We built neumascan in 2026 because, as musicians, we weren't happy with what the available sheet music scanners delivered. A scanner should digitize a page so that not only the noteheads and rhythms are right, but also the dynamics, expression marks, slurs and articulation — everything you need to actually play.
Typing a page of music into notation software such as Dorico, Sibelius or MuseScore by hand takes a lot of time and patience. neumascan does that work in a few minutes: you photograph the page or upload a PDF, recognition reads it bar by bar — and you keep working with the result right in your browser.
Music is complex, and a perfect result isn't always possible. That's why neumascan checks every bar: if a bar doesn't add up, the bar check flags it, and you fix it in the score editor right next to the original photo.
What you get from a scan
neumascan turns a photo or PDF into a digital part you can work with straight away:
- Original and result side by side: every line of the original sits above the recognized version, so you can see at a glance whether everything is right.
- Playback in your browser: listen to the digital music and hear whether rhythms and pitches are right. The note that is sounding is highlighted — see the sheet music player.
- Score editor: fix note values, pitches, accidentals, slurs, dynamics, key and time signatures right in the browser — no extra software.
- Transposition: a simple tool moves the part by any interval, with presets for B♭ and E♭ instruments and horn in F.
- PDF for printing: the part as a clean A4 page, transposed if you like — no notation software needed.
- MusicXML: to open in the notation software of your choice, with slurs, dynamics and articulation.
- MIDI: for listening, practicing or your DAW.
For arrangers: digitize sheet music and keep editing
Want to digitize a piece so you can rework it? Say you'd like to adapt the solo line of a Mozart aria for viola. With neumascan you photograph or scan the music, check the result in your browser and download it as MusicXML. In MuseScore, Dorico or Sibelius you then set clef, register and articulation for the viola — without retyping a single note.
For soloists: arrange pieces for your instrument
A violinist who wants to play a flute concerto? A double bass player who has always wanted to play a particular cello concerto? No problem: neumascan reads treble, bass, alto and tenor clefs, you transpose the part to a key that suits your instrument, and print it as a PDF — or finish it as MusicXML in your notation software.
For orchestra players: transposing instruments
If you play a transposing instrument — clarinet in B♭, A, D or E♭, trumpet in B♭ or horn in F — you know the situation: a passage lies better on a doubling instrument, or a part is written for the wrong instrument. With neumascan you rewrite it in minutes.
Transposing instruments sound different from how they are written. The chart shows how far each one sounds from the written note, and which interval to choose in neumascan to write a concert-pitch part (from a score or piano part, for example) for that instrument:
| Instrument | Sounds, relative to written | From concert pitch, choose |
|---|---|---|
| Clarinet, trumpet, soprano sax, flugelhorn in B♭ | a major second lower | major second ↑ (preset “B♭ clarinet / trumpet”) |
| Clarinet in A | a minor third lower | minor third ↑ |
| Alto sax, alto horn in E♭ | a major sixth lower | major sixth ↑ (preset “Alto sax (E♭)”) |
| Horn in F, English horn | a perfect fifth lower | perfect fifth ↑ (preset “Horn in F”) |
| E♭ clarinet | a minor third higher | minor third ↓ |
| Trumpet in D, clarinet in D | a major second higher | major second ↓ |
| B♭ part on A clarinet | — | minor second ↑ |
Tenor and baritone saxophones sound more than an octave below the written note; neumascan currently transposes by up to one octave. Every instrument, with key signatures and note names, is in our transposing instruments chart.
How neumascan helps in the orchestra: the low E♭ in Puccini
A concrete example from our team — from a clarinetist: many operas, Puccini's for instance, contain passages with a low E♭. For a while, clarinets were built with an extra key for that low E♭, so composers of the time liked to write the note into clarinet parts. That design never caught on: today the lowest note of a B♭ or A clarinet is the low E.
If a B♭ clarinet part has a solo with a low E♭, you can play the passage on the A clarinet — transposed up a half step. Instead of transposing in your head, you photograph the music with neumascan, choose “minor second ↑” and moments later you have the version for A clarinet: ready to print as a PDF.
“I used to type every single note into notation software myself. Now I just use neumascan — and have more time for other things.”
For bands and ensembles: digitize your music library
Many community bands, wind bands and orchestras have cabinets full of paper parts — yellowed, marked in pencil, sometimes a copy of a copy. With neumascan you digitize them part by part: several pages in one scan, photographed with your phone, and everything stays saved in your library. Missing a part for one instrument? Transpose an existing one and print it as a PDF.
What neumascan can't do (yet)
So you're not disappointed: neumascan reads printed, monophonic single-staff parts — études, orchestral and band parts, string parts, vocal lines. Not supported yet: piano music and other pieces with several staves, chords and multiple voices on one staff, handwritten music and tablature. What other tools can do in those cases is in our sheet music scanner comparison.
Questions about neumascan or ideas for improvements? Write to us — we'd love to hear from you.