Drum Notation by Beat Note vs Ghost Beat
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
Ghost Beat
This app challenges your internal rhythm by making metronome beats disappear. It helps you maintain tempo by ear and provides a score based on your accuracy. Features include customizable beat patterns, random mutes, and a speed trainer.
- Disappearing beat patterns
- Random beat muting
- Accurate timing score with deviation
- Automatic speed trainer
- Practice tracking and history
- Multiple click sounds and pitch shifting
- Support for various time signatures and subdivisions
Read full descriptionHide full description
A metronome can keep time for you. Ghost Beat helps you learn to keep it yourself. Ghost Beat alternates between audible clicks and silent bars, giving you room to feel the tempo on your own. When the click comes back, you can hear how well you held it. Use it for drum practice, warm-ups, or working through a tricky rhythm. PRACTICE WITH AND WITHOUT THE CLICK Choose your tempo, time signature, subdivisions, and accents. Set how many bars play and how many stay silent, or use Random Mute to make individual beats disappear. Add spoken counts alongside the click and adjust their volumes separately. BUILD A PRACTICE HABIT Set a daily goal and follow your progress through the day. See your recent practice history, streaks, and weekly totals. Optional on-device detection can count your playing even when you don't need the metronome. Detection requires Ghost Beat to be open and active. START HANDS-FREE Use Start on Sound to begin without reaching for the screen. Calibrate microphone sensitivity for your room and playing, and choose whether silence should stop the metronome automatically. MAKE YOUR OWN ROUTINES Chain exercises with their own tempos, ghost patterns, and time signatures. Choose timed or bar-based steps, loop your routine, and save presets for setups you use often. Free tempo ladders help you work toward a target speed. CHECK YOUR TIMING Tap along in Tap Accuracy mode to see how consistently you land on the beat. Timing grades and deviation measurements give you something concrete to work on next time. PICK UP ON ANOTHER DEVICE Optional private iCloud sync keeps your routines, presets, practice history, daily goal, and saved notes together across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. You don't need a separate Ghost Beat account. FREE TO START The free app includes ghost bars, Random Mute, tempo ladders, daily goals, recent practice stats, up to 4 routines with 6 steps each, and 3 presets. GHOST BEAT PRO A one-time in-app purchase unlocks unlimited routines, routine steps, and presets, plus adjustable click pitch, progressive fade, extended practice statistics, and notes for your routines and presets. No subscription. YOUR PLAYING STAYS YOURS Microphone audio is analyzed live on your device. It is never recorded or uploaded. There are no ads. Ghost Beat uses app-session analytics, separate from your practice content. See the privacy policy for details. Questions or feedback? Reach out at support@ghostbeat.cc.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Drum Notation by Beat Note at every 9 days against Ghost Beat's every 3 months. Drum Notation by Beat Note also leads on ratings volume (87 vs 5). Ghost Beat's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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 Ghost Beat sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Ghost Beat holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drum Notation by Beat Note has 87 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Drum Notation by Beat Note's written reviews are positive against 100% of Ghost Beat's.
Drum Notation by Beat Note ships an update every 9 days, Ghost Beat every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Drum Notation by Beat Note | Ghost Beat |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (87 ratings) | 5.0 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 82.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 87 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 89 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kick Snare Hat Apps, LLC | LANCE LAVERNE PEDERSON |
Customer experience
Drum Notation by Beat Note
Ghost Beat
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
Ghost Beat
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
Ghost Beat
- Ghost Beat Pro$4.99
Questions
Is Drum Notation by Beat Note free?
Is Ghost Beat free?
Which has better reviews, Drum Notation by Beat Note or Ghost Beat?
Do Drum Notation by Beat Note or Ghost Beat have ads?
Which is updated more often, Drum Notation by Beat Note or Ghost Beat?
Other comparisons















