Piano music transcription

Transcription of music could be defined as an act of listening to a piece of music and writing down music notation for the piece. Transcription of polyphonic music (polyphonic pitch recognition) converts an acoustical waveform into a parametric representation, where notes, their pitches, starting times and durations are extracted from the signal.

SONIC is our system for transcription of polyphonic piano music. The system takes an acoustical waveform of a piano recording as its input. The output of the system is a MIDI file containing the transcription. Notes, their starting times, durations and loudness’ are extracted from the signal.

At MIREX 2016 evaluation, SONIC achieved solid results on the Multiple Fundamental Frequency Estimation & Tracking task for both the MIREX and the Su datasets..

Dowload SONIC

SONIC is available for download. This version was also submitted to MIREX 2016. Try it yourself!

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Implementation details

SONIC is based on a connectionist paradigm; neural networks are used for partial tracking, note recognition, onset detection and detection of repeated notes.

For more details, see the following publications:

• M. Marolt, "A connectionist approach to automatic transcription of polyphonic piano music," IEEE transactions on multimedia, pp. 439-449, 2004.
  [Bibtex]

  @article{4203860,
  author={Matija Marolt},
  year={2004},
  pages={439-449},
  title={A connectionist approach to automatic transcription of polyphonic piano music},
  journal={IEEE transactions on multimedia},
  }

• M. Marolt, "Networks of adaptive oscillators for partial tracking and transcription of music recordings," Journal of new music research, vol. 33, iss. 1, pp. 49-59, 2004.
  [Bibtex]

  @article{4404820,
  author={Matija Marolt},
  year={2004},
  pages={49-59},
  volume={33},
  title={Networks of adaptive oscillators for partial tracking and transcription of music recordings},
  journal={Journal of new music research},
  number={1},
  }

Transcription examples

Synthesised recordings

Transcriptions of recordings synthesised from MIDI files with various piano samples.

• J.S. Bach, Two part invention no. 13 in A minor, BWV784
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• J.S. Bach, Partita no. 4 in D major, BWV828
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• J.S. Bach, English suite no. 5 in E minor, BWV810, 1. mvm.
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• D. Scarlatti, Sonata in Eb major K. 371
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• W.A. Mozart, Sonata no. 15 in C major, K. 545, 3. mvm.
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• W.A. Mozart, Sonata no. 13 in B major, K. 333, 1. mvm.
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• A. Dvorak, Humoresque no. 7, op. 101
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• P.I. Cajkovski, Uverture from The Nutcracker
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• P.I. Cajkovski, Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• S. Joplin, The Entertainer
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• S. Joplin and S. Hayden, Kismet Rag
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• D. Fingers, Thirty Minute Woman
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis

Real Piano music recordings

Transcriptions of real recordings taken from CDs.

• J.S. Bach, Goldberg variations, BWV988, variation no. 10, performer Andrei Gavrilov, Deutsche Grammophon 463 019-2
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• J.S. Bach, English suite no. 5 in E minor, BWV810, 1. mvm., performer Murray Perahia, Sony Classical SK 60277
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• L.V. Beethoven, Sonata no. 14 op. 27/2 (Moonlight), 2. mvm., performer Wilhelm Kempff, Deutsche Grammophon 415 834-2
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• R. Schumman, Träumerei, perf. Cyprien Katsaris, TELDEC 75863
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• F. Chopin, Nocturne no. 2 in Eb minor, Op. 9/2, performer Artur Rubinstein, RCA: 60822
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• S. Joplin, The Entertainer, performer unknown, MCA 11836
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• J. Kern and O. Hammerstein, All the Things You Are, performer Bill Evans, Milestone MCD-9195-2
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• M. Dixon, R. Henderson, Bye Bye Blackbird (intro), performer Oscar Peterson, MPS 821 843-2
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• M. Dixon, R. Henderson, Bye Bye Blackbird (solo), performer Oscar Peterson, MPS 821 843-2
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis

Other non-piano recordings

SONIC is designed to transcribe solo piano music. How does it fare with other recordings?

• A.C. Jobim, Saudade do Brasil, performed by Bill Evans (piano), Eddie Gomez (bass), Fantasy OJCCD-814-2
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• J.S. Betty, C.A. Green, Just In Time, performed by Oscar Peterson (piano), Ray Brown (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums), Verve 852 769-2
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• O. Lopez, Classical Soul, perf. Oscar Lopez (guitar), Narada 61065
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• C. Atkins, Acoustic Guitar Medley, perf. Chet Atkins (guitar), ??
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• P. Desmond, Take Five, performed by Dave Brubeck (piano), Paul Desmond (alto saxophone), Eugene Wright (bass), Joe Morello (drums), Columbia/Legacy CK 65122
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• T. Monk, Thelonious, performed by Thelonious Monk (piano), Idrees Sulieman (trumpet), Danny Quebec West (alto sax), Billy Smith (tenor sax), Gene Ramey (bass), Art Blakey (drums), Blue Note CDP 7243 8 30363 2 5
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• A. Piazzolla, Invierno Porteno, performed by Astor Piazzola (bandoneon), Antonio Agri (viola), Oscaldo Manzi (piano), Cacho Tirao (el. guitar), Kicho Diaz (bass), BMG 74321 21373-2
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis
• L. Brown, S. Stept, C. Tobias, Comes Love, performed by Billie Holiday (vocals), Harry Edison (trumpet), Ben Webster (tenor sax), Jimmy Rowles (piano), Barney Kessel (el. g.), Red Mitchell (bass), Gus Johnson (drums), Verve 314 513 943-2
  Source   Transcription   Resynthesis

Oscillator networks are at the core of SONIC