Songscription blog & music transcription resources
Explore Songscription’s guides to music transcription, sheet music, MIDI, piano roll, and AI-powered music learning, plus product updates and company announcements from the Songscription team.
How to get MIDI out of audio and put it to work: converting a recording or a YouTube link to MIDI, cleaning up the result, and moving it into a DAW like Ableton, Logic, or GarageBand.
MIDI
22 articles- Guide6 min readSong to MIDI with a track per instrumentMost audio-to-MIDI converters turn a full song into one tangle of notes. Here is how to get a MIDI file with a separate track for each instrument, and how the converters compare.Guide · · 6 min read
- Guide7 min readOrchestral arrangement to MIDI: Strings, brass and windsRebuilding an orchestral arrangement in your DAW usually starts with hours of playing parts in by ear. Songscription’s Multi-Instrument gives you the strings, brass, woodwinds and rhythm section as separate MIDI tracks from one recording. Here is what it does, what it does not, and the producer workflow from upload to a mockup with your own libraries.Guide · · 7 min read
- Comparison6 min readMultitrack MIDI vs stems: Which one do you need?Stems and multitrack MIDI both split a song into instruments, but they are different things. Stems are separated audio you can mute and remix. Multitrack MIDI is the notes each instrument plays, which you can re-voice, edit, and arrange. Here is how to tell which one your project needs and how to get it.Comparison · · 6 min read
- Tutorial7 min readHow to recreate a song in your DAW with multitrack MIDIRebuilding a whole song in your DAW used to mean programming every part by ear. With multitrack MIDI from a recording, you start with every part, from drums and bass to strings, horns, and synths, already on its own track. Here is the full producer workflow, from upload to a session you can play and produce.Tutorial · · 7 min read
- Guide7 min readWhat is MIDI quantization? Why MIDI looks messyMIDI quantization moves notes onto a rhythmic grid so their timing lines up with the beat. It explains why a MIDI file that sounds perfect can look like a pile of tied 64th notes in notation software, and it is the setting that decides how much of the human feel survives. Here is how it works and when to use it.Guide · · 7 min read
- Tutorial9 min readHow to transcribe lo-fi and sampled beats to MIDILo-fi is built to sound degraded, which is exactly what makes it fight audio-to-MIDI. Here is how to get clean, editable MIDI out of the crackle, warble, and filtering anyway.Tutorial · · 9 min read
- Tutorial7 min readHow to import MIDI into a DAWOnce you have a transcription as MIDI, getting it into Ableton, Logic, FL Studio, or your DAW of choice takes a few clicks. Here is the workflow, plus what MusicXML gets you that MIDI does not.Tutorial · · 7 min read
- Tutorial5 min readTikTok sound to sheet music: Transcribe a viral clipTo turn a TikTok sound into sheet music, capture the clip’s audio and run it through an AI transcription tool. Here is how, and why short clips are easy to transcribe.Tutorial · · 5 min read
- Tutorial7 min readHow to convert an MP3 to MIDIAn MP3 is a recording of sound; MIDI is a set of instructions for which notes to play. Converting one to the other means working out the notes from the audio, which is exactly what transcription does. Here is how to turn an MP3 into a MIDI file you can drop into a DAW or notation program.Tutorial · · 7 min read
- Tutorial7 min readHow to clean up MIDI after converting audioConverting audio to MIDI gives you a first draft of the notes, not a finished part. Here is how to clean up MIDI after conversion: quantizing loose timing, fixing octave and stray-note errors, splitting parts onto their own tracks, and getting it ready for your DAW or notation program.Tutorial · · 7 min read
- Tutorial7 min readHow to convert a YouTube video to MIDIThere is no button on YouTube that hands you a MIDI file, but you can get there. Here is how to turn a YouTube video into MIDI you can drop into your DAW, and how to skip the audio-download step entirely.Tutorial · · 7 min read
- Resources7 min readWhat is MIDI? A plain-English guide for musiciansMIDI is one of the most useful things in music software and one of the most misunderstood. The short version: it is not audio, it is a set of instructions for which notes to play and how. Here is what that means and why it matters for transcription.Resources · · 7 min read
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