The topic of automatic transcription of music recordings into sheet music is indeed complex and fascinating. First of all, it must be said that there is still no perfect AI software for the automatic transcription of music recordings into sheet music. Since music can be very complex and different depending on genre and instrumentation, it is difficult to find a jack-of-all-trades that turns every recording into perfect sheet music. Nevertheless, AI-supported transcription can be a quick and efficient solution for one or two tasks when transferring audio data into sheet music.

Challenges of AI-generated transcription

It is important to note that it makes a big difference whether you want to create a transcription of a melody that you have sung or played yourself or whether you are trying to transcribe a complete recording of a song with many instruments and sounds. The latter is much more complex and so far there is no software that can do this perfectly. In such cases, automatic recognition often only serves as a quick introduction to transcription, and you have to further refine the results in the notation software of your choice. This shows the advantage of human flexibility and creativity, which AI systems are not yet able to fully replicate.

Proven transcription software for musicians

If you are reasonably familiar with notation and would like to transcribe music yourself, there are some sophisticated transcription programs that offer a good basis. These include specialized providers such as Melodyne, Transcribe! or AnthemScore. These programs can achieve very good and fast results. These programs are particularly useful if you want to transcribe a melody quickly and need an output file for a music notation program.

Extensions and plug-ins for music notation programs

Another option is to use extensions or plug-ins for well-known music notation programs. These include AudioScore from Sibelius or audio2score from Capella, which enable a seamless transition between transcription and arrangement. According to the manufacturer, Capella works with artificial intelligence to improve the results of the transcription. However, as music is complex, it is advisable to test the software thoroughly for your own purposes. It may be that a software delivers good results for a certain instrument and genre, but not for other genres and instruments. The only way to find out is to test it yourself.

Manual adjustment for optimum results

All of these tools are particularly useful for musicians who want to create their own sheet music and need a basis for their notation. These tools can significantly speed up the process of creating sheet music. Nevertheless, it is often necessary to check and adjust the results manually to achieve the best possible quality. The combination of AI-assisted transcription and human proofreading can unite the strengths of both approaches and take music production to a new level.
If you don't want to deal with music notation and the associated topics such as editing and arranging yourself, we offer you an uncomplicated full service for all these topics.