Audio → MIDI transcription
Turn piano audio into MIDI,
right on your Mac.
Drop a piano recording into LumaKeys and it becomes editable MIDI: falling notes you can play, a piano roll you can reshape, and a piece that lives in your library. Transcription runs on-device on your Mac. No upload, no account, no per-song credits. You get 5 transcriptions free. Pro is $69 one-time until October 15, 2026 (then $99) and makes transcription unlimited.
A real transcription in LumaKeys: audio in, playable falling notes out.
How it works
- 1
Drop the recording in
Drag a piano audio file into LumaKeys: a voice memo from your phone, an old performance, a practice take. No account, no upload form, no queue.
- 2
It becomes MIDI, on your Mac
LumaKeys transcribes the recording on-device into editable MIDI: every note with its timing and velocity. Your audio never leaves your computer.
- 3
Play it, fix it, keep it, export it
The result is a real piece in your library: falling notes you can learn from, a piano roll where you can correct or reshape anything, and export as MIDI or as a video up to 4K.
On-device vs. online converters
Many online piano converters are built around upload, conversion, and download, often as sheet music, PDF, MusicXML, or MIDI. LumaKeys is built differently: transcription happens on your Mac, and the result is a piece you can immediately play, edit, and export.
| Aspect | Online converters | LumaKeys |
|---|---|---|
| Where transcription runs | Their servers (you upload your audio) | On your Mac (nothing uploaded) |
| Pricing model | Subscription or per-song credits | 5 free · unlimited with Pro ($69 one-time until October 15, 2026, then $99) |
| What you get back | A MIDI / PDF / MusicXML download | A playable, editable piece in your library |
| Fixing mistakes | Re-import the file into another editor | Built-in piano roll, right there |
| What happens after | You need more tools to learn or present it | Learn it from falling notes, style it, export video |
Compared July 2026. Cloud tools are the right pick if what you want is printable sheet music (PDF/MusicXML). That's their focus, and LumaKeys doesn't do notation.
What people transcribe
Write down what you played
You improvised something good and only have a phone recording. Transcribe it, clean it up in the piano roll, and it's a piece you can keep and relearn.
Recover your old recordings
Performances from years ago become editable MIDI. Loop them, slow them down, and learn your own playing back.
Learn public-domain classics
Chopin, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff. Recordings of public-domain works you have rights to become falling notes you can practice section by section.
Skip the manual note-typing
Instead of reconstructing a piece note by note in an editor, start from a transcription that's already 90% there and correct the rest.
Use recordings you made yourself or otherwise have the rights to: your own playing, recordings shared with permission, and public-domain works.
How accurate is it, honestly?
Good enough to be the fastest starting point, and not magic. Clean solo-piano recordings transcribe well: notes, timing, and dynamics land where you played them. Heavy pedal, very dense chords, or noisy phone recordings will produce some extra or merged notes. Every piano transcriber on the market has this trade-off, cloud or not.
The difference is what happens next. In a cloud tool, a wrong note means downloading the file and opening yet another editor. In LumaKeys, the piano roll is one click away: fix the note, and keep going. Transcription plus editing in the same app is the whole point.
Questions & answers
Is my audio uploaded anywhere?
No. Transcription runs on-device on your Mac, Apple Silicon or Intel. LumaKeys has no account and uploads nothing. Your recordings stay on your computer.
How many transcriptions are free?
5, on the Free tier, so you can properly test it on your own recordings. Pro is $69 one-time until October 15, 2026 (then $99) and makes transcription unlimited.
What audio works best?
Solo piano with a reasonably clean recording. Dense, pedal-heavy passages can come out with extra or merged notes (that's true of every piano transcriber), and in LumaKeys the piano roll is right there to fix them.
Can I edit the transcription?
Yes. Every transcription becomes a normal piece in LumaKeys: open the piano roll, correct notes, adjust timing, split hands, and reshape it however you want.
Can I export the result as a MIDI file?
Yes. You can export the MIDI to use anywhere else, or stay in LumaKeys and export a falling-note video up to 4K/60.
Does it transcribe other instruments or full songs?
It's built for piano. A full band mix or vocals aren't the target. For solo piano recordings, that focus is exactly why it works well.
More on how LumaKeys compares: LumaKeys vs Synthesia · the best Synthesia alternatives · pricing
Sources & proof
Sources checked 12 July 2026. This guide is about LumaKeys' on-device workflow; other products are linked only to show the different output and delivery models.
- Original LumaKeys transcription demo on this page
- LumaKeys pricing and transcription limits
- Piano2Notes online transcription workflow
- Ivory's score-first transcription workflow
Your whole piano life in one app.
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