Optical music recognition (OMR) takes images of sheet music and turns them into playable, editable music that you can build into your application.
About ReadScoreLib
What is ReadScoreLib?
ReadScoreLib is fast and highly accurate cross-platform OMR library designed to be built into 3rd part software. Whether deployed as a server or in-application ReadScoreLib delivers the very highest standard of accuracy and coverage available today.
How does it work?
Whether PC, Mac, iOS or Android, ReadScoreLib comes with an easy-to-integrate API for each chosen platform. Simply call ReadScoreLib with pages of music notation and receive the equivalent MIDI and MusicXML in seconds.
Is it accurate?
Yes, ReadScoreLib is accurate. For normal printed/engraved music notation ReadScoreLib is at least as accurate as any music scanner available today.
Is it fast?
Yes, very fast. Most pages take approx. 1 second on an iPhone 12 or a modern PC. With our multi-core API it is much faster.
Does ReadScoreLib generate MusicXML?
Yes, ReadScoreLib generates MusicXML reflecting every detail of the music layout, right down to cross-staff and over-measure beaming.
Can the results be played?
Yes, ReadScoreLib generates a MIDI file that plays the music as printed.
How can ReadScoreLib be deployed?
ReadScoreLib can be deployed as a server, or it can be built directly into application software. ReadScoreLib does not itself contact any outside server and does not require an internet connection.
What does ReadScoreLib cost?
ReadScoreLib is licensed through an annual subscription. Contact us for details.
Where can I see ReadScoreLib?
To see what RS ReadScoreLib L can do download our ReadScoreLib app PlayScore 2 from the Apple App Store or Google Play. PlayScore 2 uses ReadScoreLib and lets you load music images or PDF scores, and export the resulting MIDI and MusicXML.
FAQ
Why Optical Music Recognition?
Today a vast range of apps and applications exist that do something with music notation. Whatever the application does, whether it displays music, edits music, plays music or teaches music, the music has to come from somewhere. Usually that is either
From a fixed library that comes with or through the app
Supplied by the user, scanned in, imported, downloaded or purchased
If the music comes from a fixed library it can be handled flexibly by the app. The app can reformat to suit the user, it can be marked up for interactive playing, the app can accompany an instrument or a voice etc. But the music available probably won’t be exactly what the user wants. The piece might not be available, or in the edition the choir is using, or arranged for the right instrument.
On the other hand if the app can scan in or import music from anywhere, there is no limit to what can be accessed. But now the app can’t do anything that requires knowledge of the music. To the app the music is just a series of pictures. All it can do is show them.
This is where OMR comes in. An OMR enabled application has the best of both worlds: it can accept music from anywhere, but it can also handle it flexibly – reformat, play, and generally interact.
Today with ReadScoreLib, OMR is easy to integrate into any application that already uses MusicXML, but ReadScoreLib also works well for applications that simply display the music pages as published. ReadScoreLib includes APIs that let your users interact with the music just as PlayScore 2 does. ReadScoreLib can tell you exactly what musical symbols are on the page, including their accurate bounding boxes. And it can relate those graphical symbols to beats in the bar. This allows tee application to provide a rich interactive environment.
