Drum Notation by Beat Note vs Drum2Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Drum Notation by Beat Note
Create, practice, and share drum music notation with ease. This app transforms sequenced beats into professional sheet music, offering tools for composition, transcription, and interactive teaching. Enhance your drumming journey with customizable practice sessions and high-quality export options.
- Sequencer to notation conversion
- Compose and transcribe drum beats
- Customizable practice sessions
- Interactive teaching tools
- High-quality PDF and image export
- Multiple notation voicing options
Read full descriptionHide full description
Beat Note — Drum Notation for Drummers, Teachers, and Content Creators The fastest way to write, hear, practice, and share drum notation. Built by a drummer, for drummers. FOR DRUMMERS — FROM YOUR HEAD TO THE PAGE IN SECONDS You have a groove idea. Beat Note gets it down before you lose it. Tap the sequencer grid to build beats. Watch them turn into clean, professional drum notation in real time. Hit play and hear exactly what you wrote — at any tempo, with a click track, on loop. - Transcribe songs to check your ear and lock in what you hear - Compose your own grooves, fills, and exercises from scratch - Count in with a visual on-screen "1, 2, 3, 4" so your eyes and ears are ready together - Use Beat Note as your in-ear metronome during rehearsals — your beats, not just clicks "Been waiting a long time for an app like this. Clearly built by a drummer." — App Store review FOR TEACHERS — WRITE IT, PLAY IT, SEND IT What used to take 30 minutes in a desktop notation program now takes 2 minutes on your phone or iPad. Write exercises on the fly — during the lesson, not after it. Play back the notation so students hear exactly how it should sound. Share a link so they can listen at home. Export a PDF they can print and bring to the kit. - Use the sequencer as a live music whiteboard, in person or online - Build a library of exercises organized by tag, ready for any student - Send a shareable link or export a high-quality PDF in one tap "What would normally take 30 minutes on a computer has become 2 minutes from my mobile device. My students love it." — App Store review FOR CONTENT CREATORS — PROFESSIONAL NOTATION VIDEOS, IN MINUTES Export your beat as an animated MP4 — portrait for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, or landscape for YouTube and Vimeo. Choose 720p, 1080p, or 4K. Pick a color theme. Preview before you export. PDF, PNG, WAV or AAC audio, shareable link, and animated MP4 — all from one app. NOTATION THAT LOOKS RIGHT Professional drum notation, consistent across every format you export. What you see on screen is what your students get in the PDF, what your followers see in the video, and what you hear in playback. - All standard drums, cymbals, and articulations - Subdivisions from 8th notes to 32nd notes, plus triplets, quintuplets (5s), and septuplets (7s) - Common and compound time signatures, including 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8 - Linear, split hands/feet, or split drums/cymbals voicing - Sticking annotations (R, L) - Single-measure repeat symbol (%) — renders automatically when measures repeat ORGANIZE AND DISCOVER - Tags, search, and sort to manage your beat library - Discover tab: curated educational beats for all skill levels - Beat templates to get started fast - Customize tempo, click track, count-in, and timer MADE BY A DRUMMER, SHAPED BY THE COMMUNITY Beat Note was built by me — an independent developer with 35+ years behind the kit. But the direction comes from the community. Every major feature on the roadmap has been voted on, requested, and refined by drummers, teachers, and creators just like you. Join the conversation at roadmap.beat-note.app — vote on upcoming features, share ideas, and see what's coming next. I'm here to make sure it all comes together into something that actually works. Premium subscription required for full access. Educator and Creator tiers available. Free trial included. Payment is charged through your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription auto-renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period via iTunes Account Settings. Terms and Privacy Policy: https://www.beat-note.app/privacy-and-terms
Drum2Notes
Convert drum audio recordings into sheet music using AI. View, play back, and export your transcriptions as PDF, MIDI, or MusicXML files. Share your creations with others.
