1 · Play it in
Record the tune two or three times, from the top each time, with its repeats. Each take is a separate recording. Scribe lines the takes up and keeps whatever most of them agree on.
A beat is a crotchet in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4, and a dotted crotchet in 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8. Wear headphones if you can so the click isn't recorded, though Scribe copes with a quiet click. With the metronome on, Scribe uses its time signature and beats, so the bar lines land in the right place.
0:00
No takes yet.
Pick the best version of each bar
Hover over a take to hear its version of the bar. Click the one you want and Scribe moves on to the next bar. Keys: ← → change bar, 1–9 pick that take, 0 lets Scribe decide, space plays each version in turn.
Bar 1
2 · The dots
Keys: Tab next note (Shift+Tab back) · ↑ ↓ a semitone (Shift for an octave) · ← → shorter or longer · Delete · D split · Esc to finish. The bar stays the right length.
Bar line
Takes disagreed on this note, so check it by ear
Click a note to edit it with the keyboard. Click anywhere else on the music for more options.
Taken from the version you preferred
Speed 100%
ABC: edit here or on the dots, and the two stay in step
Getting a clean transcription
- Play in a quiet room with the phone or laptop about a metre away. One instrument at a time.
- Play the whole tune with its repeats (AABB) and start each take from the top.
- Three takes is the sweet spot. A slip in one take gets outvoted by the other two.
- Keep the tempo steady, even if it's slow. You don't need a metronome.
- Whistle and flute sound an octave above how trad tunes are written, so Scribe writes them an octave down. You can change this under Octave.
- Ornaments are tidied away: cuts vanish and rolls show as ~. That's how most people write trad tunes down.
- Use Pick the best version of each bar to go through the tune bar by bar: hover to hear each take, click the one you want.
- The take marked Master sets the tune's structure. Pick your most complete take.
- If the bar lines sit a beat out (common with pick-up notes), nudge them with ◀ ▶.