Problems using tablature

[trvd1707]

I'm new to Finale. I used to have Encore
I'm trying to enter the tabs for a guitar staff.
I added the tab staff, selected the notes on the regular staff, and pasted them on the tab staff. The problem is that some notes were pasted as hidden, and I can't change them to make them visible on the printer.

I tried selecting the hidden note and typing option H, but it didn't work. I see that some tied notes were pasted as hidden, but sometimes the first note of a group of tied notes is also being pasted as hidden and this is the one that I want to "unhide".

[miker]

Can you post the score, or at least part of it that shows the problem?

(You may not be able to post immediately, since you’re new to the forum. If that’s the case, post it to dropbox and give us a link.)

[trvd1707]

Sure,

Here is the score: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wt8lnm45 ... sw3gh&dl=0

If you look at the first 5 measures, you will see several notes that were pasted as hidden notes. I understand on the first measure that the last note is hidden, because it is tied to the previous note, but on the second measure, both notes on the tie were hidden. This problem happened randomly throughout the piece.

[Peter Thomsen]

trvd1707 ,

Oh dear, your Finale document is a mess - many things are wrong.
I wonder how you created it.

1) Go to Window menu > ScoreManager > Instrument List
If you - in the Instrument List - click on one of the TAB staves, then you will see that the TAB staff has a Transposition:
(C) Up Octave
A TAB staff in Finale should not have a Staff Transposition.
In the pop up menu Transposition, change to None.
Now the TAB staff’s layout and playback should be right.
(Click the attached graphic, to view at full size)

2) The notes that are wrongfully hidden, are incorrectly entered in the Voice staff; they have Tie End selected (like e. g. the top part’s first tied note in measure 2).
To see what is wrong:
Speedy Entry Tool.
Click outside the staff, to exit the Speedy Entry rectangle.
Hold down the Option key, and click inside the measure/staff: the top staff (Voice 1), in measure 2.
You get to the (very technical) dialog box Edit Frame.

In the top of the Edit Frame dialog box you can click the button {Next} to navigate through the entry slots.
The entry slots are numbered from 0 and onwards; the first entry (= the 16th rest) is Entry Slot 0.
Navigate to Entry Slot 3 (= the first tied note).

In the bottom of the Edit Frame dialog box you can see that Entry 3 has the option Tie End selected.
This is wrong; it has a Tie Beginning, not a Tie End.
De-select the option Tie End - and the note will copy correctly to the TAB staff - not hidden.


(For comparison: In measure 1, Entry Slot 3 - correctly - does not have Tie End selected)

[trvd1707]

I'm a beginner in Finale. I scanned this music on the iPad, exported it in musicXML to the Mac, and then opened it with Finale and I'm trying to correct it and add a tab staff.

Most of what you explained is very advanced to me, but I'll try it.

About the transposition, I added that because when I copied and pasted from the music staff to the tab staff it put a bunch of negative numbers there, as if the music staff was an octave lower. At that time I didn't know how to fix it and trying to transpose while pasting seemed to have worked.
Thank you very much for the explanations.

[miker]

Your method may be part of the problem. It sounds like you used one of the "black box" programs which takes your picture and spits out an XML. So whatever errors may have been picked up in the scan (and I guarantee there were some) were buried in the XML. A program like SmartScore (which I use, but there are others) will let you correct those errors before exporting the XML.

Can you send me the document before it went into your program?

[trvd1707]

Do you mean the musicXML the app Music Scanner generated?

I agree with you that the problems were most likely introduced by the app I used to scan the music score. I'm attaching the musicXML file here.

I have several limitations that made me resort to scanning the score. I have a full-time job that is not music-related, I had to make this tablature to help out the guitar ensemble of the community college nearby in a hurry, I have poor eyesight, I have limited musical knowledge, and even less knowledge in music editing/publishing.

But you guys here were awesome! I was able to fix the mistakes and I'm good to go.

I searched for Smart Score app on the iPad and I got all kinds of apps. The first hit was the app I used: Sheet Music Scanner. down the list, I found Piascore Smart Music Score. Is this the one you used?

It would help me tremendously to have a decent score scanner. Due to my poor eyesight, I usually have to make the score bigger to improve the readability for me. The other use is to automatically generate the tablature. Several folks in the ensemble can't read music, the tabs help them learn the new music faster.

[miker]

I'd really like to see the original PDF or TIFF, if possible. I use SmartScore Pro, but they have other versions which are limited in what they do, but they all have the same scanning and editing capabilities.

You might not even need Finale.

[trvd1707]

I didn't have a pdf file. The score was on paper. The app I used on the iPad takes a picture of the score and generates the musicXML. I can ask it to export in PDF I believe. Let me try. Is this SamrtScorePro for iPad or for the computer? Who does make this app?

[miker]

Your photo scan may have been the problem, or, at least part of it. Using a phone or tablet will always introduce a certain amount of distortion, which makes recognition even more error prone. A flatbed scanner will do a much better job.

Still, if you can take a picture and export it as a PDF, let’s start there.

For all of the SmartScore programs, go to musitek.com. I’m pretty sure they are for computers only, not tablets or phone.

[Zoots]

I don't know what the OP used but Musitek, makers of SmartScore, do have the tablet app, Music-to-XML. However, this isn't SmartScore and my understanding is the results are not as good as using a flatbed scanner and SmartScore. I don't think it offers any editing of the scanned result so the good and bad is passed to the receiving program for correction. These programs are designed for music being inputted by the user, not accepting something produced by a poor scan that does not necessarily follow the rules.

It is certainly an irrefutable fact that the quality of the scan needs to be high or the conversion to XML is just not going to be what is hoped for (at all)!

[trvd1707]

This smartScore looks awesome!

What is not clear to me is the offer they have for Finale users. They call it an upgrade...
Does it mean that once I get this SamrtScore it will replace Finale as my music editing software? Will I have to learn a new music editing software?

I bought Finale last year when my old computer that could run Encore stopped working

Just now I'm starting to get the hang of Finale.

[miker]

No, SmartScore is a completely separate product. Do your scanning and editing there (and there IS a learning curve) and take the XML into Finale for final tweaks. Look over the selection of products. One of the programs below the Pro version might do what you need.

SmartScore has notation, although not nearly as featured as Finale. Still, if PrintMusic worked for you, SS might be all you need.

I’m happy to help you get started if you want a hand.