If you've searched for a way to convert a piano recording into MIDI or sheet music, you've almost certainly run into AnthemScore. It's a well-established desktop application that uses a neural network to convert audio to notation, and it works. But it's a paid, downloadable program, and it isn't the only option anymore.

This guide walks through the realistic alternatives in 2026, what each one is good at, and how to choose.

What AnthemScore does well

Credit where it's due. AnthemScore is mature, handles a wide range of instruments, gives you a spectrogram-based editing interface, and produces MusicXML alongside MIDI. If you need to transcribe a full band mix and manually correct it in one application, it's a reasonable choice.

Its trade-offs:

• It's a download. Windows, macOS, and Linux desktop installs.
• It's paid. A free trial exists, but full export requires a license.
• Your files go through a local install. Fine for privacy, less so for convenience — you can't just open a browser tab on a borrowed laptop.

The alternatives, briefly

Pianolyze — browser-based, nothing uploaded

Pianolyze runs an AI piano transcription model entirely inside your browser using WebGL. You drag in an MP3, WAV, FLAC, or M4A file and get a piano roll, a live sheet music view, and a MIDI export. Because the model runs on your device, your audio is never uploaded to a server. The sample tracks are free to try without an account; transcribing your own recordings requires a Pro subscription, which starts with a free trial.

It's the right choice when:

• Your source material is solo or near-solo piano
• You want a result in seconds without installing anything
• You care that your recordings stay on your machine

It's the wrong choice when you need to transcribe a full drum kit, a guitar solo, or a dense band arrangement. It's a piano tool.

If you're new to the format, start with our beginner's guide to converting audio to MIDI, then read how to turn a recording into printable sheet music.

Basic Pitch — the open-source generalist

Spotify's Basic Pitch is free, open source, and handles polyphonic audio across instruments, including pitch bends. It's a genuinely good model and there's a browser demo.

For piano specifically, you'll generally get tighter note onsets and better pedal handling from a piano-specialized model. But if you're transcribing guitar, vocals, or synth lines, Basic Pitch is the better starting point — and you can run it from Python if you want to script a batch job.

Transkun — the research-grade option

Transkun is the transformer-based piano transcription model that Pianolyze itself builds on. If you're comfortable with Python and want to batch-process an archive of recordings, running Transkun directly gives you full control over the output.

The catch is that it's a command-line research project, not a product. There's no GUI, no piano roll, and no sheet music view. Use it if you're a developer or researcher; use a wrapper if you want to actually look at the notes.

Upload-based web tools

Several web services (Klangio, Piano2Notes, and similar) accept an upload and email you back a score. They're convenient and often produce clean notation.

The trade-off is straightforward: your audio goes to someone else's server. If you're transcribing a copyrighted recording, an unreleased composition, or a student's private lesson tape, that may not be acceptable. Read the terms before uploading anything you don't own.

How to choose

Ask three questions:

1. Is the source solo piano? If yes, a piano-specialized tool will beat a generalist. If no, use Basic Pitch or AnthemScore.
2. Does the audio need to stay on your device? If yes, rule out upload-based services. Pianolyze and AnthemScore both keep files local; Pianolyze does it without an install.
3. Do you need MusicXML and heavy manual correction in one app? If yes, AnthemScore's editing interface is still the most complete. If you're happy exporting MIDI and cleaning up in MuseScore, you don't need to pay for it.

For most people transcribing piano — students, teachers, hobbyists working out a piece by ear — the honest answer is that a browser tool now covers the job without an install, and the open-source options cover it for free.