symphony pro ipad review

Sometime its necessary to correct entry afterwards – and the the confusion starts – its nearly impossible to change the duration of a Note. Output from Symphony Pro presents another set of challenges. That depends on how much one is willing to play around with app. No more Finale updates for me! As of writing this I am still on the fence as to which one will work the best for me. The biggest problem I have is when I want to convert to PDF. Creating your own score is as easy as filling in a few broad detail… It would add new keys in a measure, it would not keep slurs where I put them. The main difference between Notion iOS and all of the other notation apps is that Notion iOS came from Notion. It has a bunch of features I did not expect, which is great. I, and many other users, would probably be very pleased to see a cloud storage feature added to this app. Like what you see? It's tolerable, but not very enjoyable to listen to. The website is also blocked by chrome because of an out of date certificate. It’s nearly impossible to not be able to find the tool you need. Also, exports directly into ForScore. A forward button set at either 8th or 16th etc along with the ability to enter notes using a midi keyboard would also be great. Tapping the standard share icon (square with up arrow) brings up a menu which allows the user to select a format—MusicXML, MIDI, m4a audio, a number of PDF configurations — and a destination. Cannot intuitively get proper clef. Visit Notation Central, the marketplace for music notation technology, Get a newsletter on the first of every month with a digest of the month's news. Required fields are marked *. I have version 5, which is quite mature, I think. (Disclosure: Xenon Labs, the developers of Symphony Pro 5 sent me a complimentary copy of the app and in-app purchase for handwriting recognition, worth $25 combined.). But for composing, Notion iOS is practically identical to Notion for the desktop. Bill from New York's Review of Symphony Pro. I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks, and have found it fantastic. Download Latest SymphonyPro on App Store. My teacher says it’s great that i found a useful tool. There is a default alignment tool but the default alignment positions the lyric in the way of the musical notation. I used Notion for a little bit but it was just too buggy. This blog is independently owned and operated by NYC Music Services, a music preparation service in New York. Just saying…. Considering what's available, this is of very good quality. Another sheet music editor did not work out for me and this one does. However, for an iOS notation app to be a true replacement for one of the major Windows or macOS tools, it needs to support the same level of control over the final output. Learning how to access the multiple tools can be a bit confusing at first but I eventually figured them out after reading the help manual. However once I figures it out the process became smooth and extremely useful. I think Notion iOS even stands up to Staff Pad. Importing from Sibelius is not as thorough - lyrics and numeric notation (I-IV-V-I) did not come over on the file I tried. And the Feedback function crashes the app - when I tried to send these suggestions directly to the app it just quit to the main screen on my iPad. I’ll write good when good is the experience.. but I am apparently in need of an accessory that makes operation easier..so .. good job with the first one.. An ADDITIONAL $15 to enable handwriting? Crashes. Hope it helps. I don’t see this as a weakness; rather, I wanted to make sure that users expectations were clear. Of course, just using Bravura would alleviate that, but I have yet to be convinced, even on the Symphony Pro website, that they aren’t using even a derivative of Opus, even though it says they are using Bravura. Thanks for reading, Michael. Currently I find entering and editing notes seems a little bit easier and more intuitive in Symphony Pro 5. Even then, it seems like the Symphony has a leg up on iPadOS in that it can capture audio and that it’s also self-contained – you don’t need an iPad to tap into the smart pen … Disclosure: Apprview.com is not affiliated in any way including development, production, management, marketing, design, or otherwise with any iOS app. Overall, It's a good app though. Please fix. Admittedly, it is completely unfair to hold a sub-$50 mobile application created by a small startup to the same standards as products created by multi-million-dollar corporate development studios employing teams that represent collective centuries worth of experience. 15 bucks down the drain. Symphony is a secure workflow platform for individuals, teams, and organizations of all sizes seeking to improve their productivity while maintaining data security and regulatory compliance. Otherwise not a bad tool for the price. I ended up purchasing an Apple Pencil and prefer to use the app with that now. It’s better than anything I’ve used .. that is ..the original Notion.. Thanks SP. Every thing is good I like it, but when I put chords it’s stick together. So easy to use and I can compose anywhere on my phone or tablet. I hope the developers will read this. MIDI input works great both as step-time and synchronous recordings. NotateMe and MusicJot also if they’re worth it. I have tried so many different apps for writing music and this has by far been the easiest and most functional app out there. When Staff Pad came out I was unsure if Notion iOS would stay relevant, but they added handwriting recognition in a strip at the bottom of the screen, then they made it full screen, kept improving it and although