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Topic: Scan input (Read 3373 times) previous topic - next topic

Scan input

Who agrees ? It is time to have the ability to SCAN sheet music directly into Noteworthy or better yet - have the computer READ music via the webcam - imagine !
scanning was possible about 10 years ago with some British software on the Acorn Archimedes computer - is it time to catch up?

Re: Scan input

Reply #1 –
Unless NWC is already working on it, I say that it's a bad idea. As many others have noted, programs that will scan sheet music already exist (I own one myself) but more often than not, are more trouble than they are worth.

Part of the problem is that from the OCR point of view, music notation is a lot less standard than one would think. The greatest likelihood of (partial) success occurs when reading sheet music that itself was printed from a computer composition program, and has access to the font(s) involved. But if the music is that new, then either (a) just get a copy of the digital file from its source, or (b) maybe there's a copyright violation.

When you think about it, OCR of printed music is a "transition" technology.

Re: Scan input

Reply #2 –
I have tried three different success programs without what I would call success. It took so long to correct the OCR'd piece that it was easier to start entry from scratch. Right now, forget it.

Re: Scan input

Reply #3 –
Sorry, meant to say, tried three different SCANNING programs without success.

Re: Scan input

Reply #4 –
Which scanning programs did you try?

Re: Scan input

Reply #5 –
I would be very interested to hear of any scanning programs that have been used sucessfully. As an amateur musician, I find it very helpful to hear a piece of music played; this gives me a lot of guidance in the interpretation of the written work.
 

Re: Scan input

Reply #6 –
I have a music scanning program, but I won't mention its name here because that would be unfair: The program functionally works (that is, has no known bugs) but is very inaccurate in interpeting music unless the printed page is very precise to start with. A page that precise probably is freshly printed from a music publishing program -- in that case, it would be easier to simply ask for the original digital file. It is unfair to mention the program's name because it is my understanding that competing programs are also rather inaccurate.

Think of how problematic it is to scan and OCR a printed text document, never mind music. Any fuzziness or distortion on the page may cause the OCR engine to misinterpret what it sees. Even with a clear print, the OCR must be able to recognize several different fonts at several sizes, and allow for decorations such as bold, italic, or underlining.

But a text OCR program has a fair chance of success because most text documents have been created with a limited number of standard typefaces. Also, every word can be compared to dictionary sources, and there are even grammar checks. Thus, a text OCR program has resources to draw on that can help it "guess" what the scanned text is supposed to be. If it misses on occasion, the consequences may be no more serious than the occasional misspelled word.

But music is different. Even such a simple item as the quarter note-head can come in several styles: round or oval, tilted or not. Note flags come in several styles. Notes may be of different sizes (for grace notes, etc) that are difficult to resolve by scanning. The dominance of horizontal and vertical lines can cause confusion if the page is askew. To make matters worse, there is no "dictionary" or "grammar" that can be used. If a chord could be interpreted as Cmaj or Cmin, it could be either. Context is of no help unless the composer wrote in a rigid style that could be referenced. Finally, a wrong note is usually more serious in music than a wrong letter on a text page.

No doubt, very advanced software could be developed that expertly analyzes questionable notes for context and musicological sense, in comparison to nearby passages and to the entire composition. But I doubt if such a program, if one is ever developed, would be affordable to the amateur who simply wants to scan and play a page of music.