Which scanners work best with PhotoScore?
Windows
Most scanners are suitable, although ones supplied with WIA drivers are recommended since you will then be able to use the Automatic and PhotoScore interfaces in PhotoScore 4 (if you have Windows Me/XP). The latest Epson (e.g. Perfection series) and HP (e.g. ScanJet series) scanners generally work very well.
If you need to scan oversized scores, Mustek's A3 USB scanner is very well priced.
Mac OS X
It is advisable that the scanner is supplied with a Mac OS X TWAIN driver (a classic TWAIN driver will not do), otherwise you will not be able to scan directly into PhotoScore (although you can still scan and save suitable TIFF files using your scanner's software, which PhotoScore can then open). Unfortunately many scanners are not supplied with these. We recommend in particular Epson (e.g. Perfection series) scanners as these also work with the Automatic and PhotoScore scanning interfaces (v4 only). Please note, there appear to be some compatibility issues between Epson drivers and Mac OS X 10.4 with regards to use of the Automatic and PhotoScore interfaces (although the TWAIN interface should still function with no problems).
If you need to scan oversized scores, Mustek's A3 USB scanner is very well priced.
Why are large letters drawn in the photoscored output instead of notes, or why can't I see any noteheads on notes?
This problem occurs if the PhotoScore font file is not installed correctly, or it has become corrupted.
Windows
Download the PhotoScore font from here, restart your computer and then copy it into the Fonts folder inside Control Panel.
Mac OS
Download the PhotoScore font from here, and copy it into your computer's Fonts folder.
Why can't I use my scanner with PhotoScore for Mac?
PhotoScore 1.86 and below
You must use a TWAIN scanner driver to scan directly into PhotoScore. If you do not have one, contact your scanner manufacturer to see whether one is available. If it is not, you will need to scan and save PICT files from the software that came with your scanner. PhotoScore can open these (use Open from the File menu), and treat them just as if they had been directly scanned in.
PhotoScore 2 & 3
It is highly recommended that you upgrade to at least PhotoScore v2.10 if you have not already done so.
Mac OS 8.6/9 users
You must use a TWAIN scanner driver to scan directly into PhotoScore. If you do not have one, contact your scanner manufacturer to see whether one is available. If it is not, you will need to scan and save TIFF files from the software that came with your scanner. PhotoScore can open these (use Open from the File menu), and treat them just as if they had been directly scanned in.
Mac OS X users
Mac OS X 10.1.2 and below does not support scanning with TWAIN drivers. It is therefore necessary to scan and save TIFF files from the software that came with your scanner. PhotoScore can open these (use Open from the File menu), and treat them just as if they had been directly scanned in.
Mac OS 10.1.3 and above support scanning with TWAIN drivers. However they must be Mac OS X TWAIN drivers - Classic drivers will not work. Please check your scanner manufacturer's website if one is not included on your scanner's installation disk. At least v2.10 of PhotoScore is necessary to make use of them.
PhotoScore 4
You need an up-to-date Mac OS X TWAIN driver for your scanner to scan directly into PhotoScore. If you intend to use the Automatic or PhotoScore scanning interfaces, the driver additionally needs to support Mac OS X Image Capture (ICA). If you do not have a Mac OS X TWAIN driver, visit your scanner manufacturer’s website to see whether one is available. If one is not, you will need to scan and save TIFF files using the software that came with your scanner. PhotoScore can open these (use Open from the File menu), and treat them just as if they had been scanned in directly.
Sibelius 3 won't open my PhotoScore 4 files - what should I do?
You need to used the 'Send to Sibelius' feature in PhotoScore to transfer files over to Sibelius 3. Sibelius 3 cannot open files saved to disc by PhotoScore 4 (with the .opt extension). Sibelius 3 also cannot correctly read percussion staves or scores containing more than 2 voices.
Why do I get poor results from a clear piece of music?
The following may help to improve the accuracy:
1) Line the page up in the scanner as straight as possible.
2) Check that Make scans level is selected in the Scanning tab of the PhotoScore preferences.
3) When scanning from books, try to keep the page being scanned as flat as possible. This will help prevent dark shadows (from where the page curves) interfering with music on the page, which can cause recognition problems.
4) If the scanned score contains little or no appoggiatura or cue notes (small noteheads), try switching Appoggiatura and cue notes off in the Reading tab of the PhotoScore preferences.
5) If you have exhausted all other options, try switching Advanced rhythm and tuplet correction off in the Reading tab of the PhotoScore preferences.
NOTE: This feature generally significantly improves accuracy and is required for tuplet recognition. However, it occasionally causes omission of rests, dots and flags.
