe the best of a not-so-great collection of iOS apps for serious musicians. Has more formatting features for view and print, more and better instruments, and a deeper tool set, but is quirky and buggy with iOS 11.3 and 11.4 on iPad Gen 6 and Apple Pencil.
Handwriting add-on is buggy and unpredictable. In particular, I can't mark ties across bar lines in handwriting zoom area mode with either Apple Pencil or finger. Slurs/ties within bar work OK, but none across bar line. Works fine with handwriting in regular page view. Have tried all the usual iOS stuff, rebooting, deleting/reinstalling app, etc., no help. There are other ways to create ties, but handwriting should work, and it just plain doesn't. Had the same issues with app on iPad Air 2.
Since it hasn’t been updated in more than 11 months, I am guessing it’s not a high priority at Presonus, so after spending the dough for all add-ons, there's nothing else to do but wait and see if the app ever gets any attention again.
It’s a shame, because it has great potential to be a professional tool.
2018-03-16
Impressive
Like another viewer said: the other programs are rather expensive! I was unhappy with Finale and didn’t want Sibelius (Avid ProTools was very tough). I decided to spend the $15 on Notion for iOS and am very pleased! One of the ONLY apps out there, and works on both Mac and Windows! I considered Logic for my old Mac but have changed my mind ...
I’m no “serious” composer - yet Notion’s intuitive interface means music creation is not a big scary endeavor :)) The playback sounds are great, mostly, though a few sound MIDI-ish. Includes a nice plethora of instruments with the option to buy some of the playback sounds (otherwise it’s piano I think).
Notion includes a decent number of bells and whistles without an overwhelming setup; you can quickly access rhythms, dynamics, tempo, time signature, and other fundamentals efficiently!
While I’m creating arrangements, my piano students instantly see HOW music is notated :) Love composing music? Always on the go? Meet your new best friend, Notion!
2018-03-15
Amazing app
I’ve been writing and recording songs for ages but only recently started to explore instrumental writing with notation software. I first got Notion 6 on PC with a promo offer (I use Studio One). Impulse buy. That led me to Notion on iOS which I like even better. It’s easy to use, especially when I enter music by playing electronic piano in real time with iPad/USB connector for MIDI. It somehow generates reasonable notation even when I don’t play that cleanly. I now also use MuseScore on PC with Notion on iPad and PC (file compatible). MusicXML transfers mostly work well going to/from MuseScore.
It blows my mind that I can write and hear a string arrangement even on my iPhone, though it’s easier with the bigger iPad screen.
2018-03-11
Great music app, but unreliable
I love using this app! However, I have had problems with it crashing and then not allowing me to open a specific file. I can open any file except the one I was working on at the time of the crash.
Minutes ago I was working on the same project because I need this music ASAP. I wanted to make sure the same thing didn’t happen, so I exited the file and then exited the app. When I tried to re-open the same file, it immediately crashed and locked me out of my second try at my project. These are not huge files. They are 1 and 1/2 pages at the very most.
So while I love this app and its intuitive interface, but I cannot rely on it consistently. I must have consistency with my music programs as I am a choir director. I realize I got what I paid for: a $15 music app. But I was hoping that it would get me by until I can afford a better program such as Finale. Extremely disappointed.
2018-03-06
Handwriting feature is great
I can’t be sure if the app is lacking functionality (like close but no cigar) or if the help files are woefully inadequate. I have a feeling the app may do more than I can discern from reading the help file.
I’m very impressed by the handwriting recognition with my iPad Pro & Apple Pencil. I can write faster with app than I can on paper if I want it to be legible.
It’s great that you can input 4 lines of lyrics. The process is relatively intuitive. However, selecting and/or changing the lyric font ranges from awkward to impossible. There is a fairly easy way to select all the lyrics but you cannot change their attributes. I’d really like to make them bold. If there was a way in score setup to change the note font and the lyric font individually the app would be far more useful and I’d rate it a 4. A complete, *searchable* help file would rate a 5.
2018-01-13
Bugs Galore
So i got this app just recently. At first it was great. Thought it was a really good quality app. The only thing i thought was weird from the beginning was that none of the preset “projects in the library were responding. That didnt bother at first. I opened a new project and did some work. Then i left for a bit and came back. All the sounds were totally distorted. I tried closing the app and opening it again. but now I couldn’t even open my project, much like the first problem i had. So i did the same and it didnt work. I tried restarting the device (a iPad Pro 9.7inch) still didnt work.
