Disklavier

Midi,

You will note that I did indicate that music scanning was not an 
inexpensive process in my original e-mail.  However, the price that you 
are paying for Sibelius 2.1 and Photoscore in the U.K. is (like most 
things) considerably higher than I paid here in the U.S. I purchased 
Sibelius 2.1 and Photoscore Professional (as a combined package) for 
$512  (including tax).  

While a professional pianist would do a far better job in preparing this 
music for playback on your disklavier than can be done with this 
software, I do have the advantage that in scanning the material that I 
am learning to play, I am also learning the structure of the piece and 
often hearing the music played reasonably properly for the first time.  

Tom

midi_magic2000 wrote:

>Hi Tom
>
>May I just say that Sibelius 2.1 and Photoscore Pro 2.1 are very very 
>expensive around \ufffd600 in the UK.
>For that money I could hire a proffesional pianist to play them for 
>me, without the need to spend hours making it sound good. 
>
>Midi Magic
>
>
>--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, Tom Wheeler <tnwheeler@n...> wrote:
>  
>
>>For what it's worth, I would like to chime in and add my two cents 
>>    
>>
>about 
>  
>
>>scanning in music.
>>
>>Let me begin by saying that I am an adult trying to learn to play 
>>    
>>
>my 
>  
>
>>DC3A disklavier.  After spending a year with Voyetra's "Teach Me 
>>    
>>
>Piano" 
>  
>
>>software which I enjoyed very much and felt was an excellent way to 
>>begin to learn to play the piano (for an adult), I began taking one 
>>    
>>
>hour 
>  
>
>>per week piano lessons slightly over one year ago.  The core of my 
>>instruction has been the Suzuki Piano Method and I am now on the 
>>    
>>
>3rd 
>  
>
>>selection in book 4 of this method for those familiar with the 
>>    
>>
>method. 
>  
>
>> In addition my instructor always assigns me classical pieces from 
>>several other books including the Hanon and Czerny technical 
>>    
>>
>materials. 
>  
>
>> I would thus classify myself as a very inexperienced student 
>>    
>>
>attempting 
>  
>
>>to learn the piano.
>>
>>I began scanning in sheet music about two years ago using Smart 
>>    
>>
>Score 
>  
>
>>and Finale.  Smart Score V. 1.3 (which I began with) did a very 
>>    
>>
>poor job 
>  
>
>>in terms of scanning accuracy although this improved somewhat when 
>>    
>>
>I 
>  
>
>>purchased a newer Epson flatbed scanner.  I can definitely state 
>>    
>>
>that 
>  
>
>>the quality of the scanner plays an important role in scanning 
>>    
>>
>music in 
>  
>
>>terms of the accuracy of the results.  Another important issue is 
>>    
>>
>the 
>  
>
>>interface between the scanning program and the notation program.  
>>    
>>
>It is 
>  
>
>>always necessary to correct errors, add dynamics, musical 
>>    
>>
>expressions, 
>  
>
>>text, etc. in the notation program.  Finale and Smart Score work 
>>together, but in my opinion not very well.  It is necessary to save 
>>    
>>
>a 
>  
>
>>Smart Score music scan as a .fin file which must then be imported 
>>    
>>
>into 
>  
>
>>Finale.  The importation into Finale introduces errors that were 
>>    
>>
>not 
>  
>
>>present in the scan requiring further correction.  Furthermore, in 
>>    
>>
>my 
>  
>
>>opinion, Finale has a difficult learning curve (I have been using 
>>    
>>
>it 
>  
>
>>steadily for 2 years and I still find myself referring constantly 
>>    
>>
>to the 
>  
>
>>manual).  While Smart Score has improved significantly with Version 
>>    
>>
>2.1 
>  
>
>>(currently latest version), it still has problems including the 
>>    
>>
>fact 
>  
>
>>that my computer (running Windows 2000 Pro on a 1.8 GHZ Pentium 4 
>>    
>>
>with 1 
>  
>
>>GB of memory) crashes after every single time that I use Smart 
>>    
>>
>Score. 
>  
>
>> (No other software that I have produces these crashes but Smart 
>>    
>>
>Score.)  
>  
>
>>Recently (about two months ago) I purchased Sibelius 2.1 and its 
>>associated scanning program (Photoscore Pro).  These two programs 
>>    
>>
>are 
>  
>
>>tightly integrated although Photoscore is more limited in its 
>>recognition of musical symbols than Smart Score.  Both Sibelius 2.1 
>>    
>>
>and 
>  
>
>>Photoscore Pro 2.1 are very very stable.  I have never experienced 
>>    
>>
>a 
>  
>
>>crash with either program even when running other programs and 
>>    
>>
>using 
>  
>
>>them for hours.  Photoscore's note accuracy in music scanning is 
>>excellent with my Epson flatbed scanner.  With all of that said, to 
>>    
>>
>get 
>  
>
>>a piece to play with correct interpretations of the dynamics and 
>>    
>>
>other 
>  
>
>>expressions in the score requires extensive editing in Sibelius. 
>> Fortunately Sibelius is much more intuitive to use than Finale, 
>>    
>>
>and in 
>  
>
>>only 2 months of working with it I feel far more competent to edit 
>>notation in Sibelius than in Finale.  Further, Sibelius has some 
>>    
>>
>very 
>  
>
>>interesting artificial intelligence algorithms which can, to some 
>>extent, interpret correct musical phrasing and apply rubato in 
>>controlled amounts to the midi playback of the piece.  I find that 
>>    
>>
>the 
>  
>
>>playback of Sibelius files on my computer using an Creative Live 
>>Platinum sound card is very good, and the playback of dynamics and 
>>pedaling on my Yamaha disklavier DC3A is also very good.  
>>
>>No one should believe that music scanning can produce a file that 
>>    
>>
>plays 
>  
>
>>back with all of the expressional nuances that an excellent pianist 
>>    
>>
>can 
>  
>
>>incorporate into a piece.  We are years away from that point, and 
>>    
>>
>in 
>  
>
>>fact, I would seriously doubt that computers will every seriously 
>>challenge a good pianist in terms of playback.  With that said, I 
>>    
>>
>do 
>  
>
>>find the playback of the music that I have scanned in using 
>>    
>>
>Photoscore 
>  
>
>>and edited in Sibelius and Finale to be musically satisfying.  That 
>>statement may reveal more about my lack of musical sophistication 
>>    
>>
>than 
>  
>
>>anything else, but I have also had these files played back for 
>>    
>>
>others 
>  
>
>>(including pianists) who are quite amazed and pleased with the 
>>    
>>
>quality 
>  
>
>>of the playback.  
>>
>>The bottom line is that scanning in of  polyphonic music (which 
>>    
>>
>nearly 
>  
>
>>all piano music is) is not a trivial or inexpensive process. It 
>>    
>>
>requires 
>  
>
>>a great deal of patience to learn these programs, understand what 
>>    
>>
>they 
>  
>
>>can and cannot do, and a willingness to spend many hours to build 
>>    
>>
>the 
>  
>
>>kind of playback that will satisfy most,  but not the most 
>>discriminating listeners. However, it can be done, and the results 
>>    
>>
>of 
>  
>
>>music scanning have been most helpful to me in learning new pieces, 
>>    
>>
>and 
>  
>
>>in listening to a wide assortment of music on the web for Finale 
>>    
>>
>and 
>  
>
>>Sibelius.  
>>
>>Tom
>>    
>>
>
>
>
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