My go-to app for writing scores. But without these features the app feels quite a bit handicapped. 1. Roll chord notations should be able to span the whole grand staff 2. Beams of notes should be able to span the whole grand staff 3. Ability to hide rests. Essential for voice layers. 4. Ability to hide silent instrument parts (silent staves) in a system More a bug fix requested. 1. Sometimes the pick-up bar is essentially numbered (-1) instead of (0) when more than one instrument is present in the score.

For £79 I’m wanting a little more forgiveness for my handwriting. Seriously, sometimes, after needing to write the same bar time and time over, I’m left screaming “what the £#@% do you want from me !!”. Also, still a ton of glitches - ties and rests etc need deleting and rewriting for them to work. Needs to cater for more than only the neatest handwriters to be a truly great app. Also, touch shortcut control for more convenient menu access would be masterful.

My rating is massively influenced by the inconvenience the app has recently caused me, otherwise It’d score a lot higher in my books. I was really impressed with StaffPad upon first use. I do a lot of composing work and so it’s been nice being able to walk the dog and do some of that work on the go however recently one of my projects got corrupted and I can no longer access the work which has cost me days of work. After reading through the forums, it seems that this is the case with a lot of lower spec iPad users. It doesn’t come up nearly as much for pro users, but I personally can’t justify throwing that kind of money just to feel more secure with this app. Outside of this, the app is pretty good. It takes a bit of getting used to and the handwriting recognition doesn’t always work straight away, but I’ve managed to get everything onto the score eventually with enough practice. My main issue here is the risk of losing your work if you don’t have the right specs for the app. StaffPad probably need to be more transparent about this before people throw their money at it considering the price and I will likely be requesting a refund because of this.

My original review is below, since then we finally received a long teased update, which included audio recognition. Unfortunately this feature doesn’t really work, with even fairly simple phrases being misunderstood by the engine. We did also get midi input, which is a nice feature, but there is now a problem with the metronome where, even turning it off, results in the count in still playing. This needlessly requires multiple gestures to turn off - and back on again when it is needed. These issues and disappointments, combined with almost zero feedback from devs and vague (if any) responses to queries have led to me using Staffpad less and less. It does remain a great bit of software but I can’t help but wonder what could be achieved in different circumstances. I was aware of StaffPad but didn’t try it as I’d heard about handwriting recognition issues. However, seeing a sale, I took the plunge and bought it with an Apple Pencil. I’m 54 and hadn’t tried to read sheet music since I was 15. I’ve never written on Staff paper, instead using a DAW. To my amazement and surprise in the first couple of hours of use I was able to write a very simple string piece. With more practise in the last 2 weeks I am getting more and more confident and am now putting together a fairly complex orchestral piece. At each step the process has been easier than I expected and often easier than it would have been in a DAW. The huge advantage of StaffPad to me is the ability to compose with high quality sample libraries on something as portable as an iPad. I can’t convey how amazing it is for me to be able to sit under a tree in the countryside, or anywhere else and compose. I find the Apple Pencil works really well and is certainly a lot easier to carry than a portable midi keyboard. However I do still struggle not being able to play things in. If I could have given half points I’d have awarded StaffPad 4.5 stars, but I couldn’t bring myself to reduce to 4 stars…. However there are improvements that could be made… I would really like an input for a midi controller, although the upcoming audio recognition will likely be a good replacement and better in some ways. I understand the engine isn’t suited to live playback. There needs to be an easier way to solo/mute tracks and sections. Better DAW integration for import/export options. I understand why it’s not available, but I would really like to see Staffpad able to host AUV3 plug-ins so we could have access to Fabfilter, Ev

Staff Pad is a really good idea. However, it is not so good in the realisation. At the current development stage, as a 'tool for composers', it doesn't fulfil some of the most basic requirements of music notation. These are: Accidentals: you cannot place a natural sign before a note in a cautionary way in an atonal score, or where it contradicts a sharp or flat in a different octave. Also, hairpins are placed on one line so they drift far below the notes when a low note in a different place in the score displaces them. Plus very many other items that I would expect a notation programme to get right. At the moment, this app is too immature to be a replacement for other well-known notation programmes, despite the many 'features' it provides. My concern, as always with these tools, is that the software 'whizzbang' ideas get in the way of the important basics, as has happened here. This tool is still not usable for the modern composer writing in an extended tonal or non-tonal style. Update: Oct 2023 - there has been an update, but many of the issues I've raised are still not resolved.

This app is incredibly helpful for composers. Especially for film composers now with the very new addition of the video staff. The reliability has been improved and even if we all have to wait for not so frequent updates, the wait is worthy. Congrats to the team and many thanks!

After a slightly underwhelming start, StaffPad, with each major yearly update, has become truly like nothing else out there. Ok the handwriting recognition still isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough to get a huge amount done fairly quickly. Ok, it doesn’t deal with highly complex music very well, but sometimes working within some limitations can be interesting in itself. But what it does do, and what they have now included - scoring to video, transcribing from real piano recordings, adding surprisingly high quality free libraries, harmonising and more…as well as the previous audio track and tempo mapping updates…all conspire to make StaffPad basically like nothing else on the market. On any platform, (except of course for StaffPad on windows). Am fascinated already to know what next years update might bring!

I downloaded this this app on a old iPad Pro so was limited. I still enjoyed this listening to my compositions using midi imports . Now I have a new iPad Pro This changes everything and fully enjoy all the features. I am really looking forward to new soundpacks and especially solo stuff. Is this one of the greatest apps ever. Yes. Bring on the solo..duets etc.

The app itself is very interesting and I will hopefully get a lot of use out of it. My only major gripe is it does not allow the use of 3rd party apples pencils. This caught me off guard as the app worked perfectly fine with the pencil in its interactive tutorial, but once we got into the main writing section the app refused let me write with it. Thankfully I’ll be able to continue using StaffPad, but it would be even better if I didn’t have to bring a 120 quid stylus with me to actually write in it.

Would someone please fix this apparently glitchy bug for it simply doesn’t work