Music Notation On the Go
Compose, edit, and play scores anywhere with Notion Mobile.
Sound on Sound Awards
Nominee 2024
NAMM TEC Award
Winner 2016
SBO Magazine
Tools for Schools WINNER
NAMM TEC Award
Finalist 2024
Compose anywhere, anytime—on nearly anything.
Notion Mobile is a free, industry-leading music composition tool for iOS, iPadOS®, MacOS, Android™, Windows®, Chrome OS™, and Fire OS mobile devices. You’ll effortlessly create dynamic compositions in traditional musical notation or tablature with its intuitive touch-based interface and incredibly broad editing capabilities.
Because it’s a native cross-platform app, you can write anywhere and not have to rely on having a constant internet connection. And when you’re back online, you’ll be able to sync your work across multiple devices — either through your preferred cloud provider, or through the optional wireless transfer between PreSonus applications on any device. Start your work on one device and finish it on another.
Thanks to a world-class collection of orchestral samples, you’ll hear your compositions performed by the London Symphony Orchestra as recorded at Abbey Road Studio
Get it free from your favorite app store.
Cross-platform creative freedom.
Notion Mobile is a native cross-platform application, meaning that you’ll enjoy the most freedom to compose how, when, where, and on whatever you want — with no risk of losing your progress in the transition. Notion is more accessible than ever — it runs great on devices you probably already own. Sketch out a melody on an iPhone to finish it on your Windows machine. Tap in some percussion on your Amazon Fire tablet and then compose your string sections in Notion on your desktop machine. You can optionally transfer your scores wirelessly between any devices running PreSonus applications, including Notion Mobile, Notion Desktop, or Studio One.
Hear your music played by world-class musicians.
Enjoy realistic playback for all your compositions! Compose, edit, and play back your music performed with real piano and orchestral samples recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios — along with outstanding sampled guitar, bass, drums and other popular instruments. And when you’re ready for more sounds, you’ll find the extensive library of Notion Add-ons to purchase as your needs grow.
Unlimited staves—and beyond.
Notion Mobile provides you with unlimited staves and full editing features with which to compose, but it doesn’t end there — you also get an intuitive interactive piano keyboard, guitar fretboard, and drum pad. Compose your music, your way.
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For many musicians, Notion’s interactive keyboard, fretboard, and drum pad are the fastest and most convenient way to capture pitches, drum parts, and guitar fingerings. You can even customize the number of guitar strings on the fretboard and the order of entry for each voice for the drum pad.The chord library makes it simple to enter the chord name or voicing you want to appear in your score. And with Notion’s abundance of advanced functions, you can take your most basic ideas to an entirely new level right on your mobile device.
Begin by using the simple score setup tool — or use a template, open a Notion file, or import a MIDI or MusicXML file. Continue to alter your score and playback using a palette full of articulations, expressions, and dynamics. Create the perfect balance using the multitrack mixer with distortion and reverb effects.
Once you are happy with your creation, share your work by simply sending a Notion, MIDI, or MusicXML file or by emailing a PDF file that can be viewed and printed anywhere. Or export an audio file for everyone to enjoy!
Notion Mobile grows with you.
Notion Mobile and its core sounds are free; additional features like handwriting, Add-on sounds, network transfer, and new advanced export options are available by purchasing the Feature Bundle. Or join Studio One+ and get it all plus so much more… including Notion Desktop and Studio One Pro!
Put the “U” in “User Interface.”
With Notion Mobile you’re free to adjust icon size, use dark or light score area themes, place your note palette on the right or left side, increase the width of the piano keyboard keys, and more. Notion Mobile has been designed to adapt to every screen, from the smallest iPhone to the largest monitor. Set up your creative space the way it suits you, your device, and your workflow.
Write on!
Using a finger or stylus, you can write music in your own handwriting and see it effortlessly convert to digital notation on Windows, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Android. With supported styluses (such as the Microsoft Surface Pen or Apple Pencil), you can even write with pressure and thickness, which provides a much more natural feeling and greater accuracy. Notion can detect whether you are using such a pen or your finger and automatically switch between modes accordingly. Handwriting recognition support is available via the Feature Bundle or by logging in with your Studio One+ account.
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Choose which note-entry method suits you. Using the onscreen fretboard or a MIDI keyboard, select and touch notes onto the staff — or draw the notes by hand. Better still, create your own custom combination of entry methods - tap the notes in with Step Entry, then draw articulations with handwriting recognition. Notion’s handwriting recognition is powered by MyScript®, the source of the world’s most advanced technology for handwriting recognition and digital ink management.
Even better with Studio One+.
Get every feature and Add-on sound to supercharge your Notion Mobile experience by joining Studio One+! You also get Notion desktop for more layout controls to create beautiful looking scores; fine control of third-party VST libraries to get the sound you want; and you can even use it live on stage in performance or accompaniment. You also get Studio One Pro to add recorded audio, plus collaborative Workspaces, exclusive Masterclasses and more. Studio One+ is the ultimate toolkit for any modern composer.