I haven’t spent time on Staff Pad, from the videos I’ve seen, they seem about the same. I may have underestimated Symphony Pro a bit in my first comment, but I still really like Notion iOS. In an ideal world, I would have an app that could run on my iPad Pro 12.9″, make use of my Apple Pencil to write as I would on paper, and still give me all the control, flexibility, and power of Sibelius, Finale, or Dorico. None of the help files load because their servers certificate is invalid. Please read Apple’s interface guidelines for iPhone X+ phones and IMPLEMENT THEM. Symphony Pro just released an update that added some nice new features. It seems Symphony Pro includes some extra metadata that may need some cleaning up around clef, key signature, and meter changes. Using iTunes for import is a royal pain. $9.99. for lead sheets). It also allows the user to use the Pencil for selecting passages for editing and deleting them (like the Lasso tools in Photoshop). Symphony Pro for your iPad is … So far it has been the best app at importing MusicXML files. Symphony Pro has a particular advantage in its first release: all of the features that we have constructed in past releases can continue to be relied on to help speed your work, now … The learning curve is high only because of all the working modes, from sketching ideas, developing material, to EASY (even fun) detailed/tedious editing tasks. NotateMe is nice because it has Photoscore built in (mixed results). The 12.9” iPad Pro is practically WYSIWYG. The 10.2in screen is a good compromise between the iPad Mini’s 7.9in screen and iPad Air’s 10.9in display, and is compatible with the Apple Keyboard and Apple Pencil for those looking to push the iPad … Once you play with it a bit and figure out how it works, it’s great! Imagine a Finale for iOS that didn’t have all of the dialog boxes but was fully capable of performing note entry and great playback. Seems like they’re moving fast. The midi player sounds are also nice. It’s definitely more to work on. I have used it for years. There’s a whole community waiting to see who’s going to become the king of the iOS Notation hill. Users can download a PDF; but, you’ll have to remember to do that ahead of time. But, I do not like the limitation of just one verse for lyrics. This is a really clever idea for a feature and one that the developers tout proudly. I hope i can use this as fast as i use notion.. Symphony Pro is very intuitive and it allows me to write music quite fast, especially with the Apple Pencil. The app is fairly new and already it blows the competition out of the water. Would benefit from more quick vids. I’ve been comparing Notion iOS and Symphony Pro a lot lately. Greatly Impressed's Review of Symphony Pro. It’s yet another reason to thank the Dorico team for their work and Steinberg for allowing them to release it under a liberal license. Once a user begins digging in to the app, plenty of contextual pop-ups will help guide them through new tools and settings as they toggle each for the first time. Knowing where pages begin and end is crucial to presenting useable materials to performers. If it gets the pitch of a note wrong and you go to fix it, what will it do? Really nice working with the i-pen. Instrument names are user-changeable, but the defaults just look careless. That’s what Notion iOS is like. And I think some of the non-font choices regarding stem length, slur position, and rhythm spacing are greater concerns. We don’t have a side-by-side comparison, but David reviewed Komp when it was first released, I wrote about MusicJot, and of course StaffPad and NotateMe have been well-covered here, along with Kawai Touch Notation. Keeping in mind that this is an app on my iPad, not on a desktop or other computer, this is great. Nothing. Inputting notes singly was really a pain until SP upgraded a version where one can input through A Pencil. (Image credit: Apple) Having jumped from 9.7in to 10.2in in the previous transition, Apple has kept the screen size the same this time. I should be able to write multiple verses. Or how Cubasis is very much like Cubase. Thanks for your thorough review, Phillip. As of now, I have written a few concertos, and it has been really easy to understand and easy to use the in-app Apple Pencil functions. It is very powerful and does all I need it. The Pro uses Apple's A12Z processor, so it's not as new as the A14 Bionic Apple uses in the iPad Air, but it's more than enough to keep you multitasking and getting around iPadOS … I needed something straight forward, with percussion note heads and without an autocorrect type feature. Regrettably, the user is reminded of this every time a formerly paid feature is used, even when the premium features are unlocked. However, as a music teacher, the need for drum set notation and to a lesser extent Tablature for guitar is a must; I was really hoping to see them as per the developers claim to adding them by “Late 2018” for me this is disappointing. People still use this app you know! CONTEXT: I am a (retired) professional musician, (recovering) arts administrator, with a PhD in music theory and finally enjoying arranging and composing on my own terms. Finale has said they’re not going to do iOS right now. I also use the keyboard entry method when arranging for the piano. In general, Symphony Pro’s notation and engraving defaults are very good. I also tried using my 2nd Ipad pro with the same account and the app asked me to repurchase the pencil upgrade. Home screen. This IAP is now offered free in Version 5. But I have discovered a couple of important differences. I have been using this application for over 2 months and have grown