SmartScore Music-to-XML Music Notation Recognition for Android

Paid $100 to download this and it doesn't work at all. It reads the file, then when I choose to export to Finale, nothing happens. When I choose to export a file instead, it exports a broken file that nothing can read. Useless product.

I just downloaded this because my old version of Finale -- which I was keeping around in addition to an up-to-date version because it supports scanning -- will no longer run on Android Catalina. As a first test, I asked SmartScore to read a PDF score I had previously generated in Finale (so it's utterly clean and modern, a "best case" test). As other reviewers have pointed out, the "export to Finale" button doesn't actually work -- you have to export to MusicXML and then import the MusicXML into Finale -- which is a minor annoyance. SmartScore misread the 9/8 time signature as C, but most of the measures show up in Finale as "9/8 but use C for display", which is easily fixed (much easier than if it had actually tried to force the notes into 4/4). All the notes seem to be correct, and most of the lyrics, but there's an empty measure and a double-bar inserted at the beginning of almost every system. Again, easily fixed in Finale, but why is it doing this?

This product cannot translate the standard jazz font used in jazz arrangements. We have had few problems with standard music fonts that are used in classical music, but all of our jazz charts purchased from J.W. Pepper that use the standard jazz font/style are incomprehensible when translated from a digitally-saved PDFs. Of course Itunes will not refund for any reason, so we are out $99 with a program that does not serve our needs and has no documentation that it will not work for these fonts.

I was worried, based on some of the reviews, that I might be wasting my money with this. But I was pleasantly surprised. The first PDF I imported was a moderately complicated choral work. SmartScore did an impressive job translating it. A lot of data, such as rehearsal marks and dynamics, imported perfectly. Tempo was pretty good, though not perfect. When I brought the XML into Finale, every part came up as a piano part. But that was simple to fix. There are really no controls or setting to SmartScore's interface; just an import button. It would be nice if some settings could be tweaked before it exported the XML. But overall, I'm happy with this app. It's going to save me a lot of time I would have to spend re-writing scores I had composed in other software of which I now have only PDFs.

This product is definitely worth the purchase. Having said that, notation recognition is still a developing technology. As with optical character recognition, you should not expect perfection. Results depend highly on the quality of the scan, the complexity of the score, and even the editorial decisions made by the typesetters of the original music. The amount of editing you will have to do afterward could range from none, to much. Do read and follow the tips that come with the program for the best results (delete cover pages, scan between 300 and 600 dpi, etc.). The software exports XML files which are useful in virtually all notation programs. Until sending the music directly to the notation program works, save to XML, then import into your notation program. This is the software whose “lite" version came with Finale for years. This “full” version does things the lite version did not do (recognize lyrics, dynamics, articulations, slurs, etc.). That alone was worth the price I paid for it. Since purchasing the product, I have scanned three scores. These are the results. Scan #1, the Bach Invention in F - a nearly perfect scan, probably created from notation software. There were literally no errors in the scan for this moderately complex score. I did not like the layout of the original score. There were 2 full pages then four measures on page 3, but that was not a Smart Score issue. I reduced it to a nicely spaced 2 page score in less than 1 minute using notation software. GRADE A+ 100% Scan #2, a choral arrangement - a nearly perfect scan, but definitely created from a photocopier. There were numerous conversion errors, primarily due to poor editorial decisions on the part of the original typesetter. This piece was probably created in the early part of the century, and there were broken measures throughout the score (half a measure on one system, and half a measure on the following system). Smart Score frequently misguessed the number of beats in the incomplete measures. Fortunately, there were only about 10 corrections that needed to be made. This piece had lyrics also, and SmartScore did a good job of recognizing them. There were some missed words, again mostly due to poor quality from the original scan. There were some size issues with the lyrics. SmartScore did it’s part, but it will be great to see it improve for difficult scores like this one. GRADE B- 80% Scan 3, a choral arrangement - a good scan, but definitely created from a photocopier. The scan had some marks on the score and hole punches that complicated the scanning process. About the converted file, there were some errors, primarily wrong notes due to the complex chromatic harmony of the piece. There were frequent unmarked key changes, and it was difficult for the software to catch all of them. In many cases, errors were attributable to issues on the original score. There was one minor layout issues. In one case, a staff was treated independently when it should have been grouped with the system above. This may have been attributable to poor spacing in the original. I look forward to when the software can deal with those complexities. GRADE B 85%. In all cases, there was some checking and editing to do after scanning. I hope the technology continues to evolve, especially for difficult scores. I look forward to seeing additional updates!