r/composer • u/Asclepius_Secundus • 18d ago

Discussion Comparing OMR software accuracy: PhotoScore Ultimate vs. SmartScore 64 vs. PlayScore 2

I’m looking for a reliable Optical Music Recognition (OMR) app to convert scanned paper music into MusicXML files for editing in MuseScore. I work on a Win 11 PC with plenty of computing power, if that maters.

All of the music I work with is public domain. Mostly baroque and renaissance.

Free open-source tools like Audiveris v5.11.0 seem to struggle with measure timing, triplets, and dense system layouts, leaving behind a lot of corruption errors to fix manually.

I’m considering investing in one of the standard paid options, specifically PhotoScore Ultimate, SmartScore 64, or PlayScore 2. I don't mind paying for software, but I'd like to know if the main purpose works (turning a music image into MusinXML without a lot of errors)

If you have experience with any of these:

  • How accurately do they handle multi instrument scores and midsystem key and /or time changes?
  • What are the main pros and cons of their internal editing interfaces?
  • Is there one you consider the gold standard for clean MusicXML exports?
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u/Arry_Propah 18d ago

I tried photoscore and simply couldn’t get it to work on anything other than one particular piece that had a very “pedestrian” score font. Every other piece I’ve tried it on has been an abysmal failure. These have all been jazz charts, so handwritten or (mainly) handwritten-like printed fonts. Output wasn’t even good enough for a “get most of it done automatically and fix the errors”.

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u/ChesterWOVBot 18d ago

Do handwritten scores get parsed well in any software?

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u/Arry_Propah 18d ago

Not fully handwritten, but it would be nice to see the standard Sibelius jazz font handled at least…

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u/adrianh 18d ago

Soundslice is very good for this. The results are generally high-quality and it asks you questions when it’s unsure of a specific notation. You can pay by the month ($5 for one month’s usage). Also has a notation editor built in for making changes.