what computer program will translate something played on a keyboard to computer to be printed?

November 23, 2009 - 8:33 am 5 Comments

i’m looking for some kind of computer software that i can use with a digital piano where it will translate what i play onto computer and then i can print it out as music. a previous piano teacher had this and I’m trying to find something similar.

It sounds like you’re looking for music notation software. One company with a wide range of programs that cover a full range of needs is Finale (www.finalemusic.com).

The most basic that allows the type of entry you describe is Finale’s Songwriter (http://www.finalemusic.com/songwriter/ ). It costs about $50 and has a 30-day free demo version available for download so you can be sure it does what you want. It will also let you do basic editing. If you want more advanced features, you can upgrade to their other products (their flagship software can do full orchestral scores).

To do this, you need to have a USB port or a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) out port on your keyboard. If your keyboard has MIDI out but not USB, you will need a MIDI interface to connect to your computer through its USB port.

There are a wide range of MIDI interfaces available (M-Audio and Edirol, among others, make simple MIDI interfaces for about $40 that work on Macs or Windows PCs). These can be bought from a variety of vendors, including Musician’s Friend and American Musical Supply, two major web stores.

You’ll be good to go for under $100… (When I started composing 15 years ago, this would have been mind-bogglingly inexpensive.) Hope this helps, happy music making!

5 Responses to “what computer program will translate something played on a keyboard to computer to be printed?”

  1. CA_Chad Says:

    It sounds like you’re looking for music notation software. One company with a wide range of programs that cover a full range of needs is Finale (www.finalemusic.com).

    The most basic that allows the type of entry you describe is Finale’s Songwriter (http://www.finalemusic.com/songwriter/ ). It costs about $50 and has a 30-day free demo version available for download so you can be sure it does what you want. It will also let you do basic editing. If you want more advanced features, you can upgrade to their other products (their flagship software can do full orchestral scores).

    To do this, you need to have a USB port or a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) out port on your keyboard. If your keyboard has MIDI out but not USB, you will need a MIDI interface to connect to your computer through its USB port.

    There are a wide range of MIDI interfaces available (M-Audio and Edirol, among others, make simple MIDI interfaces for about $40 that work on Macs or Windows PCs). These can be bought from a variety of vendors, including Musician’s Friend and American Musical Supply, two major web stores.

    You’ll be good to go for under $100… (When I started composing 15 years ago, this would have been mind-bogglingly inexpensive.) Hope this helps, happy music making!
    References :

  2. ashleighwood40 Says:

    Finale. its proberly the best. it is a bit expensive but it is worth it.
    References :

  3. TR Says:

    If all you want is a transposition to sheet music, go to ebay and find a copy of Cakewalk. It will be even cheaper than Finale (I’ve tried Finale, and the full version seems to me to be hideously clunky–very poor user interface–I wish they’d bring back MusicTime).
    References :

  4. parkermbg Says:

    I’m glad to see many have mentioned finale already,…thats what i use. You can look into sibelius too. It is more expensive than finale-but much more user friendly.
    You need to have midi interface keyboard for the programing to work in both finale & sibelius!
    References :
    arranger/composer

  5. mamianka Says:

    Both Sibelius and Finale will do this for you, among other programs. They are industry standard, so once your work is digitazed, you can reformat it, arrange it, etc. and know that other can open it to assist you, should you aks them Sibelius is far more intuitive to use than Finale, but I use both.
    References :
    MM in Music Theory

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