Software to scan and transpose

[Dan Cohen]

Is there any software available that can scan written (print) notation and put it into a digital format where I can easily transpose? My goal is to take notation in the treble clef and transpose it into bass clef. This will hopefully be easier than me writing everything out with "Pen and Ink" which for me would likely result in mistakes. I want to create cello (bass clef) parts from the treble.

Also should be easy and intuitive since I am complete novice in using software for this purpose. I appreciate any thoughts.

[OneChordTrick]

A similar question which requires the same solution from a technical perspective was asked here: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/s...tab-conversion yesterday.

The challenge is converting a score or tab into a format such as MusicXML that can be manipulated and then presented in another key/octave or as a tab for another instrument.

[Beanzy]

I use the PhotoScore add on package for Sibelius. http://www.sibelius.com/download/index.html
It's expensive but it works quite well. You need to proof read the initial scan quite well to check that it hasn't misinterpreted too many symbols.

[derbex]

Musescore can import a pdf via the website and convert it, once it is into Musescore you should be able to transpose it. The amount of success depends on the incoming pdf, some have worked quite well for me and others have not, just straight notes seem to work reasonably well, but if there are lots of dynamic and other markings it can get confused.

The good news is that it's free, so you can see if it works for what you want before shelling out for anything expensive.

[Dan Cohen]

Musescore can import a pdf via the website and convert it, once it is into Musescore you should be able to transpose it. The amount of success depends on the incoming pdf, some have worked quite well for me and others have not, just straight notes seem to work reasonably well, but if there are lots of dynamic and other markings it can get confused.

The good news is that it's free, so you can see if it works for what you want before shelling out for anything expensive.

Thank you.. I'll download Musesore shortly and report results. I tried to download to iPad but could only get a version that doesn't do what I want. I'll get desktop version this afternoon.

[foldedpath]

+1 for Musescore. I started using it recently when a friend wanted to send me some sheet music in that file format, for some editing changes. It's easy to learn.

The PDF import and "note recognition" isn't perfect; you'll probably have to do some corrections here and there. As mentioned above, it works best with a clean PDF as source material. I've only done it with fiddle tunes, where the notation isn't very complex. It would probably barf on some of the pipe tunes I have in sheet music that are covered with ornamentation marks.

[Dan Cohen]

Musescore can import a pdf via the website and convert it, once it is into Musescore you should be able to transpose it. The amount of success depends on the incoming pdf, some have worked quite well for me and others have not, just straight notes seem to work reasonably well, but if there are lots of dynamic and other markings it can get confused.

The good news is that it's free, so you can see if it works for what you want before shelling out for anything expensive.

Got it onto my desktop and opened a file but I can't figure out how to move everything up a third and then change the clef mark to bass. Yes, lots erroneous rests, etc.

[derbex]

If you drag the clef mark in it will put everything into base clef without transposing (so lots of ledger lines), you can then select the whole stave and use the arrow keys to move the notes down to where you want them. If you did it that way there wouldn't be much point in transposing up first.

I am pretty sure there are keyboard shortcuts for some of this, might be worth asking on their forum.

[piano]

Scanscore is pretty good for this. You can scan in music, and then it lets you fix any mistakes before exporting to something like musescore where you can transpose. https://scan-score.com/en

[DougC]

This need to transcribe has been around for a long time and there have been a lot of technical improvements to help in this regard. I've used Finale for almost 20 years and have had a number of crazy situations involving scans and transposing. One observation is that the apps or software for mobile devices are limited by loyalties to one corporation or another. (Apple i-pad hates Finale, for example.)

MuseScore, being free, is a great tool and it is getting more advanced all the time. Unfortunately I'm stuck in my old habits with Finale and have made some really comic (or tragic), mistakes.

My humble suggestion is that if the tune is fairly simple, I'd just enter the notes into the software and use it's transposition function. It will save you a lot of consternation and perplexity in the long run.