If using the TWAIN scanning interface (or PhotoScore 1, 2, or 3):
5) In general, ensure you are scanning in 256 shades of gray - also called 'b/w photo', 'grayscale' or '8-bit gray'. However, with some scanners you may achieve better results by scanning in 2 colors - also called 'b/w drawing', or '1-bit gray' - and manually adjusting the brightness setting so that there are no broken lines or smudged objects.
6) If you are scanning in grayscale, but find that the image is ending up too light (e.g. lines are broken) or too dark (e.g. objects are merging together), try scanning in black & white (also called 'b/w drawing', '2 colors', or '1-bit') and adjusting the brightness of the image.
Staff-height | Resolution |
6mm/0.25” or more | 200dpi |
4-6mm/0.15-0.25” | 300dpi |
3-4mm/0.12-0.15” | 400dpi |
7) Make sure you are scanning at an appropriate resolution (between 200 and 400dpi) - see right for details of resolutions for different staff sizes. Scanning at resolutions both too low and too high can dramatically affect results.
8) Ensure that the Scaling feature is not turned on (if it exists), or is set to 100%. Otherwise the image could be scanned into PhotoScore at an inappropriate resolution.
When I save the output, why are some notes missing from the ends of bars?
When saving MIDI, MusicXML, NIFF or Wave files, or exporting music to Sibelius/G7, you must ensure that the timing in each bar adds up to the current time signature. This is because any excess notes are clipped, and any missing ones are replaced with rests.
During editing, first place any missing time signatures and edit any incorrect ones. Bars highlighted with horizontal red dashed lines indicate bad timing. You should adjust the duration of any notes or rests which are wrong, and add or remove any notes or rests which are missing or in excess. Finally, ensure that notes and rests are in the correct voice, and that any tuplets/triplets are in place (not Lite version). When there are no more bars highlighted, the timing is correct.
Version 4 and later: A red dashed line drawn at the end of a staff means the end barline is missing (whether intentionally or not). Unless a bar is split over staves, barlines must be added to mark the end of the bar. If a bar is split over staves, any rhythm warnings are only displayed on the latter staff.
What should I do if text comes out as numbers and currency symbols with PhotoScore Professional 4 for Mac?
The best solution is to upgrade to v4.1. Alternatively, open PhotoScore's preferences, choose the 'Reading' pane and click on the 'Advanced...' button next to the 'Text' check box. Choose a language other than the one you want to read text in (for example, if you normally have English selected, choose German). Then reselect the language you want to read text in (in our example, English), click Close and then OK. The next time you read a page the text should be read correctly.
PhotoScore crashes during reading. What should I do?
Unfortunately, bugs occasionally slipped into early versions of PhotoScore. Please check you have the latest upgrade installed from here.
Why is PhotoScore having trouble opening PDF files?
If you try opening a PDF file and it appears to work for a fraction of a second but leaves no trace anywhere of anything having happened:
Versions of PhotoScore Professional earlier than v4.1 cannot open password protected PDF files. You may be able to remove the protection from a PDF file using Ghostscript (as a standalone application rather than as a 'plug-in' for PhotoScore) or the full version of Adobe Acrobat.
If using a Mac, it could be because PhotoScore is installed too deeply in your hard disk. This appears to be a problem with Ghostscript for Mac (which PhotoScore uses to 'decode' PDF files and doesn't seem to like long filenames) and the solution is to install PhotoScore in the 'Applications' (or 'Applications (Mac OS 9)') folder in the root of your hard disk.
Why won't PhotoScore for Mac open my TIFF files?
If there is no '.tif' extension on the filename, please try adding this.
How do I save the original scanned pages from PhotoScore as .bmp or TIFF files?
Click 'View pages' on PhotoScore's toolbar. Then locate and double-click the name of the scanned image that you want to save. When it is displayed, select 'File->Save As...' from the menu and choose a name and place to save the file. The Windows version saves files in .bmp format (v4 also saves TIFF); the Mac version saves files in TIFF (.tif) format.
I am using Acrobat Distiller® to create PDF files of PhotoScore's output, but large letters are drawn in the output instead of notes. What is going wrong?
You need to download an updated version of the PhotoScore font. Windows users should download the PhotoScore font from here, restart your computer and then copy it into the Fonts folder inside Control Panel. Mac users should download the PhotoScore font from here, use Stuffit Expander to open the .hqx file and copy the font file within to your Fonts folder.
How do I change the MIDI voice played for a particular instrument?
Inside PhotoScore's 'Resources' folder on the hard disk there is a plain text file called 'General MIDI.txt'. It contains a list of MIDI voices (from 1 to 128) followed by comma separated strings of instrument names in quotation marks. Adding a new instrument name to a MIDI voice (or moving one from another voice) causes that voice to be played for that instrument when it is assigned to a staff in PhotoScore. It is also possible to add transposition to an instrument by appending say :+12 or :-12 after the quotation mark (in this case for up and down an octave as the number is in semitones). Please browse through the file to get an idea of how it should be formatted.
