Multi-track midi to sheet music
I am looking for music software that has the following features. I've looked extensively online. There are many packages that can do midi -> sheet music. However, I can't tell if they can do the following:
Record music line #1 midi to sheet music.
Manually edit line #1 to my liking.
Record line #2 midi to sheet music while listening to line #1. I want the notes from #2 to line up rhythmically with line #1.
I can repeat this as many times as I want, to create a piece with many instrument voices.
I'm looking for someone who has actually done this with software and a keyboard. What software did you use that had this functionality?
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This is possible. It works best when you play very accurately - note starts and note durations - to a click. Think 'Capture notation' rather than 'Capture performance'. You can choose a DAW with a Score Edit page (e.g. Cubase) or a score publishing program with playback (e.g. Sibelius).
The two types of program have converged to an extent. But only as much as e.g. Word has converged with InDesign. Many documents could be prepared in either...
Depending on the quality of the features that you describe ("record" - how? "edit manually" - to what extent? do you need playback do you need? how much control over the layout? how professional the score?), you might get different answers.
The DAWs, in general, suck at typesetting scores (the newer ones usually don't even support score notation). The score typesetting programs - suck at real time recording and musical editing (if they even support it...).
Which is why, sadly the typical workflow involves using both a DAW and a typsetting package, usually you can get pretty good results using MusicXML files to move data between them.
Just playing things from a midi keyboard and having them become a score automatically - is a pipe dream; the gap between score notation and performance is just too big. Creating a score requires a lot of human interpretation. You need to be prepared to do a lot of manual adjusting after you play each part, unless the parts are very simple and you can afford to quantize them.
If I didn't want full control over the layout (say, I need to print the sheets for musician friends, not publish them), my workflow would be to use Cubase Pro (I also have experience with Finale, StaffPad, Dorico, very old Sibelius - but no idea about Logic Pro). The nice feature of Cubase Pro is that it separates the logical score from the performance, so you can, for example, adjust lengths of notes in the score - but keep the original length in the MIDI data. With some work you can make a project that sounds good and looks good.
Based on what you've said, there are a low of DAWs (Digital Audio Workstation) out there.
Here's a few list from what I know, could do that:
(These are free DAWs):
Garageband
MPC Beats (Though, I think it requires something. You could check it out here)
Musescore (Sheet music with MIDI capabilities. Add instruments to your liking. They play back the sound for example This person's arrangement
From what I know, these could as you said -- 1. Record a line in #1 2. Edit all of these notes to your liking 3. Line up rhythmically and add notes while you listen 4. Create a piece with many instrumental voices :)!!
Now for the DAWs that you have to pay for but are really good in terms of quality, expressiveness, and customization:
Reaper (Midi with notation viewing and editing capabilities with synth or electronic instruments)
Cubase (Midi with notation viewing and editing capabilities with synth or electronic instruments)
Logic (Midi with notation viewing and editing capabilities with synth or electronic instruments)
Sibelius (Music notation primarily with MIDI so mostly "acoustic" instruments)
PreSonus Notion (Music notation with MIDI as well)
Now, DAWs like Garageband or Reaper could look like the following:
You could see that the blue, yellow, and green rectangular shapes are when the instruments play. You could edit that by sliding them left or right, and adjust it rhythmically to the other instruments to your liking. Then as you could see on the bottom, there is the notation option if you would like to edit the notes.
Because the blue, yellow, and green rectangles (recordings) are on top of one another, you could hear them all at once when its played. These could be recorded through mic, Midi, etc.
And as for the link that I sent as an example for Musescore, those are like Sibelius or PreSonus Notation :)!
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