Something Bernie posted on the SX900 thread prompted this question...
What software have you used to transpose or reformat commercially-purchased .pdf scores? I.e., .pdf's you might download from SheetMusicPlus or Musicnotes.com.

I want something that can read a downloaded .pdf (either fakebook-style or Piano/Vocal/Chords) and transpose it to a new key, including the chord symbols.

If it can also perform these feats with .pdf's created by scanning existing paper music, that would be a huge plus. The ability to generate a MIDI and MusicXML file, add note names, etc. would be nice to have.
I know you're probably thinking, "Why don't you just start with a midifile?" But the chords are the thing--many downloadable MIDIs are of questionable origin (i.e., wrong notes, inauthentic arrangements, etc.) and where would I get the chords? If I'm going to invest the time to learn a song, I would prefer to start with copyrighted material from the original artist.

Once the score has been suitably transposed, I'm going to import it into my iPad for use with a page turner. The score is going to be viewed and transported electronically, so I don't really care if it's several "pages." Also, it's sometimes hard to go backwards with a page turner. So I would prefer to fully "expand" it [get rid of "D.C. al Coda," etc.] This type of expansion would probably have to take place in the PC software.

I couldn't find anything in the Apple app store that would cover this whole process end-to-end in the iOS environment. But I'm ok with doing the download, transpose, expansion, etc., on a PC. I'm also thinking that I might need to add some pen-and-ink annotations. I bought an Apple Pencil for this purpose, but I'm starting to doubt that the whole process can be paperless.

The softwares I'm aware of are:
- SmartScore X2 Pro
- Neuratron PhotoScore Ultimate & NotateMe
- Notation Composer
- PDFtoMusic Pro
- Any others??

The first two are pretty expensive. SmartScore claims to do most of what I need. But before I fork out $400, I would like to hear from someone that has actually used one or more of these products. Also, any thoughts you might have about my proposed "work flow."

One last alternative (and what prompted this post)... Yamaha's pro arrangers have a built-in, animated score display. It's customizable with note names, colors, chord symbols, lyrics, etc. On the Tyros and Genos models, the screen is large enough to permit read ahead making this feature useful. In theory, I could step-record the melody I wanted to learn from the sheet music. Add the XF chord events which drive the style, and transpose the resulting MIDI to my preferred key. I'm pretty sure this would get me everything I want. But--step-recording from printed scores is tedious. And I would prefer a portable solution using the iPad that's not wedded to the Tyros. There's got to be score display software for iPad that matches the feature set of Yamaha's built-in display.

So I guess I actually have two questions... The score display for iPad is the second piece of the puzzle. The first is converting a .pdf (either downloaded or scanned) to MIDI with chords. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!!


Edited by TedS (02/22/20 07:35 PM)