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:
- Place a page of sheet music on your scanner.
To get the best results, start with a clean, high-quality original (photocopies are not supported) that does not have frayed edges or crooked staves. Lay the
music squarely on the bed of your scanner. Do not use scores with more
than 16 staves.
- In Finale, choose File > Import > SmartScore Lite Scan. (Or, in the Launch Window,
click Scanning). Finale opens the SmartScore Lite dialog box and automatically
displays a preview of the sheet music in your scanner. If you do not see
a preview, click the Preview button.
- Adjust settings as desired and click Scan.
For more information regarding the settings in the SmartScore Lite
dialog box, see SmartScore Lite 6 dialog
box.
- After the scan, click Next Page to scan additional pages. Click Finish once all your pages have been scanned.
- Click Begin Recognition. The Instrument Name Assignments dialog box appears, which allows you to configure instrument transpositions, staff names, and the MIDI instruments. It is important to apply this information to ensure your staves are transposed properly. See Instrument Name Assignments dialog box.
- Click OK. Finale transcribes
the scanned file(s) and displays the music in a single Finale file. (If
you encounter problems, such as a "Recognition Failed" error,
see Using you scanner's software to scan sheet music for Finale import below).
- Save the file with a new name.
- Make any desired edits. Because scanning
is not a perfect science, you will need to proofread the music and correct
for missing notes, ties or dots.
- Convert slurs to ties, where needed.
SmartScore will attempt to convert ties based on context (Are the two
slurred notes the same pitch?) but may occasionally guess incorrectly
and insert a slur. Although slurs and ties are graphically the same; slurs
and ties are different musically. Remove the incorrect slurs with the
Smart Shape tools. See To
move, reshape, or delete Smart Shape slurs. Add the ties with
the Simple or Speedy Entry tools. See Simple
Entry or Speedy
Entry.
- In files with more than one staff, fix the
key signatures, if needed. All staves will be set to Independent
Key Signatures, which causes the Key Signature tool to change the key
individually for each staff. You can remove the Independent Key Signatures
in the Staff Attributes dialog
box. Make sure you set the proper transposition for any transposing
staves if you decide to use this fix.
