1. What is SwaraSheet?

SwaraSheet is a real-time music notation tool for musicians of all levels. Capture notes from a MIDI keyboard, the on-screen piano, or your computer keyboard — and instantly get notation in Western (C D E F), Indian Sargam (Sa Ri Ga Ma), or Carnatic format. Add chords, section labels, metronome, and export clean PDFs. Available as a web app and a desktop app (Mac/Windows).

2. Three Ways to Input Notes

A. MIDI Keyboard
Connect your keyboard via USB — SwaraSheet detects it automatically on page load. Allow MIDI access when the browser asks, and the status dot turns green. No button needed.
If a keyboard is plugged in after the page loads, it connects instantly via plug-and-play.
⚠️ MIDI keyboard requires Chrome or Edge. In Safari/Firefox, use the On-screen Piano, Keys, or Voice mode instead.

B. On-Screen Piano (🎹 Keys)
Click the 🎹 Keys button to toggle the on-screen piano. Shows 3 octaves (C3–B5). Click any key — the note is added and you hear it play instantly.

C. Computer Keyboard Piano (⌨ Laptop Keys) — NEW
Click ⌨ Laptop Keys to turn your QWERTY keyboard into a piano. The octave bar appears below the action buttons showing your current octave.

Z X C V B N M	White keys — C D E F G A B (one octave below base)
S D   G H J	Black keys — C# D#   F# G# A# (one octave below base)
Q W E R T Y U	White keys — C D E F G A B (base octave)
2 3   5 6 7	Black keys — C# D#   F# G# A# (base octave)
I O P	C D E (one octave above base)
−   /   =	Shift base octave down / up (range: 2–6)

Sound plays on every keypress. On-screen piano key flashes. Use − / = keys or the − + buttons in the octave bar to shift octave.

3. Notation Formats

Choose your format from the buttons in the Controls section:

Letter	C D E F G A B C#
With Octave	C4 D4 E4 F4 (includes octave number)
Indian Sargam	Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Da Ni
Carnatic	S R1 R2 G1 G2 G3 M1 M2 P D1 D2 N3…
Dash	C-D-E-F (hyphen separated)

Switch format any time — all notes automatically re-convert.

4. Octave Indicators (Dot Marks)

SwaraSheet uses dot marks (·) — inspired by traditional Bhatkhande notation — to show which octave a note belongs to. The dot appears in blue on screen and dark red in PDF:

Middle octave	Sa   Re   Ga   (no mark)
High (Tara)	Sa·   Re·   (dot after note)
Very high	Sa··   Re··   (double dot after note)
Low (Mandra)	·Sa   ·Re   (dot before note)
Very low	··Sa   ··Re   (double dot before note)

These marks appear in both the app and PDF export — consistent with Indian classical music conventions.

5. Note Duration / Count

Set how many beats a note lasts using the Count buttons (or keyboard shortcuts 1 2 3 4 0). The count mark appears in blue on screen and dark red in PDF:

1 beat (key: 1)	Sa   (no mark)
2 beats (key: 2)	Sa,   (comma after note)
3 beats (key: 3)	Sa;   (semicolon after note)
4 beats (key: 4)	Sa,;   (comma + semicolon)
½ beat (key: 0)	Sa·   (middle dot)

Select the count before playing the note. The current count stays active until you change it. Count marks appear in both app and PDF export.

6. Indian / Carnatic Settings

Sa (Root note): Select which key is Sa — C, C#, D… up to B. All Indian/Carnatic note names shift accordingly.

Carnatic Variants: For ambiguous pitches, choose between:
 • D → R2 or G1    D# → R3 or G2
 • A → D2 or N1    A# → D3 or N2

7. Recording Notes

Play your MIDI keyboard, click the on-screen piano, or use Laptop Keys — notes appear instantly in the sequence box.

⏸ Pause / ▶ Resume: Temporarily stop recording so input is ignored.

Separator: Choose Space, Comma, Dash, or New Line between notes.

Double-click any note to enter edit/replace mode — then play a note from any input method to substitute it.

8. Editing Notes

Delete last note: Press Delete / Backspace, or click ↩ Undo.
Delete any note: Right-click the note → removed instantly.
Undo: Cmd+Z (Mac) or Ctrl+Z (Windows).
Redo: Cmd+Shift+Z (Mac) or Ctrl+Y (Windows).
Font size: Use A− / A+ or type a number directly.
New line: Press Enter.
Bar line ( | ): Press Space or click ⎵ Bar.

Transpose: Use ▼−2 ▼−1 ▲+1 ▲+2 buttons to shift all notes up or down by semitones. Chords transpose automatically. Shortcut: Cmd+↑/↓.

9. Section Labels

Click § Section to open the label panel.

Indian: Pallavi, Anupallavi, Charanam, Sthayi, Antara, Sanchari
Western: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Outro
Repeat markers: ↺ Repeat, ×2, ×3 — appear inline on the same line as notes

Type a custom label and click + Add for anything not listed.

10. Chords

Switch to 🎸 Chord mode and hold keys on the MIDI keyboard — the detected chord appears in the "Detected" display.

To apply a chord to a specific note: Click the note in the sequence — it highlights green. The Apply button updates to show "↑ Apply to Sa" (or whichever note is selected). Click Apply to attach the chord to exactly that note.

If no note is selected, Apply attaches the chord to the last note in the sequence.

Right-click a chord label to clear it. Chords appear above notes in the sequence and in the PDF.

11. Metronome

Open the Metronome section in the Controls panel.

Set BPM (40–200) and time signature (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/8, 7/8). Click ▶ Start — the status dot pulses on each beat and accents beat 1. The BPM is saved with your cloud templates.

