I would like to have your expert tips on the simplest and most efficient way to convert a printed Score Sheet into a Yamaha XF MIDI file with chords and lyrics.

The end goal is to have an XF MIDI File that can be played back on a Yamaha Arranger while displaying the lyrics and the auto accompaniment following the chord changes embedded in the file.

It appears that converting a Sheet Music into a MIDI file is fairly easy using a music scanning software.

This YouTube video compares 3 Score to MIDI programs:

Sheet Music Scanner
iSee Notes Pro
NotateMe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN1RENjWnLU

Here is another YouTube video explaining how to use PlayScore2 to convert Sheet Music into a MIDI file.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBiFMJV1u7Q

I use SmartScore X Pro by Musitek. It is fast an accurate. It can read a Score Sheet in PDF format or a TIFF image and convert that to a Standard MIDI File.

This short video explains the process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW7sUK_N27E

It transfers over the Lyrics and recognizes the Chord Symbols. It is intelligent enough to transpose the Chord Symbols when you transpose the Song to a simpler scale.

So far so good.

If this program was able to translate these Chord Symbols and insert the actual notes of the Chord in say MIDI Channel 16, then my problem will be solved.

During playback the Yamaha Arranger would reference MIDI Channel 16 to determine which Chords to play based on the 3 or more notes. Setting the arranger to fingered mode will get the job done.

So how do I take a Standard MIDI File created by SmartScore and add in the Chords?

I see two possibilities that involve manual editing.

1.

Use the PSRUTI (version 8.21) software:

https://www.heikoplate.de/psruti.html

This can convert any Standard MIDI File into an XF MIDI File.

The program is clever enough to analyze several tracks like the Melody Track, Bass Track and automatically generate the Chords.

However, they sometimes differ from the original score sheet. So you need to spend some time manually entering each Chord. This is frustrating.


2.

Use XGWorks 3.0.7E:

The last universal version can be downloaded from:

http://www.xg-central.com/xgc-software.php

It is under the Tools section.

This is free for personal use. It runs under Win XP and Win 7 (32-bit & 64-bit).

This program is a gem. It displays the Chords from an XF MIDI file. You can specify the Style with Intros, Endings, Fills and Variations. In a nutshell you can use this sequencer to edit your XF File to your exact liking.

Sadly, Yamaha dropped further development after it acquired Cubase.

It is possible to enter your chosen chords, but still this takes some manual effort.


Does anybody know of a better way to convert a score sheet into an XF MIDI file?

What would really help to streamline the workflow is to have a single Score to MIDI software that would read the chord symbols from the score sheet and insert a new MIDI Track containing the actual notes of the chord.