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Audio to MusicXML
Transcribe a recording into MusicXML, the format professional notation software actually speaks. Open the result in Sibelius, MuseScore or Dorico as a real, editable score, not a rough MIDI import your app has to reconstruct.
Transcribe a recording into a real score.
Isolate one line from the mix, transcribe it, and export MusicXML with the spelling and note values intact, ready for Sibelius, MuseScore or Dorico.
Upload audio & export MusicXMLStep by step
- Upload the recording
MP3, WAV, M4A or OGG. Use the best-quality file you have.
- Isolate and transcribe a part
Single melodic lines convert to notation most cleanly.
- Review and export MusicXML
Check the notes, then open the .musicxml in your notation app.
Why MusicXML is the right target for notation
If your destination is a notation program, MIDI is the wrong file to hand it. MIDI describes a performance (which key was pressed, exactly when, and how hard) with no notion of how any of that should be written down. When you import MIDI into Sibelius or Dorico, the app has to reverse-engineer a score from timing data alone, and it routinely guesses wrong: awkward tied notes, strange enharmonics, rhythms split across barlines.
MusicXML solves that by carrying the notation itself. It records that a pitch is spelled G sharp rather than A flat, that a note is written as a dotted crotchet, where the rests go, which clef and key apply, and how the parts are grouped. Because the transcription is expressed in the language of notation from the start, your app opens it as a proper score with far less to fix.
Under the hood the process is the same first two stages as any transcription: separate the song so one line is isolated, then estimate its notes. The difference is the export: instead of flattening everything to MIDI events, the tool writes a structured MusicXML document that keeps the musical spelling intact.
What you gain by exporting MusicXML
- Correct pitch spelling: sharps and flats written the way the key demands, not arbitrarily.
- Real note values: durations expressed as written rhythms, not just raw timings to re-derive.
- Clean app import: open a structured score in your notation software with minimal rebuilding.
- A basis for arranging: add parts, dynamics and articulations on top of an accurate transcription.
Related tools
Frequently asked questions
Why choose MusicXML over MIDI?
MIDI stores performance data (pitch, timing, velocity) but has no concept of a staff, so a notation program has to guess how to write it. MusicXML stores the notation itself: enharmonic spelling, note durations, clefs, key and time signatures. It opens in Sibelius, MuseScore or Dorico as an actual score rather than a re-interpretation.
What does MusicXML preserve that MIDI throws away?
The spelling of pitches (G sharp versus A flat), the intended written durations, rests, the chosen clef and key, and layout hints. MIDI collapses all of that into raw note-on and note-off events, so the score has to be rebuilt from scratch on import.
Which notation apps can open the file?
Any program that reads MusicXML, which is effectively all of them: Sibelius, MuseScore, Dorico, Finale and Notion among others. It is the standard interchange format for scores.
Will I still need to edit the score after import?
Usually yes. Automatic transcription gives you an accurate, well-structured starting point, but you will refine rhythms, enharmonics and phrasing in your notation app. Starting from MusicXML rather than MIDI means far less of that cleanup.