Make beautiful music.

StaffPad is an award-winning music composition app, designed for pen and touch, and built for composers. StaffPad lets you write music notation in your own handwriting; record and import audio; edit with the convenience of touch, and hear your composition played back with breathtakingly realistic sounds.


StaffPad Reader is made for musicians. It's a free app that connects to StaffPad, and displays the individual parts of a StaffPad Score, in realtime, across multiple devices. Any changes made to the score in StaffPad update instantly on every connected Reader. Annotations and playback work in perfect sync - all you need is a simple Wi-Fi connection.


Together, they form an extremely elegant, intuitive and powerful platform for composition and live performance.

Handwriting Recognition

StaffPad's unique algorithms convert your handwritten notation into a beautifully typeset score. It'll even help you by automatically correcting your stem directions, adding courtesy accidentals and highlighting when there's too many, or too few, beats in the bar. 

Audio Staffs

Work seamlessly with audio and notation by recording or importing audio directly onto your score canvas. Edit with intuitive pen gestures; apply unique DSP effects; easily tempo map free-time audio; and let Adaptive Audio automatically keep everything in the right time and key for you.


Audio and notation live together on your score in perfect harmony.

Use your Pencil (or pen) to adjust hairpins, add articulations and symbols, select and move notes around,  copy/paste, flip stems, lengthen or shorten durations, transpose and much more -- all with just your pen and fingers.

Using your Apple Pencil, or digital pen, you can  add a wide range of musical symbols into the score, with an intuitive flick to change the direction or type. For example, flick your pen up for an up-bow, or (you guessed it) down for a down-bow.

StaffPad can generate realtime chord symbols for you at the flip of a switch. A dedicated Chord Staff allows for quick entry of chord symbols, or can generate chord symbols automatically from the harmonic content of the score.

Written dynamics are interpreted into a smart expression layer, which results in more realistic playback. You can customise this layer, as well as volume and pan, for more detailed mixing.

StaffPad allows multiple versions of your score. This can be useful for trying out different edits or structures, or even for different movements. You can switch between versions easily with a tap.

StaffPad's Store contains world-class sounds from reknowned developers like Cinesamples, Orchestral Tools and Spitfire Audio. These StaffPad Editions are built exclusively for StaffPad and bring incredibly mockups within everyone's reach.

Export audio or full stems as MP3, WAV or AAC. Export MIDI or MusicXML to bring your score into other notation programs or sequencers. Easily create a PDF of the print layout for easy sharing with others. Or, of course, share the StaffPad file itself with other StaffPad users.

Elements are royalty free production sounds for use in your compositions. Drag them into your score from the Elements browser and they automatically adapt to your score's tempo and key.

Amazing Playback

StaffPad can play your score back to you in wonderful detail, using the included core library that features more than 55 instruments . Almost all instruments in the core library feature multiple layers of playing dynamics, repetition samples and recorded articulations like staccatos, trills, tremolos and pizzicatos.


But, we didn't stop there. We're proud to have partnered with some of the world's finest sample library developers, creating completely bespoke StaffPad Editions of industry leading, professional libraries from our friends at Cinesamples, Orchestral Tools, Spitfire Audio and others - with more to come. 


For the first time, production-quality results are available straight from your score . Results that used to cost thousands, require high-end computers, an array of complex plugins, software, sequencers, and hours of work are now available by just pushing play. With StaffPad, you can just write music; not worry about technology.


This is truly remarkable progress.

Sound Presets

Sound Presets let you choose alternate playing styles or playback sound variations within the same instrument, whilst also creating a useful marking on the score. Swap easily between sounds with a tap.

Divisi Staffs

Easily create an additional staff for any instrument. This allows for clearer divided part writing. StaffPad automatically formats the part to only show additional divisi staffs when there's music in them creating cleaner, more compact parts.

Mixer Effects

StaffPad features a unique suite of effects, which you can apply to both audio staffs and notation staffs, to raise the production bar on your compositions. Customise your effects rack with delay, reverb, compressor, chorus, EQ, rotary and unique staff-specific effects - all easily controlled with a simple slider.

Tempo Mapping

Sometimes, you don't want to record to a click or the audio you have doesn't have a clear or steady tempo. Yet, to add parts later, it will need to be tempo mapped. StaffPad makes this easy; add a tempo staff and just drag the bar lines to fit. Then, use Adaptive Audio to change the tempo, or lock it to a steady value.