Reviews
"I love its ability to make pretty refined demos. This is powerful….. It’s nice to be able to easily shift from one device to another as work on a project continues…. Well done, PreSonus – this truly is a great app."
John McJunkin
Synth and Software
Notion Mobile is, hands down, the most full-featured free notation program available....For schools, this program should be a no-brainer.
Dr. George Hess
SBO Magazine
In one fell swoop I can quickly create a score for an entire band! In the past it took SO much longer…. Notion Mobile is really good at figuring out what you want it to do. They have actually made this app EASIER to use! I didn’t think that was possible!
Paul Shimmons
iPad and Technology in Music Education
It’s very cool to be able to start a score on a studio computer, work on it on your tablet in a coffee shop, tweak a part with your phone on the bus on the way to a gig, then put on the final touches for publication at the kitchen table on your laptop
Bill Stunt
Recording
If you haven’t yet downloaded Notion Mobile, you should…. Notion is my go-to application on my iPad, which I mainly use for occasional orchestration, piano accompaniment, or ukulele tablature
Chris Russell
Technology in Music Education
Notion Mobile
Features
A world-class composition app, for free.
- Orchestral samples by the London Symphony Orchestra, recorded at Abbey Road Studios
- Cross-platform; available for iOS, iPadOS®, MacOS, Android™, Windows®, Chrome OS™, and Fire OS
- Transfer your projects across multiple platforms and devices
- Clean, intuitive, and highly configurable user interface
- Additional features and expansion sounds can be accessed either by signing in with your PreSonus Studio One+ account, or by purchasing the Notion Feature bundle for your preferred platform. Includes: handwriting recognition; wireless network transfer between devices running PreSonus applications; advanced audio format export; and all expansion sounds.
Composition
- Full range of note entry and editing tools
- Intuitive note selection and context-aware menu
- Copy, paste, duplicate — if you paste into a different rhythmic position, Notion will reflow and your music over the next measure lines adjusting notes or rests as required
- Quickly change durations and pitches, add articulations, or copy and duplicate
- Enter notes in up to four voices per staff
- Full range of articulations, including staccato, flutter tongue, trills, vibrato, and much more
- Full range of guitar functions, including bends, vibrato, slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, mutes, whammy bar techniques, bass slap, harmonics, and more
- Support for lyrics; chord symbols and diagrams; rhythm slashes; handwritten ‘jazz’ font; swing
User Interface
- Enter, edit, and playback notation, tablature, or both
- Option to tap in notes with finger or stylus
- Cross platform keyboard shortcuts
- Interactive piano keyboard with adjustable-width keys, 24-fret guitar fretboard, and drum pad.
- Try out your melodies, or enter notes via step-time or real-time
Screen, Continuous, and Page views
Sounds
- Core sound packs included with Notion feature: orchestral strings, woodwind, brass, harp and percussion; electric guitar, acoustic guitar, electric bass, drumset
- Not ready to install a full orchestral library on your device? No problem. Notion Mobile gives you the option of using a Steinway Piano sampled at Abbey Road Studios to use for all instruments so you can still hear your compositions while still saving on storage space.
- Further Add-on sounds are unlocked via the Feature Bundle, or with your PreSonus Sphere membership. These include: section and duo sounds, solo strings, string articulations, jazz woodwind and brass, auxiliary woodwind and brass instruments, more fretted instruments such as: ukulele, classical guitar and banjo; keyboard instruments such as electric piano, church organ, celeste; more percussion such as Sound FX, vibes, marimba, etc.
- Audition mode: Use the onscreen virtual instruments to hear sounds before entering them into your score
MIDI
- Use MIDI step-time entry with your favorite MIDI device, either wired or via MIDI Bluetooth.
- Record real-time MIDI input into your score
Production Tools
- Full audio mixer
- Distortion and reverb effects
- Export: notion, PDF, MusicXML, WAV, AAC, and MIDI files. Opus, m4a and FLAC export available with the optional Feature Bundle or a PreSonus Sphere membership.
- Import: notion, MIDI, MusicXML
- Sync with your preferred cloud provider
- Print directly from your device
- Export all parts to PDF with one tap
- Save as an audio file
System requirements:
Below are the minimum hardware and operating system requirements for Notion Mobile. The minimum app size is approximately 200MB, depending on the platform. Additional storage space is required for each soundset.
Android
- Android 8.0 (Marshmallow) or later
- 2GB Memory
- Phones, tablets, and Chromebooks supported
- Google Play Store or Samsung Galaxy Store installed
Amazon Fire
- Fire OS 7 or later
- Minimum supported devices:
Fire7 (9thGen 2019)
FireHD8 (8thGen 2018)
FireHD10 (9thGen 2019)
FireHD10+ (11thGen 2021)
iOS | iPad OS
- iOS11.4 | iPadOS11 or later
- Minimum Supported devices:
iPhone SE
iPad (5th gen)
iPad Mini 4
iPad Air
iPod Touch (6th gen)
macOS
- Apple laptop and desktop computers running 10.14 Mojave (64-bit) or later
Windows
- Tablets, Microsoft Surface, laptop and desktop computers running Windows 10 (64-bit) or later