Sheet Music Direct Reviews

Overall the best selection of digital sheet music I’ve found. However only being able to use on an iPad vs other devices or larger format tablets is very limiting. Also, I like to annotate my sheet music, and not being able to manually add freeform notes is a big step down from traditional sheet music. An app “by musicians for musicians” should be much more versatile!

Received a wholly unsatisfying response from the developer, not addressing the problem but making excuses for why these pretty simple features aren’t available.

Also dropped my rating further since you can’t preview the whole song, very disappointing when the arrangements are weak!

Really a shame because a relatively good app could easily be made a whole lot better if the developer were only willing!

I have a 5th generation iPad Pro 12.9” and it takes 45 seconds (I timed it) from the time I hit the icon on my iPad till it finishes loading SheetMusicDirect where I can start using it. Unfortunately loading SheetMusicDirect is something I have to do over and over and over again because SheetMusicDirect keeps crashing. Unless I pay extra for every song I can’t print the sheet music so I’m forced to use SheetMusicDirect . I’m about to cancel my membership.

Update: I’ve been in contact with the help desk at Sheet Music Direct. Sam is trying to help me get the problems fixed. I am hopeful that their developers will be able to fix the problem with their app, so I changed my rating from 1 star to 2 stars.

When SheetMusicDirect is working, it elegantly provides access to the million+ songs available with membership.

It is missing is the ability to mark a section of the score for repeated play, which limits use as a practice tool. Publisher should just copy the first-rate interface/functioning of their PlayAlong app.

Worked for 2 days, then stopped working on my 2020-model iPad. Remains stuck on the splash screen. Reinstalling didn’t solve the problem. When I installed on another iPad SheetMusicDirect booted up but behavior was erratic. Some songs played at 2x, 3x, even 5x the correct speed. Additionally, all songs are show as 120BBM in the settings regardless of actual speed.

I would give 5 stars if developer fixes bugs and adds selective passage repeat mode.

People using SheetMusicDirect are musicians - that’s why they like notation. Why would you have the “speed” as a percentage instead of widely understood bpm?

Also, why after a year of using, would my downloaded songs in my set list suddenly start resetting to original key and keep turning accompaniment back on. These are very annoying to adjust with every song I open.

Please fix! Will rate much better when completed.

Wondering if anyone at the company uses this on iPad. Music library is great but it has a few very frustrating bugs. One example: if you pull up a song in a set list and go into the settings to change the key (transposition), then you can’t use the X in the top left to close the sheet music. Doing that results in a blank white screen (closes the music, but you’re stuck in the screen and can’t go back to the set list, etc). I found a way around that which doesn’t involve closing and reopening SheetMusicDirect . You have to use the set list quick menu dropdown in the top right corner and select a different song. It will then change songs, and you can close out the music and go back to the set list. It’s stupid and annoying, but I keep hoping they’ll fix it with each update. till waiting. Great app overall though.

There is a decent selection of songs for downloading, but I also wanted to use SheetMusicDirect to organize the converted to PDF piano books I have had for years. I got a few songs to update the metadata properly, but once I try to fix the rest, they revert back to the PDF name with PDF for artist and PDF for arrangement. It is frustrating trying to re-input the information repeatedly only to have it not save.

I also wish there was a way to get to a specific page of a song quickly like for repeats and codas. For now I have to swipe repeatedly to get to the right page and this is time consuming.

I do like SheetMusicDirect. The music selection is good and the prices are reasonable. But I really don’t like the interface. For instance it doesn’t remember my search history so I have to retype the entire search string/phrase every time I want to find a song. And when I favorite a song, the sample page is saved to my wish list. Cool, but there is no way to get back to the purchase page from my wish list; I have to go back to search and start all over, again typing the entire search string, and then dig to find the one I favorited. I have not purchased more than once because I found the process so annoying that I gave up.

And about support. I want to request support for something like this rather than write a review, but it requires an email session and since I don’t have email on my iPad I can’t request support. That’s also annoying because I’m already logged in, they should know something about my account, so let me contact support from my account.

I’m in my first week of the trial. I want to subscribe for the year, however, sometimes I get sound and most of the time I don’t. Sometimes the sound goes away halfway through a song. I’ve tried everything to fix it: deleting SheetMusicDirect , then reinstalling restarting my iPhone, logging out logging in. Sometimes these things work, sometimes they don’t. The sound on the website seems to work OK though. There is nothing wrong with my phone because all my other apps and stuff work just fine.

