Encore 4.5.5 conversion

nbt242 · Post by **nbt242** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:12 pm

I am using Finale 2008 Demo version to import an Encore file created by Encore 4.5.5. Finale 2008 Demo said that the file is invalid ! Does Finale 2008 Demo version (200+MB Setup version) regconize Encore files ?

Thanks

Toan

Shmoedoe · Post by **Shmoedoe** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:53 pm

I am running the full version and am experiencing the same problem. Is there any way to import Encore 4.5.5 files?

Peter Thomsen · Post by **Peter Thomsen** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:26 am

Here's an idea:

Open the file in Encore, and "print" it to a PDF file.
Use the program PDFtoMusic Pro to create a MusicXML file from the PDF file.
Import the MusicXML file into Finale, either directly, or via the Dolet plug-in.

Peter

Shmoedoe · Post by **Shmoedoe** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:44 pm

Thanks Peter, but it didn't work. All kinds of errors are popping up before it can open the XML file. I assume that I am using Adobe Acrobat to convert to to XML? I can't locate the Dolet plug-in either.

Peter Thomsen · Post by **Peter Thomsen** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 4:40 pm

No, use the program PDFtoMusic Pro to create a MusicXML file from the PDF file.
Adobe Acrobat can't create the MusicXML format.

You can use Adobe Acrobat to create the PDF file, but there are also some free options for PDF creation.
Are you using Windows or Mac OS X?
Mac OS X has a built-in PDF option in the standard Print dialog box.
Windows doesn't have this, but there are a lot of shareware and freeware programs for PDF file creation in Windows.

The Dolet plug-in isn't included in a Finale installation, since the Dolet plug-in is a separate, third party product.
You can buy the Dolet plug-in directly from the developer (www.recordare.com) who is also the developer of the MusicXML format - and also the program PDFtoMusic Pro.
The later versions of Finale can import MusicXML files directly, although the latest version of the MusicXML format may not be supported.

Peter

Shmoedoe · Post by **Shmoedoe** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 4:48 pm

I am using Adobe Acrobat to create the PDF, that is not a problem. There is also an option in Adobe Acrobat to export to a XML 1.0 file which I did. However, when I try to import the file in Finale, it doesn't work. Perhaps the file that Adobe is exporting is not entirely the correct format that Finale wants. In which case I will have to get the PDFtoMusic Pro program.

Peter Thomsen · Post by **Peter Thomsen** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:17 pm

XML and MusicXML are not the same thing.

Quoting from Wikipedia:

"The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose specification for creating custom markup languages. It is classified as an extensible language because it allows its users to define their own elements. Its primary purpose is to help information systems share structured data, particularly via the Internet, and it is used both to encode documents and to serialize data. In the latter context, it is comparable with other text-based serialization languages such as JSON and YAML.

It started as a simplified subset of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), and is designed to be relatively human-legible. By adding semantic constraints, application languages can be implemented in XML. These include XHTML, RSS, MathML, GraphML, Scalable Vector Graphics, MusicXML, and thousands of others. Moreover, XML is sometimes used as the specification language for such application languages.

XML is recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It is a fee-free open standard. The recommendation specifies both the lexical grammar and the requirements for parsing."

Peter

michelp · Post by **michelp** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 12:05 pm

Peter gave you all the elements of a solution, just be aware it requires you to make an investment as you have to purchase PdftoMusic Pro, which allows you to convert a pdf generated from within a music program into the MusicXML format.
Importing a XML file is often possible in recent versions of Finale (File menu->MusicXML).
As Peter explained, a more powerful plug-in exists, Dolet for Finale 4.4, and it is also available as a purchase from recordare.com

nbt242 · Post by **nbt242** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:14 pm

Thank you for all your supports. I am now using Finale 2009 Pro. and it neither imports Encore 4.5.5 files

. According to MakeMusic Customer Support: Only Encore versions 3.0 to 4.2.1 are supported in Finale due to ownership issues. You may click the following link for more details: Answer Title: File types that can be opened by Finale notation programs
Answer Link: http://makemusic.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/m ... 1170880905

nbt

michelp · Post by **michelp** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:33 pm

So it seems that you have only 2 possibilities left :
1) export the Encore files as midi files, and import them in Finale. Lots of things to clean up.
or, as explained above by Peter and myself :
2) for each file : from the Encore software (if you have it), create a pdf file (you may need a full version of Acrobat to do it)
- Get PdftoMusic Pro to convert the file into MusicXML
- Import the MusicXML file into Finale.

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