Piascore - Smart Music Score Reviews

by Wilbur Floyd

Piascore is great for me as a music major in college. Downloading sheet music online is my favorite feature by far, and I love being able to add tags to my sheet music to organize them. Plus it’s free, that’s always a plus. My biggest problem with Piascore is how unresponsive it can be.

It gets particularly glitchy when I’m doing score study. For example, doing a bunch of highlighting will make the undo and redo buttons respond super slowly. Consequently, it will also take a long time for the annotations on my sheet music to load, which gets frustrating after a while. Additionally, Piascore mistakes zooming out and scrolling gestures for writing A LOT, which leaves so many small, yet annoying, marks all over every document. Piascore also crashes sometimes, if it receives too much information from notating or finger gestures.

I also really don’t like that there are only four slots for annotating, two for pens and the other two for highlighters. It’s really inconvenient having to switch between colors and sizes so many times while I’m analyzing a score.

Again, great app, but issues like these make using it unenjoyable at times for me. Two features I would really love to see added, as well, would be a square grid that pops up when tilting the page to adjust it, and a feature that automatically zooms out when you exit the annotation mode, so you can see the full page right away.

Hope this review helps, and thank you for making Piascore :)

by Jjj3wright

I love Piascore, but it’s becoming a real pain with all the bugs. I will note my two most frustrating ones here:

1) Piascore now constantly freezes. I have an iPad Pro, 1st generation. Recently, whenever I try to switch between songs in a set list by hitting the back button or similar tasks, Piascore will just freeze. Sometimes it freezes for up to a minute before it becomes useable again. This is extremely problematic, especially during a live concert situation when I’m sitting there with my music frozen while the song is starting. This has been happening for about the past 6 months (from August 2019).

2) For some reason recently every song PDF I import (download from iCloud) is being imported with lower-case song titles no matter how I named the file being imported. I’m fairly meticulous with my file management, and I make titles with specific capitalization where needed. It’s very annoying to have to redo this step unnecessarily because it was imported in all lower-case. This is a newer issue that did not used to happen.

I do love Piascore, and I want to be able to give it 5 stars, but these bugs are killing me. Please get these fixed and I will put my rating back up where it belongs! Thanks!

by 1523454

I love Piascore and use it often for all of my different music, whether piano solos or orchestral trombone parts or small or large ensemble scores, and it keeps me from having to carry around large amounts of paper books with me wherever I go. I am able to keep an entire library of music with my at all times, and be able to whip it out on a whim, or perform hassle free. The only suggestion I would make would be to make the portion of the screen that you tap on to change the page larger. I will often be playing a very technical piece with no breaks for page turns, and so my hand will shoot up to the screen as fast as I can make it move but I will miss the button a lot of times because it is too small, and the page won’t turn which causes even more of a slowdown than if they were paper pages. If I could reach up and hit anywhere on the right half of the screen (or even right third) my page turns would go much smoother and I wouldn’t risk having to stop the song to try turning the page again. Overall though Piascore is incredible and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who will need to have music on them for any reason.

by SH11011

I really like Piascore for its page turning feature with a wink. However, this feature would not work when the performer is wearing a mask. This is extremely problematic in this time of pandemic since most performances would take place in public areas where mask wearing is required. The inability to use the page turning feature with a wink causes a great deal of inconvenience. Hope this problem can be fixed soon. Thank you!

by TreeFiddle

Reliable and really easy to use, but with plenty of features. Some might need a few more bells and whistles if doing something complex, but this is perfect for me.

Marked it down a star because lately it has been draining my iPad battery in the background, when I'm not using either the iPad or Pia Score. Closing Piascore before putting away the iPad might fix this, but it's a new issue. I can get through a 4-hour gig with this app open and the screen ON the entire time, so my issue is what happens when I'm not actively using Piascore or the iPad. I pick up the iPad expecting it to be fully charged and it reports that Pia used up 99% of the battery power.

Still a great app, if you remember to shut it down when you are done using it!

by KLorkStye

Would like to see sticking tongue out for going forward or backward (programmable user choice). And opening mouth for turning pages forward or backward (also user choice). 4 stars due to displaying a full screen with the annoying notification bar also displayed over the sheet and in the way. Why do I need to see the date & time over my sheet music?