Update: In spite of the issue with the sound, I wanted to change my subscription from monthly to annual,
And to do so, the instructions tell you that you have to contact customer service. But customer service never gets back to you.

As many have noted, SheetMusicDirect is more good than not. And I hope it keeps getting better. It sure beats having to carry all the books around, even though I still keep those around my main practice space.

I can give the elusive 5th star if SheetMusicDirect becomes a universal one that can run on M1-powered Macs, too. It’s not officially supported, so this makes me uncomfortable to bother trying. This is precisely the kind of app that makes for a good desktop option, too. If it is known to work, perhaps someone on the development team can follow up. Thanks!

First the good. You can transpose to any key, which you can’t do with another sheet music app. Easy to buy new charts from SheetMusicDirect .

The bad. In older versions you could also choose the steps you want to transpose to, not just the key. So if I needed it to jump a full octave, you could do that. Now you have to go to the website and do that which is a major pain.

Second, You can’t write notes, like from your iPAD pro and pencil. That’s huge. I make lots of notes on my music.

I am just starting to play guitar in my retirement. For the interactive songs, the ability to have it play, change tempo, have tabs and notes on lines directly under each other are very helpful to me as a beginner. I wish they were all interactive. I know that I am supposed to know this, but until I learn more, I wish they would allow the specific sharps and flats to show up throughout the score rather than just in the key signature at the beginning of the line. For us newbies, it is hard to keep track of which notes to sharp or flat. Still, when I am shopping for a specific song, I definitely look for the interactive ones. Thanks.

Please add a looping feature, and a pre-count. It would be nice if you could slow the tempo down more as well. Going down to 20% as opposed to 40% would be a great practice, and learning feature. It has been months and still no looping feature added! This is sad. Please honor my request. If Musicnotes can have this feature; then I know SheetMusDirect can surely do it. Please reply to me developer.

Love the service but SheetMusicDirect is sooooo slow to load. The web page works better, but there the full screen button only appears sometimes. Also, needs to load the song I was just in - not reload all of the ‘trending’ items that are always the same anyway. We get it - Hallelujah and Imagine are selling well.

It’s finally fixed - SheetMusicDirect now loads quickly and remembers where you were! Thank you.

This is of value to anyone who wants a convenient access to a great selection of sheet music, in many genres, and in many cases with multiple arrangements for the same song. One feature that could be improved is MIDI support: it should recognize USB connected instruments as well as software instruments (via IAA / Audiobus or whatever it’s called), and not just BT MIDI. The in app sounds are adequate, but it’s more immersive when a fuller sound can be produced. Another idea would be to add multiple language support for lyrics.

I’ve been using Sheet Music Direct for five years now and absolutely love it! It makes it easy to keep all my music together instead of using binders. The selection is wonderful. I’ve been able to find a lot of the music I’ve wanted over the years.

I have one complaint and that is that you can’t annotate the music. I’d love to be able to make notes in the sheet music.

I got SheetMusicDirect to get chords to play tunes on my guitar. Unfortunately, my very first $4 purchase of an obscure song turned out to inaccurate, and I was quite disappointed. The reason I am giving SheetMusicDirect 5 stars is that the developer worked with me for an acceptable solution. I do not fault the developer that the only published copy of my tune was not the one that a favorite singer used. Clearly the singer made artistic changes. I look forward to finding more music through SheetMusicDirect. Also, friends tell me they have been quite happy with it.

I use SheetMusicDirect for most of the musice I'm looking for. Prices are far and downloads work well. I had one issue with a song and they fixed it quickly and without a lot of back and forth.

I wish the play along voicing sounded less computer and more like the real instrument but such is life.

I play piano or keyboard now mostly for myself, but I love the access to all forms of music. I can listen to the song first if I choose, and play along with it to learn the selection, or just play myself. The song selections are endless, with every musical category you can think of. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thank You

The PASS feature is awesome. Being able to find lead sheets, chord charts, lyrics, vocals, and put them into set lists without having to buy all of the music you don’t need on a regular basis is ideal!
Note to the company….How about an annual subscription option instead of the monthly payment? That would make it perfect.

Great selection of sheet music for piano, guitar, and ukulele. Most songs have versions with a variety of levels. Lyrics are often in the ‘easy piano’ version.

You will need to buy a pager turner to really take full advantage of SheetMusicDirect. I got the AirTurn Duo BT-500 and it works perfectly with it right out of the box.