I couldn't find any reference in Help to an ability to scan in sheet music/lead sheets into BIAB so I assume it doesn't have that capability.
I also went quite a few pages deep into the Wishlist but saw nothing there.
Is it just a pipe dream to want to be able to simply "scan" sheet music into BIAB?
There are programs like PhotoScore that supposedly can create midi files from even hand written scores. Cost a few hundred but do I assume correctly that a midi file score scanned by PhotoScore...or a similar program cannot be imported into BIAB?
I read in Help that midi files CAN be imported but only into the Melody track.
Hmmm...the deeper I get into this post, the dumber it is sounding to me. (-:
I guess what I am getting at is the ability to scan in chord changes and possibly also a melody track from a printed score and end up with a full band BIAB arrangement...with all the repeates, 1st/2nd endings DS and DC stuff etc.????
So...
1. Yes. 2. No. 3. Maybe 4. Make your own arrangements you lazy sod!!! (-:
"I couldn't find any reference in Help to an ability to scan in sheet music/lead sheets into BIAB so I assume it doesn't have that capability."
Yes, pipe dream. Sort of like optical character recognition, but harder. There are programs that attempt this, word is not to well. Not BIAB.
"I also went quite a few pages deep into the Wishlist but saw nothing there."
Try search.
"Is it just a pipe dream to want to be able to simply "scan" sheet music into BIAB?"
Again,yes - not to repeat myself.
"There are programs like PhotoScore that supposedly can create midi files from even hand written scores. Cost a few hundred but do I assume correctly that a midi file score scanned by PhotoScore...or a similar program cannot be imported into BIAB?"
If these other programs output BIAB files or .mid files, then it can work. And I caution against "assuming so"
"I read in Help that midi files CAN be imported but only into the Melody track."
Actually, Melody of Soloist track. And one track to Melody and one to Soloist. Better yet - 16 tracks of midi to Melody and/or Soloist. Now you're cooking.
"Hmmm...the deeper I get into this post, the dumber it is sounding to me. (-:
I guess what I am getting at is the ability to scan in chord changes and possibly also a melody track from a printed score and end up with a full band BIAB arrangement...with all the repeates, 1st/2nd endings DS and DC stuff etc.????"
Nope. Chord entry is easy. If you have a midi keyboard you can just play the chord on that, hit ctrl-enter, and BIAB will read and enter the chord. You will want to enter the melody manually or import it from midi. The pick a tempo and style, and you are in BIAB Heaven, or at least at the gates.
As you get into this, you may find, like many, that repeats and endings are finicky, and it is often preferred to unfold the song into one chorus.
It's always been possible to bring a MIDI file into BIAB. Chord data won't transfer, but notes will. It doesn't matter how the MIDI file was created, and music scanner programs can do that.
What I have never seen is any program that correctly understands song form, like repeats and endings, by importing MIDI. I hope someone here knows of one.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Sibelius is meant to read scanned score and display it for edit / whatever.
I know a few people who swear by it - but more who swear at it! - the main problem seesm to be that scanners break up the music staves - especially is the scan is not exactly square & hand written is worse!
And even then - you cant import that into biab
I just find some quiet time & re-capture manually - Chords first and then the notation
Band in a Box has MIDI Chord Wizard that can extrapolate the chords from a standard MIDI file and place them on the BB Chordgrid.
Because all of the MIDI data notes are known values, it can be very accurate indeed.
The caveat is that sometimes, in a dense MIDI file, one must use the SEQ button and mute parts that are the Melody or Solos or other enhancements in order to get "just the chords" without the code thinking that the other notes are extensions.
Quote: I read in Help that midi files CAN be imported but only into the Melody track.
Yes they can but don't be fooled into thinking actual chords are part of a midi file, they're not. Chords are not part of the midi standard, just the notes. Therefore what programs do with a midi file is make educated guesses as to what the chord should be based on what notes fall on any particular beat. Think about that for a minute and you can see that while the basic chord should be say Emaj9, there could be a harmonic bass note and two accidentals being played by the piano or guitar or even horns on that exact beat that the program is going to see and instead of a Emaj9 it says G#7#9b13 or some such thing that makes no sense to you looking for a basic fake chart chord. That's why Mac said you may have to go in and mute some of the instrument parts to make it simpler and then the program can be more accurate but many times you still have to make some changes yourself. Even with errors, creating the chord grid from a midi file is still pretty cool, better than starting from scratch.
