I’ve been waiting for this moment for months! Artificial intelligence has gained ground in various aspects of our lives since its inception. I use AI every day to maximize and fasten my workflow. Over the past months, I have researched how to apply this technology to drum transcriptions. In this article, I review and analyze two websites that can automatically transcribe and generate the drum sheet music of any song. For the following comparison, I chose three of my drum transcriptions: “Aja” by Steely Dan, “Rosanna” by Toto, and “Harridan” by Porcupine Tree.
Drumscrib
The first website I came across was Drumscrib. It’s possible to upload audio files or search for the desired songs to transcribe, and the software will automatically generate the drum sheet music and the synthetic drum track. The transcriptions are generated and provided with essential info (duration, bpm, time signature, note count) and are available for download in PDF format or as mp3, MuseScore, and MIDI files. Prices are accessible, starting from €3 for one drum sheet music + synthetic drum track.
Upon reviewing the transcriptions, the website works well for beginner and intermediate-level songs despite some errors. For advanced songs, transcriptions are inaccurate. For example, on “Harridan” the software transcribed the song in 4/4, while it’s 5/4. The final result is weird and requires effort to edit the file yourself. However, the website is still in beta, and as stated, improvements are coming.
In summary, Drumscrib looks promising and has the potential to become an excellent tool for transcribing drum parts in the future.
PROS:
- Fast service.
- Accessible prices.
- Acceptable notation.
CONS:
- Transcriptions are not accurate.
- Missing details: dynamics, accents, song section markers.
- It doesn’t work well on odd-time signatures.
Klangio – Drum2Notes
The second website is Drum2Notes by Klangio. The company provides AI software tools for transcribing music to notes for various musical instruments. The service is free for the first 20 seconds of transcription, and many features are available with paid monthly and annual plans. It’s possible to upload audio files or search for the desired songs. In addition, it’s possible to specify some details such as the time signature, tempo, note duration quantization, and triplets recognition.
The transcription process is fast, but the final result is totally inaccurate. I tried with “Harridan” the first time, and the transcription generated was so weird I had to repeat the process because I thought it was piano sheet music… but it was drum sheet music for real.
I assure you that I’ll give the website another chance in the future; for now, it’s ineffective!
PROS:
- Fast service.
CONS:
- Transcriptions are totally inaccurate.
- Weird notation.
- Missing details: dynamics, accents, song section markers.
To conclude, even if inaccurate, the use of generative AI for transcribing drum tracks seems promising. Drummers should never forget transcribing by ear is an essential skill for a real musician. Artificial intelligence is just an additional/optional tool and not the only way to approach the art of transcribing.
By the way, here are my transcriptions of “Aja,” “Rosanna,” and “Harridan,” available for purchase in my store. I spent an average of 6 hours transcribing note-for-note, editing, and revising these transcriptions. You can easily compare them with the generated sheet music and make your considerations; I’d be happy to hear your thoughts!
Francis' Drumming Blog 
I hadn’t heard of Drumscrib until I read about it on your blog. I was curious and decided to test it out but first, I wanted to isolate the drums. I did this step using Moises and compared the results using the song and then using the isolated drums and it’s pretty on point using the isolated track. I haven’t tried any odd time signatures yet but figured I’d share.
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I’m glad you discovered new resources by reading the blog post. Thank you for sharing your comparison!
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I ran across your blog this weekend and was thrilled to ready about the two transcript services. I’ve done some transcribing by ear but rely mostly on transcriptions from the Internet. I don’t mind playing reasonable prices for somebodys transcription work either. But often enough there are either no transcriptions or only inaccurate transcriptions to be found. So possibly having a tool at hand that can transcribe from a mp3-file would be really cool!
My experience: Drum2Notes/Klangio seems to be down. I found links via Google but they did not work.
Drumscrib then really helped me along with some songs. I ran into the “odd time problem” with a song that has two bars in 3/4. I reached out to the (as it turned out to be) very friendly developer who told me that at the moment output is only in 12/8 or 4/4. He corrected my drumscore for free!
Here is the reply I got: “I’ve looked at the sheet music and the 3/4 signature is indeed not detected which is to be expected on the current beta version (v0.3). At the moment, the signature detection is very simple, either 12/8 or 4/4. And, it doesn’t detect changes like those you encountered. I’m working hard to improve the system as fast as I can, but I’m currently focusing on correcting note detection issues on some tracks. Improvements for signature detection are planned for v0.5.”
I think that sounds very promising and if my payments for the transcription service help the development on it’s way, all the better!
The other cool thing Drumscrib did for me was to transcribe an improvisation I recorded for my band mates. Much better and faster than having to write down what I did on the drums.
I hope drumscrib will evolve into a successful service. It really seems to have the potential.
Thanks for your blog article!
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Thank you for reporting the words of the developer.
However, if you’re looking for accurate transcriptions, take a look at my store and the transcriptions on the blog!
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Just a short correction of my post today. I was wrong about Drum2Notes being down. Found it. I did a comparison with the same file (isolated drum track) Drumscrib did a nice job on yesterday (except for the 3/4 bars). What a difference in favor of Drumscrib.
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Yes, exactly.
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I don’t like AI in this case and I hope that it’s not going to be great. AI can be good for certain things but when people use it to write songs and let AI do all the work and also sings, it’s has nothing to do with art or create things. If AI is getting so good that it can make 100% accurate transcriptions (they are not there now but if say in 5 years). Whats’s good about that? It’s only
susbstitute humans that are doing things and it’s nothing good about that. Then maybe you don’t have to drum either and can let a robot do the drumming 🙂
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I totally agree with you!
I still transcribe and create content in the “old” slow way, and I find AI in this field superficial. The tools I discussed in the post are far from accurate.
AI will never replace real artists and musicians; the combination of feel, uniqueness, and human presence is irreplaceable. Most AI artist content is embarrassing. I mean, those bands on Instagram are so cringe!
Another aspect people seem not to understand is that AI needs a large amount of electricity. Most AI companies operate at a loss, generating revenue but no earnings. Some small and medium-sized companies will probably no longer exist in five years.
Authentic Art doesn’t need AI.
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