REAL Classical Musicians Should NOT use Nkoda
Nkoda is a scam. It’s grossly overpriced and it’s IMPOSSIBLE to obtain parts that can be used in performances, rehearsals, or even practice unless you use their useless apps (plural). Parts can’t be downloaded to use with OUTSTANDING apps (such as ForScore) which can be used in ALL of the above applications and so much more.
This is a total WASTE OF MONEY for a nothing burger. Classical orchestral musicians should run, not walk, from this completely useless pair of apps unless they like throwing money down the toilet.
This is a total WASTE OF MONEY for a nothing burger. Classical orchestral musicians should run, not walk, from this completely useless pair of apps unless they like throwing money down the toilet.
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Great idea, terrible execution
I’d gladly pay for a product like this but the app just doesn’t work. The amount of time it takes to log-in or pull up a single file is unworkable, even just for score perusal. Finally the app has simply stopped working altogether and won’t allow me to even sign in. Hugely disappointing.
Horrible
Horrible app. It’s heavy, it’s slow, weird to navigate. Plus, I want to get a score, not subscribe to anything. Get your act together.
Absolutely useless
I swear, I’m going to throw my iPad if I see that marimba player splash screen one more time.
I don’t know what broke, but I can no longer sign in via my Apple ID on my iPad or on my phone. Nothing works. Im still logged in on my laptop, but that’s fairly useless.
Paying $99 year for something I cannot even access anymore.
And WHY are there two apps???
This whole thing needs an overhaul. There’s too much good music on this site, but it’s useless when the interface is broken.
I don’t know what broke, but I can no longer sign in via my Apple ID on my iPad or on my phone. Nothing works. Im still logged in on my laptop, but that’s fairly useless.
Paying $99 year for something I cannot even access anymore.
And WHY are there two apps???
This whole thing needs an overhaul. There’s too much good music on this site, but it’s useless when the interface is broken.
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unreliable
improvements are being made. but still far from reliable
out of all things, why does it not instantaneously load ‘offline’ scores?
i would never use this reader on a performance. i cant use it because there is a chance a page wont turn or appear pixelated
also there needs to be tabs to open and go/back between multiple score, instead of waiting 3 minutes every time to load a new score
please realize that your fancy editing toolbox is useless if the app won’t open up a score. please hire experienced developers
also search engine is bad. i should be able to search composer and instrument without entering name of the piece
please benchmark the search engine of idagio, which is optimized for classical music
out of all things, why does it not instantaneously load ‘offline’ scores?
i would never use this reader on a performance. i cant use it because there is a chance a page wont turn or appear pixelated
also there needs to be tabs to open and go/back between multiple score, instead of waiting 3 minutes every time to load a new score
please realize that your fancy editing toolbox is useless if the app won’t open up a score. please hire experienced developers
also search engine is bad. i should be able to search composer and instrument without entering name of the piece
please benchmark the search engine of idagio, which is optimized for classical music
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Annotations are not intuitive
This is the best sheet music reader I’ve found to read in landscape mode. My pdfs are too long to fit on my 12.9 iPad in landscape. So I see the top of the page and then have to do something to see the bottom half. In other music readers I have to swipe up. But in nkoda it shows with red marks on both sides of the page where to tap for a page turn, and then it goes to the bottom of the page.
But the annotations and toolbars have me frustrated. It could be that I am new to Apple and iPads. I watched the short videos in the help section button but they show up very small. It’s difficult to see where she is tapping. Long taps are supposed to let you change font size and color, but that menu doesn’t appear for me. I chose the basic piano toolbox set, but maybe I have to make my own to be able to edit it. I wish there was a place to ask a simple question.
But the annotations and toolbars have me frustrated. It could be that I am new to Apple and iPads. I watched the short videos in the help section button but they show up very small. It’s difficult to see where she is tapping. Long taps are supposed to let you change font size and color, but that menu doesn’t appear for me. I chose the basic piano toolbox set, but maybe I have to make my own to be able to edit it. I wish there was a place to ask a simple question.