StaffPad Radio broadcasts original music written by talented composers from our community. All the music featured on StaffPad Radio is created with and rendered/exported directly from StaffPad. As well as experiencing the remarkable quality of StaffPad's unrivalled audio engine, tune in to hear the latest news, exclusive shows and interviews.


StaffPad Radio broadcasts 24/7 - listen live here, or tune in via Amazon Alexa, Frontier Radio or directly in Apple Music or supported internet radio players by visiting http://radio.staffpad.net

StaffPad Reader is a groundbreaking digital music stand app for performers. It seamlessly connects to StaffPad and displays individual parts, formatted for the screen. Any changes you make in StaffPad are shown instantly on all the connected Readers.


Press play in StaffPad, and all the Readers will play together in perfect sync . It cleverly turns the pages without any disruption, counts multi-rests , and can even provide each musician with their own count-in and synchronised click track. 


Each performer can draw their own annotations , and they're recalled next time they see that score. 


No more printing, taping and folding of parts. No one loses their place or misses a cue. Effortlessly make corrections, changes or try out new ideas. No boring setup, links or accounts. Just write and play. Even better? It's free.

Music is better together.

It's time to put paper scores in the trash. To reinvent sheet music for the digital age, we had to go back to the start. A truly useful digital music stand app should be simple to use, always up-to-date, and help the musician to achieve the best performance. It should remove obstacles, complexity and anxiety. 


No more expensive printing bills, laborious taping of paper, or last minute formatting panics. No complex file management, passwords, accounts or shared folders to worry about. No more file conversion issues. No more missed cues. No more awkward page turns. 


This is digital music notation as it's meant to be done. StaffPad and StaffPad Reader form the perfect partnership for anyone who wants to make music with anyone else. 


And isn't that what it's all about?

Changes?

No problem.

Fix a note, transpose the score, write an entirely new section, delete a section... do whatever you want to do; StaffPad and StaffPad Reader will do it together, in perfect sync.


StaffPad streams any changes you make to your score to every connected Reader, which update the layout in realtime.

Let's play. Together.

StaffPad Readers play in perfect sync with StaffPad. Each musician can see exactly where they are in the score, get a synchronised metronome and even a count-in to make sure no one misses a beat.


As you reach the end of the first page, the Reader seamlessly peeks the first few lines from the next page over the top. This means you can always read comfortably ahead, and never worry about awkward page turns again. 

Go Pro for more features

All of the above functionality is free.


However, you can upgrade your Reader at any time to access additional features and functionality.


Full score playback from the StaffPad Core Library allows you to hear the score in full detail; solo your part to hear it through, or mute your part to play along with the rest of the virtual band. Perfect for practicing.


Dark Mode saves your eyes (and light bleed) in darker rooms like concert halls or theatre pits. 


Reader ScoreSync lets you sync any score you import to your Reader with other Readers on the Wi-Fi network - without StaffPad. Perfect for smaller rehearsals where you don't need the ability to make changes to the music.


View the full conductor's score. Useful for teaching, booth reading, or conducting using the Reader without StaffPad.


Compatibility

StaffPad for iPad requires Apple Pencil.

StaffPad for Windows requires a device that supports active pen and touch.

We recommend the iPad Pro 12.9" or Microsoft Surface Pro for StaffPad. However, it will work on all modern iPads and pen/touch capable Windows devices, including the following:

iPad Pro (all models)

iPad Air (3rd or 4th generation)

iPad mini (5th generation)

iPad (6th generation or later)




You can read, open and preview scores on all new Apple Silicon Macs. Due to the lack of touch/Pencil support, writing notation is not possible.


Microsoft Surface Pro (all models)

Microsoft Surface Book (all models)

Microsoft Surface Pro X

Microsoft Surface Studio (all models)

Microsoft Surface Hub

Microsoft Surface Go


We recommend Microsoft Surface, but any Windows device that supports active pen and touch will work with StaffPad

Frequently Asked Questions


Here are some things you might want to know... 
  • What do I need to use StaffPad?

    Either an iPad with Apple Pencil, or a modern Windows device that supports pen (Windows Ink) and touch.


    IMPORTANT: For StaffPad, Apple Pencil/Windows Pen support is required!


