Finale offers a variety of ways for you to scan sheet music and bring the results into Finale. If you own Musitek’s MIDIScan or SmartScore software, you can import files scanned with these programs into Finale. See File/Import/MIDIScan. However, all you need is a scanner properly set up with your computer to take advantage of Finale’s scanning capabilities. Scan, import, and translate a piece of sheet music directly from Finale (see To scan and import sheet music), or import an existing TIFF graphic you have already scanned and translate the file to a Standard Finale File using the SmartScore Lite dialog box. See To Import Scanned TIFF Files.
Note that the SmartScore Lite feature in Finale, like most music scanning products, doesn’t recognize articulation marks, hairpins, double or repeat barlines, or text. It will do 3 accidental types, 3 clefs, 16 staves per page, smallest note value is a 32nd note, and a maximum of 1 augmentation dot. With SmartScore Lite, you can open several scanned files at once.
Because scanning is not a perfect science, you will need to clean up any file after conversion. For complicated music, you will usually find it easier to simply re-enter the music via one of Finale's traditional note entry methods: Simple Entry, Speedy Entry, or HyperScribe.
Remember that to take advantage of any of Finale's scanning capabilities, you will need to have a properly installed scanner (contact the manufacturer of your scanner if you have questions).
Choosing the best scanner for SmartScore
Musitek, the makers of SmartScore, offer the following advice for choosing the best scanner for SmartScore Lite:
Musitek recommends avoiding the following scanners:
Note: Many "OS X compatible" scanners still are not TWAIN-compliant. As a workaround, scan in grayscale using your scanner's software. See Using your scanner's software to scan sheet music for Finale import.
Most modern scanners will work fine with SmartScore. "All-in-one" printer/copier/scanner models are becoming popular. Sadly, many have less-than-perfect software and optics. We recommend dedicated flatbed scanners as a rule.
Issues with
All-In-One scanners and some workarounds
Most all-in-one printer/scanners will work in SmartScore provided you choose
the right settings.
Note: Even if you choose "Black & White", most all-in-one scanners will actually scan in color and then "dither" the image, making the image unusable. Remember to scan in "Greyscale" (not Color or Black & White).
It is always recommended to scan using SmartScore's scanning interface with the benefits of auto-resolution, deskew and multiple-page TIFF functions. Also, newer Epson and Cannon scanners work well with SmartScore's scanning interface under Windows XP and MacOS X platforms.
To scan and import sheet music
The following steps describe how to use Finale to scan and open a single or multiple page document. To acquire sheet music from your scanner:
Using your scanner's software to scan sheet music for Finale import
It is preferrable to scan from SmartScore's own scanning
interface for several reasons: Auto-resolution, auto-deskew, multi-page/single
image file creation, greyscale thresholding, etc.
If you are using SmartScore's scanning interface and your scanner does
not operate or you get a "Recognition Failed" message, you can
bypass SmartScore's scanning interface:
Now, follow the steps under To Import Scanned TIFF Files below to import and translate the scanned documents.
Failing that, open the scanning module associated with your scanner. Scan and save each page as individual TIFF file according to points 2. and 3. above. Or consider the following:
Third-party
scanning software (ScanVue)
If it not possible to scan from inside SmartScore, a reasonable alternative
is to use 3rd-party scanning software such as ScanVue
which supports more than 500 scanners and enables scanning in SmartScore's
scanning interface.
If you would like to Import Files you have already scanned and saved as uncompressed TIFF files:
(To scan, import, and translate using Finale's included scanning utility, see To scan and import sheet music.)
Because scanners and scanning software varies widely, we cannot provide specific instructions for how to configure the above settings for every scanner. When in doubt, see your scanner documentation for details or contact the scanner manufacturer on how to prepare a file with the requirements stated above. (Note that some scanning software can be stubborn in its attempts to make decisions for you and result in a scanned file that does not meet the above requirements).
After you have scanned the file do not open the image file in PhotoShop or PhotoDeluxe, as this will introduce lightening and other negative factors. Some versions of PhotoDeluxe will also save the file as a uniquely PhotoDeluxe TIFF that SmartScore Lite (and MIDIScan Import) cannot recognize.
To import MIDIScan or SmartScore files
See File/Import/MIDIScan.
For HP Precision Scan:
If you plan to scan music using HP Precision Scan and then import the resulting TIFF files using the SmartScore Lite dialog box: