MusicConvert Manual

From MusicReader Community Documentation

This chapter contains information about scanning and converting pieces to the MusicReader file format using MusicConvert.

File management

This section describes the file management of MusicConvert.

Library & Storage

See the library chapter for the library functionality and for piece information changes read the next subsection.

To save the current file use . If you want to overwrite an existing file then keep the file name the same, otherwise you can specify the filename you want. The standard file name includes the title and a unique number. This unique number prevents replacing a file with the same name, for example when there are multiple parts of the same piece.

Piece Information

With you can access the information about the piece. Here you can specify composer, title and all other features used in the music library. The fields of composer, instrumentation, instrument and genre contain predefined values with an auto complete function. When you have multiple values for a features you can add an field by pressing the + sign. Removal of empty fields can be done by pressing the - sign.

Pages

In this section the insertion, removal and ordering of pages will be described.

Add / Remove

With a page-image can be added from both a scanner and an existing file.

File formats that are supported are:

JPG - JPEG images
PNG - Portable Network Graphics (PNG) images
GIF - GIF images
BMP - Bitmap images
TIFF - TIFF images
PDF - PDF file are supported with a separate plug in (See Software Installation).
FH (unencrypted) - the format used by the MusicPad Pro® Music Tablet.

You can choose the location where the image is inserted to ensure you have the right order. It is also possible to select a directory and import all images available in that directory. These images are imported in alphabetical order, so if your files are numbered then please use xxxx001, xxxx002, xxx003 numbering. When you want to remove a page image then press , this will remove the image that is currently visible.

For unsupported file types you can use the MusicReader Printer driver. More information see below.

PDF (and FH) Batch Conversion

It's also possible to perform a batch conversion of PDF and FH files. FH files are the format of the Freehand MusicPad Pro.

To activate this go to and choose the PDF Batch conversion option. You can convert a complete directory or a set of files. All the converted file will be saved on the library location to make them available in the library. MusicConvert automatically copies the title and author metadata embedded in the PDF file to the MusicReader file. If there is no title in the PDF file then the library will show "no title". In that case you have to load the file in MusicConvert manually to add the title.

Page Order

With the order of the page-images can be specified. This is the page order that is used in MusicReader. A page-image can be used for multiple pages to specify repeats and jumps in the music. Each page has a page turn which can be whole or half depending on your preference. The last page should always have [last page] as page turn.

In the half page view of MusicReader the page turns are completely ignored. In the two page view a whole page means two pages at once and half means only one page is turned.

When you select or alter the image field from a page the selected image is shown in the background. In this way you can verify if the correct image is chosen and also test the page order.

Parts, measures and staffs (Solo Pro only)

This section includes the detection and drawing of parts, measures and staffs inside the music.

Measure Information

When the measures are detected (see next section) MusicConvert shows the measure structure onscreen. Each of the displayed measure has:

measure number [top-left, in red]
number of rest measures [middle, in red]
recording timestamp [bottom, in blue] (see recording calibration)

The program only displays the information that is available.

is an interaction mode which can be used to alter measure information. Here you can specify the measure number and the number of (rest) measures it contains. To access the measure information simply click on a measure in this mode.

Staffs & Measures

With you can determine the location of measures in the music.

Detection

There is an autodetection features for both staffs and measures:

Use to detect the staffs in your music.
Check them and if necessary correct them (see section "drawing").
Then use to detect the measure lines in the staff.
Check them also for incorrect measures and correct whenever necessary (see section "drawing").
Use Measure Info to adjust measure numbers (See previous section)

can be used to erase all measure and staff information.

Drawing

To correct the detected staffs and measure lines draw rectangles and lines on the music:

To add a staff draw a horizontal rectangle in the shape of the staff you want to add.

To add a measure
- draw a measure line on the staff by dragging the mouse
- or click on the measure line
To remove measure lines and staffs draw the same shape, but let it intersect with the one you want to remove. You can only remove one item at a time.

Parts Definition

Some sheet music like piano piece and scores have grouped staffs which represent multiple voices / instruments. With you can specify if a staff is the top-part (green) or one of the lower parts (yellow). Only the top-part contain measure information. To toggle the setting of a staff simply click on it in this mode.

Recordings (Solo Pro only)

To change recording settings of your music click on . You get the choice to either:

Calibrate recording
Organize embedded recordings

These option will be described in the next subsections.

Calibration

With calibration you can include the recording-position into the music. This can be used to let MusicReader follow the recording visually on the sheet music. Before using this features you have to specify the measure locations (See "Staffs & Measures").

When the calibration is is selected it ask for the source of the recording. You can use both CD, music files or embedded recordings. A lot of music files are supported, although some require a separate plug-in (See Software Installation). After selecting the source, it will ask if you want to remove existing information about location. If you want to add locations then press "No". After pressing "OK" on the start-dialog the music will start to play. Now periodically press the measure that is playing at that time. For these measures MusicConvert will record a timestamp. It is recommend to press on the first beat of each measure. If the tempo is completely constant you only have to press the begin and end measure of a piece, when there are differences in tempo them it is recommended to press as much measure as possible. MusicReader will calculate the measure location which you didn't specify.

You can only specify one timestamp per measure, but it is however still possible to specify repeats in the sheet music with a little trick. This can be done in the following way.

Press the last measure before the repeat
Press the last measure of the repeat
Press the first measure of the repeat
Press the measure after the repeat

You can also specify repeats with a first and second ending. This can be done in the following way:

Press the last measure before the repeat
Press the last measure of the first ending
Press the first measure of the repeat
Press the last measure before the first ending with a right mouse click (Important!)
Press the first measure of second block

In this way MusicReader will calculate the repeat measure in the correct way.

If you want to stop the calibration then simple press again. You start calibration again if you want to add additional timestamps.

Embedding Recordings

In this screen you can add recordings to the loaded file. There are two types of items which can be included:

music files
reference to a CD track (track itself will not be included, CD will be required for playback)

You can add a new item by using or remove it by using . For each item you need to specify either

music file or
CD track number

You can also add a description to the item, this description will be visible when MusicReader plays the recording.

Convert third-party files

Not all file types are supported directly by MusicConvert, these files can however still be converted.

Windows

In Windows you can use the virtual printer driver to convert files. From any application you can print sheet music to a printer called "MusicReader Printer". MusicConvert will be started directly after the printing finished and load the printed music. After adjusting it to your needs you can save it to a MusicReader file.

Mac OS

In Mac OS you can print to PDF from almost every application:

Select File, Print...
Click the pop-up PDF button and select Save as PDF...

You can then import this PDF into MusicConvert, just like for any other PDF file.

New music	Open music from Library	Save current music	Music Info	Previous Page
Next Page	Select Measure	Detect/Draw Measures	Change Staff	Page order & turning
Add image	Delete current image	Applications