Audio to MIDI Converter

Quick start

1. Drop an audio file onto the upload area (or click to browse). MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, M4A, AAC, and WebM are all supported.
2. Pick your engine. Browser runs locally via Basic Pitch — instant, private, great for short clips. Cloud sends the file to a GPU backend for higher accuracy on longer or more complex recordings.
3. Adjust settings — set the tempo (60–200 BPM), and for Cloud mode choose a processing mode (Standard, Precise, Sustained, or Quantized) and target (Piano or All instruments).
4. Click "Start Conversion." A progress bar tracks each stage. Browser mode finishes in seconds; Cloud mode may take a little longer depending on file length and server load.
5. When it finishes, you'll see how many notes were detected and the total duration. From here you can:
   • Export — Standard MIDI, Multi-track MIDI (instruments on separate tracks), or MusicXML (for notation editors like MuseScore, Finale, and Dorico).
   • Open Editor — switch to the piano roll to review and refine notes before exporting.

Piano roll editor

The Editor tab opens a full piano roll where detected notes are displayed as bars on a pitch-vs-time grid. The keyboard runs vertically on the left (A0–C8), and time flows left to right.

• Play / Pause — press the play button (or spacebar) to audition the result with a selectable piano sound (Grand Piano or Electric Piano).
• Three editing modes: Select (click or drag a marquee to select notes), Draw (click to place new notes), and Erase(click to remove notes).
• Drag to move — grab selected notes to shift their timing or pitch.
• Batch tools — with multiple notes selected, use the toolbar to transpose, quantize, scale velocity, simplify, or assign left/right hand.
• Undo / Redo — full operation history. Every edit is reversible.
• Scroll and zoom — scroll wheel to zoom the timeline; drag scrollbars or pan with the mouse.
• Full-screen mode — expand the piano roll to fill the window for detailed editing.

Instrument presets

The editor offers two playback sounds for previewing your MIDI:

Instrument samples load on first playback. The downloaded MIDI file is instrument-agnostic — your DAW will use whatever sound you assign to it.

Tips for better results

• Clean recordings work best. A solo instrument or voice with minimal background noise gives more accurate note detection. Even a phone recording in a quiet room works well.
• Piano-heavy tracks shine in Cloud mode with the Piano target — the backend runs source separation to isolate the piano before transcribing.
• Short clips (< 30 s) are ideal for Browser mode — fast, private, no upload needed. For anything longer or polyphonic, Cloud mode delivers noticeably better accuracy.
• Set the tempo before converting so notes align to the beat grid correctly. If you're unsure, 120 BPM is a safe default.
• Vocals, guitar, piano, and wind instruments all convert well. Percussion and heavily distorted signals are harder to detect.

Export formats

• Standard MIDI (.mid) — single-track file compatible with every DAW: Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, GarageBand, Reaper, Cubase, Pro Tools, Studio One, Bitwig, and more. Just drag it into your project.
• Multi-track MIDI (.mid) — instruments and left/right hand parts on separate tracks (Format 1). Handy for piano pieces with distinct voices.
• MusicXML (.musicxml) — open directly in notation editors like MuseScore, Finale, Dorico, or Sibelius for sheet-music-quality scores.

Need studio-quality transcription?

Our built-in converter handles most use cases, but if you need the highest possible accuracy — polyphonic piano, complex arrangements, or publication-ready sheet music — check out Songscription.ai. It offers professional-grade transcription with advanced post-processing.