How it works
- Photograph the pages. One page per photo, up to 6 photos per score. JPEG, PNG and iPhone HEIC photos are all fine.
- Upload them. Sign in with Google and choose the photos. The bard straightens each page and reads the notes, and you watch the pages finish one by one.
- Listen, then download. The result plays back next to your photo, so you can check it. Then download the MIDI for the whole piece or for each part.
Works on phone photos, not just clean PDFs
A photo is harder to read than a PDF: the page is tilted, the lines bend near the spine, the light is uneven. tunebard finds the page in the picture, straightens it and evens out curved staff lines before reading a note, so an ordinary photo of a book or a loose part is a normal input. If a photo is blurry, too small or has a corner cut off, it tells you which page and why, so you only retake that one.
Tips for a good photo
- Get the whole page in the frame, all four corners.
- Lay the page flat and hold the phone straight above it. A gentle curve near the spine is fine; a fold across the music isn't.
- Use good, even light and keep your own shadow off the page.
- Go close enough that the notes are sharp when you zoom in, and tap to focus.
What you get
A MIDI file for the whole score, one MIDI file per part, and a MusicXML file for MuseScore, Dorico, Sibelius or Finale. Printed tempo marks go into the MIDI where we can read them. With several instruments, each part gets an instrument guess that you can change before downloading.
Limits
tunebard reads printed music in standard notation. Handwritten music, guitar tablature and drum parts aren't supported, and a very dark or blurry photo will lose notes. You always see the whole result before you download, so you know what you're getting.
Questions
Can I photograph a page from a book?
Yes. Hold the book open and photograph one page at a time. A gentle curve near the spine gets straightened out.
My score has more than 6 pages. What now?
Upload it in several scores of up to 6 photos each, or scan it into one PDF of up to 10 pages (PDF to MIDI works the same way).
Will the MIDI keep the right instruments?
Each part gets a guess from the name printed beside its staff (Violin, Clarinet in B♭) or from its clef and range. Change any guess before you download; the MIDI uses your choice, at the right pitch.
Is my photo kept private?
Your uploads and results are visible only in your account. The privacy policy explains how long we keep them and how to have them deleted.
Which phones work?
Any phone with a camera and a modern browser. On an iPhone, HEIC photos are accepted as they are.