Please add more facial gestures (such as bowing head or looking downward to turn page or showing teeth, etc). It would seriously help people who have had issues with facial paralysis, etc.

by Cellolaurie

This is a great app for holding my many books of charts. It seems to crash frequently when I add a lot of charts at once, but so far it hasn’t crashed while on a gig. It doesn’t let you create charts in Piascore like some other apps do. It’s very user friendly and I love it that it changes the page orientation automatically when you put the iPad on its side. However, when you make sets, sometimes it splits the pages incorrectly when viewing two pages at once (ie, pg 1 of one piece is displayed with pg 1 of another song.

by Notgoodenough1

When I updated my iPad version to iOS14, I was no longer able to use my keyboard (virtual or BT) to make edits. I sent a message to the support last night. When I got up this morning, the fix was already implemented and when I “updated” my this app, the problem was gone. Impressive.

by Verybad666

I think of all the options out there Pia is the one that has the faster and most complete score reading and taking notes etc. I have built a huge archive that is very easy to navigate. Downloading and keeping my music organized is very easy. Highly recommend to have Piascore, an Apple Pencil a must.

by TheOtherWB

I think the title of the product and the perception of what you can do with this is different than what you end up with. Or the reason you’re looking for a program like this in the first place tends to get skewed In the description. This is an all in one Swiss Army knife of sheet music. And you can search and get your hands on the notes you need to see to learn. If you’re studying scores it’s a must have. The access to composers is unsurpassed in any legit app.

by Catdaddy:)

Overall it's a wonderful SMART app!! I've been using it for several years and it's only gotten better. I do not like that when I make setlists, it numbers the songs and I can't see anywhere to change it. My only gripe.
I LOVE that there is the option to include what I've written on the music when uploading to iCloud. It works seamlessly with my Bluetooth page turner. It's made the transition to digital music painless.

by Doumri

I really like Piascore. If you are going to use the camera import, I would suggest using the camera app, balancing the black and white, and then importing from the camera album.
The only thing I’d like to see is a way to combine playlists.
All the other features are great. I use it with a page turning pedal, and it is wonderful. In the Beethoven scherzo, I have to turn forward and back several times. Works great.

by J.Mc.Grath.

I play the piano, cello, flute, and ukulele so my music shelves are FULL. Piascore has been great for sizing down what I have to lug around with me (especially for the cello). Probably the best feature I have used and never knew I needed was the “wink to turn pages” feature. Imagine being able to continuously play without having to lift your hand or stop playing for a second even just to turn a page? LIFE SAVER.

by Snookie Do

I’m relatively new to this program and to playing the fiddle. I had a bit of a time figuring it out at first but the more I use it the more I appreciate it. I’m no spring chicken which was probably some of my slow start. I especially like that I can write in embellishments and set the metronome for the different pieces and have it there with the same setting whenever I return. I also no longer need to haul a stack of music books. Thanks so much. I think it’s great!

by Love Eating

Best app for hands free scrolling. I was using the Musicnotes app since I buy a lot of sheet music for their website. However, I found manual touching of the screen to be awkward. Even the use of a Bluetooth pedal wasn't natural for me.

Piascore allows the music to vertically scroll, so there's no page turning at all! Hallelujah! If the screen moves too fast or too slow, you can easily move the screen up or down with your finger to get you back on track. Over time, you begin to know if a song is too slow and the scrolling has to be set at a slower speed.

I selected some free classical songs. I also loaded some of my favorite sheet music into my Dropbox account, and it easily transferred to Piascore. I made setlists which continue to scroll, song after song.

Love it! No complaints at all!

by Jesuscont01

I hate to start with this kind of title, but the fact that this program works with older iPads is awesome! I looked at other programs but none of them seem to work with older iPads and this one just dead so I just bought it straight out. It does everything I need it for it to do. I need to scan with a different program or with my phone. It's just a minor inconvenience compared to what the program drinks. I use an air turn pedal for page turning. All around just awesome program.

by Xsldesigns

I’m a keyboard player at our church and I needed an app with which I could quickly re-order our set list, and easily change out songs. I also needed to be able to write notes on the page as needed. I have an Apple Pencil and Piascore is wonderful. I easily added all our PDFs to Piascore , and can create set lists adding any of them I want. I can reorder the set list on the fly, and once I figured out how to change the color and size of the pen tool, I can easily add notes. I can create several playlists for any gigs I have to do.

