Notation software, the scanning of Full Scores, and printing

[kingrob76]

I've spent the better part of the past hour perusing the archives and couldn't find a question similar to mine, so I humbly ask the TNFJ:

What are some recommendations for software that will allow me to scan a Full Score, import it into a notation program (Sibelius, Finale, etc.) and then extract and print individual parts?

For the record, I am looking to scan music of which I own full copies and not just get around buying the music by buying the full score. Recently, I've purchased some band music that, while being brand new from Robert King, is clearly a 47th-generation photocopy (to the point where things like accidentals, note stems, etc. are missing). I'm working with Robert King to remedy this, but, I'd like to just scan / clean / print if I can (because I suspect the originals at the publisher are LONG gone).

All help appreciated. Thanks!


Rob Ross

[tubashaman2]

.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Recently, I've purchased some band music that, while being brand new from Robert King, is clearly a 47th-generation photocopy (to the point where things like accidentals, note stems, etc. are missing). I'm working with Robert King to remedy this, but, I'd like to just scan / clean / print if I can (because I suspect the originals at the publisher are LONG gone).

Unfortunately, this is the crux of your problem. Even the best software for scanning music needs a crisp, clear copy for acceptable results. If these originals are as bad as you say, it would surely be faster to enter them by hand than spend the time you would be required to spend "cleaning" the imported parts.

FWIW, SmartScore Pro Edition (website here) is the best out there, but kind of "pricey" at $400.

If the piece by Robert King is in print, then I am afraid you will need to purchase it from them and not scan and put it into a notation software.

If you are transposing a part, i.e. the Baritone treble solo part in Lincolnshire, that is OK because there is no part and you own the part, but extracting a full piece is not legal

James, please read the original post carefully before you respond. The OP went out of his way to clearly state that he legally owns full copies of the music in question.

[kingrob76]

Todd -

The scores look good, the band parts themselves are iffy, hence my desire to go from scanned score to say, flute parts. Robert King is checking with the publication companies to see if better versions exist.

I'll look into SmartScore Pro Edition. Thanks!

[kingrob76]

If the piece by Robert King is in print, then I am afraid you will need to purchase it from them and not scan and put it into a notation software.

If you are transposing a part, i.e. the Baritone treble solo part in Lincolnshire, that is OK because there is no part and you own the part, but extracting a full piece is not legal

Wow, James - really?

[pgym]

I've spent the better part of the past hour perusing the archives and couldn't find a question similar to mine, so I humbly ask the TNFJ:

What are some recommendations for software that will allow me to scan a Full Score, import it into a notation program (Sibelius, Finale, etc.) and then extract and print individual parts?

I've used Harmony Assistant ($85) and the plugin OMeR ($25) by Myriad Software to scan printed music into Harmony Assistant and export as XML to Finale. (Myriad offers a less expensive, albeit less capable, notation program, Melody Assistant ($25) which will export to MIDI, but not XML.)

I've gotten anywhere from 100% accuracy from high contrast, high quality originals to absolute gobbledygook from low contrast or poor quality originals. (FWIW, I have better success scanning individual parts and copying them into a separate score than trying to scan the complete score, and better success with greyscale scans than either color or black and white.) Even "successful" imports need to be checked for accuracy against the original and may require some cleanup, though (which is a helluva lot easier if you're working with individual parts rather than the full score.)

[tbn.al]

I use the latest version of Photoscore which partners quite nicely with Sibelius. The time it takes to correct scanning mistakes in a full score has gone down from 8 hours in the early versions to about 30 minutes. You must have the clear original score to work from, not just a copyright issue but also a workability issue. It will also do manuscript and .pdf files. I am always having to rescore something to meet existing instrumentation limitations and it is a life saver.

[MileMarkerZero]

When you scan a full score, will Finale/Sibelius actually parse out the individual lines as seperate parts? IOW, when you enter into a score in Finale you can extract the individual parts from the score. Will a scan of a score be treated the smae way?

[pgym]

When you scan a full score, will Finale/Sibelius actually parse out the individual lines as seperate parts? IOW, when you enter into a score in Finale you can extract the individual parts from the score. Will a scan of a score be treated the smae way?

Scanning plugins use Optical Character Recognition to convert the scanned image to a format that can be read and parsed by the notation program.

[Brassworks 4]

The latest version of PhotoScore does a pretty decent job if you start with a clean score. The more complicated the piece, meaning many meter changes, key changes, etc, the more clean up is required after a scan and before exporting it to Sibelius. But once that is done, using the latest version of Sibelius is a piece o' cake now - very little part clean up is required (with the new magentic layout feature)

Good luck!