Could anyone tell me which note scan program is best for Dorico? I need to be able to scan big orchestra scores.
Thank´s, greetings from Denmark
Welcome, @Roland_Haraldson
I don’t think any music scanning app is necessarily more suited to Dorico than any other. However, the real question is ‘how good can they scan?’; and the answer is … complex.
A lot has certainly been said on the subject.
Whichever you choose, you will have to do a lot of tidying up yourself, either in the scanning app itself, or in Dorico afterwards, and then proof-read every note – so it won’t necessarily save you much time!
1 Like
Yes, it’s an outstanding problem in IT that OCR of music is not fully solved, simply because notation is so complex and so variable. The amount of fiddling you have to do to correct it is hardly worth the time. You’d almost be better off offering a bounty for someone here to do the input and proofing if you are short on time. There are people willing to do this sort of work.
I’m usually much faster (and reliable) when copying things myself than scanning and then cleaning. Also, when copying you do not get the lingering issues XML brings together.
2 Likes
Sorry we are putting the dampener on you, but there’s a general consensus about this matter. Would it be faster for you to use a keyboard for entry? Some find this.
How do you do it?
I find Photoscore Ultimate very unsatisfactory. Can you share your tip?
I use SmartScore. I can input most piano music from the Baroque through middle Romantic much faster than with keyboard input. But notes and rhythm only. For example, a average Beethoven sonata movement would take maybe 5 minutes to convert and 5-10 minutes of cleanup. Then it immediate goes into Dorico (or Finale) to have everything else added. And if there are occasionally a few measures that don’t scan or import into Dorico well, then one can simply clear them out and input with the keyboard, just as one would have done otherwise.
I keep using Photoscore just because I bought the Ultimate license (300€!!!) a few years ago. No update to the app since 2020, a shame but ok …
The only glimpse of success I can get with Photoscore is when I set it up to recognise only rhythms and pitches, not even grace notes. Everything else I manually add later.
Fingerings are confused with accidentals, dynamics and slurs with extra notes…
Good luck!
1 Like
I’ve given a look at their website: there seem to be several versions of it.
SmartScore64 (399$!) is the complete product but I would not really need most of its features. There is then another product called XML-Convert, for 99$. Perhaps it is that what you have? Then all other products dedicated to specific instruments.
What worries me is the way the shop is arranged: no way to direct download. You need to buy the physical version, specify in the cart that you don’t want the shipping and they will refund you the shipping then send you a code after one business day.
I have SmartScore 64 Pro and a physical copy, which I prefer. I haven’t used Photoscore, so I don’t know which is better. In any case, it takes a bit of experience to get best results. For Dorico, the rhythms need to be very correct in the MusXML; Finale is more forgiving. And it works better for some textures and styles than others. For me 90-99% correctly input is a better start than 0%.
1 Like
If you own Dorico or Finale, SmartScore is half price.
https://www.musitek.com/store/Fin2SS64.html
Expect to spend a bit of time learning the program. There are a number of videos to help, as well as a user forum. It isn’t perfect, but I get excellent scan recognition, and once you learn the editing side of the program, you will export an almost perfect XML. The only caveat is to recognize without text (a simple checkbox.)
I’m happy to help any new users!
2 Likes
I can recommend Play score 2 , which is an app for the IPad and it does a pretty good job, scanning and recognizing scores. You can even take a photo of a score and start the recognition. It’s a suscription based app, but not so pricey.
For me scanning and recognizing a score is in most cases a big time- saver. It’s much faster than to start at zero and input the whole score by hand.
New review article from Scoring Notes:
1 Like
Ooh, that’s interesting. Has the Dorico deal been widely announced?
It’s just one thing after another, isn’t it…! 
They don’t seem to do a lot of publicizing. I found out when I sent them an email to ask!
And what if I have both Finale AND Dorico? 100%-50%-50%? This would be a quite reasonable deal!:)))))))))
Here is the 50% off link for german speaking countrys. It’s download only and for users of Dorico, Sibelius, Encore, Photoscore, Logic, Notion or Finale.
https://www.musitek.de/shop/smartscore-notation.php