Drum Notation by Beat Note vs Snacks Tuner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Drum Notation by Beat Note
Quickly create, hear, and share drum notation. Ideal for drummers, teachers, and content creators, it transforms ideas into professional scores and shareable videos. Organize your beats with tags and discover new exercises.
- Real-time notation generation
- Audio playback at any tempo
- Export to PDF, MP4, PNG, WAV
- Organize beats with tags
- Create animated notation videos
- In-ear metronome functionality
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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
Snacks Tuner
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Snacks Tuner is a free tuner that opens straight to the needle. No ads, no account, no subscription, and nothing tracked. Play a note and it shows what it hears, how many cents off you are, and whether to go up or down. A strobe strip catches the smallest drift, and each string turns green when it lands. What's in it • Guitar, bass, ukulele, banjo and mandolin, plus violin, viola, cello and double bass • Resonator guitar, cavaquinho, mandola, octave mandolin, bouzouki and balalaika • Trumpet, clarinet, alto and tenor sax and French horn show the written note, the one you read. Trombone and flute show concert pitch. • A chromatic mode for anything else • Search every instrument and tuning, with the ones you've used lately on top • Alternate tunings: drop D, half and whole step down, drop C, DADGAD, open G, D and E, baritone, 7 and 8 string guitar, 5 and 6 string bass, double C and sawmill banjo, and fiddle cross tunings • Artist tunings, found by player or band: the setups 19 well-known guitarists actually use, plus C standard, open C and drop B • Sweetened tunings, including James Taylor's published offsets and "sweet thirds" • Reference pitch from 415 to 466 Hz, with sharps or flats • Tap a string to lock it, so a low string can't jump an octave • Reference tones, so you can hear the note you're aiming for • A little buzz when a string lands • Flip the display for a phone on a music stand. The screen stays awake while you tune. Intonate Intonate checks your guitar's setup. Play the open string, then the same string at the 12th fret. It tells you how far sharp or flat the 12th is, which way to move the saddle, and how far, in mm and the nearest 64th of an inch. Private by design The microphone is only on while the tuner is running. The sound is analysed on your phone and never recorded or sent anywhere. There are no accounts, ads, analytics or crash reports, and the app doesn't talk to a server at all. It works offline. Why it's free Snacks is a design studio. Snacks Labs is where our designers build real software and put it out in the open. Most free tuners are a sales funnel, with chromatic mode behind a subscription and an ad between strings. A tuner is a basic tool, so we built a good one and gave it away. It's also on the web at tuner.snacks.design.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Snacks Tuner at none against Drum Notation by Beat Note's 5. Snacks Tuner also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 6 days). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Snacks Tuner asks for nothing beyond the download.
Drum Notation by Beat Note ships an update every 6 days, Snacks Tuner every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Drum Notation by Beat Note | Snacks Tuner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (88 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 83.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 88 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 84 MB | 32 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kick Snare Hat Apps, LLC | Snacks Design |
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
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- 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
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- 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
Snacks Tuner
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
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- Educator Tier Annual + Free Trial7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Creator Tier Annual + Free Trial7 Days trial$119.991 Year
Snacks Tuner
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Drum Notation by Beat Note free?
Is Snacks Tuner free?
Do Drum Notation by Beat Note or Snacks Tuner have ads?
Which is updated more often, Drum Notation by Beat Note or Snacks Tuner?
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