    As of March 2019, all new iPads sold support Apple Pencil, and are compatible with StaffPad. 


    For iPad, we recommend using the latest generation iPad Pro.


    Only Apple Pencil and official active/Windows Ink compatible pens are supported. The Logitech Crayon is not supported on iPad. Capacitive styluses (i.e with large rubber tips) are not supported.


    For Windows, we recommend using Microsoft Surface devices, such as the Surface Pro.

  • What do I need to use StaffPad Reader?

    StaffPad Reader will work with any iPad running iPadOS or later, and any Windows device.


    There is no Pencil/pen requirement for StaffPad Reader, although they're nice to have for annotations!

  • Is StaffPad available for Android?

    No, not at this time.

  • Where do I get StaffPad?

    StaffPad is available on the App Store for iPadOS, and in the Microsoft Store app, for Windows devices.

  • Can the Reader open MIDI or MusicXML files?

    No. The Reader is designed to work exclusively with StaffPad files, and is built to display them perfectly every time. There's far too much variation in raw MusicXML or MIDI files to guarantee a readable and usable score.


    Instead, you can import MIDI and MusicXML into StaffPad, tidy up and edit as you need, then export as a StaffPad file to open on the Reader. Or, of course, just use ScoreSync to display the score across Readers with one tap of a button.


  • Can the Reader edit the music at all?

    No. The Reader is exactly that -- a Reader. You can transpose, edit, write new music and do whatever you want to it using StaffPad itself. The Reader has no editing capabilities beyond making ink annotations.

  • Do I lose my annotations when the Reader disconnects?

    Not at all! Your annotations are saved locally on your device. The next time you encounter that score via ScoreSync, all your annotations will be restored. 


    The Reader does not save the score itself. It only saves your annotations and retrieves them when you see that score again in the future.

  • How do I get a refund or pay with a different method?

    The App Store (iOS) or the Microsoft Store (Windows) are repsonsible for handling all billing enquiries, including refunds.


    App Stores work as distributors: you're buying the app from Apple or Microsoft (not from us). As such, as we have no record of your purchase, or any data from you. 


    Please contact the respective app store support teams for any enquiries regarding  purchase, billing issues, invoices or refunds.



  • Is StaffPad available in my language?

    StaffPad is only available in English. We hope to bring more languages to the app in the near future.

  • Does ScoreSync require an internet connection?

    StaffPad requires that all devices use the same local Wi-Fi network. However, it  does not require an internet connection. Your score is kept locally within the network, not uploaded to the internet or stored in the cloud or anything like that. We recommend using a fast router or a mesh router system if you're using many Readers in a large venue (i.e a concert hall space).

  • I've got a new device. Do I have to buy the app again?

    You can redownload the app as many times as you like, as long as you're downloading the app to a new device that you own, of the same platform.


    It isn't possible to download the Windows version on iPad, and vice-versa. Apple and Windows operate different App Stores, and as such there is no migration possible between them.


    To redownload the app on your platform, just make sure you're logged into the App Store or Microsoft Store with the same credentials as you used to get the app before, and it will show up in your Apple or Microsoft account (with any other purchases you've made from them) so that you can redownload easily.

  • If I buy StaffPad on one platform, do I get it free on the other?

    No - Microsoft and Apple operate different platforms, and different stores. There isn't a way for us to migrate users from one platform to another, or provide any kind of discount between stores. 

Latest Blog Posts

Piano Capture magically converts your piano playing to notation
By David William Hearn 26 Sep, 2023
StaffPad has been updated with audio recognition for piano, known as Piano Capture, as well as MIDI input, new Muse Sounds libraries, support for video and more. StaffPad now provides amazing tools for scoring movies.
By David William Hearn 06 Jul, 2022
Summer vibes, timecode, niente hairpins and more!
By David William Hearn 21 Dec, 2021
Audio support, studio effects, open key signatures, new symbols and more!
Show More

People

David William Hearn

Founder / Designer

Matthew Tesch

Founder / Lead Developer

Inspirational tools for inspired work.

*StaffPad requires a Windows 10 device with active pen and touch, and a compatible active pen, or an Apple Pencil with a compatible iPad (2018 or later).

 StaffPad is a registered trademark of StaffPad Ltd. iPad is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. Surface is a registered trademark of Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Share by: