SmartScore X Songbook Edition [Old Version]

The transposition is good. The navigation is partly good. The rest is so cumbersome it is very hard to use. The recognition is a disaster. The best part is that it does the transposing very quickly but lots of cheaper products do that also. Is there a way to get tutored on the program?

I bought SmartScore Songbook as an "upgrade" from SmartScore Lite, which came packaged with  Finale PrintMusic 2011  (made by a different software manufacturer, MakeMusic). I bought the $99 + shipping upgrade expecting Songbook would serve as a seamless transition from my "raw" music to Finale PrintMusic, which I use to edit and output my music. SmartScore Lite had yielded very poor results scanning printed sheet music, and I hoped for a big improvement with SmartScore Songbook.After receiving the Songbook package and working through the tutorials in the "Introduction to SmartScore" manual, I tried processing a short PDF file (of public-domain opera music) I had downloaded from the Internet. But SmartScore Songbook introduced so many errors into the music that I decided it would cost me less time and effort to enter the music note-by-note into PrintMusic, than to clean up the mess presented by SmartScore. This, despite the claim by software manufacturer Musitek, on its web page soliciting the upgrade, that SmartScore can "recognize almost any PDF image including...web-based files." Worse still, every time I've tried scanning sheet music -- even very clearly printed music -- into SmartScore Songbook, I've gotten worthless results, with SmartScore often crashing. (I use an iMac with an Intel Core 2 Duo, running Mac OS Leopard, ver. 10.5.8). To top off the disaster, SmartScore Songbook hijacks my interface between sheet music and Finale PrintMusic, substituting itself as the music-editing program and providing no way to export my scanned music into PrintMusic.I emailed Musitek to complain about the poor processing of the PDF file, attaching a copy of the original file. Several days later Musitek replied that the PDF file I had downloaded from the web was "quite degraded and appears to be dithered (shot full of holes)." They smugly dismissed the inconvenience of all the introduced errors by claiming: "it would take someone familiar with SmartScore's editor 5-10 minutes to clean up the page..." In my reply, I admitted that the file was degraded on close examination, but argued: "To the human eye..., all the notes, staff lines, beams and slurs in that file are perfectly readable and unambiguous. In light of that situation, it seems to me that your software should be able to convert it to at least 95% accuracy... Since [SmartScore] Songbook has proved worse than useless to me, I want to return this product for a full refund."Musitek denied my request for a refund on the startling basis that "you were not misled and...the software you have installed continues to function normally." When I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Musitek resorted to its boilerplate legal argument: "Because of its intangible nature, digital software is normally not returnable..." and refused to address the issue of their software frequently crashing on my computer and hijacking my interface to PrintMusic.My scanning hardware is an HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One machine, which probably makes it difficult for me to get useful results. Musitek recommends recent-model Canon or Epson scanners and cautions against All-in-One scanners. Unfortunately, I don't have the desk space to install a dedicated scanner. Even so, my HP Officejet scanner is TWAIN-compliant, and I've tried the work-around scanner settings recommended by Musitek -- but still got worthless results.Scanning of sheet music from paper or PDF files seems to be the weak link in written music-processing software. I've also gotten disappointing results scanning sheet music with  Neuratron PhotoScore Ultimate 5  Lite, which comes bundled with  Sibelius 6 First - Easy Music Notation Software . Also, when I tried using PhotoScore Lite to scan the same PDF file that SmartScore Songbook butchered, PhotoScore also introduced a mess of errors.

I downloaded the free the demo first and try it. I tried every which way. Uploaded clear PDF files(not scans) . Simply music. Tried drums and bass. Nope! Contacted customer service. They finally just ignored me as it seems their only answer would be "sorry we sell software that doesn't work" Run and Save your money. This is second software of this type I have tired to no avail. A few more companies make similar. Onto the next one to try.

I purchased SmartScore X Pro Edition SmartScore X2 Pro Edition  (this link is their new and improved version worth another $100 bucks if you were to upgrade!) about a year and a half ago. The price was steep but it did do what it was supposed to do. The learning curve is also pretty steep but I am a music teacher with a good knowledge of computers. Recognition worked, most times, if I was careful to use a clean copy of the music and set up my scanner properly. There are always edits to do afterwards but they were of a reasonable number. My problem with this company is their tech support or should I say LACK of tech support. My software suddenly stopped working. It would request my Customer ID and Serial Number which I entered. Then it would do nothing! Zip! Nada! Nothing at all! I emailed "[email protected]" and outlined my problem. I received a one line response suggesting I download the software again and reinstall. That solved nothing! Although I have sent more emails, I no longer get any response from them!Does the software work? Yes, if you are careful with your scans. Do they support their product? Nope!Would I recommend their product to others? Not at this time!

I upgraded from a previous "paid for" product. I Previously had G5 for guitar which never worked all that well and which the company eventually dropped. That product was much more useful than "songbook edition" which I upgraded to.This I was hoping would allow me to scan in scores so I could listen to them as they were meant to be played, ( I don't read music). But the scanning process introduces so many errors that One cannot tell what is intended. Well I tried entering the simplest of scores by hand and found the software so COUNTER INTUITIVE as to be extremely frustrating. I have a few hundred dollars into this software and I would like to WARN OTHERS, Try the software on the free trial option to see if you can work with it. Do not assume that the full version will work any better it won't.