Side by side
Impro-Visor vs music21
Both stand on music notation software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Choose Impro-Visor if you want a free tool for writing jazz solos, exploring chord changes, and practicing with generated accompaniment. Look elsewhere if you need direct MusicXML import or notation for stacked notes and double stops.
Visit Impro-VisorChoose music21 if you want a free Python toolkit for analyzing, teaching, editing, or composing with symbolic music data. Its corpus and optional integrations support a range of musicology and notation tasks. Look elsewhere if you need to work directly from audio waveforms or read notation from images or PDFs.
Visit music21The facts
| Impro-Visor | music21 | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Linux, Mac, Windows | Linux, Mac, Web, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Free or on request |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | cs.hmc.edu | music21.org |
| On music notation software | #18 of 38 | #14 of 38 |
Impro-Visor: what it does well
- Free software released under the GNU General Public License, v2.
- Generates rhythm-section accompaniment from chords.
- Offers point-and-click and free-form text notation entry.
- Can generate licks or choruses from modifiable grammars.
- Exports solos and lead-sheet melodies as MIDI or MusicXML.
What to know first
- MIDI import is limited to one track at a time.
- MusicXML export handles one chorus at a time and cannot be imported.
- Designed for monophonic solo lines, not polyphonic parts.
music21: what it does well
- Free BSD-licensed toolkit.
- Includes a corpus of thousands of encoded musical works.
- Supports MIDI and MusicXML.
- Provides corpus search, pitch plotting, and nPVI analysis.
- Can be used in web-based Jupyter Notebook.
What to know first
- Requires some familiarity with Python.
- Primarily handles symbolic music data rather than sound waves.
- Cannot read notation directly from images or PDFs.
- Some corpus works may have separate commercial-use or other restrictions.
Alternatives to Impro-Visor Alternatives to music21 The whole list