Comparison

ScoreCloud Express vs Melody Scanner

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

Head to head
About

ScoreCloud Express

Transform melodies played, sung, or whistled into standard music notation instantly. Edit your scores, change playback sounds, and share your creations. Synchronize with desktop software for further arrangement and editing.

Highlights
  • Monophonic melody to notation conversion
  • Score editing and playback sound change
  • Cloud storage and synchronization
  • Supports various instruments and styles
  • Share via email, Twitter, Facebook
  • Intelligent audio analysis
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Straight from musical idea to music notation - wherever you are! • EuroBest 2013 Gold winner for best user experience (UX) • Cannes Lions Gold winner 2013 "Media, Entertainment & Leisure" • Cannes Lions Silver medalist 2013 "Other Technology for Mobile" With this app you can: • Play, sing or whistle any monophonic melody and instantly turn it into music notation. • Edit score and change playback sound. • Share results with your friends and synchronize it with ScoreCloud Studio on your computer in order to arrange or edit it further. Features: • Displays your monophonic input in standard notation. • Intelligent interpretation of pitch, time signature, rhythm & meter, and tempo directly from monophonic audio input. • In-App and cloud-based storage of your songs. • Works with a wide range of musical instruments. • Playback with a number of different sounds or the original recording. • Designed for recording also in noisy environments. • No limitations with regards to musical style – ScoreCloud Express can track composite meters, syncopation, free rhythm etc. • Share your song with your friends by email, Twitter or Facebook (iOS 6 or higher) for anyone to view and listen to in a web browser. • Synchronize your songs with ScoreCloud Studio on your computer in order to edit and arrange them. ScoreCloud Express requires a free account and an Internet connection, since the analysis of your recordings is performed in the cloud.

About

Melody Scanner

Convert audio recordings and YouTube videos into musical scores. View transcriptions as classical scores, piano rolls, or guitar tabs, and play them back. Download your creations in various formats or share them with friends.

Highlights
  • Transcribe audio to sheet music
  • Support for piano, flute, violin, and guitar
  • Multiple transcription views (score, piano roll, tab)
  • Playback functionality
  • Download sheet music (PDF, MIDI, MusicXML)
  • Share compositions
  • Desktop version synchronization
Read full description

Transcribe piano music recordings to scores and edit them online. SUPPORTED INSTRUMENTS: Piano, Flute, Violin (beta), Accoustic Guitar (beta) Currently only solo instruments are supported, no bands or orchestras. FUNCTIONS » Transcribe YouTube song covers, microphone recordings and audio files to sheet music » View the transcribed music as classical score, piano roll or guitar tab » Playback the sheet music and listen to the result » Download sheet as PDF, MIDI, or MusicXML » Share your compositions with your friends » Synchronize with the desktop version 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 transcription results! » Live note recognition: This app is not able to show you live note 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 played notes and there will also be wrong detections. But depending on the quality of the input signal, it will give you useful suggests! WHY DO I NEED AN ACCOUNT? You create an account to ensure that only you can access your created sheet music! A lot of computing power is necessary to generate the scores from the audio, so it needs to run on a powerful server in the cloud. Also, you can access your sheets from the desktop version, too, by signing in using the same account. FREE AND PREMIUM » Transcribing audio to sheet music is a computation expensive process and needs to be run on a powerful server in the cloud. Your PREMIUM purchase supports us paying our checks and developing new features for the app. » The FREE version of this app covers Microphone and YouTube transcriptions. Uploading your own files is a PREMIUM feature. » In the FREE version sheets are limited to 40 bars (about 2 minutes). Upgrading to PREMIUM will unlock the full sheet. » PREMIUM subscriptions can be cancelled at any time and you will continue to use PREMIUM features until the end of the subscription period. » All with PREMIUM transcribed songs will stay unlocked forever. REQUIREMENTS » Internet: active internet connection for server connectivity » Microphone (optional) DESKTOP VERSION » There is a desktop version of this app available, which you can access in your browser. » The desktop version covers even more features like editing your sheets, since there is more space available on a bigger screen » You can login with the same account and synchronize your scores between multiple devices Give music your personal note! SUMMARY Transcribe music recordings from YouTube, MP3 or microphone to sheet music and edit them online. With the Melody Scanner App you can create on-the-go recordings of your instrument. Those are uploaded to your personal cloud songbook and transcribed to score. You can record your instrument, import YouTube videos or upload MP3 files. It has never been so easy to create sheet music! 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@melodyscanner.com This app is actively developed and there are updates on a regular base The Apple Terms of Use apply: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