Why do PhotoScore for Mac windows not redraw properly after scanning with Epson scanners?
There appears to be a bug in some Epson scanner drivers that causes this to happen after scanning into PhotoScore and other applications. PhotoScore v2.10 and above offers a solution to this problem, so it recommended that you upgrade to this. Another solution is to close the Epson scanner driver window and everything should return to normal.
Why can't I hear anything when I click Play?
PhotoScore plays back using the default MIDI device set up on your computer. Please check that no other music software is running and that your computer's main and MIDI volume settings are up.
What should I do if Sibelius/G7 and PhotoScore don't see each other?
It is recommended that you use Sibelius 4 and PhotoScore 4.1 or later as these have improved methods of locating each other.
Otherwise: If the 'Scan' button in Sibelius/G7 is not functional, please try fully uninstalling and reinstalling PhotoScore.
If the 'Send to Sibelius/G7' button in PhotoScore is not functional please try fully uninstalling and reinstalling Sibelius/G7.
I am trying to reinstall PhotoScore for Windows on my computer, but receive a message saying that PhotoScore has already been installed, or that the installation disk has become corrupted. What do I do?
Please upgrade to at least v1.86 of PhotoScore from here.
I am using PhotoScore with Sibelius, and find that percussion staves/notes in four voices/guitar staves/chord diagrams/cross noteheads/appoggiaturas/cue-size notes/transposing scores/triplets/tuplets are not transferred properly. Am I doing something wrong?
For the best accuracy, we recommend you use the latest version of Sibelius available.
You need to be using at least version 4.0 to import percussion staves and notes in four voices.
You need to be using at least version 3.0 to import guitar staves, chord diagrams, appoggiaturas, cue-sized notes and cross noteheads.
You need to be using at least version 2.0 to import transposing scores.
You need to be using at least version 1.3 in order to import triplets/tuplets.
Please contact Sibelius Software for upgrade details.
PhotoScore reads incredibly slowly and my hard disk is very active during reading. Why is this?
This problem is likely to occur when using PhotoScore for Windows® and usually means that there is not very much free memory available. It is recommended that your computer has at least 128MB of RAM for the best performance, and 192MB if Windows 2000/XP® is being used. If this problem occurs, you could try ensuring that as few other programs as possible are running on your machine, to help free up memory.
I am scanning over a network, and cannot use TWAIN drivers from my machine. What do I do?
You will need to scan from the computer connected to the scanner, and save a 256 shades of gray (also called 8-bit grayscale or b/w photo) BMP, TIFF or PICT file (whichever can be opened by your version of PhotoScore, although TIFF files tend to take up less space). Using Open from the File menu reads this file into PhotoScore, just as if you had scanned it in.
I saved a file from the PhotoScore Sibelius plug-in so that I could edit it later, but every time I try opening it again, it ends up as a Sibelius document. Why is this happening?
It is recommended that you upgrade to at least version 1.86 of PhotoScore, which is a standalone version, and not a plug-in. If you want to continue using the plug-in, to open the file in PhotoScore, you need to change the 'Files of Type' selection in the Open dialog to 'Scanned music files (*.opt)'.
How do I get rid of the splash screen at startup?
There is an option in the Display tab of the PhotoScore preferences, which stops this appearing and makes PhotoScore load more quickly.
What can't I view PhotoScore for Windows on-line help?
PhotoScore 1, 2 & 3
PhotoScore for Windows on-line help requires HTML Help to be installed. One way of installing this is to install Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 4.0 or later.
PhotoScore 4
PhotoScore for Windows on-line help requires Adobe Reader® 6 or later to be viewed. If you do not have Adobe Reader® installed, it is available for free download from here.
How can I get PhotoScore to run in read-only user accounts under Windows 2000/XP?
The best solution is to upgrade to v4.1 which runs with no problems in read-only user accounts, although it needs to be fully installed on an account with administration rights first. To do this with PhotoScore v3.1 continue reading:
PhotoScore needs to store information about scanned pages to disk in a folder called 'MusicPages'. The path by default is within the installation folder, which may have restricted access for some users.
It is however possible for an administrator to edit the following registry key using regedit so that the 'MusicPages' folder is placed at an alternative path where a restricted user does have write access:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Neuratron\PhotoScore\Full\DataPath\MusicPagesPath
This is the key for PhotoScore Professional. If using other versions, substitute the text 'Full' with 'Lite', 'Demo', 'Lite Demo', 'MIDI Lite', 'MIDI Lite Demo' etc as necessary.
