Much improved; very good now
The first release had some issues, but it is obvious a lot of work has gone into this new version. It is pretty straightforward, and music notion with the Apple Pencil works well. The website has some good, short teaching videos. I’ve only used this for a short while, but I’m very pleased with the product now.
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My Thoughts
I'm a beginner so I was nervous about getting enough value from the $49.99 price tag. Feature one is turning my handwritten notes into something recognizable that I can see. Check. Feature two is playing back what I write. Check. Feature three is being able to export what I wrote to other apps/devices in a variety of formats. Check. Support doesn't mind answering my mindless questions about music and the app. Check. I can see - and have read/heard from other users - that there are amazing features that I will be able to use as I grow so this has given me new enthusiasm to write music. Definitely worth the price.
Lisallynne Kirk
Lisallynne Kirk
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A Game Changer for Composing Music
This app is the musical equivalent of the iPhone, in terms of its fundamental power to change the way things are done. Before there were personal computers, I wrote sheet music with a pen or pencil. It was slow going, and if I made a mistake, I would cross it out (messy) or even use “white out” to try to redo it. Software for composing on the computer has made it possible to produce beautiful sheet music, but I find the process to be slow and laborious. Using QWERTY keys, or even a mouse, to pick a note value, pick a time value, and insert the note on the staff, feels more like programming than composing. With MusicJot, I can write music in the ‘normal’ way, using handwriting, and have MusicJot translate my handwriting into professional quality scores. Amazing! I commute by train, and I can use the time to compose with MusicJot and my iPad, listening to what I write through headphones. Later, I can transfer what I wrote to Logic as a MIDI file, and build the composition even further on my desktop computer. The ability to create TABs will be a welcome addition to this program, because so many modern guitar players do not read sheet music. (An old joke – how do you stop a rock guitar player from playing? Put sheet music in front of him.) Of course, version 1.0 of the iPhone didn’t have 3G support or a front-facing camera. I’m very happy to use the app now, and will look forward to new features as they are rolled out. I have been composing and recording music for many years, and along the way a few technologies have been ‘game changers.’ With MIDI, I can “type” a song on a keyboard (musical keyboard or computer keyboard), produce the sound of an endless array of instruments, transpose, speed up, slow down, and “correct” mistakes. With Digital Audio Workstations (Logic, ProTools, etc.), I can record, edit and mix to my heart’s content, in my own home, without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment or on studio time. And now with MusicJot, I can use my handwriting, an iPad and a pen to create musical scores. This is fantastic – highly recommended.
UPDATE. Version 2.0 is much more stable and responsive. The first release did used to crash on occasion, which was frustrating. Also the developer has added guitar chord diagrams, and the ability to split a note into two tied notes, which is helpful when inserting chord changes.
UPDATE. Version 2.0 is much more stable and responsive. The first release did used to crash on occasion, which was frustrating. Also the developer has added guitar chord diagrams, and the ability to split a note into two tied notes, which is helpful when inserting chord changes.
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Response from developer
Glowing review! We are hard at work adding advanced fretting to our chord diagrams, and just added such a cool feature when using the note palette entry system now available in v2.1. (See sliding notes!)
Amazing music notation software
My review is from the perspective of a novice scholar of music notation. I've played guitar for many decades, but virtually always by rote. I recently made up my mind to return to learning music theory through books designed for guitarists. It then occurred to me that it would be nice to have an app for my iPad that enabled and simplified writing musical notation to preserve ideas born during my practice sessions. I found MusicJOT, which greatly exceeded my expectations in that not only can the app turn my chicken scratch notes into professional looking musical notation, but it will play the lines back to me immediately. So even a beginner can benefit from this software. Of course MusicJOT is loaded with tools that are presently beyond my training in music theory to use, but I look forward to learning how to use them effectively as I progress. For those who are already fully fluent in musical notation, this software offers limitless opportunities to realize your ideas in a publishable format. In sum, I highly recommend this product for beginning music theory students, particularly for class assignments, and for advanced musicians alike. This app is by far more the most sophisticated and powerful program I own.
