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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Does anyone have a quick method or technique for writing melodies onto the music stave using the notation tool other than entering notes onto the stave one by one. This is quite a drag and takes a fairly long time? Can this be done using a midi piano or via any other external software package?er
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2008
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PG Music Staff
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PG Music Staff
Joined: Nov 2008
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Hi Jyde D,
You can use a MIDI keyboard to record melodies. Just go to Options - MIDI/Audio Driver Setup, and select your keyboard as your MIDI Input Driver.
You can then click the Record MIDI button or Melody - Edit Melody Track - Record Melody to record notes to the Melody track.
Thanks
Kent
PG Music
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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You can also import a MIDI file.
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.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Thanks,
will the notes then be written to the music stave directly?
I also discovered this android app that looks very good called Mobile Sheets Pro Music Reader costing a whopping £9.99 (Expensive for an app so it must be very comprehensive). Apparently it rips the notes off pdf's or midi files and converts them to music notation and sound then exports as a Midi file. Could be just what I am looking for. Has anyone here ever used it?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Let’s start again.
Are you trying to take printed music and enter it into BIAB? Music such as purchased published music, leadsheets or fake-books?
Yes, there are apps and programs that can scan printed music and make it into MIDI that BIAB can load. Yes, there are apps that can read a PDF file and convert it to a MIDI file. Both will have errors and will require you to make corrections, in my experience.
If you have a MIDI file, BIAB can read that.
If you don’t, you can play the melody and BIAB can record it.
Or you can enter it note by note with the mouse.
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.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Yes that is exactly what I am trying to do [color:#[FF0000]there are apps and programs that can scan printed music and make it into MIDI that BIAB can load[/color] that would be a great start point, I don't mind the fact that it won't be perfect and will require correction. what I want to avoid is the slow process of using a note by note mouse entry method if I can. I believe there have been a few suggestions made. Many thanks.
Last edited by Jyde D; 07/25/18 02:59 AM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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If you get an app to scan pdf's, be sure to read the specs and user comments carefully. The high end apps can read and process scanned content, with varying degrees of success depending upon the quality and alignment of the original source file. Other apps will only work with pdf's that were created by printing them from a notation app, which means it's not converting the graphical images of the notes, but merely reading the underlying TrueType fonts and recreating the notation that was originally done in a notation program in the first place.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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That's an interesting point to take into consideration. Would you be able to provide some links ?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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John is correct. One program I use says exactly that limitation, working only with PDF scores printed in Finale, Sibelius etc. In other words, it will usually not read a PDF scanned from published sheet music.
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.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I really think that if there was a quick, inexpensive, accurate method of converting from sheet music, scanned or otherwise, we would have found it years ago.
Most of us probably use mouse entry, some use a midi keyboard, or we find something on the Internet
Not the answer you are looking for, but the reality of BIAB
BIAB for Windows Version 2019 (643)
Windows 10 (1909)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Right, and don’t think of this as being a limitation of BIAB. It’s a limitation of the industry.
Don’t overlook Dave’s suggestion. Not only are tons of songs in MIDI format on the Internet, but also large collections of BIAB files to share. Many are even legal.
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.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I googled printed music to MIDI and one site that says it will scan sheet music to MIDI is this one: https://www.musitek.com/smartscore-midi.htmlIt has a free demo so you might want to give it a try. Note that I do not have any experience with this software.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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PG Music Staff
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PG Music Staff
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Hi, Finale PrintMusic can scan printed notation and convert it to MIDI, and it's only $99: http://www.pgmusic.com/finaleprintmusic.win.htmThanks Kent PG Music
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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The success of both of these depends on the quality of the original (must be clean, no stray marks), the fonts used (mentioned already), and the size (they deliberately print music oversized to limit copying and scanning).
I also have used PDFtoMusic by Myriad. Sometimes that works when SmartScore won’t.
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.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I'm surprised PrintMusic still supports scanned documents. I remember the email notice where they intentionally removed it from its big brother (Finale v25) when it went from 32-bit to 64-bit, I suspect mainly for copyright infringement reasons.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Oh, and originals scan far better than photocopies.
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.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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MuseScore is a free download and will import PDF files that were created by a music notation program (not scanned from sheet music).
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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PG Music support told me that Real Band supports recording a live instrument, say trumpet, and then display the notes that were played so they can be printed out. True or False
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Expert
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True.
That is the 'Pitch to MIDI converter' feature, and it true too that it works only on monophonic recordings.
For more details see the RealBand PDF manual page 198.
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