Part of our guide to choosing music transcription tools.
First, the obvious disclosure: we make Songscription. We will try to be fair to Moises here, including where it is clearly the better tool, because the honest version of this comparison is more useful than a sales pitch, and because these two apps mostly do not compete. They answer different questions. Moises is the answer to "let me isolate and practice along with this recording." Songscription is the answer to "give me the notes so I can read, edit, and print them."
Moises is the biggest app in this corner of music, with tens of millions of users, and a lot of people arrive at a comparison like this because they tried Moises, loved the stem separation and chord view, and then hit a wall when they wanted to get an actual score or a MIDI file out of it. That wall is the whole story, so let us start there.
The Quick Version
- Moises. An AI practice and stem-separation app. Split a song into vocals, drums, bass, and other parts; see the chords and key during playback; slow it down or change its pitch; jam along with a smart metronome. Its output is audio: separated stems or a mixed file, exported as MP3, M4A, or WAV. Best when you want to isolate, remove, or practice along with parts of a recording.
- Songscription. An AI transcription app. Turn a recording into notation you can read and edit, then export it as PDF sheet music, MIDI, MusicXML, or Guitar Pro tabs. It also handles arrangement and difficulty leveling, and gives you an interactive piano roll to review the result. Best when you want the actual notes on a page, in a file you can open in a notation editor or a DAW.
The one-line version: Moises gives you back audio. Songscription gives you back notation. If you have been trying to squeeze sheet music out of Moises, that is why it has not worked, and it is not a setting you have missed.
What Moises Does Well
Moises earned its audience honestly. Its core is high-quality stem separation: upload a track and it splits the mix into vocals, drums, bass, and other instruments, with the higher tiers separating finer parts like lead versus rhythm guitar. On top of that it layers the tools a practicing musician actually reaches for: real-time chord detection and a key finder shown during playback, a pitch shifter and a speed changer so you can drop a song into an easier key or slow a hard passage down, a smart metronome that locks a click to the song, lyric transcription, and setlists for performance. It runs on iOS, Android, the web, and desktop.
For learning a song by ear, rehearsing to a backing track, building a karaoke version, or muting the guitar so you can play it yourself, Moises is excellent, and Songscription does not try to do any of that. If that is your goal, Moises is the right tool and you can stop reading here.
The Export Wall: Audio In, Audio Out
Here is the part that sends people looking for an alternative. Everything Moises works out about a song stays inside the app as something you look at, not something you can take with you. You can see the detected chords and key on screen while the track plays, but you cannot export them as a chord chart, a lead sheet, MIDI, or MusicXML. Moises has said directly that chord detection is an in-app feature with no export option planned. The only thing you can actually export is audio: the separated stems or a mixed-down file, as MP3, M4A, or WAV.
That is a deliberate product choice, not a bug, and it fits Moises's purpose as a practice-and-playback tool. But it means Moises cannot give you a printable score, a part to hand a bandmate, a file to open in MuseScore or Sibelius, or MIDI to drop into your DAW. If any of those is what you are after, no Moises tier will get you there, because the app does not produce notation at all.
What Songscription Does
Songscription starts from the same place, a recording, but ends somewhere else: with the notes written down. It listens to the audio and produces editable notation, which you can review and correct in an interactive piano roll and then export as PDF sheet music, MIDI, MusicXML, or Guitar Pro tabs. It can isolate a single instrument from a full mix before transcribing, so you are not required to separate stems yourself first. On top of the raw transcription it can arrange a part for a given instrument and adjust its difficulty, which matters if you are transcribing something to actually learn or teach it.
What it does not do is the Moises job. Songscription is not a stem exporter, a karaoke maker, or a live-practice metronome app, and it has no mobile app today. If you want isolated backing tracks or vocal removal, Moises is the tool. The two only look like competitors because both start by analyzing a recording; what they hand back could not be more different.
Using Them Together
Because they do different jobs, the interesting move is to use both. On a dense, heavily produced track where the part you want is buried, you can separate the mix in Moises, export the stem you care about as a clean WAV, and run that through Songscription to get accurate notation. Songscription can pull a single instrument out of a full mix on its own, so this is optional rather than required, but for the busiest recordings the extra separation step can improve the result. Moises isolates; Songscription notates. Chained together, you go from a full song to an isolated part to a readable, editable score.
Get the notes, not just the audio
Upload a recording and Songscription writes out the notation you can read, edit, and export as PDF, MIDI, MusicXML, or tabs. A free tier is available so you can see the difference from an audio-only tool.
How to Decide
- Want to isolate, mute, or remove parts of a recording? Moises. Stem separation is its core strength.
- Want to practice along, slow a song down, or change its key as audio? Moises, or Songscription's piano roll if you also want to read the notes. For a wider look at practice-speed tools, see our roundup of the best apps to slow down songs.
- Want sheet music, a lead sheet, MIDI, MusicXML, or tabs you can edit and print? Songscription. Moises does not export notation of any kind.
- Want to see chords during playback but never need to export them? Moises handles that in-app. If you need the chords in a file, see getting the chords to any song with Songscription.
- Working from a very dense mix? Use both: separate in Moises, notate in Songscription.
If you are choosing between transcription tools specifically, our guide to music transcription tools and our roundup of the best transcription software compare Songscription against tools that, unlike Moises, are actually trying to produce notation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Moises export sheet music or MIDI?
No. Moises exports audio only, either separated stems or a mixed file, in MP3, M4A, or WAV. Its chord detection and key finder work inside the app for playback, and Moises has said chord results are an in-app feature with no export planned. There is no sheet music, MusicXML, or MIDI output. If you need notation or MIDI out of a recording, that is a job for a transcription tool like Songscription rather than Moises.
What is the difference between Songscription and Moises?
They solve different problems. Moises separates a song into stems, shows chords and key during playback, and lets you change speed and pitch to practice along. Everything it produces stays as audio. Songscription turns the recording into notation you can read, edit, and export as PDF sheet music, MIDI, MusicXML, or Guitar Pro tabs. If you want isolated backing tracks, Moises is built for that; if you want the notes on a page, Songscription is.
Can I use Moises and Songscription together?
Yes, and it is a good pairing. Use Moises to isolate a single instrument from a dense mix, then run that cleaner stem through Songscription to get accurate notation. Songscription can also pull a single instrument out of a full mix on its own, so the extra step is optional, but for very busy recordings separating first can help.
How much does Moises cost?
Moises has a free tier with a monthly upload limit and shorter files, then Premium and Pro subscriptions that unlock unlimited uploads, more stem types, and higher-quality separation. Reported prices vary by region and by whether you subscribe on the web or through an app store, so check the current rate on the Moises site before committing. The important point for this comparison is not the price but the output: every tier exports audio, not notation.
The fastest way to see the difference is on a song you already know. Upload a recording to Songscription and get editable sheet music, MIDI, and tabs from the audio.
