b2KIT

Simple Music Notation Editor

Write basic music scores with notes, rests, time signatures, and playback using Web Audio API.

Tested tool guide Tested browser tools Checked August 16, 2026

What Simple Music Notation Editor does and how it behaves

This is a score editor for short, basic pieces: you place notes and rests on a staff, set a time signature, and the page plays the result back through the Web Audio API, so the sound is synthesized tones rather than recordings. The thing people most often get wrong is beat arithmetic: a 4/4 measure holds exactly four quarter notes' worth of time, rests consume those beats just like notes do, and a half note plus two quarters fits while three quarters does not. The feature set is basic - notes, rests, time signatures, and playback. Everything runs locally in the browser; nothing is uploaded.

How the result is produced

1

Beat budget

The time signature sets the measure's beat budget: the top number is beats per measure, the bottom number is which note value counts as one beat. In 4/4 the bottom 4 means a quarter note is one beat, so a measure holds four quarters, or one whole note, or two halves, or eight eighths. Notes and rests come in these same durations, and each measure must total exactly the budget.

2

Synthesized playback

Playback is synthesized in the browser through the Web Audio API rather than played from recordings: each note becomes a tone at the pitch its position on the staff indicates, held for that note's duration, in order from left to right at a steady tempo. Browsers only allow audio after a user gesture, so sound starts when you trigger the play control and not before.

Good uses

  • Sketching a short melody or exercise that exists in your head - a tune line, a warm-up pattern, a song hook - and hearing it back to check the pitches and rhythm match what you intended.
  • Checking beat arithmetic before writing anything down: set a time signature, place notes and rests, and confirm each measure totals the beat count.
  • Drafting a piece in a strict meter such as a 3/4 waltz or a 2/4 march and listening to the steady pulse to judge whether the pattern works.

Limits and checks

  • Playback is synthesized, so the sound is plain and electronic compared with recorded instruments; a score that sounds thin is not necessarily wrong. Judge pitch and rhythm, not tone quality.
  • Rests count as beats. A 4/4 measure with three quarter notes and a quarter rest is full; forget the rest and the measure is short, and playback will not add time to make up the difference.
  • The feature list is notes, rests, time signatures, and playback. Do not expect key signatures, dynamics, tempo markings, slurs, or lyrics, and remember that a score that plays back cleanly is consistent - not necessarily good music.

Common questions

Can I export the score as MIDI, MusicXML, or a printable PDF?

Not here. The tool covers editing and in-browser playback only; export and printing are not part of its feature set, so there is no file to take to another program. If you need MIDI or print, you would have to recreate the score in dedicated notation software.

Why does playback sound so plain?

Because the Web Audio API generates the tones inside the browser at play time instead of using recordings or instrument samples. You hear the correct pitch and duration for each note, but no instrument timbre and no expressive nuance. That is enough to check whether the score is right, and it is what keeps the tool simple and instant.

References and verification

The behavioral notes were checked against the browser implementation. Standards and primary references below define the relevant format, formula, or platform behavior.

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