I love Piascore.

by (T!t0)

I downloaded Piascore after it was recommended to me by my father, who plays professionally. I'm the lead worship guitarist at my church and depend on my iPad now more than ever for the music. I have to say, I was very impressed at how simple it is to use! The program is very intuitive and easy the Set Lists are very easy to create. Adding the songs is just as simple and works with your camera or photo album to directly import. I will definitely see myself using Piascore from now on instead of my binder. Do not hesitate to download Piascore and use it! It's definitely the best one out there for free!

by Jnutz1982

I use Piascore for the worship music at church. We have all of our music in different keys on a planning center app. I download the sheet music to this app and boom! I can then take the saved sheet music and save them to individual set lists for different events etc. from there you can make notes on the music with your finger or digital pen/pencil, or do just about anything you need!

Also, any Bluetooth page turner will work with Piascore. I’ve had 3 different page turning pedals and they’ve all worked.

Piascore has really made doing worship on Sundays a breeze! Love it!

by Martin Allegan

This is my first foray into playing my violin music on a tablet. I was reluctant at first, but I keep finding more features that make this a pleasure. One unexpected benefit is that I make many more marks in my music because I know that I can easily erase temporary notes completely. I also like being able to mark the music in different colors. The “stamping” feature makes nice clean up- and down-bow marks, as well as fingerings, dynamics, etc. All the editing features are well thought-out. And I don’t have to carry around a big bag of quartet music now. Well done! Bravo!

by Vlafish

Good editing features, page-turn scrolling and probably many other amazing things - if you can actually find a file. And upgrading to save MusicXML files, it worked once, now photos only become PDFs, and the XML files I saved? Nowhere to be found... I want my subscription $$ back. As most tech, it’s for the high-end users who do complex stuff. For the simple daily tasks? Good luck finding basic functions in their minimal “Help” files...

by Jess\_0_/

When uploading files to Piascore , Piascore will often crash and cause my I pad to completely shut down. It will flash a purple screen then turn off. I have a brand new 12.9 i pad pro so I know the device isn’t the problem. Piascore crashed very similarly on my IPad Air. Sometimes it also crashes when I leave Piascore open and lock the I pad. I like Piascore its self and the ability to create set lists but I hate that it crashes literally every time I use it. It makes me nervous as to whether it’s going to crash or not during a Sunday morning service.

by Beedale

I love Piascore and use it for all my chorale scores, on which I mark up the music with my notes, but when I hand in my paper score it has stayed clean and unmarked. I use it in performance because it’s much lighter to hold out in front of yourself while standing on risers for an hour and a half than a binder full of paper and booklets.

I also use it for my piano scores. I love the set lists, as I use much of the music over and over and can so easily choose the music for that days program and put it in performance order. And, as long as you have the song loaded, it’s much quicker to make last minute changes to the set list contents as well as changing the order.

I would really appreciate the ability to add pages to an existing piece ( currently I have to reload all the pages again and add the new page in then). Also to be able to make notations or alterations on a page that I have copied multiple times without the changes appearing on every copy; for example, I prefer to copy the refrain of a song rather than jumping back and forth, but I’ll try to change the ending of the final refrain and it changes it on every refrain page.

Great app. There’s a great potential for growth within Piascore as well.

by The Mob Reader

Intuitive and seamless to use. Very useful to search for free music scores on line or take photos of paper copies or open PDF files into this app by “sharing. Easy to organise and annotate music. Handy page turn feature integrated with Roland digital pianos. Developer very responsive with questions/suggestions.

by Corky The Banjo Picket

I love Piascore and have puts 100’s of songs on that I can now easily take with me anywhere I go. Simple to use and very robust to share music and download songs. This is the best thing I have used to get and stay organized with my music.