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SS64 comments


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I have been using SmartScore64 since it was released. I feel it’s time to share some of my impressions.

I have been a SmartScore user for many years. I have ENF files from 2003. So obviously, I really like this application. I have sung in various choruses over the years and use the application to help me learn my music. Choral scores are typically 4 vocal parts and 2 piano parts. The vocal parts are sometime split so there can be sometimes 8 vocal parts. SmartScore has always been able to take PDF versions of the scores and convert them to TIF files. Then running the recognize task, the scores are rendered into SmartScorce’s ENF format. The recognition process is not perfect. It’s a very complicated process so I have to spend some time editing the file to correct errors. This generally goes very quickly because the majority of the recognition is correct. Working with the ENF files, I am able to assign various instruments to voices. I am able to adjust the volume to highlight my part. Then I play the music and am able to learn my part.

Through all the years, I have found the various versions of SmartScore to be remarkably robust. Everything just works as documented. I cannot recall an instance where the application froze or abnormally terminated.

When Apple announced that they would no longer support 32bit applications I was dismayed. I couldn’t stay on Mojave for ever. So I was pleased when Musitek announced that they were working on a 64bit version. I waited and waited. Catalina was released and I continued to wait. Finally, after several released dates passed, SmartScore64 was released. I downloaded it a couple of days later.

I don’t know how to say this nicely. This application has been a horrible disappointment,. Yes, I like some of the GUI changes like having all the more recently icons displayed on the left sidebar. But so much of the rest is not good.
  
For instance, the Playback Console is huge. Much larger than SmartScore X2 Pro. It covers too much of the score that is being played and it can’t be resized.
The instruments sound very different from older versions. They are not as accurate and clean. They sound phony.
The sliders for adjusting volume and balance jump to where the cursor is placed rather than moving there in increments. Very difficult to be precise. The same is true for the measure/beat slider.
 
I’ve seen other postings about the hypersensitivity of the cursor. Any attempt to scroll just one staff results in the cursor jumping multiple staves. I’ve also had a problem with the cursor randomly ’sticking’ to the score and causing it to move up and down as well as sideways. There have been times when it has taken 4 or 5 attempts to nudge a note because the cursor won’t stay put on the note nudge dot.

Other problems. The ctlQ function which is documented as quitting the application as with just about every other application instead jumps to the ’Zoom in/out’ icon. From there it jumps to the ‘insert’ icon.

Frequently when closing a window, like the playback console, I encounter the dreaded beachball as the program slowly completes the task. With version 11.0.54, I have had frequent application freezes and abnormal terminations.

I have encountered a number of other obvious bugs in the application. Way more than there should be. In the two years it took to develop this application, these bugs and performance issues should have been addressed. It’s like this is an entirely different team of programmers than the ones who developed all the previous versions. To me, SS64 is an early beta version. Musitek should acknowledge this and release it as such. The user community would be more than willing to provide feedback. We want an application that is up to the high standards that have prevailed for so many years.

REPLY FROM MUSITEK TECH SUPPORT
It's disappointing to hear that our efforts have not satisfied you. We understand the change of the UI would be dramatic and unfamiliar. Naturally.

You're involved with chorale. Have you compared the page layout, reformatting, orientation and printing improvements in SS64 to that of SSX2?

Scrolling problems: Do not use Apple's MagicMouse.

Playback Console is OFF by default. Floating Mini-console is an alternative.

Ctl + Q has never been supported. Just Quit.

We come from the choral tradition. Since you're on Catalina, the only SmartScore program that runs is SS64.

Keep woking with it. We bet you will like more and more.... Reformat score layout, isolate voices, distribute the new SmartScore Player to your fellow choristers and experiment with page setup and printing options.



Have you gentlemen downloaded the latest maintenance update (11.5.93)? Most if not all the nagging problems you refer to here have been fixed.
It would be helpful to others who peruse this forum to hear whether your opinions have changed after installing the latest update and getting to know SmartScore 64 a little better. Change can be uncomfortable !

 Updates page:
https://www.musitek.com/updates.html

Thanks for listening.
Musitek Tech Support



Last edited by Tech Moderator, 1/22/2023, 9:32 am
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Re: SS64 comments


Thanks for those comments. My experience matches yours, in almost every respect. Knowing that others are having the same problems lets me know that the faults lie in the app, not in my system.

I sent them the CMD-Q problem weeks ago. I have been trying to figure out what triggers the freezes when closing documents. I have the ultra sensitive scrolling as well, although I have (temporarily) gotten around it by switching to a simple Logitech USB mouse.

On the other hand, I don't like the new tool palette, down the left edge. I never use it. Instead, I open the Symbol Selection palette, the one marked as […] and leave it open. With this, anything I select with CTRL-click automatically switches to the relevant subpalette. Tech support told me about that, and it's really a nice feature. They also told me how to create text expressions, a feature not documented in the manual.

