Music Scanning Software

[paulver]

A while back there was a brief discussion on music scanning programs. I now have a need for using one, and I don't remember which ones were mentioned. Could anybody chime in on the topic and offer some insight as to which ones are the best....... and cheapest????

[Dan Schultz]

Are you just wanting to create .pdf files? .... or are you going to import the scans into a notation editor like Finale?

Finale quit supporting scanning a release or two back siting copyright issues.

Scanning into Finale is not all it was cracked up to be. It usually required as much time to make corrections and doing edits that it does to just enter the notes by hand.

[Dan Schultz]

does finale allow imports of pdf's? i think the version of sibelius i had did...

I don't think so. That was all part of the hullabaloo over copyrights when MakeMusic took over.

[paulver]

I have the Finale version that does the scanning, and you're right......... it does a pretty bad job of it!! There were a few suggestions of scanning programs on here some time ago. I haven't had the time to go searching for that particular page, but it was within the last year...... probably around fall or there abouts. I was hoping that someone would remember the names of them. OR.... if anyone has a good suggestion for one, and if needed.... a program other than Finale that would make life easier.

[paulver]

Talk about luck!!!!! I just took a few minutes to search the topic on here, and I found the posts!! The discussion was from June of last year. But, if anyone has any further input on the topic, feel free to chime in!!

[Worth]

One cheap way I've found and used is to download something called Avid Link. Once you establish a basic account (free) you can use Photoscore First and Sibelius First free of charge. My Mac and scanner does not interface with the integrated scanner software in Photoscore, so I use my scanner independently and make TIFFs of whatever I want Photoscore to read and recognize. This is done at 300 DPI and in greyscale for best recognition. I can then read the TIFFs in Photoscore and do some basic repair work and transpose within Photoscore. Printing from Photoscore is odd. Seems if I then import the saved Photoscore file then into Sibelius First I can pretty it up and it prints better. Does everything get read and recognized well? No. I accept the limitations of the scanning and recognition technology and fix things here and there. No worries as it's mostly just for my own use.

[paulver]

I copied a fairly "dirty" sheet of music to my computer desktop, and printed it out. That copy became nice and clean. I then scanned it into Finale. It worked......... but then, Finale became real quirky. I'll have to play with it to see if I can make it more useful to me. If I can, then I won't have to invest in expensive new software. If I can't.... then I'm back to square one.

[Dan Schultz]

I copied a fairly "dirty" sheet of music to my computer desktop, and printed it out. That copy became nice and clean. I then scanned it into Finale. It worked......... but then, Finale became real quirky. ....

I run Finale 2014.0.3163. There are at least two releases newer and I refuse to upgrade simply because MakeMusic refuses to support scanning. I began using Finale maybe ten years ago with their 'Printmusic' version because that was the lowest level that supported scanning. I only wanted Finale to produce bass clef version of treble clef parts.

How successful the scanning works in the older versions of Finale depends largely on the quality of the original part, the quality of the scanner, and the scanning resolution. Once the equipment is optimized the rest of importing the scan into Finale depends of how well it recognizes key changes, tempo changes, and roadmaps. Any missed detail will screw up the rest of the scan.

I've pretty much abandoned trying to scan in very technical pieces of music. I friend who know Finale very well fixed me up with a template and I have found it quicker to just enter the part by hand rather than to mess with having to do all the edits.