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Introduction
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PDFtoMusic is a groundbreaking and unique program
that
converts Adobe
PDF music sheets into editable music scores.
From an Adobe
PDF file created
by any music
notation program, PDFtoMusic can play
the piece, sing the lyrics and export
this piece to miscellaneous file formats: MIDI,
Myr,
BMP,
WAV,
AIFF and MusicXML
for the
Pro version.
What can I use it for?
How does PDFtoMusic work?
What are the differences between the
"Pro"
and "Standard" version?
What
can I use it
for?
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Usages for PDFtoMusic are numerous. First, on the
Internet, many
dedicated sites provide large
collections of free musical PDF files.
PDFtoMusic will let you play them, or convert them
into a music file
format that you'll be able to modify by using your
usual music notation
software.
Thus, PDFtoMusic gives you access to a wide library
of public domain
score sheets that you can play or edit.
Also, there are many music notation programs, and
only a few manage
compatible exchange file formats. PDFtoMusic solves
this issue. You
just have, from your program, to generate a
PDF file (see next chapter), read it with
PDFtoMusic and convert it
into format that can be read by another application,
for instance, Myr
or MIDI format (or MusicXML for the Pro version).
PDFtoMusic becomes then a bridge between your
miscellaneous music
programs.
For instance: your choir master only uses "Music
Architect 2000", that
can only save files in its own, proprietary format.
You just have to
ask him for a PDF file for the score, and by using
PDFtoMusic, you'll
get a score that can be edited in Harmony Assistant.
If you own the Pro version of PDFtoMusic, you can
also export into
MusicXML exchange format, from Recordare.
The Music XML
file format is currently supported by a number of
notation
applications, including Finale and Sibelius.
How does
PDFtoMusic work?
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PDFtoMusic analyzes the content of Adobe PDF files.
It collects all the
graphical information that it can process: fonts,
lines, miscellaneous
graphic objects. From these graphical items,
PDFtoMusic will infer the
music score to be played.
Note : some PDF files (albeit rare) embed only a
single picture for the
whole score, instead of a collection of simple
graphic objects.
This kind of PDF file has probably been generated
from a scanned paper
sheet. PDFtoMusic can't extract and process
elementary graphical items
in such cases, and reports that such a document
cannot be processed.
To convert a PDF file, select "File>Open" in
PDFtoMusic and select a
PDF file on your hard drive. PDFtoMusic will load
it, and start
automatically to process and display it.
If PDFtoMusic makes a mistake while processing the
document, you will
be able to fix
this mistake manually. It is described in the corrections
section of this
manual.
PDFtoMusic can export the result automatically each
time a PDF file
is processed, and open this result in the program of
your choice.
What are the
differences between the "Pro" and
"Standard" version?
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The "Pro version" includes options and features that
are not present in
the "Standard" version:
- Batch file export, to convert in only one
operation all PDF
files from a folder and its subfolders.
- "Expert" mode to manually override
individual default
processing settings in order to have more precise
control.
- Export in MusicXML format in order to
preserve the score sheet
layout when importing into one of the numerous
programs that support
this format.
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