Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Importing NIFF files (Read 11457 times) previous topic - next topic

Importing NIFF files

I have been looking at the Midiscan program (www.musitek.com), which can scan sheet music and export it to MIDI or NIFF. The advantage of NIFF over MIDI is that you don't loose notation information.

But how can I import NIFF files into NoteWorthy Composer?

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #1 –
Does this really work? This could save a tremendous amount
of time. I'd like to hear about people's experience with this.

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #2 –
Pretty much, download the demo from www.musitek.com and make up your own mind.
A 300 dpi optical flatbed scanner recommended, feed through is of, hand held-forget it. Flatbeds are cheap. When you import set reolution to equal the smallest note / smallest rest in the scanned converted piece.

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #3 –
Currently you would have to import the MIDI file produced from a scan.
The NIFF format has not been widely adopted by developers of notation software as yet.
I guess when they do NWC will follow.
The big advantage is that all you marks, dynamics, repeats etc. are included in the file transfer.
I posted a request for info on NIFF in the forum last year and followed up a few of the replies.
There is some info available at http://www.musitek.com/niff.html but if you want a full description of the proposed spec try http://www.jtauber.com I'm not sure of the extensions after that - could be /music/encoding/niff/spec (I'm sorry, the full URL is truncated on my printout).
Anyhow try the site to for more info.

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #4 –
niff is also supported by Lime, which still freezes and crashes on me (though the version you pay money for may be more stable). I heard (somewhere) that Niff will be supported soon by another manufacturer, but apart from that, no one else seems to be announcing any moves. So I wouldn't expect to see it in NWC for a while. A brief overview of niff revealed that NWC would be able to fully implement about 90% of the spec. 5% more could be kludged.
The last 5% (eg hairpins) may come when they get implemented in nwc.

A

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #5 –
Midiscan converts tiff>mnod>midi, NIFF is not an issue. I know of no other music scanning software.

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #6 –
Have a look at http://www.softpart.co.uk They market Midiscan,
also a German notation program, Capella, and its linked scan
program, Capella-scan, with which the scans can be edited then
either exported as MIDI files or imported directly into Capella.

I have to admit that Capella is more advanced (at the moment anyway!)
than NWC in its use of graphics and depth of musical notation, BUT
of the Windows notation editors I've looked at, namely Capella, Mozart
and NWC, only NWC came over for me as having a truly intuitive interface,
with far and away the quickest and easiest method of note entry -
surely the single most important factor in any notation program. And
it plays back much better than the other two!

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #7 –
I have Midiscan and it's stability and accuracy is a bit
dodgy. It seems a rather clumst product.

I've looked at the demo version of Capella and the
methodology seems much sounder than Midiscan.
It's also a good bit cheaper.

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #8 –
I purchased MidiScan, some time ago and after using for about 1-2 hours, I packaged it up and took it back--actually got my money back.
After scanning music, looking at the scan was OK
After MidiScan finished with it, it looked nothing like the scan: missing time sigs, bar lines placed randomly,just general garbage. The amount of editing required would have been excessive. Would be easier to compose or play in music. Sorry for this report, but this was my experence.

Don Ruckman email ruckdr@jps.net

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #9 –
I had heard similar, though I'd hoped things would improve as they refined it. I'm sure it depends on the complexity of the music and quality of the scan, but it is still not an easy task even with dot perfect scans.

A

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #10 –
I've just recently started using Pianoscan to scan and convert
music to midi but find that when i import the midi into NWC the
music requires a lot of editing. I have had better luck when
converting to NIFF and importing into lime but find that lime
is very cumbersome to use, especially when adding finishing touches
such as lyrics. NWC is so much easier to use for editing; I
hope that NIFF capability will be added to NWC.
I have found that the quality of the original sheet music has
a big impact on the accuracy of the scan.

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #11 –
I have just recently purchased Midiscan. The program is very easy to use and the implementation of the NIFF file format gives Midiscan an edge over so many apps. In fact, I was getting poor recognition until I actually broke down and called their tech support. WOW. Those guys are great, I actually talked to a person and he walked me through the whole process. Yes people, some tech guys do know their product. I love the fact that you get Lime with Midiscan for free, the current version 5.0, not some crappy shareware version.

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #12 –
2 years later...
Noteworthy composer still isn't importing NIFF and I still like Noteworthy more for editing than Lime.
I recently discovered Sharpeye, music OCR, I would love to use it in combinartion with Noteworthy.

It works to export to Midi files and import the midi in Noteworthy, but I feel NIFF import capability would add a lot of value.

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #13 –
I've used SharpEye and it was very accurate (i.e. after scanning and viewing it looked identical to the original) however after exporting it as MIDI and then importing it into NWC I had to put in quite a lot more work to get it back to the original... Support for NIFF in NWC would be very useful.

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #14 –
I've been using Cakewalk Scorewriter for some time to produce finished work. I'm trying Smartscore (son of Midiscan, I think) but am getting a bit frustrated by the lack of a common format bewtween the two, other than midi which loses a lot of format including repeats. I wrote to Cakewalk a year ago suggesting incorporation of a scanner into the product. Some expression of interest, but I doubt whether it comes to much, and wrote again a few days ago suggesting incorporation of options to import from NIFF and ABC. No reply as yet.
I would have thought that it was in the interests of vendors to support as many formats as possible, in order to boost software sales, as has happened with graphics and audio formats. Any information on conversion from NIFF to SCW would be welcome.

Re: Importing NIFF files

Reply #15 –
Cakewalk no longer develop Score Writer.
They "service" the product - which means they'll sell you a copy and may one day get around to answering your enquiry but don't expect any upgrades or enhancements.