very comfortable with it. The Apple Pencil feels a little slidy on the screen, but that’s not your fault, and I’ve mostly gotten used to the feel of it. After reading about it and getting in touch with the developers, I spent a week or two exploring the application on my iPad running iOS 11. Over the last couple of months I have transcribed several songs and saved myself a ton of time and effort by using this app. Plenty of options. (Just recycled an old NanoKeys via the new apple camera/USB 3 connector). Entering notes via Apple Pencil or the built in piano keyboard is quite simple and works well. Notably, Dorico’s import defaults did a lot of heavy lifting to clean up some of the rhythm notation problems (like whole-bar rests) that Symphony Pro created. This app is great! That’s it for now. I have both Finale and Sibelius. If a user wants to apply any kind of house style, there will be lots of tiny taps to change each object individually. I would love to see this aspect improved :) I have a feeling that Presonus keeps Notion iOS on life support just because. time. Symphony Pro is mostly a good “app citizen” on the iOS platform, even going so far as to embrace Split View, allowing users to have a score up side-by-side with another app, like an orchestration reference, sketchpad, or media player. Really a joy to use that way. If you get a chance to get your hands on a new 12.9” iPad Pro, try Notion iOS for a couple of weeks. I was swayed by the purported features but I guess I got had! Lead sheets, drum line charts, film score cues (full orchestra), classical guitar, fairly complex piano pieces (usually move to Finale at some point for that), I can do all of that just like I can do with Finale and Sibelius (not as much functionality of course, but definitely good enough that I have no problems calling it mature and professional). Apple’s new iPad Air is so good, we don’t see many reasons to spend more for a pro tablet. Hope that helped explain a few things. The Accessibility Guide: http://symphonypro.net/manual#b'baccessibilityvoiceover-0‘ It will not keep notation that is put in. Here is some of what he shared: This product and business plan involve different reasons and perspectives: market constraints imposed by the mobile platform prevent from staying competitive given prices typical of software on traditional platforms; in an entirely different view, designing for a touch & stylus interface involves different UX approaches, not to mention software libraries supplied by Apple. Unlike some free apps I’ve used, this one knows basic music theory. So it brought all the desktop features along and added handwriting for the iPad instead of the other way around. I haven’t spent enough time with SP5 yet to give a fair review, but I have run into two problems. It happens a lot that you wrote something with the pencil and then try to scroll the score with the fingers and the app write something you didn’t want. I got exactly that. The tools in Symphony Pro are relatively easy to discover and learn t… I really love this app. The piano is tinny, the cello sounds like a goose with a bad cold, and the violin is an abrasive squeak. For anyone that has used pencil and score paper, you’ll really enjoy this. I’ve never seen a part marked “Second Violin”, and I’ve certainly never seen a Violin 2 part paired with one only labeled “Violin” rather than Violin 1. Couldn’t make the in app purchase of the writing tool for same reason. Ideally, the app would show either another sharp or a courtesy accidental. First thing: I never expected this to replace Finale. I actually asked the devs at Xenon about this while writing my review, and here’s what they said. It is well documented, and includes many shortcuts and hints. 2. I want to spend equal time with each before I upload. Handwriting recognition is pretty good, but not awesome. The Apple Pencil functionality works well but takes practice. All of my work was deleted solely because the storage is all done on the device within the app. The app is better to start with than Sibelius and finale are. I no longer use a MacBook. I do acknowledge exactly that in the review: “Symphony Pro’s namesake professional users will best use the app to augment, rather than replace, any part of their current workflow.”. Laying out pages with gestures and the Apple Pencil could be interesting at some point. This is baffling for an application that presents so many print-focused features, such as parts, page size, margins, staff size, and more. However, some of the individual expressions of Bravura symbols are less elegant here than you might expect in other applications. While many mobile music apps work nicely with MIDI controllers, they tend to be audio synthesizers, not scoring applications. It is relatively easy to learn and great for practicing and sharing files. I also opted for the in-app purchase to let SymphonyPro recognize my handwriting. I waited awhile to finally get a good scoring program. In Symphony Pro, though, I was able to pair my keyboard (an Xkey Air 25-key) directly from within the app. Thanks so much to the developers!! One thing Symphony Pro attempts to do right is its plethora of QWERTY keyboard shortcuts. I understand that even StaffPad, which is surely the touchstone for “handwritten” notation apps, is usually used in conjunction with a more powerful computer notation program. With an Apple Pencil and iPad Pro, you can even write with pressure and thickness, which provides a much more natural feeling and greater accuracy. