New notation software for drummers released today

Sipaliwini

Junior Member
Hello,

I'm writing to announce the launch of Aered, a notation editor exclusively for drums. It's newsworthy because it introduces a new way of entering notes: when you hover over the staff you see an instant preview of what the notation would look like if you placed the note there, including automated placement of rests, beams, stems, flags etc.

http://aerodrums.com

Full disclosure: I'm one of the two guys behind that site. I'll be reading here to answer your questions and take feedback from the community on board.
 
Looks interesting. I see it's only available on PC. Do you have plans to release on Mac products? I would love to have this app for my iPad.
 
Great indeed! I was just testing a couple of softwares this week, maybe its time for a change. I'm definitely checking it out! =)


Edit: This is the best software ever all the way around. The interface is awesome, the sound is great... Even in being exclusive for drums, I wasn't expecting to be as amazed.
 
Thanks for posting. I just started to explore the software but already this was easier to use for me than Sibelius. I currently have no transcriptions on the horizon but when/if I do and I can explore it in-depth I'd have no problem making a donation.
 
Wow, great program!
And, fantastic customer service. I made a mistake while downloading the program, so I sent a request for help. Yann answered my e-mail within 5 minutes and solved the problem immediately! (It wasn't really a problem, it was more like user error.)
So, I've only fooled with it for an hour, or so, but I'm very impressed. I'm looking forward to using this wonderful program more, in the near future.
 
Cool, will see you at NAMM!

Bermuda
 
Very impressive...I"ll second the question Mac products. When will you that application. Nice product!! Denis
 
MaryO, denisri, we definitely will release Aered (and also Aerodrums) for Macs, but we can't give dates yet, we are really busy with NAMM preparations. We're not familiar with iPad programming (iOS etc) so that will probably take longer.

bermuda, our booth number is 2571, see you there.

jack, NC68, jgvideira, thank you for the kind words, they are very encouraging

I've posted new info in the old air-drumming thread:
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76567
 
This is great!

However, I'm not seeing how to change time signatures to non-quarter note based meters (e.g., 7/8, 9/16, etc.). Can you help me out?
 
This is great!

However, I'm not seeing how to change time signatures to non-quarter note based meters (e.g., 7/8, 9/16, etc.). Can you help me out?

Hi spleen, since this is only the first release of Aered it has some limitations which we are actively working on fixing. You can expect regular updates over the coming months. Some of these limitations are:

- no Mac/iOS/Android support
- time signatures must be a whole number of quarter notes
- can't specify subdivisions finer than 32nd notes
- no support for drum roll (tremelo) notation
- no support for time slash marks
- no easy way to generate a drum legend / notation key
- no way to specify repeat counts on simile bars or volta brackets
- the annotation system is lacking (no copy/paste, no justification/anchoring options, only one available font, etc.)
- no ability to finely edit per note volume and hi-hat openness values (this would greatly improve audio playback quality)
- no ability to edit per note handedness or to display a sticking line
- no support for using variable tempo songs as backing tracks (we will support this using semi-automatic beat detection)
- no ability to import/export midi files

Let me know if you think any of these are of particular importance and we will prioritize accordingly....or if you have any other suggestions/feedback. Right now, it looks like adding Mac support will be a high priority for us. We have been getting many requests for this over the last week.
 
This seems like a great app. I had a hard time with Sibelus. Aered on the other hand is very intuitive. Thank you for writing software that even I can figure out.

How do I contribute? I can't seem to find it.
 
Last edited:
Hi spleen, since this is only the first release of Aered it has some limitations which we are actively working on fixing. You can expect regular updates over the coming months. Some of these limitations are:

- no Mac/iOS/Android support
- time signatures must be a whole number of quarter notes
- can't specify subdivisions finer than 32nd notes
- no support for drum roll (tremelo) notation
- no support for time slash marks
- no easy way to generate a drum legend / notation key
- no way to specify repeat counts on simile bars or volta brackets
- the annotation system is lacking (no copy/paste, no justification/anchoring options, only one available font, etc.)
- no ability to finely edit per note volume and hi-hat openness values (this would greatly improve audio playback quality)
- no ability to edit per note handedness or to display a sticking line
- no support for using variable tempo songs as backing tracks (we will support this using semi-automatic beat detection)
- no ability to import/export midi files

Let me know if you think any of these are of particular importance and we will prioritize accordingly....or if you have any other suggestions/feedback. Right now, it looks like adding Mac support will be a high priority for us. We have been getting many requests for this over the last week.

Thanks for your response brother--no worries and I look forward to the updates as you get to them. In addition to more time signatures, things like the ability to annotate stickings, roll notation, higher note values, and a capacity for note groupings other than triplets (e.g., pentuplets, septuplets, etc.) will be useful.

But again, what you've got going here is great. It's the first drum notation software I've used without getting frustrated and ultimately reverting to writing it by hand as I've always done. So thanks for that--keep up the good work!
 
I just watched the video -- seems very handy and intuitive! I like how you can just drop individual notes on the "grid" without worrying about selecting appropriate time values first. This is bound to be a time saver for avid transcribers.
 
I just spent ten minutes with it, and boy does it rock. I can't wait for more updates! I'll be sure to donate soon.
 
I've got a question for anyone who uses Aered. I want to be able to format the page so that I have 4 bars per line always. I can't seem to figure out how to do this. I have played with the sliders and nothing seems to give me what I want. I know the app does not allow line feeds so I assume some combination of those sliders can make this happen. Does anyone know how to do this?
 
Hello,

unfortunately there is no way to force 4 bars per line.

The sliders just let you change how notes are spaced everywhere. You can adjust the sliders so that you'll get 4 bars on any particular line but that won't guarantee you get 4 bars on other lines.

The ability to break lines has been requested many times, unfortunately we haven't been able to make time to update Aered for a while because we have prioritized Aerodrums.
 
Love my Sibelius, but it is a pain when making drum kit related instructional material, so I'll definetly try this out.
 
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