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Useless if you want to actually be able to use the scores
I was prepared to pay for the subscription in order to access the rich catalog of scores, but canceled because Nkoda forces you to use their extremely poor ereader, rather than allowing downloads for import into ForScore (by far the best music app I’ve found for rehearsal and performance) or even my iPad’s native pdf or ebook reader. The Nkoda reader user experience is poor, bordering on completely unusable, and it is not a legitimate replacement for ForScore. I would gladly use a version that allowed personal access to the catalog, but not if I’m trapped in a slow, unresponsive, badly designed app.
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Why two apps?
I’ve been using nkoda for at least 3 years and I was bummed to see that they’ve now split into two apps which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and makes life much harder. I’ve even thought about dropping my subscription over this (and other bugs and issues). It’s too expensive for what it offers and the quality of the build. Sorry! I’m really sad I have to say this, but hopefully they will listen to users and go back to one app and fix things.
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Logistical nightmare
Why have one app that is difficult to use when you can have two difficult to use apps for the same price ?
Nkoda has a great library of music but being forced to use the reader is an unnecessary hustle.
Can you please give people an option to read scores within the original app ?
Thank you
Nkoda has a great library of music but being forced to use the reader is an unnecessary hustle.
Can you please give people an option to read scores within the original app ?
Thank you
Unreliable and not easy to use
The previous version (single app) was ok, but this one is vey slow and unreliable. Sometimes it freezes when downloading or logging in or for no particular reason. Also, it does seem to me that splitting the library and the reader into two separate apps makes the user experience much worse. Sorry, that’s my honest opinion.
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Every serious musician Must download
This is the best subscription service for music scores I’ve come across. Do yourself a favor and do the free trial. Lots of new music scores in this, as well as classics. The only criticism I would give is that having complete works of major composers shouldn’t be too much to ask! I wish they had all of Beethoven’s work. Most of it is on here, but not all. Anyway, those are public domain anyway. If you are a contemporary musician, this is a great resource for you! Scores that you cannot find for free/ only at college library, might be available here for you to learn from!
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The library is world class. This reader is nowhere close
I use large books for this for organ music. Here is what I want - search for “BWV 540” in my library and go right to the page in the right volume - let me create a list of bookmarks I can see and easily navigate to in any music documents - view two landscape pages 2-up, one above the other, in portrait orientation. Organ music is often landscape - start a 2-up view on either odd or even page. On the buxtehude volume 3 all the 2-up views are off by one so they are useless. - give me a scrubber back to scroll through the pages - have the developers test the app with large books not just individual pieces Finally I suggest like Carl Fischer, Presser, and others, you become a ForScore content provider. I’m never giving that up. And if this reader doesn’t get better I’m going to leave nkoda, buy paper, and scan it into ForScore. Your library is incredible but it’s not worth the pain of this reader. This makes me sad. The reader is also not a lot of business value for the amount of work it is. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Focus on what you’re good at - the library and metadata. You have a pile of 1 star reviews because of how much work is left to do here. I am really glad you exist and want to keep using a digital library.
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A strong option for musicians
Nice to be able to pick back up in a score where I left off!!!!!!
Excellent
Some nice additions like variable scrolling speed
Getting used to it
There are a few of us in the orchestra that I play with who were confused about the new scoreviewer (still haven't quite got the hang of it, to be honest) but we're getting used to it. It is very useful but would love a better understanding as to how it all works please.
Suited to research work
The new nkoda style is really cool. I like the separation between the library and the score reader because intuitively it makes sense to me. I use the library for research and the reader for rehearsal.
Finally built a functioning reader
Since its inception, nkoda has been a fantastic library with an afterthought score reader. This would be fine except you can't extract the scores! So you have to use their own. Fortunately they've addressed this by building a competitive reader now
A gamechanging service
I'm loving the two new apps and am a very happy customer. I've been using nkoda for nearly two years now! Gamechanger!
One of the best out there
There's a few of these readers available that offer similar things, nkoda's is right up there among the best
Double the trouble
Developer has doubled down and created two useless apps that are about as intuitive as quantum mechanics. These people can screw up a cup of coffee.