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. It covers all my needs as a student composer, so that I don’t need to bring my laptop with finale when I’m travelling. This seems like it should be much easier to correct. PRAISES: The functionality vs. price point is insane! The tools in Symphony Pro are relatively easy to discover and learn through experimentation. Easy but powerful. It allows you to compose music for just about any size ensemble, from piano, symphonies, band, lead … I’m glad you pointed this out for other VO users. The only thing causing heartache is the export to m4a. You can either start from scratch or import a MIDI, ABC or … Except for a couple of minor differences, Notion iOS is almost identical to the desktop version, and to have that much power in my iPad Pro which I carry around like a clipboard, to be able to play any chart back, to be able to print parts or formated charts, I found it quite liberating. I invited Philip Lee of Xenon Labs to comment on how he positions Symphony Pro in the context of professional users and powerful desktop scoring applications, and only received his comment after publication. The welcome interface is almost non-existent. Also, the visual resolution is a bit blurry/pixelated, and it just gets worse when a file is exported as PDF. I thought I was paying for an app that would make my music writing easier now I have to pay for the ability to use my Apple Pencil as well, so I went from 15 dollars to 30? That said, it still pales in comparison to some of the fundamental features of the desktop name-brand softwares. Multi-voice support is wonky. I may write a further review as I learn more about the program. Just purchased the app. Help guide needs trimming. For my part I will use it on-the-go for quick ideas or to do entry of scores I will later clean up in Sibelius on my laptop — an app which for all its oddities I have gained a much better appreciation for now. Symphony Pro 5 is just what I was looking for. And to be honest , the handwriting is cool and all on the iPad pro, but not really worth it unless you KNOW fluent music notation going into it. However, I found it a bit too easy to over-fill by accident. Filling empty measures with rest is a step that must be taken manually as well. Its decent but i have had a lottttt of crashes, too many to be excusable. This could include other music apps that can import MIDI files to drive synths, or PDF apps that might be useful in markup (like PDF Expert) or performance (like forScore). For example, the very “natural” stylus input alone is worth the price. The app is fairly new and already it blows the competition out of the water. This app however is amazing! Was somewhat disappointed when, immediately after purchasing, I navigated to the in-app user manual, clicked on "submit feature request", and the app immediately crashed. I had to go back and change things it would change after I put it in. I paid $15 for this app, and it always freezes, glitches and crashes on me. Often, I’ll have one measure on a new page all by itself and it’s very frustrating because I can’t edit it once it’s a PDF. Ok please try and fix this. Handwriting recognition support is available separately via a new in-app purchase for iPad… It’s more fun than playing games. But to stick to Notion iOS, with a 12.9” iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil, (I can also connect a midi keyboard and even my midi guitar for note entry), the feature set is very mature. I’ve been using Notion iOS for about two years now in a professional environment and found that’s it’s certainly powerful enough for daily mobile use, especially on an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil, (it also now has full screen hardwriting recognition). Definitely a step in the right direction, but still lacking in the most important area - initial note entry. So far I would rate it 3 out of 5. I am hoping to see an update that will include the new ipencil double tap function. Great work! I am a (terminally frustrated) Finale owner/user since back when that program was ground-breaking, with heart-stopping innovation and price point. There are a handful of example scores to look at, play back, and edit. I’m writing my first composition and this app will definitely make it easier. However, the Bluetooth MIDI support is notable here. I completely wasted my money, as the [very important] feature to insert notes live doesn't work and is completely useless. You can either start from scratch or import a MIDI, ABC or Symphony … The design throughout is obviously related to all musician’s practical needs, rather than programmer single-mindedness. Other than that, every symbol from Symphony Pro came over accurately. I started a “project” and can’t say stop, go back start over. I’d like to see a summary of the iOS notation market. It’s just causing some frustration and additional time to review that really shouldn’t be necessary. I wish I could get my money back. Triplet tool is extremely glitchy; it has trouble with things like replacing two sixteenths (in 4/4) with three sixteenths — it also automatically bars separate beats together for no apparent reason. Questions and Feature Requests regarding Symphony Pro for iPad Apple iPad (8th-gen, 2020) review: The best iPad value by far. It does exactly what I need it to do and allows for some flexibility as well. My only quibble here is that the shortcut map itself does not use the standard iOS UI for displaying shortcuts, nor does it use the system-standard of long-pressing the Command key to review them. While SP has an impressive range of detailed features, it would offer the most ‘bang’ for its ‘buck’ if it were to improve the way I enter my notes when using a keyboard with my iPad.

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