- Transcribe drum recordings to sheet music
- View transcribed music as drum notation
- Playback music recognition results
- Download sheet as PDF, MIDI, or MusicXML
- Share drum sheets
- AI-powered music recognition
Read full descriptionHide full description
Drum2Notes: Transcribe Drum Recordings to Sheet Music » Transcribe drum recordings to sheet music » View the transcribed music as drum notation » Playback the music recognition and listen to the result » Download sheet as PDF, MIDI, or MusicXML » Share your drum sheet with your friends HOW DOES IT WORK? Once your drum recording is uploaded, our artificial intelligence powered music recognition processes it to generate a score based on what it hears. When the sheet music is finished, you get three outputs - a MIDI file, a PDF engraved sheet music, and a MusicXML digital sheet. MusicXML export is compatible with MuseScore and Sibelius. The MIDI format is compatible with Ableton Live, GarageBand, Logic Pro X, Cubase, and FL Studio. It has never been easier to convert drum pieces to sheet music! WHAT THIS APP DOESN'T OFFER » Separation of multiple instruments: The note recognition can't separate multiple instruments. If you record multiple instruments playing simultaneously, you will get bad sheet music results! As the name suggests, Drum2Notes will work only with drum recordings. » Live music recognition: This app is not able to show you live music recognition results. Instead, it will take some time to perform the frequency analysis and show you the results. » 100% match percentage: This app won't detect 100% of the music recognition and there will also be wrong detections. But depending on the quality of the input signal, it will give you useful suggestions! REQUIREMENTS » Internet: active internet connection for server connectivity » iOS: version 11.0 and up » Microphone DESKTOP VERSION » There is a desktop version of this app available, which you can access in your browser: https://drum2notes.klang.io » The desktop version covers even more features like converting sheet music from YouTube, uploading MP3 files, and downloading as PDF, MIDI, or MusicXML files. Give your music your personal note! SUMMARY Transcribe drum music from your microphone to sheet music. With Drum2Notes, you can create live recordings of your drum performances. Those are uploaded to your personal songbook and transcribed to sheet music. Music recognition for drums has never been so easy! CONTACT US We're always happy to hear from you. No matter what comes to your mind, we want to hear it. Would you like another feature? Does something not work as expected? -> Send us an e-mail at: support@klang.io This app is actively developed and there are updates on a regular basis! The Apple Terms of Use apply: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Drum Notation by Beat Note at every 9 days against Drum2Notes's every 2 months. Drum Notation by Beat Note also leads on review sentiment (83% vs 60%) and ratings volume (83 vs 4). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Drum Notation by Beat Note sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $6.69 per month and Drum2Notes sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Drum Notation by Beat Note against 4.8 for Drum2Notes. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drum Notation by Beat Note has 83 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Drum Notation by Beat Note's written reviews are positive against 60% of Drum2Notes's.
Drum Notation by Beat Note ships an update every 9 days, Drum2Notes every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Drum Notation by Beat Note | Drum2Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (83 ratings) | 4.8 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 60.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 83 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 87 MB | 28 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kick Snare Hat Apps, LLC | Klangio GmbH |
Customer experience
Drum Notation by Beat Note
Drum2Notes
Bugs and requests
Drum Notation by Beat Note
Reported bugs
8 issues- Preview rarely matches notes on staff
- Sometimes doesn't play any notes
- Sounds not always appropriate for instrument voicing
- Editing measures is inconvenient
- Free trial charged immediately
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- iCloud data sync issues for subscription confirmation
- Not stable in loopings, slow delay on first note
- Measure lines on PDFs too thick and close
Requested features
27 requests- 7/8 time signature support
- Syncing between devices
- Web version
- Native Mac/Windows apps
- Add text or notes to notations
Show 22 moreShow fewer
- Cowbell instrument
- More drum samples and pitch control
- Ability to work on spaces longer than a measure
- Add 32nd notes
- Duplicate multiple bars at once
- Copy/paste large sections
- Option to drag duplicated bars to the end
- Add melody track
- More instrument options
- Ability to manage volumes of different instruments
- Add quintuplets and sextuplets to a bar
- Add repetition options for measures
- Add text to music sheets
- Improve loop stability and reduce delay
- Allow monthly subscription option
- More free beats/unlimited free version
- Add sticking for grace notes
- More advanced editing options for multiple bars
- Improve PDF export readability
- Add virtual drum kit for accessibility
- AI-powered automatic notation
- Auto-sync to track
Drum2Notes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Drum Notation by Beat Note
- Educator Tier Monthly (No Trial)$6.691 Month
- Creator Tier Monthly (No Trial)$13.491 Month
- Educator Tier Annual (No Trial)$59.991 Year
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Educator Tier Annual + Free Trial7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Creator Tier Annual + Free Trial7 Days trial$119.991 Year
Drum2Notes
- Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
- Klangio Universe Monthly$24.991 Month
- Pro Yearly$99.991 Year
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Klangio Universe Subscription$249.001 Year
Questions
Is Drum Notation by Beat Note free?
Is Drum2Notes free?
Which has better reviews, Drum Notation by Beat Note or Drum2Notes?
Do Drum Notation by Beat Note or Drum2Notes have ads?
Which is updated more often, Drum Notation by Beat Note or Drum2Notes?
Other comparisons















