SheetScope

Turn a sheet-music PDF, photo, or scan into an editable digital score. Drop in a MIDI file and get sheet music the other way round. Recognition runs entirely on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and results export as MusicXML, MIDI, and PDF.

■ Free

· Score recognition — the first page of a PDF, photo, or camera scan, shown on screen to check and edit
· MIDI → score — MIDI files exported from a DAW become sheet music, with no bar limit
· Editing — select notes, move them up or down, fix accidentals, listen
· Add and delete notes, change durations, swap rests and notes, set repeats and 1st/2nd endings by hand
· Playback — hear the recognised score right away

■ Pro (one-time lifetime purchase, not a subscription)

· Recognise every page of a document
· Export — MusicXML (opens in MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale and others), MIDI, PDF

■ What it reads

· Lead sheets and single-line melodies with chord symbols
· Piano grand staff
· SATB choir systems
· Drum notation
· Key and time signatures, ties, slurs, triplets, chord symbols
· Repeat barlines (1st/2nd endings are only partly read — treat them as a guide; missed endings can be entered by hand in the editor. D.C. and coda are not read)

■ About accuracy — please read before buying

Measured against scores with known answers (our own tests, September 2026).
· Clean printed lead sheets: notes (pitch and duration) 90-99%. Dense sixteenth-note songs around 80%
· SATB choir: about 93%
· Piano: simple pieces 95%+, complex pieces around 80% — treat as a guide
· Drums: hi-hat and snare nearly exact; kick drum misses about half the hits in busy bars — treat as a guide
· Ties about 87%, slurs about 60%
· Photos: straight, well-lit photos match PDF results; tilted or blurry photos drop sharply
· Handwritten and tablature scores are not supported
· MIDI → score: quantised MIDI is exact. Piano with up to two voices is accurate; three or more voices and performed (unquantised) MIDI are a guide only

Automatic recognition is a first draft. The app is built for checking and correcting in the editor, and it removes most of the time you would spend entering notes by hand. Try your own scores in the free tier before you decide.

■ No internet needed

Recognition, editing, and export all happen on your device. Score images are never uploaded. No account, no ads.

■ Copyright

Convert only scores you own the rights to, public-domain scores, or scores you have permission to use. The app is made for personal study and practice and has no sharing or upload features.

■ Made for

· Players and arrangers moving paper scores into editable files
· Producers turning lead sheets into MIDI for a DAW
· Choir directors and singers making part-practice audio
· Composers tidying MIDI sketches into notation