# Are there any free music sites that translate written notes to sound? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319 "2005-08-02T16:39:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/1 "2005-08-02T16:39:48Z")
I can read music fairly well, but I don’t always trust my interpretation of the phrasing, rhythm, and time signature, especially if the form is not very familiar. So my quest is simple. Is there such website where you could specify the following: 4/4 time sig Key of G Quarter note D followed by dotted eighth G followed by sixteenth F-sharp and have that translated into a little midi clip so you can hear exactly how that should sound? ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/2 "2005-08-02T16:57:28Z")
I would guess probably not. You’d need to specify which G, which D, tempo, etc. That’s a lot of variables for a website to handle your needs. The most likely avenue for you is to pick up some kind of fairly cheap music notation software, which would then play anything you entered. Personally, I use the fancy notation software, but you wouldn’t need to spend all that much money for your purpose. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/3 "2005-08-02T17:06:58Z")
Finale Notepad is a free program that should be enough for what you need. You can download it [here](http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/4 "2005-08-02T17:16:26Z")
Or get a trial version of NoteworthySoftware. I wrote an entire opera on it (full version). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/5 "2005-08-02T17:41:23Z")
> [@Jpeg Jones](#): > > I would guess probably not. You’d need to specify which G, which D, tempo, etc. That’s a lot of variables for a website to handle your needs. > . Well, the tempo would simply be another thing to specify at the outset. I agree the only practical way it could let you specify which notes would have to involve some sort of drag-and-drop technology that would let you put the notes on the staff where you want them to be, selecting from the various durations and configurations. I’ll try the suggested links and see what I find. **tdn** and **erinpuff** , thanks for the suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/6 "2005-08-02T18:18:58Z")
> [@ErinPuff](#): > > Finale Notepad is a free program that should be enough for what you need. You can download it [here](http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/). this is outstanding! I’ve been going through some guitar music, and this helps a lot. I get into trouble when dots rear their ugly heads, mostly because it’s hard to count sixteenths. It’s surprising though, that they can get away with using the name ‘Notepad’. ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/7 "2005-08-02T18:46:47Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > I get into trouble when dots rear their ugly heads, mostly because it’s hard to count sixteenths. “One-ee-and-a, Two-ee-and-a… etc.” Also, look into [Lilypond](http://lilypond.org/web), which I think has MIDI controls. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/8 "2005-08-02T18:51:46Z")
> [@av8rmike](#): > > “One-ee-and-a, Two-ee-and-a… etc.” > > Also, look into [Lilypond](http://lilypond.org/web), which I think has MIDI controls. Lilypond is just hard to use. The opera I wrote had to be translated to Lilypond for readability and paper-saving. It took the stage director several months of programming on no sleep to get it to work. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/9 "2005-08-02T18:57:04Z")
By the way, [here](http://www.sheldonbrown.org/g-s/thespis/) is a photo link to my opera. And [here](http://www.sheldonbrown.org/g-s/thespis/posed/pages/thespis-15.33c.htm) is a picture of me. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/10 "2005-08-02T19:05:46Z")
All of those people are you? I don’t see anybody near old enough to be Arthur Sullivan so you must be Colin Johnson, eh? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/11 "2005-08-02T19:27:07Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > All of those people are you? Nope. I’m just the only one to have the good taste to wear a white tie. > [@](#): > > I don’t see anybody near old enough to be Arthur Sullivan so you must be Colin Johnson, eh? Nope. I’m not old enough to be Colin, who just turned 70. Technically, I didn’t write the opera, I orchestrated it. But for purposes of this thread, I wrote plenty. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/12 "2005-08-02T19:58:53Z")
[Here](http://www.sheldonbrown.org/g-s/thespis/posed/pages/thespis-15.59b.htm)’s a better picture of me. I’m the fat one. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/13 "2005-08-02T20:49:43Z")
That narrows it down. Not like “I’m the nerdy one” when referring to the first picture. And you’re not fat, you’re “stately.” Well, maybe fat when you wear a Hawaiian shirt but when you, alone, have the grace and elegance to dress properly you get to be stately. A gentleman of substance. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/14 "2005-08-02T21:09:55Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > That narrows it down. Not like “I’m the nerdy one” when referring to the first picture. Nerdy? At MIT? Surely you jest! > [@](#): > > And you’re not fat, you’re “stately.” Well, maybe fat when you wear a Hawaiian shirt but when you, alone, have the grace and elegance to dress properly you get to be stately. A gentleman of substance. Why thank you! I owe my stateliness to a steady diet of ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/15 "2005-08-02T21:18:04Z")
For guitar music you can try [Power Tab](http://www.power-tab.net/) Or you can try this list of [Music Notation software](http://ace.acadiau.ca/score/others.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/16 "2005-08-02T22:03:57Z")
> [@av8rmike](#): > > “One-ee-and-a, Two-ee-and-a… etc.” > . I do know _how_ to do that; it’s just that I find it hard to count that way at anything approaching performance (or even early learning/working-through) tempo, and still maintain consistency. Worse, I always get tripped up by the “three-e-and-a” part, because “three-e” sounds like “three” spoken a little longer. If I can listen to a recording I can usually learn to play a passable rendition using the score, but **erinpuff** ’s tool helps out when there is no recording at hand. ---
**Author:** ![MrAlpen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@MrAlpen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAlpen)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/17 "2005-08-03T09:57:56Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] this is outstanding! I’ve been going through some guitar music, and this helps a lot. …QUOTE] I don’t know if this would help too, but since you mention “guitar” then you may be interested in [“Powertab”](http://www.power-tab.net/products.php) which provides a midi playback, conventional and tab notation for lead and bass guitar. I found it pretty flexible and reliable. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-free-music-sites-that-translate-written-notes-to-sound/315319/18 "2005-08-03T12:54:51Z")
[QUOTE=MrAlpen] > [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > this is outstanding! I’ve been going through some guitar music, and this helps a lot. …QUOTE] > > I don’t know if this would help too, but since you mention “guitar” then you may be interested in [“Powertab”](http://www.power-tab.net/products.php) which provides a midi playback, conventional and tab notation for lead and bass guitar. I found it pretty flexible and reliable. Regarding tab vs. standard notation, for classical and allied styles I prefer conventional. With tab you have to read those little numbers, while with conventional you have those nice fat notes that are so much easier. Also, conventional notation gives a better visual representation of the melody. You can see a sheet of conventional from six feet away and get a vague idea of what the music is going to sound like.