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Response from developer
Thanks so much for the great review. Don't be afraid to dive into the Transformation Editor - it is loads of fun, and you can experiment like crazy without fear of messing up your score - all the changes are made to a copy of your score, so when you are ready to leave the editor, you'll be asked if you want to save them all or not. It's intensely cool! Check out the tutorials just for that feature on our website.
Great new tool for composers
This app is a great new tool for composers. Anyone serious about having a tool easier to use than the big, expensive palette-driven desktop packages and one you can use on a train or plane should consider this app. This is not a toy, it is a full-featured composing tool for mobile users. The handwriting is magic and although it makes some mistakes, the developers appear extremely committed to continual updates. The interface is clean and easy to understand. The tutorials are clever and explanatory. I have contacted them with questions already and they have been very responsive. All the updates appear to be free. I don’t like getting lured into an app by a cheap price only to find that I have to spend more money just to get the thing doing something useful. Their approach seems more honest to me. I especially like the layers feature, which I’ve never seen before. When you’ve got lots of expressions and dynamics and slurs, it is easier to enter new stuff when you can hide all of that and just see the notes. I also think the palette (non-handwriting) aspect of the app is very well done. Dragging pitches up/down and durations left/right is super easy. They even have a little interval indicator when dragging pitches which is pretty cool. So you can drag a bunch of notes up and you can see how far (intervallic distance) you dragged before you even let go. Never seen that before. They’ve got the right approach to a monstrously difficult genre.
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Response from developer
Thanks for the wonderful review! No, definitely NOT a toy - but simple to use like a toy!
Far most useful music notation app on iOS
I have been a composer since I was 8 years old and am now 77. I was in a music composition dept for 40 years asa prod of composition. For me, working with a pencil, even on an iPad Pro is organic and natural. I use Dorico 3 now and am amazed at the progress they are making at being comfortable and and transparent; but, sometimes there is nothing quite like a pencil. I have tried several iOS notation programs and they just didn’t work or were clumsy musicJOT is the first program that I feel comfortable with and doesn’t get in the way. I give it a 5 showing faith in their future updates. There are few missing functions that I hope will find their way into the program. As it exists it is more useful for sketching on the iPad Pro then moving to dorico 3 through XML for detailed work than any other program.
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If I could rate it a zero, I would.
Extremely Frustrating app to use. Nothing works the way it should and it crashes constantly.
Response from developer
The vast majority of features work exactly as they are supposed to work and if you are having a crash issue, you should contact us directly with the issue so we can fix it. Posting a negative review instead of giving us a chance to respond is not helpful. We are very responsive. It sounds a bit like you could benefit from looking at the tutorials on our website.
No drum capabilities
Guess I should have done more research before wasting my money on this. There are pitched percussion options, but no options to write snare drum, bass drum or any other non-pitched percussion.
Response from developer
I don't think we deserve a bad review because we are missing a feature you wanted but we have as yet not implemented. The app's capabilities are clearly listed both on our website and in the store and we are sorry that you expected a feature that we haven't yet implemented. We have hundreds of great features and percussion instruments is on our list for the future.
Crashes a lot
I love the idea of the app but it is impossible to use. It seems the more notes you add to a score the more it crashes. I have reached the point in a project where if you try to do anything it crashes automatically. Adding a note, zooming in and out, selecting a note causes it to crash. It only has two staves with lyrics and like fifty measures, so it is not like a full piece. But if you start a new project and add notes and whatever, it works fine... for a while. So there is clearly an issue with the amount of material that is added to a score affecting how it performs. There has been 2 or 3 updates since I have been unable to add anything, and none have fixed the problem. I paid $30 for the app and I can’t use it.
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Response from developer
We have overhauled the entire app with version 2.0. Now at 2.1, musicJOT is now incredibly stable with ton's of new features. We would love for you to reevaluate your experience. All updates are free.
Don’t Buy
Waste of $30. There are better apps with more features that are priced less. This one isn’t total crap but considering it’s price and it’s lack of basic features it’s not worth the money.
