Comparison

Music Drawing Notation vs Staventabs

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Music Drawing Notation

Easily compose music on a staff using your finger. Add notes, chords, rests, sharps, and flats. Save your creations and export them as MIDI or MP3 files via email.

Highlights
  • Draw notes on music staff
  • Move and edit notes
  • Change note duration
  • Add sharps, flats, and chords
  • Save and archive compositions
  • Export as MIDI or MP3
Features
Read full description

The Music Drawing Notation by Virtual Sheet Music has been specifically designed to write music by putting notes on a music staff, the easiest way. Any musician will be easily able to put down melodies "on the go" ad share it via email as MIDI or Mp3 files. You can write music by simply using your finger to put notes on the music staff, move notes around, change the notes' pitches by just moving them up and down, and modify their duration by selecting the corresponding value button. Rests may also be added, as well as sharps and flats. You can also write note chords by adding notes one over another. At any time, you can play, pause, and save the music you created into an archives section of the application, which allows you to retrieve previously saved songs. At any time, you can send or export your created music as a MIDI or Mp3 file via email. About Virtual Sheet Music: Virtual Sheet Music® offers the highest-quality digital sheet music with MIDI and Mp3 audio files to download and enjoy instantly. Many of the Virtual Sheet Music items also include Mp3 music accompaniment files, which allow you to play along with your computer, iPhone, or iPod (over 80,000 files). Get more info on the Virtual Sheet Music® website at: http://www.virtualsheetmusic.com For Feedback and Questions: support@virtualsheetmusic.com Enjoy learning, playing, and composing great music!

About

Staventabs

Compose and edit musical scores and tablature with a user-friendly interface. Create new pieces from scratch or templates, input notes intuitively, and enhance your compositions with advanced editing tools. Practice your songs with playback and metronome features, and manage your projects seamlessly.

Highlights
  • Score and tablature editing
  • Intuitive note input
  • Virtual piano and fingerboard
  • Instrument previews
  • Playback and metronome
  • AI-powered scale suggestions
  • MIDI and MusicXML import/export
Features
Read full description

A simple notation and tab editor, Staventabs could become your indispensable helper in music creation. Use smart and convenient tools of Staventabs for composing and improving scores on your iPad or iPhone. Get inspired by viewing majestic classics scores or practicing good old jazz. Easily edit sheet music and tablature with user friendly interface like never before. Share musical inspiration with your band using Staventabs files. Create music • Start your new score from the scratch or with one of the two dozen templates² • Enter notes with intuitive instrument-independent interface or virtual Piano Keyboard • Explore and edit your score with sophisticated Piano Roll and Drums Editor • Choose from 22 groups of the instruments (keyboards, guitars, strings, drums, percussions, etc.)² listening their preview fragments • Use context-sensitive selection for bars, chords and tracks • Modify notes with dots, tuplets and ties • Make your music alive with lyrics • Customize clefs, key signatures and time signatures for bars • Change dynamics • Switch between enharmonic equivalents of the notes • Use customizable voices • Setup tunings with the large value of presets • Navigate around the score with Tracks board • Easily copy, paste and remove selected areas • Switch fast between tablature and stave inputs • Edit tabs with easy-to-use numeric keypad or virtual Fingerboard • Input notes by Staff Positions • Set the visibility for instrument parts in the score • Edit title and information about creators • Select and customize horizontal, vertical or page layout for your score • Use Scientific or Helmholtz pitch notation when entering notes • Add repeat signs and volta brackets • Don’t worry about losing data thanks to auto-saving • Connect your MIDI devices to Staventabs Practice your songs • Play the whole composition or selected fragment • Customize metronome clicking and countdown • Change track’s audio properties on-the-fly • Loop the playback of the desired part Improve compositions • Mark non-playable objects with "Highlight issues" • Use the "Starred scales" AI to determine the chromatic scales most similar to the selected area • Adjust the semitones of the selected area notes to the chromatic scale • Customize the chromatic scale for adjustment³ • Diminish, augment and subdivide note values • Transpose pitches by semitones Manage projects • Browse your projects with convenient file manager • Store your compositions in iCloud Drive and keep them up-to-date across all your iOS devices • Create new projects and duplicate existing (up to three editable projects in free version)¹ • Listen to preview fragments of the scores directly from the files menu • Open SNT, MIDI, MusicXML, Compressed MusicXML (MXL), Guitar Pro (GPX, GP5, GP4, GP3) and Karaoke (KAR) files • Edit MIDI, MusicXML, MXL, Guitar Pro and Karaoke files¹ • Organize your files from a desktop computer using iTunes or iCloud Drive • Open files from Mail and other applications (Dropbox, Box, etc.) • Convert files between supported formats¹ Share your brand-new hits with friends • Email your scores and tabs right from Staventabs • Print your score¹ • Export to PDF and MPEG-4 AAC¹ Features marked with superscript numbers are available via the corresponding in-app purchases: ¹ Unlimited Projects ² Additional Instruments ³ Advanced Composing

Screenshots

Music Drawing Notation4 screens
Staventabs4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Music Drawing Notation at none against Staventabs's 3. Music Drawing Notation also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.4). Staventabs's advantage is review sentiment (65% vs 31%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 11 months). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Staventabs sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Music Drawing Notation asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Music Drawing Notation ships an update every 11 months, Staventabs every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Music Drawing Notation versus Staventabs: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMusic Drawing NotationStaventabs
PriceFreeFree
Rating—3.8 (70 ratings) — better
Positive reviews31.4% of reviews64.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—70 — better
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB121 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperVirtual Sheet Music LLCIvan Korovin

Customer experience

Music Drawing Notation

Written reviews51 reviews
Positive31.4%
Neutral13.7%
Negative54.9%

Staventabs

All ratings70 ratings
Positive65.7%
Neutral11.4%
Negative22.9%
Written reviews227 reviews
Positive64.8%
Neutral12.3%
Negative22.9%

Bugs and requests

Music Drawing Notation

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Staventabs

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Imported MIDI files lose instrument assignments
  • Disappearing projects after updates
  • Inability to adjust note lengths in piano roll
  • Metronome not audible over instrument playback

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for grace notes and ornaments
  • Implement repeat/coda symbols
  • Allow custom font and layout options
  • Integrate MIDI input and output
  • Improve chord recognition accuracy

In-app purchases

None

Music Drawing Notation

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Staventabs

One-time3
  • Advanced composing$9.99
  • Unlimited projects$10.99
  • Additional instruments$10.99

Questions

Is Music Drawing Notation free?
Music Drawing Notation is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Staventabs free?
Staventabs is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Music Drawing Notation or Staventabs have ads?
Neither Music Drawing Notation nor Staventabs shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Music Drawing Notation or Staventabs?
Music Drawing Notation ships an update every 11 months, and Staventabs every 3 weeks. Most recently, Music Drawing Notation was updated on September 19, 2026 and Staventabs on September 13, 2026.

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