ScanScore Sheet Music Scanner Review

Hello there! My name is Aleah and I am a licensed music educator and arts and music blogger. Today I am writing a guest post on ScanScore, a piece of music software. Let’s delve into it!

What Is Optical Music Recognition Software?

Optical music recognition software is a program that helps you digitize your music. It teaches your computer how to recognize musical elements. While it might sound simple, it isn’t.

 It is much easier to convert text to a digitize format than it is to do the same with music. Really, it makes sense if you break it down: Sheet music has dynamics, articulations, tempo markings, clefs, and more. Both pop and classical music are notoriously hard to scan. So let’s take a peek at this specific program, and see what it has to offer us.

Breaking Down the Score: ScanScore

The Digitizing Process

Music digitizing first started out in the 1960’s. While it used to literally be a robot that read sheet music, it is now a downloadable program. ScanScore is one of many music digitizing programs that are out there. To digitize with ScanScore in particular, there are three options: uploading in a PDF, scanning with a scanner, and using the app on your phone. It’s really nice that there are three ways to digitize. 

The Editor

The editing toolbar up top allows you to fix mistakes that happen when you scan things in. You can fix notes, rhythms, time signatures, and other elements using the toolbar and arrow keys. 

MIDI Instrument Playback and Mixer

Based on my research, this is where ScanScore seems to differ from other programs. ScanScore allows you to play back the music you digitize. You can also change the instruments and panning, inside this little mixer. 

Price Range 

There are three different types of program: Melody, Ensemble, and Professional. Here are the prices:

Melody: $39

Ensemble: $99

Professional: $179

I personally believe that, if you are going to buy it, just bite the bullet and get the most expensive one. ScanScore Melody can only scan one stave. Ensemble can scan four lines, which is good for small choirs and quintets. But if you want to use it for big groups? You might as well get the one with the most capabilities. Apart from this difference, the mixer, scanning, and editing is all the same for each version. 

The Pros and Cons

Pros

• Unlike a lot of notation programs these days, ScanScore isn’t subscription-based. So, your one-time purchase gets you a program that you can put on up to three devices.
• The editing toolbar is quite expansive
• The program has some panning capabilities, and you can change the instrument MIDI type

Cons

• You can’t use ScanScore on handwritten music
• It doesn’t scan old music or music with pale ink very well 
• In some ways, the MIDI sounds can feel a bit archaic. I wish that it would play with higher-quality sounds, but, the general outline of what ithe song would sound like is there. 
• The app can be fussy. It is much better to use the program by going from PDF to computer or hooking up your scanner to scan the pysical sheet music

ScanScore: What I Use it For.

I started using ScanScore because transcribing melodies that were already on paper was taking way too much time. It seems really silly now, looking back at how long I spent putting music that was already transcribed in, one note at a time, into my program. Days, I lost days, folks…

My Arrangements

Personally, I use ScanScore for arranging pop songs for flute choir, Yeah, I know, it’s a bizarre hobby…Anyways. This is a sample of a finished arrangement, No Surprises, for five flutes: https://open.spotify.com/track/6RBSCZaxMUo4IzFoTKleVs?si=0abc75cc186e4141 

It’s really easy to take PDFs from MuseScore, and other sites, and digitize them with ScanScore. Then, I pop my musicxml file into Sibelius, where I can arrange and rearrange it to my heart’s content. 

Conclusion

While ScanScore is a program that is far from perfect…What piece of music software is? Optical Music recognition has come a long way from where it started, and for that, I am thankful. 

Thanks so much for featuring me on your blog, Adam! Be sure to come back to The Blogging Musician for more great content, like guitar reviews and music. And, if you’d like to check out my blog, art and music, go to https://aleahfitzwater.com/.