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Is there an app that will transcribe what I play?

#41
Bass is particularly challenging for audio-MIDI conversion! Playing an octave up (as others have said) is definitely a good idea. With bass, the fundamental is often quite weak and harmonics get mistaken for the fundamental by automatic detection software.

Auto-tune software (like Melodyne, which has been mentioned in this thread) works by tracking the notes of the singer and then working out how off-note they are (and correcting it). Melodyne with a .mid export would be the best thing to use because the software was essentially designed to detect note inputs. A lot of modern DAW software has some kind of built-in auto-tune software but I'm not sure about the MIDI output capabilities of them.

In terms of software to write the notes down, there are plenty of free score editors out there. Finale and Sibelius are the 'standard' but they are expensive. MuseScore is a capable free score editor but it is a little different - but should be able to take a MIDI file as input and transcribe automatically. Always check the transcription after it's been converted...!

On a side-note, auto-tune software was first developed by seismologists looking to analyse earthquake waves. Then they realised there was a much bigger market for music!
 
#43
You could try something like Guitar Pro and enter your notes as tablature and then have it convert it to musical notation.

I had a crazy idea to do that and send it in for a Berklee admissions test and then figured I'd get busted, plus not the way I wanted to get an education, so back to the drawing board.

The cheapest way to get what you want would be to sign up for a course to read music and it shouldn't be too difficult once you grasp how it works.
 
#44
I've been going through this process too. I've gotten to the point, like others have suggested, of just learning to read/write the notes. I do use technology to help me along with pencil and manuscript paper for when the computer isn't around. I use Presonus Notion 5, it is very quick and easy to enter music (it creates the tablature if you want that); it'll export to MIDI if that's a requirement. The trickiest part, for me anyway, is getting the timing right. I'm learning to count-out-loud and, when the timing is too difficult for me (still learning), I use RiffStation to help show the beats so I can better subdivide the bass line.

I don't have a lot of spare time, but it's coming along relatively quickly anyway. The book I'm working through for learning to read is "Read It: No More Excuses" by Rod Goelz. His style works for me. There are others.

Good luck in your quest Chef.
 
#45
Chef said:
transcribe! by seventh string seems to work with recordings, and doesn't seem to have a mic function to record me playing bass and then transcribe that...
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Other than the hit-or-miss SONUUS i2m for "direct recording" of your bass line to MIDI, I don't know of any live transcription software. Transcribe! has been a great tool for me over the years to slow down and increase the pitch of tough-to-hear basslines. It does, as most other slowdowner software, require a recorded file, not a live input. At that, these applications don't write out the score, you're still on your own there.
 
#48
I don't think there is any solution that is going to be great... currently.

The fact is that it is an extremely complex task. One thing if you are playing straight eight notes, your time is impeccable, there are some audio to midi conversion tools available (Melodyne for one). When the rhythmic figures get more complex, tempos get faster, ghost notes and less than perfect articulations make this an impossible task for any software available that I know of. You will actually spend more time correcting the machine interpretation of your lines than if you just transcribed it yourself.

If you transcribe it yourself, you will become a much better reader and transcriber and there are a world of musical benefits to transcribing your lines, other players lines etc.

Possible solution:
If you have a midi transducer on your bass, you could record your lines that way, correct the midi file so it is perfect, midi to score software is readily available. Logic, Sibelius etc
 
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#49
The NotateMe app will be introducing the functionality you are looking for in a future IOS update.

There is also desktop version of the original software by Neuratron that you could also check out, you may need a midi interface for that one.
 
#51
jwr said:
An app that did this would be amazing!! I can't count how many times I'll play a riff I've made up and then gradually forget it the next day. Hahaha.
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I have the exact same problem. Noodleing around, stumble on a neat riff repeat it over and over until I think I have it down only to never be able to recall it a day later.

The only solution I've thought of in the past is to video record my noodle sessions on a digital movie camera. Then I could come back after the fact and replay the video of that part of the session so I can hear and see what notes I was playing and can then transcribe them onto sheet if needed.

