USERNAME OR EMAIL PASSWORD
Noteflight FAQ

General

What is Noteflight?

Noteflight is the best way to create, store, listen to, print, search and share notated music online. If you are a composer, you can use Noteflight to author and manage your compositions. If you are a performer, you can use Noteflight to create and share sheet music that you like to play. If you're a teacher or a student, you can use Noteflight to communicate and collaborate in learning music.

How much does Noteflight cost?

Noteflight offers a free version to individuals for non commercial use. We also offer a premium product, Crescendo, for $49/year. Users can upgrade, or downgrade their account at anytime without losing scores. Click here for a plan comparison.

Will Noteflight stop being free?

Nope! Noteflight will continue to offer a basic level of service that is free. It's a fundamental aspect of our business.

Playback

Sound playback doesn't work or is highly irregular

If you are using an older Mac G4 or G5 with a PowerPC chip, please upgrade to Flash Player 10.1 which fixes the audio problems on these machines. (If you're not sure whether you have a Mac of this kind, go to "About This Mac..." on the Apple menu at the upper left of your screen.) As of the last update to this page, this version of Flash is available from Adobe Labs Flash Player 10.1 Downloads.

On computers with CPU speeds of less than 1.2 GHz, sound playback may be unstable in general due to the computational requirements of audio synthesis in Flash.

Documents

Is my music safe on Noteflight's servers?

Your music is safe. All Noteflight scores are backed up in multiple redundant copies, in a professionally operated data center.

I am controlling access to sites from my computer, which ones do I need to allow?
or, I am getting this message: "Error #2048..."

Make sure that your network permits access to the sites instruments.noteflight.com and assets.noteflight.com.

Saving Scores

When saving, I see an error: "The score was not transmitted correctly to the server"

This message is seen when data sent to the server by Noteflight gets corrupted on its way there. Most commonly this is due to a bug in Mac OS X Parental Controls that affects the Firefox browser. If you are using a Mac and Firefox and are seeing this problem, we recommend that you either disable Parental Controls or switch to the Safari browser.

I am seeing this message in an embedded score: "Error #2032"

You are most likely viewing an embedded score that is private rather than shared. In Noteflight Learning Edition, this also may mean that you are not currently logged into your school's LMS and so the score is not available for you to view.

File Export

I exported a file as MIDI or WAV, but my computer just shows me a bunch of text when I open it.

On some computers, the ending of a filename is important. Be sure to end the filename in ".mid" for a MIDI file, or ".wav" for a WAV file when exporting.

Score Editor

Can I add my own instrument sounds or notational symbols to the Score Editor?

Custom instruments and notation symbols are on of our feature roadmap. We hope to have these features ready for you to try soon!

Can I import scores from another program like Finale(tm) or Sibelius(tm)?

Yes: you can import scores in the MIDI or MusicXML formats from many popular notation programs, including Finale and Sibelius. To import from Sibelius, you will need the Dolet plugin available from Recordare.

Can I enter music into Noteflight using a MIDI keyboard, or play Noteflight scores back using my own MIDI instruments?

The Adobe Flash Player Plugin, which is used to run Noteflight's Score Editor, does not have access to your system's MIDI devices. We are working on various technical approaches that would allow MIDI devices to be used with Noteflight.

Where are the features for phrasing, guitar tabs, and many other things that I so desperately want?

Why, we're probably working hard on those very features right this minute!

Some keyboard shortcuts do not seem to work in Internet Explorer

On Internet Explorer for Windows, the Ctrl key is not correctly detected by Flash in combination with certain keys that correspond to browser menu commands on the File and Edit menus, specifically C (Copy), X (Cut), V (Paste), S (Save), Y (Redo) and Z (Undo) . As a workaround the mouse may be used to select the menu items in question.

Sharing

Can other people see my scores on Noteflight?

Only if you want them to. A new score on Noteflight is always private, and only the author can see it. To change these settings, visit the Sharing panel.

Can other people print my scores?

If you let other people read your scores, then they can also print them.

Intellectual Property and Copyright

Does Noteflight automatically acquire some kind of rights to music I create within it?

No, we don't. Placing your music on Noteflight does not change your ownership of your intellectual property.

When I share music with others, am I giving away my copyright?

No. Your work is still yours, but by sharing it you are granting others certain rights to view and download, and (if you so choose) to edit and adapt the work. See our terms of use for the legal details.

Can I use Noteflight to share other people's copyrighted music?

If we are notified that you are using Noteflight to infringe someone else's legal copyright, we will notify you and remove your content from the system as required by law. If you persist in doing so, we will permanently block your account from Noteflight as detailed in our terms of use.

My music is being shared on Noteflight without my authorization. How do I ask for it to be removed?

Please file a valid DMCA request, as detailed on our copyright policy page.