Tell me what is going on here. I have no idea. All the reviews never reported anything like this...
2018-01-04
Very capable software
Improves significantly with every update. The scope of Notion continues to broaden. The only domain that leaves something to be desired is the ease of input. I know it's ambitious to say the least, but a handwriting interpreter would be a pinnacle of engraving software.
Update: handwriting recognition works well, but there is an artifact in which a note is added to the first beat of the next bar, and the barline changes itself to a double-line. Also, a short score of 9 instruments crashes the app when I try to open it on a first-gen iPad Pro 12.9. I know it’s resource intensive, but I should have some overhead before its purported max to at least open it and export it for desktop editing...
2017-11-23
Musician
It has been many months since I have attempted to use this app and my last review suggested they refund for the handwritten fee until they improved the recognition (which is what I wanted the app for). Well, someone has improved it. I had some Christmas music to write and did not have access to my laptop one day while taking my wife to a doctors appointment. So I gave the app a quick second try. Wow, what an improvement. This is now the best handwritten notation app for iPad Pro with Apple Pencil. It works. Get it!
2017-10-31
Percussion needs some work
I love this app. I use it more than Finale 2014 since I don’t have a laptop or computer anymore. One thing I notice that is way different than other apps is the percussion section. It would make it so much easier if there was an option to have a separate “percussion staff” with all accessories on it that you can choose from. It would make it much easier for a percussionist who has multiple instruments to read, and we can add the name of the instrument on top as well when changing percussion instruments in the staff.
2017-10-27
So frustrating
I bought this app with the intention of using my Apple Pen to save time writing in music. I find that I spend more time dealing with the bugs in his app than if I just used Finale or Sibelius on my computer inputting each note individually. This app has so many bugs, I can’t seem to input one measure without it affecting/changing around other measures for no apparent reason!!! At first I thought this might have been my Apple Pen needing to be fully charged, but no. This has happened to me for several days and I seriously regret spending the money not only for this app, but for the Apple Pen extension which is an ADDITIONAL cost. I’m very disappointed. I would NOT recommend this app to any serious musicians.
PLEASE FIX THE BUGS!!!
2017-08-15
Needs some improvements
This app is powerful, however, it is pretty hard to manipulate and place the text boxes. The boxes jump and move to random places when I am trying to place it on an specific area. Also, it would be great to have different colors when writing text or lyrics. It would be even better to add handwriting annotations, not just to write notes but also write personal annotations to our lead sheets.
Also, when printing my sheets, it's really hard to read due the small staves and fonts. I don't any option to make it bigger. Also, the space where the title is located is too big and make other sheet elements to stay small size. Please fix that
2017-07-12
Cannot change measures per system
Hi there, great app overall, more choices of musical symbols than other iPad notation apps.
However, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to change the number of measures per system. It automatically creates 4 per system, and I can choose other amounts in the settings. But the app will not let me choose for example, 3 bars first system, 4 bars next system, 5 bars next, 2 bars next etc. Really frustrated and unsure if I am just not setting the parameters correctly or if its just an iPad glitch. Please let me know if you see this.
2017-07-06
Amazing easy to use composition!
I have been looking forward to getting Notion on the iPad Pro 10.5 and this is so far such an easy to use app! Imlove how intuitive it is. I am impressed about how generally well the handwriting recognition is. Once I get Apple Pencil it will be better i am sure. But this hands down beats doing this on a desktop PC. It is sommuch more natural to use a stylus. I am still learning quirks with handwriting and though it is not 100% the note entry method works very well too!
Recommendation: tie the measure number to the initial measure line. This way when the music scrolls as you listen, the measure numbers will move with their respective measures.
2017-06-08
Great
Never have I seen developers take every customer review and fix every single problem in the next update Absolutely worth the money. Best composition tool on IOS by far. The MIDI instruments sound absolutely amazing and even beat a lot of computer notation programs. One problem I have with the app is that notes are not always held full length. I'll put 4 whole notes tied together (180 bpm) and the note will end almost 4 beats too early. Other than that issue this app is brilliant and has met my need for a mobile notation application. I would love to see crescendos and forte-pianos in playback in a future update also. Would recommend this app to anyone looking for a casual notation app or even music majors that may not be able to take s computer on the road.