But I'm with Chef, it would sure be neat if I could just play back the segment into an iPad or other turnkey solution and have it kick out something useable.
 
#52
GBassNorth said:
But I'm with Chef, it would sure be neat if I could just play back the segment into an iPad or other turnkey solution and have it kick out something useable.
Click to expand...
Problem is that your playing is alive, full of acompanying noises, imperfections (i.e. "feeling"), while notation is simplified and idealised transcription of a "perfect" part. Machine solution could not know what is supposed to be essential, and what is just an added feel or unintended errors. Melodyne can work for simple parts, but complicated bass lines could be a problem.
 
#53
I posted the original link to Scorecloud, which I stumbled upon via google and have no tried (no ipad)

The usual approach to this problem is , as mentioned in other posts:
  1. Record Audio to WAV (or similar)
  2. Convert the WAV to MIDI via any number of software solutions
  3. Convert the MIDI to Notation in finale or similar.
The main flaw happens in step 2-3:
First, as mentioned, sampling and pitch identification on long wav forms (low notes) is problematic.
Second MIDI supports a ludicrous degree of subdivisions, may or may not correctly identify the meter and other things easily identified by ear.

in my experience the conversions you get are unquantized, unreadable garbage: 32nd and 64th note grace notes, illogical bar lines etc.
There is a difference between notating accurately and notating legibly.
The expertise required to correct that kind of flawed notation
Is exactly the expertise required to notate it by hand/ear to begin with.

So I agree with the "Just learn to do it by hand" sentiments.
It really doesn't take that much effort to reach the point where you can jot down lines you come up with.
You can reach that level of skill waaaay before being able to sight read.
 
#55
mambo4 said:
in my experience the conversions you get are unquantized, unreadable garbage: 32nd and 64th note grace notes, illogical bar lines etc.
There is a difference between notating accurately and notating legibly.
The expertise required to correct that kind of flawed notation
Is exactly the expertise required to notate it by hand/ear to begin with.
Click to expand...
Automatic quantization works very well for MIDI when you're working on a single instrument; just one click of a button will fix those unless you need to tweak the tolerance. It's a lot faster to fix the remaining minuscule errors, if you have any, than writing it all by hand, especially if you're working with long tracks. As with all tools, you have to take the process far enough for it to be practical.

mambo4 said:
So I agree with the "Just learn to do it by hand" sentiments.
It really doesn't take that much effort to reach the point where you can jot down lines you come up with.
You can reach that level of skill waaaay before being able to sight read.
Click to expand...
Depends on the material, but if you're just jamming randomly and want to get everything written down, automation is much faster even when you fix some things note-by-note. You need both skills, but I definitely wouldn't overlook modern technology. :p

For my upcoming solo project (basically I'll try to reproduce all sounds of different songs as close to the original as possible with a 10-string bass and a boatload of effects with minimal post-rec-processing), I run full songs with all instruments through Melodyne to get some extremely garbled mess out, then I will use it as a ghost note overlay to write each track by hand. Just having some initial MIDI reference speeds up the writing process when there's 5-15 instruments playing at once.

My full process:
Export to WAV with Audacity (30-60 seconds)
-> Melodyne (poly mode) (1-2 minutes depending on complexity)
-> MIDI to FL Studio (10 seconds)
-> Remove tempo track (30 seconds)
-> Quantize (10 seconds)
-> Write (or, if working with single-instrument audio, be done for the most part)
 
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#57
I usually just use humming and a tuner-app in my phone for diff passages. I got Sonuus a2m audio-to-midi converter. Well it was exiting, and accurate to the point of being too accurate. But it has been gathering dust - I don't need it.


But, to answer the original question, yes, there kind of is:

Invalid Link Removed

That will change your video link or audio upload into chords, and more

Here is a song I am learning atm, just to demo it Invalid Link Removed
 
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