<body>
<p>This page uses frames, but your browser doesn't support them.</p>
</body>

Input Methods for Music
Notation Software

Input methods: Overview

Stages in the creation of
musical scores

ASCII-Based Input Methods

ASCII Input: The GUIDO NoteServer

Guido: Pitch and duration
components in input

MIDI Input (Finale, Sibelius,
Capella)

Data quantization issues
in MIDI

Pitch inaccuracies in
MIDI (MIDI+)

Hybrid systems (MuseData)

Input
Methods for Music

Notation
Software

Mus
253/CS 275A

Stanford
University

Notation 1

End of slide show, click to exit.

Input Methods for Music
Notation Software

Mus 253/CS 275A

Stanford University

Notation 1

Input methods: Overview

ASCII code (from computer keyboard)

SCORE, Guido

MIDI data

from electronic keyboard

From mouse

Examples: Finale, Sibelius

Hybrid systems

MuseData

Automatic recognition

SharpEye

Stages in the creation of
musical scores

Manual

Write score by hand

Send to publisher

Pass to editor

Pass to typesetter

Send to author for approval

Reproduce

Computer-based

Multiple methods

Edit oneself

Publish oneself

ASCII-Based Input Methods

Systems designed before

1982 (no personal computers)

DARMS, SCORE, P&E

1985 (no MIDI tools)

1988 (no SMFF)

Finale

1990 (no Windows)

1995 (no HTML)

Advantages

Precision, extent, accuracy

Disadvantages

Systems arbitrary, integration with
other tools limited

ASCII Input: The GUIDO NoteServer

Guido: Pitch and duration
components in input

MIDI Input (Finale, Sibelius,
Capella)

Sources

Pre-existing files

Electronic keyboard

Other MIDI instruments

Computer mouse

Advantages

Familiar interface, transparency

Disadvantages

Control of details (layout, timing)

Cannot express certain details

Data quantization issues
in MIDI

Pitch inaccuracies in
MIDI (MIDI+)

Hybrid systems (MuseData)

MIDI and ASCII data mixed

MuseData

Nightingale

Lime

Guido

Advantages

Best of both systems

Disadvantages

Learning curve

Input Methods for Music
Notation Software

Overview

Many methods exist for
entering musical data into computers. In this class we explore four of them:
ASCII text entry, MIDI entry, optical music recognition (OMR), and hybrid
systems involving MIDI data enhanced with ASCII refinements. Many software
products have been developed using all of these methods. The programs we use
to illustrate them are indicated on the panel.

More than a hundred
music-notation programs have been written, the bulk of them between 1985 and
1995. In the late 1980s, the Macintosh was a popular platform for notation
software. Its graphical and MIDI capabilities attracted many independent
developers. By the late 1990s, the popularity of the Windows operating system
attracted the attention of some developers, but few new programs have
appeared in recent years. Meanwhile, most Macintosh notation programs are no
longer supported, since they do not run on Apple’s OS X platform. Finale originated
as a Mac progam, Sibelius as a program for platforms (the Acorn
Archimedes among them) sold only in the UK. Notation software has long lagged
on Unix platforms.

Commercial publishers have
preferred the offerings on Macs and PCs.

Stages in the creation of
musical scores

In the traditional model of
music publishing, a composer wrote a score by hand, sent it to a publisher,
who provided for its editing, typesetting, and distribution. A final draft
was sent to the composer for corrections. The publisher controlled most of the
steps in the process, often including the authorization of “derivative uses”
of the material (e.g., for film music, arrangement).

One of the fundamental
things that has been changed by the introduction of the computer is that
there is no longer any necessary starting point in this process.
“Composition” does not necessarily imply the existence of a written score,
since algorithmic and improvised works play an increasingly larger role in
musical life. Composition may be MIDI based or it may be involve the use of
sound materials not dependent on analog instruments.

A notated score is likely to
be created by the composer and increasingly new works are edited and
distributed by the composer as well. This change of paradigm plays a
significant role in the copyright wars that abound in music.

ASCII-based input methods

ASCII code (consisting of
letters, numbers, and punctuation marks) is unglamorous but impressively
durable. The “work-horse” codes for musical notation developed prior to the
existence of personal computers (c. 1982) have been in steady use for the
professional publication of music and the formation of large, international
databases of musical materials.

For ordinary users, great
emphasis has been placed on ease of use, but professional operations still
generally prefer the aesthetic quality, precise control, and archival quality
of data encoded in ASCII.