ScoreCloud Express4 screens
Melody Scanner4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Melody Scanner at Free against ScoreCloud Express's $2.99. Melody Scanner also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months). ScoreCloud Express's advantage is rating (2.0 vs 1.7) and chart position (#197 vs unranked). On review sentiment, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Melody Scanner is free to download; ScoreCloud Express costs $2.99 up front. ScoreCloud Express sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Melody Scanner sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ScoreCloud Express holds the better App Store score, 2.0 against 1.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ScoreCloud Express has 256 ratings behind it against 35, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 25% of ScoreCloud Express's written reviews are positive against 28% of Melody Scanner's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ScoreCloud Express ships an update every 4 months, Melody Scanner fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
ScoreCloud Express versus Melody Scanner: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScoreCloud ExpressMelody Scanner
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating2.0 (256 ratings) — better1.7 (35 ratings)
Positive reviews25.3% of reviews27.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings256 — better35
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#197 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS6.0 — better13.4
Further details — not scored
Size37 MB27 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDoReMIR Music Research ABKlangio GmbH

Customer experience

ScoreCloud Express

All ratings256 ratings
Positive22.7%
Neutral3.5%
Negative73.8%
Written reviews517 reviews
Positive25.3%
Neutral6.4%
Negative68.3%

Melody Scanner

All ratings35 ratings
Positive11.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative85.7%
Written reviews69 reviews
Positive27.5%
Neutral2.9%
Negative69.6%

Bugs and requests

ScoreCloud Express

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Melody Scanner

Reported bugs

20 issues
  • Upload function not working
  • App doesn't recognize stave lines/notation
  • App gives too many notes at once or notes octaves apart
  • Errors when generating sheet music
  • Premium features not unlocked after payment
Show 15 more
  • No sound from transcriptions
  • App jams on recording
  • White screen when uploading from YouTube
  • Cannot log back in after first use
  • Transcription errors
  • App doesn't detect volume/sound
  • Cannot open YouTube to transpose
  • Transcription not accurate
  • App doesn't work after payment
  • Record function jams
  • Errors prevent music creation
  • Doesn't transcribe music correctly
  • Doesn't work at all
  • App doesn't recognize simple melodies
  • Audio quality is lousy and scratchy

Requested features

10 requests
  • Single instrument mode on app
  • Full song transcription (not just 1 min)
  • Ability to export full transcriptions
  • More accurate transcription for complex music
  • Improved MIDI playback accuracy
Show 5 more
  • Ability to add YouTube songs
  • More instrument options (e.g., drums)
  • Better sound quality for transcriptions
  • Full song playback without blocking
  • Option for one-time purchase instead of subscription

In-app purchases

1 purchases

ScoreCloud Express

One-time1
  • month of PLUS$4.99
2 purchases

Melody Scanner

Subscriptions2
  • Melody Scanner Premium Monthly$5.991 Month
  • Melody Scanner Premium Yearly$44.991 Year

Questions

Is ScoreCloud Express free?
ScoreCloud Express costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Melody Scanner free?
Melody Scanner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ScoreCloud Express or Melody Scanner?
ScoreCloud Express is rated higher. ScoreCloud Express averages 2.0 out of 5 from 256 ratings, while Melody Scanner averages 1.7 from 35 ratings.
Do ScoreCloud Express or Melody Scanner have ads?
Neither ScoreCloud Express nor Melody Scanner shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ScoreCloud Express or Melody Scanner?
ScoreCloud Express ships an update every 4 months, and Melody Scanner fortnightly. Most recently, ScoreCloud Express was updated on September 29, 2026 and Melody Scanner on September 28, 2026.

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