Tiny Instrument 2.5

Engraved correctly

Stems point up or down depending on where the note sits and flip above the middle line, a chord shares one stem instead of several, and close intervals offset across the stem so they never overlap. The rules apply everywhere the staff appears — Play, lessons, games, and ear-training.

Accidentals and key signatures

Sharps and flats now draw on the staff, and you choose how: Explicit puts a ♯ or ♭ beside every altered note; Key signature draws the signature at the clef and only marks out-of-key notes (with a ♮ to cancel); or turn staff accidentals off and let the note name carry it. Double-sharps and double-flats render too.

Chord names and roman numerals above the staff

In Play, each chord is captioned above the staff with its chord symbol and, when a key is set, its roman numeral — in both Progression and Chord modes. Inversions read as slash chords that match the notes, and roman numerals are bold serif, coloured by chord quality. Show either label on its own, and choose scale-specific or always-major spelling for minor keys.

Sharper symbols

Notation symbols — clefs, rests, dynamics, ornaments, segno and coda, fermatas — now render from a proper music font instead of look-alike text, so they're crisp and correct at every size, on every platform.

One subject per chapter

The track walks from the first line of the staff to the marks a real score throws at you: Staff Geography, Reading Rhythm, Time & Meter, Advanced Accidentals, Expression & Articulation, Navigation & Repeats, and Pedal, Glissando & Advanced Rhythm. Each chapter is short and focused.

Three ways to practice

Every chapter mixes three kinds of exercise: read a staff and hear it, pick the staff that matches a description, and tap a rhythm back after a count-in. It's the difference between recognising a symbol and actually reading it.

Ornaments you can hear

Pressing Play in the Ornaments lesson performs each one — a trill trembles to the note above, a mordent flicks down and back, a turn curls around the note, and a grace note is crushed in just before the beat. Tap an ornament tag anywhere and it auditions the same way.

Browse lessons as a grid

A new list/grid switch on the Learn screen lays your chapters out as cards, grouped by section, each with a progress bar. Tap a chapter to open its lessons as a grid, then tap one to start. Your choice of list or grid is remembered.

Import any score

Open a .musicxml, .xml, or .mxl score as a composition — notes, chords, ties, key, time signature, and tempo intact, split across the grand staff. Compressed .mxl files are unzipped for you, and a progress spinner keeps you posted while a large score is read.

Export your compositions

Export any composition to a MusicXML 4.0 file that opens cleanly in MuseScore, Sibelius, Dorico, and Logic — parts split across the grand staff, pitches spelled for your chosen key, and rhythm quantised to standard note values with ties across barlines.

One clear import chooser

The Compose import menu offers MIDI or MusicXML from one place, each with a one-line description, so there's no guessing which button does what. Import also works via the file menu, drag-and-drop, and Open With from any file app.

Play your compositions in Play mode

Open a saved composition right inside Play and hear it back with all its parts, then play along on the keyboard as every note lights up. Open one from the Compose library's 'Open in Play' menu or the new Compositions list in the Play sidebar.

One transport for everything

MIDI files, melodies, and compositions now share a single, consistent playback transport in Play, and only one plays at a time. Melody playback gains real pause and resume, an eject button, and stays loaded so you can replay it.

A rebuilt metronome

The metronome sheet was redesigned into clean Tempo, Meter, and Sound cards with consistent controls and VoiceOver labels. While it runs, a live beat-dot indicator sits in the header — tap it to open the metronome — and a standalone metronome now runs on your Apple Watch, keeping time with wrist haptics.

Cleaner MIDI names

MIDI files with underscore-filled filenames now show a clean title and artist across the app, instead of raw names like 'Where_is_My_Mind'. It's a display change only — nothing is renamed.

Octave numbering to match your DAW

A new setting labels middle C as C4 (scientific, the default) or C3 (Yamaha / Logic / Cubase). It relabels octave numbers everywhere without ever changing the pitch you hear.

New: Chord Voicings chapter

An advanced Learn chapter on voicings — close vs open, inversions, two-hand spread, shell voicings, drop-2, rootless jazz voicings, voice leading, and quartal — with interactive comparison and practice.

A scale is a movable pattern

A new lesson makes the major scale's W-W-H-W-W-W-H shape move: the highlighted run slides across the keyboard as you change the home note, so a scale reads as one portable shape rather than a fixed set of notes.

Circle of Fifths, redesigned

The Circle of Fifths lesson diagram was rebuilt as a clean, aspect-locked wheel with evenly spaced keys and a compass hub — no more overlapping nodes — and the same interactive wheel now heads the Circle of Fifths concept lesson.

More related-concept links

Twenty-three concept mini-lessons that were defined but never surfaced are now linked from the lessons that teach them, so the 'Related Concept' chips reach deeper into scales, keys, intervals, and articulation.

Better chord charts from a composition

'Create Song from Composition' now keeps the harmony flowing — a bar whose notes don't spell a full chord holds the previous chord instead of a wall of 'N.C.', trailing empty bars are trimmed, and the whole thing runs in the background with a spinner instead of briefly freezing.

Compose metronome remembers itself

The Compose metronome now remembers whether you want it on or off across sessions, with a dedicated switch in Settings → Compose → Playback.

Family Sharing and Ask to Buy

Every in-app purchase now supports Family Sharing — buy any pack or the Full Library once and your whole Apple Family group gets it. And when a child taps to buy, a friendly 'sent for approval' note appears instead of a purchase that looks like it failed.

A thank-you, not an upsell

If you already own the Full Library, the onboarding pricing page now shows a short thank-you instead of an upsell you can't act on, and any pack you already own is clearly marked Purchased.

Scale highlights stay put

In Play, an explicitly highlighted scale now stays on the keyboard as you play, instead of switching to a chord — it clears only when you commit a chord or remove the highlight.