12. Copy, Export< & Share

📋 Copy All: Copies all notes as plain text — includes chords, octave marks, section labels, bar lines. Paste into WhatsApp, Word, Notes, etc.

📋 per line: Each line has a copy icon — copies just that line.

📱 Share Pro: Formats notes with WhatsApp bold/italic markdown for clean display in chat. Requires Pro plan.

📄 Export PDF — Opens a modal: enter song title, Raag, Taal, choose whether to include chords and section labels, then click Export. Generates a formatted note sheet with academy header.
Free plan: 5 PDF exports/month. Pro Monthly: 30/month. Pro Yearly: 50/month. Need more? Buy a top-up pack from the upgrade screen.

13. Saving< & Loading Sessions (Local)

💾 Save: Type a song title then click Save — stores notes, format, Sa, chords in browser/local storage. Same title overwrites the existing entry.

▶ Load: Loads a saved session. Edits after loading don't affect the saved copy unless you save again.

✦ New Song: Saves current notes to history, then starts a fresh session.

🗑 Clear All: Clears all current notes and resets the session. Cannot be undone — confirms before clearing.

⬇ Download: Saves a .swarasheet file to your computer — use to back up or share.
⬆ Import: Load a .swarasheet file back — works on any device.

Search: Type in the search box to find a saved session by name.

🗑 Bin: Deleted sessions go to Bin first. Click ↩ Restore to recover, or 🗑 to permanently delete.

14. ☁ Cloud< Templates — NEW

Click ☁ Cloud to open the Cloud panel. Sign in with your Google account (web) — the desktop app signs in automatically.

Save to Cloud: Type a song title in the title box, then click ☁ Cloud → Save. Saves notes, format, Sa, and BPM to the cloud. The title is used as the template ID — saving the same title overwrites.

Load from Cloud: Your saved templates appear in the list — click Load to restore a template. Notes, format, Sa, and BPM are all restored.

Delete: Click 🗑 next to any template to remove it from the cloud.

Cloud uses Firebase Firestore (free tier). Templates are private to your account. Works across web and desktop — save on one, load on the other.

15. Voice Recorder< 🎤

Click 🎤 Sing to open the voice recorder panel. Record yourself singing or humming a melody and save the audio clip alongside your note sheet.

Record / Stop: Click the record button to start and stop recording.
Play: Listen back to your recording.
Save: Give the clip a name and save it — appears in the recordings list below.
Delete: Remove any saved clip.

Voice recorder and audio controls are automatically hidden when exporting PDF — they do not appear in printed output.

16. Hum / Voice< to Notes 🎙️

Click 🎙 Hum to open the voice input panel. Allow microphone access when prompted.

How it works: Hum or sing one note at a time into your microphone. SwaraSheet detects the pitch and writes it automatically after you hold it steady for ~280ms. Go silent between notes — the silence gap is what separates one note from the next.

Raga Snapping: If a raga is selected (see Section 16), the detected pitch snaps to the nearest note in that raga — reducing errors when you sing slightly off-pitch.

Tips:
 • Sing slowly and clearly — pause between each note
 • Works best in a quiet environment
 • Use a headset mic for best accuracy
 • If a wrong note appears, right-click to delete and sing again

17. Raga / Scale< Selector 🎼

Use the Raga dropdown to select a raga or scale. Available ragas:

 • 72 Carnatic Melakarta ragas — all parent ragas with auto-generated notes
 • Carnatic janya ragas — Desh, Arabhi, Kambhoji, Bhairavi and more
 • Hindustani ragas — Yaman, Bhairav, Bhairavi, Kafi, Khamaj and more
 • Western scales — Major, Minor, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Pentatonic, Blues, Dorian and more

Arohana / Avarohana: For ragas with different ascending and descending scales (like Desh, Melodic Minor), the Aro and Ava rows display separately below the raga name.

Piano highlight: When a raga is selected, the on-screen piano highlights all notes in that raga in red — making it easy to see which keys to play.

Lock mode: Enable Lock to restrict input to only the notes in the selected raga. Notes outside the raga are blocked automatically.

18. Notation Language< 🌐

Use the Language dropdown to choose how note names appear in the sequence and PDF:

Western	C D E F G A B
Sargam	Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni
Carnatic	S R1 R2 G1 G2 M1 M2 P D1 N3…
Telugu	స రి గ మ ప ద ని
Hindi	स रे ग म प ध नि
Tamil	ச ரி க ம ப த நி
Kannada	ಸ ರಿ ಗ ಮ ಪ ದ ನಿ
Malayalam	സ രി ഗ മ പ ദ നി

Switch language anytime — all notes in the sequence convert instantly. PDF exports in whichever language is selected.

19. My Account< & Subscription

Click your name or plan badge in the top bar to open the My Account panel.

What you can do:
 • See your current plan (Free / Pro) and billing cycle
 • See how many PDF exports you have left this month
 • Upgrade to Pro if on Free plan
 • Cancel your Pro subscription (access continues till end of billing period)

Plans:
 • Free — 5 PDF exports/month, no WhatsApp share
 • Pro Monthly ₹199 — 30 PDF exports/month + WhatsApp share + no watermark
 • Pro Yearly ₹1,499 — 50 PDF exports/month + all Pro features + save ₹889/year
 • First month is free on Pro — card is charged after 30 days

Need help? Email support@swarasheet.com — we reply within 24 hours.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Sargam shortcut keys (S R G M P D N) and Laptop Keys mode are mutually exclusive — Laptop Keys mode must be active for the full chromatic keyboard layout to work. Count shortcuts (1 2 3 4 0) work in all modes.