I only used the Sibelius student 4.0 for a number of years. I did purchase Photoscore professional. Not only was that a waste of money, it took more time to edit and correct the scans than it did to just enter the notes manually. I tossed it. I'm using PrintMusic now and haven't tried scanning any music with it or even know if it has that feature. I think the main problem is, as someone alluded to, ocr. There are lots of varied sizes and styles of notation and printed qualities of it also. If it sounds too good to be true....(ad nauseum).
I find that I am the best Photoscanner -- So I simply put the music on the stand and then record it into the computer with one of my MIDI keyboards. Use the metronome and set the key signature and tempo first, right?
Consider that for a Fake Chart you only need concern yourself with recording the Melody after entering the chords...
In BiaB, the MIDI Keyboard Wizard can be used to quickly enter notation on the Melody track as well. See the FAW or the help file on how to do that and then move the notes to the correct positions quickly with the mouse after tapping in the notes in the right rhythm patterns.
This is the fastest way to get it and get it right I know.
I know this post is old, but I was wondering if there are any updated suggestions for a software to scan into BIAB? I've heard of Scanscore, but don't know if it would work, or if anyone knows of other options.
I know this post is old, but I was wondering if there are any updated suggestions for a software to scan into BIAB? I've heard of Scanscore, but don't know if it would work, or if anyone knows of other options.
Nope. This came up fairly recently and still nothing is that good. The best results and still not great, you must start with a good, clean commercially produced chart to scan. Most I've seen are copies of copies. A lot of those copies originated from commercial music books that are deliberately made considerably bigger than standard paper for the specific reason of making it harder for people to scan/copy. Charts with melodies are copyrighted and cannot legally be copied.
This is in the same category as taking a recording, run it through some software and out pops a midi file and a chart. That ain't happening either.
I have no doubt that it will happen eventually but not yet. I have read a few articles about university audio labs where they're using custom built supercomputers using custom software that can do stuff like that but that's a far cry from something any of us can go out and buy.
I would say that music scan programs work much better now than several years ago. Most of them do a fairly good job when scanning good quality and clean charts, but most of them fail miserabily if you try to use them with old / deteriorated / hand material.
The best software I've found until now is PDF to Music Pro, from Myriad Software. It doesn't perform any OCR process, instead it extracts information directly from the PDF, so if you're using PDF files produced by any notation software (Musescore, Sibelius, etc) as a source material it will work near perfectly, otherwise it won't work AT ALL. http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/pdftomusicpro.htm
I've just tried Scanscore, which in fact is a module of the Notation Suite Forte 10 that can be bought separately. It works fairly well and is very easy to use, but again you need to use clean, commercially produced charts. https://scan-score.com/en/
It's always been possible to bring a MIDI file into BIAB. Chord data won't transfer, but notes will. It doesn't matter how the MIDI file was created, and music scanner programs can do that.
We just wanted to point out that there is a feature to bring in Chord info from a MIDI file (assuming that the file has chords and is not mainly melodic). It's under File | Import | Import Chords from MIDI file.
Band-in-a-Box does not have a PDF scanning feature, but there are all great suggestions of how to do it in this thread. I personally prefer inputting the notes myself to avoid any mistakes in the scanning process. And it helps me to pay extra attention to the music as I do it. It really all depends on your workflow and personal preference though.
Chantelle, I thank you for the gentle correction! I love it when I find out BIAB can do more than I thought. Such a wondrous program.
I wonder when this feature was added. The MIDI standard still does not include the storage of chord data, so I assume BIAB must be doing its own examination of the imported MIDI data and supplying what it analyzes to be the chords. This is often open to interpretation. I want to try some experiments of this BIAB feature, since it could be very helpful in my work. Again, thank you for your correction!
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
Chantelle, I thank you for the gentle correction! I love it when I find out BIAB can do more than I thought. Such a wondrous program.
I wonder when this feature was added. The MIDI standard still does not include the storage of chord data, so I assume BIAB must be doing its own examination of the imported MIDI data and supplying what it analyzes to be the chords. This is often open to interpretation. I want to try some experiments of this BIAB feature, since it could be very helpful in my work. Again, thank you for your correction!
Looking back through the installations on my computer, this feature is in the 2014 version. We don't have older versions than this to look back on to see if it was introduced any earlier. And you're right, MIDI files do not have chord data so it is Band-in-a-Box interpreting the chords and inputting the chord names into the Chords view.
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