Touch Notation vs URL Beamer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Touch Notation
Create musical scores with intuitive touch gestures. Draw notes, add expressions, and play back your compositions with 30 instrument voices. Export your work in various formats.
- Handwritten notation input
- 30 built-in instrument voices
- Tempo and dynamics control
- Page layout functions
- Transpose feature
- Multiple export formats (PDF, SMF, MusicXML)
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Touch Notation is a powerful musical score creation app that allows anyone to enjoy writing music using touch gestures. In Japan, Touch Notation was selected as one of the ‘App Store Best of 2014’ apps, and held the No.1 spot in the iPad Paid App index for music apps for over two weeks. Up until now, musical score creation software has relied upon dragging individual notes from a palette onto staves. By contrast, Touch Notation allows musicians to draw directly onto the score using a finger or touch pen, and have their work immediately appear as beautifully written notation, then played back using the app’s 30 built-in instrument voices. - A wide-range of functions accessible from a cleanly designed, intuitive user interface. - Ability to enter musical expressions for adjusting tempo and dynamics. - Layout functions such as page breaks. - Convenient transpose feature for raising/lowering the pitch of the entire score. - Output scores using Air Print, or save to Dropbox in PDF, SMF, MusicXML, and ScoreMaker formats. Touch Notation allows the following musical symbols to be entered by hand: - Note, Rest (including dotted and double-dotted), Long Rest, Beam, Tuplet (Triplet) - Grace Note - Accidental, Tie, Slur - Accent, Staccato, Tenuto, Fermata - Trill, sfz, Arpeggio, Pedal, Senza - Metronome symbol - Crescendo, Decrescendo - Dynamics symbols (ppp~fff) - Octave symbol - Repeat brackets - Repeat marks (D.C./Fine/D.S./Segno/Coda/to Coda) - Clefs (Treble Clef/Bass Clef/C Clef/Percussion Clef) - Key signature - Time signature - Bar lines (repeat marks) - Abbreviation Lyrics and other musical expressions (‘Dolce’, ‘Tranquillo’, etc.) can be added using text input, while comments and memos can also be written freehand directly onto the score. * Drum notation is supported, but other types such as rhythm notation and tab notation are not supported. * Older devices may experience stuttering when playing complicated scores with many simultaneous notes.
URL Beamer
This utility plugin allows you to launch other applications from within your audio host using tappable buttons. It's ideal for quick app switching during live performances or studio workflows, with optional MIDI note output for controlling other plugins or host functions.
- AUv3 plugin formats (Effect/Instrument)
- Customizable buttons for app launching
- Optional MIDI note output
- MIDI note input for button triggering
- File Manager for settings
- AUv3 Plugin State Saving
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URL Beamer is an AUv3 plugin for iOS that launches other apps from within your audio host. It provides tappable buttons that trigger custom URL schemes – ideal for quick app switching during live performance or studio workflow. You can insert it as either an Audio Effect or an Instrument in hosts like AUM, then launch external apps with a single tap. Optionally, each button can also send a MIDI note (on a chosen channel), letting you control other plugins or trigger global functions inside the host. Features • AUv3 plugin formats: Music Effect (aumf), Instrument (aumu) • 4 or 8 customizable buttons per instance • Buttons launch apps via custom URLs or universal links • Optional MIDI Note output (Note + Channel) • Basic MIDI Note input for button triggering • Minimal layout – fits tightly into your setup • File Manager for saving and loading settings • AUv3 Plugin State Saving + AU Presets • Parameter Mapping for remote MIDI control • Designed for AUM – works in other AUv3 hosts too Use it to switch apps, load presets, or control devices – all from a tiny plugin window. Note: URL Beamer does not play sound or process audio. It is a utility plugin intended for workflow enhancements in iOS audio environments. → For a complete description, see the documentation: https://novotny.klingt.org/Apps/URLBeamer/UserGuide
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: URL Beamer at Free against Touch Notation's $9.99. URL Beamer also leads on rating (4.4 vs 2.9) and in-app purchases (none vs 10). Touch Notation's advantage is ratings volume (21 vs 7) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15). On update cadence, 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
URL Beamer is free to download; Touch Notation costs $9.99 up front. Touch Notation sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. URL Beamer asks for nothing beyond the download.
URL Beamer holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 21 and 7 respectively.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Touch Notation | URL Beamer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 2.9 (21 ratings) | 4.4 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 44.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 21 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 15 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 112 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | Josef Novotny |
Customer experience
Touch Notation
URL Beamer
In-app purchases
Touch Notation
- Sound Set: Piano$0.49
- Sound Set: Guitar/Bass 1$0.49
- Sound Set: Strings$0.49
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- Sound Set: Brass/Woodwind$0.49
- Sound Set: Bell/Mallet$0.49
- Sound Set: Vocal/Others$0.49
- Core MIDI Output$1.99
- Handwritten Font$1.99
- Sound Set: Full$2.99
- Chord Name & Automatic Accompaniment$3.99
URL Beamer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Touch Notation free?
Is URL Beamer free?
Which has better reviews, Touch Notation or URL Beamer?
Do Touch Notation or URL Beamer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Touch Notation or URL Beamer?
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