Notion: Music Notation & Tab

With over 15 years in the App Store, Notion is a free, award-winning music composition tool for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and more! You’ll effortlessly create dynamic compositions in traditional musical notation or guitar tablature with its intuitive touch-based interface and incredibly broad editing capabilities.

With a user-friendly interface and simple interactive piano keyboard, fretboard, drum pad, and even optional Handwriting Recognition, Notion makes it easy to get started composing your music. You can also hear your music performed with the most realistic playback possible, using real audio samples recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios.

Notion is a native cross-platform app, meaning you can write anywhere on any device without requiring a constant Internet connection. And when you’re back online, you’ll be able to sync your work across multiple devices through your preferred cloud provider. Start your work on one device and finish it on another. Once you are happy with your creation you can share the Notion file, or export as MIDI, MusicXML, PDF or as an audio file. You can even optionally transmit scores across a network with other instances of Notion, or between Notion and the Fender Studio Pro DAW.

Compose, edit, and play back your music performed with real piano and orchestral samples recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios — along with outstanding sampled guitar, bass, drums and other popular instruments. And when you’re ready for more sounds, you’ll find the extensive library of Notion Add-on Soundsets to purchase as part of the Feature Bundle. To save space, the initial app download contains just piano — you can then manage which of the bundled Soundsets to have on your device or keep in the cloud, just tap on Sound Installation.

Notion has been featured in various Apple campaigns including the Apple YourVerse television commercials, and has won several awards including a prestigious music industry NAMM TEC Award for Best Smartphone/Tablet App.

What you get:

Notion includes unlimited staves, comprehensive editing features and core orchestral and rhythm section Soundsets — all for free. You can optionally register (also for free!) to unlock an additional Soundset (containing Solo Strings, Classical Saxophones and Glockenspiel), and the multivoice function that allows writing in up to 4 voices per staff. Then for the full experience, either sign in with your Fender Studio Pro+ membership or purchase the Notion Feature Bundle. This unlocks Handwriting Recognition, Layout Controls, all the Expansion Soundsets (including many auxiliary instruments and additional articulations and effects), additional audio export formats (m4a, OPUS, FLAC), and direct score transfer with Notion and Fender Studio Pro running on the same network.

Free:

Unlimited staves

All editing features

Core Soundsets

Export as MusicXML, Compressed MusicXML, MIDI, PDF, wav, mp3

Welcome Pack (register for free):

Soundset including Solo Strings, Glockenspiel, Classical Saxophones

Additionally write for voices 3 and 4 in a single staff

Feature Bundle (in-app purchase or sign in with Fender Studio Pro+):

Handwriting Recognition, powered by MyScript

Available on iPhone, iPad and macOS (macOS with supporting graphics tablet or using Sidecar with compatible iPad)

Automatic pen vs. finger recognition to switch between handwriting and edit mode

Pressure-sensitive support for Apple Pencil

Adjustable timer for Handwriting Recognition

Override handwriting timer by double tapping Apple Pencil (2nd Gen)

Layout Control

All Expansion Soundsets

Additional audio export formats (m4a, OPUS, FLAC)

Transmit scores across a network with other instances of Notion, or between Notion and Fender Studio Pro