I recently purchased a songbook which comes with a CD of backing tracks (NOT BIAB-compatible), in which you play-along from written sheet music in the book. (I play piano/keyboard.)

I like the concept, and would be interested in purchasing others in the series, except that some of the songs are written in difficult keys for me (ie - 5 sharps, 4 flats, etc).

It would be great to be able to transpose these to an easier key. I already have software that can transpose the audio files on the CD to any key (and slow the tempo), so I'm already covered on the audio side. However, is there a way to perhaps scan the written score and then have it also transposed (for re-printing) to match that easier key? I know that I could do this by hand, but it would be quite tedious.

An ideal solution would be software that would load/import a scanned PDF (preferably multi-page document) and convert it to Music XML format. From there, I have software which can transpose the written score to a key more compatible with my meager piano skills and export it back to PDF for display on my iPad.

This is probably a lot to ask from software, but thought I'd pose the question anyway. Of course, it would be best for me to learn and get comfortable with playing in ALL keys, but I'm not looking to become a pro. I just want to be able to learn to play some songs from written scores that I already have, but happen to be in difficult keys (like B major, for example).

I'm running Windows 7, if that matters.

Any thoughts/suggestions on getting this done would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Yes, this can be done.

The free MuseScore says it can do this, but I haven't tried it. Anyway, programs like SmartScore can scan your PDF to MIDI, and from there you should be able to do whatever you want**. It's been awhile since I last researched this, but MusicXML is fast being adopted by many programs as input and/or output.

EDIT: ** except chord symbols. MIDI can't handle that.

Before I read Matt's answer I took a little search: https://www.google.de/search?q=pdf+to+musicxml+free&oq=pdf+to+music&aqs=chrome.5.69i57j0l5.6803j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

There are many options, and to be honest, (I know that MuseScore can handle that, a second-hand knowledge,) I haven't tried any of those.

Good to know MuseScore does this, as it says.

I should mention that every scanning option I've worked with is around 90% accurate and still requires careful editing.

I just tested it. Generally it works. The process is awkward. Select <File><Import PDF>and a web site opens where you have to enter your MuseScore name and password. Select the file you want to import. Then you can download the converted file.

The file I used to test was, several years ago, downloaded from www.gitarrehamburg.de
(http://www.gitarrehamburg.de/FreieDownloadangebote/ick-heff-mol-en-hamburg.pdf)

MuseScore did not detect dotted eights.(It replaced the missing value for the measure with a rest. Other than that, it worked all right.

So would you say that's around 91% ?

(Kidding - good report, thanks)