I’ve been using scanscore as a sheet music scanner for a few months now, and I love it. I export from scanscore to dorico to edit. They’ve released a new version (https://scan-score.com/en/2019/11/21/scanscore-2-is-available/) and I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on if its worth it to upgrade. It says it recognizes chord names and lyrics now, which sounds great. Drop your opinions below if you have them!
Are you on commission? You’ve made the same posts about this software in several different music forums.
https://www.finaleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18409
It seems to be Windows only, so no good for me.
I trust this forum more than anyone. Is anyone successfully using any scanning software? If so, which ones?
Daniel Spreadbury recently recommended Play Score 2, which is an iOS/Android app, and I’ve found it pretty good for reasonably basic stuff (think Haydn string quartets). I ran some early 20th-century song cycles through it with more limited success; it’s not quite so great at handling piano grand staves with multiple voices per stave.
Here are some points I passed on to a client when trying to set him up with a workflow that involved PlayScore 2:
- It’s best if you untick everything in Dorico > Preferences (Cmd+,) > MusicXML Import. I’ve left “Text” turned on (the very last item on the list) but I find that text quite often needs re-inputting.
- Dynamics, particularly hairpins, go awry and sometimes get attached to the wrong place. Often quickest to delete and reinput.
- Playing Techniques (basically upbow/downbow/pizz./arco and I guess the retake symbols) won’t import.
- Occasionally PlayScore can get really confused and rhythmically offset everything by a tiny rhythmic value. Two strategies:
a) work out what the offset is and where it happens, then use Insert mode to fix.
b) work out where the problem is, then go back to PlayScore and rescan just that page onwards (you can crop the first page so that it starts from the affected system). Don’t be afraid to manually retype a few bars here and there.
This is OT, but how do dynamics import via XML from Sibelius? With Finale, I find they almost NEVER extend their full length, so I’m usually resigned to deleting and re-inputting. I’ve gotten pretty fast at manipulating dynamics, as it seems to take up half my time! Just wondering if Sibelius XML is any better.
I’m not the person to ask - I’ve not imported anything from Sibelius in a good couple of years. Old projects stay there…
I’ve been using Scanscore to get my feet wet since I got it for dirt cheap with a coupon code a while back. However, I know there are a lot of other ones out there, and people seem to have success with most of them. Features I like about SS include that it allows you to edit the score BEFORE exporting. I’ve learned that it’s basically impossible for any of the softwares on the market to recognize handwritten scores.
I try to post on a lot of my favorite forums to get responses, since sometimes stuff gets buried. Idk what that last forum is though - never heard of it and it won’t load on my computer.
In my search for scan software, I recently tried demos for both Scanscore and Photoscore on Windows 10. The pages were from a pdf download from IMSLP of Webern Op. 24. While both apps were far from perfect Photoscore picked up more notes and rests accurately plus some articulations and instructions that Scanscore ignored. In either case the results require extensive review and editing. Neither demo versions would allow musicxml export so I’m not sure what Dorico will think of them. Whether these apps (they are expensive) would save time over fresh entry is debatable. Every note must be reviewed carefully to ensure its accuracy and there will be many, many undos and redos.
Hi! I just wonder what was your final decision
I never purchased any scanning software, not so much because of functionality but rather just a lack of pressing need.
I’m new to this forum, but I wanted to share mt thoughts on upgrading your scanning software.
I tried ScanScore recently, but decided not to lease it, because the results are terrible, close to unusable.
They also do not respond to questions about their software. So, not going with that software 
EDIT:
added a .pdf, and the result it gave when scanned by ScanScore… try not to laugh
test.pdf (1.6 MB)
I tried your pdf in PlayScore2, attached.
test.dorico (1.1 MB)
test.xml (135.1 KB)
It can use a phone or ‘pad’ camera to input the score, or read the normal file formats.
Support is great and fast, by the developer himself IIRC.
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That result is way better. The most important part is the better note and ornament detection, but downside is that it doesn’t seem to pick up the instruments
I know which part I’d prefer to fill in by hand 
Edit:
BTW, the accidentals need some work though 
There is a (limited) set of instruments that can be assigned to each staff in the program before export, but I skipped that part.