Although I can't show you figures, my perception is that recognition is better. I'm delighted that I can now scan from within the program, which gives me automatic setting of resolution, at numbers not offered with Image Capture. I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that I have to scan each page twice (preview, then final scan) but that may be why I'm getting better results.

I've found a couple of undocumented features, that they say shouldn't be there. But in return, they "fixed" at least one from the old version, and I miss it.

The manual also needs help. Many times, Tech Support has told me how to do something, which is not in the book. And a few tricks I've found myself.

We all use SS64 in different ways, with different end goals. Nobody is going to be happy, all the time. I'm hoping for an update to deal with some of the bugs, but in the meantime, I'm 95% happy with it.

---
SS64 Pro v. 11.5.99, Mac Ventura 13.6.3, Finale 27.4.1
wawoodman at aol dot com
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Re: SS64 comments


REPLY FROM MUSITEK TECH SUPPORT

We come from the choral tradition. Since you're on Catalina, the only SmartScore program that runs on MacOS 10.15 is SS64.

You're involved with chorale. Have you compared the page layout, reformatting, orientation and printing improvements in SS64 to that of SSX2?

Scrolling problems: Do not use Apple's MagicMouse.

Playback Console is OFF by default. Floating Mini-console is an alternative.

Ctl + Q has never been supported. Just Quit.

Keep woking with it. We bet you will like more and more.... Reformat score layout, isolate voices, distribute the new SmartScore Player to your fellow choristers and experiment with page setup and printing options.

Thanks for listening.
10/6/2020, 6:31 pm Link to this post  
 
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Re: SS64 comments


Re: REPLY FROM MUSITEK TECH SUPPORT:

Ctl + Q has never been supported. Just Quit.


My comment: We were talking about Mac, so it would be CMD-Q. But if it's not supported (and never has been) how do you explain the shortcut listed in the SmartScore 64 Pro menu?

(I'd love to post a screenshot, but I can't figure out, how.)

https://imgur.com/joQ7VzF

Last edited by mikey12045, 10/10/2020, 1:20 pm


---
SS64 Pro v. 11.5.99, Mac Ventura 13.6.3, Finale 27.4.1
wawoodman at aol dot com
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Re: SS64 comments


Adding to mikey12045, cmd-Q has always been the documented way to quit SmartScore.

To clarify for the moderator, I am still on Mojave. I'm afraid to cut myself off from the 32bit version.
Also, I do not use Apple's MagicMouse. I use a trackpad on my MacBook Pro laptop. So the scrolling issue and the sticky cursor are not just MagicMouse.

I continue to work with SmartScore64 because I really want it to work for me. I don't use "the page layout, reformatting, orientation and printing improvements". I also don't use "Reformat score layout, isolate voices, distribute the new SmartScore Player to your fellow choristers and experiment with page setup and printing options".

I take the tiff file and create an enf file. I correct the inevitable errors which I am not criticizing. Recognition is very challenging. I assign instruments, set the balance and volume and then play the piece to practice. System Manager and part linking are tools I use frequently to try and fix part assignment issues. These tools are not straightforward to use and the documentation is minimal.

I really would like to open a dialog with Musitek tech support to provide input to make this application even better. I suspect mikey12045 and others would like to participate also.
10/10/2020, 2:42 pm Link to this post Send Email to adjackson3   Send PM to adjackson3 Blog
 
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Re: SS64 comments


Are you sure we aren't twins, separated at birth? I don't use any of those features, either. Once my score has been scanned, recognized, and corrected, it's off to Finale for parts. I don't understand how they can trumpet being chorus-friendly, when the app doesn't recognize (or allow you to insert) breath marks and caesuras. I'm not even sure you can insert a second verse of lyrics. If you can, the manual doesn't mention it. (Aside from which, text and lyric recognition is pretty poor. So I uncheck them in recognition, and if I'm doing a score for print, I put them back in Finale.)

I've moved to Catalina, and except for a short period of updating a few things, it's good.

Like I said in my other post, I'm very happy with 64. A few things took some adjustment, but I can sail along pretty well now on my corrections. But that doesn't mean it can't be better!

---
SS64 Pro v. 11.5.99, Mac Ventura 13.6.3, Finale 27.4.1
wawoodman at aol dot com
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Re: SS64 comments


Haven't had a chance to use SS64 much yet but so far I like it. My use isn't overly demanding since it is mostly single-line woodwind pieces. I agree with the lack of breath marks and caesura which I fake with text but these are not played back should it matter.

Am I missing something but I wish there was a hot-key for switching to the legato tool since this is often recognized as a tie.

---
SmartScore64 Pro currently
Windows 11 - Win 10, Win 8.1, Win 7 before it
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Zoots, the closest I can come up with, is:

Activate the "last used items" button in the left column.

Use the Legato tool. It will now show up in that column.

Deactivate "last used items," and the legato tile will stay there, so you don't have to dig for it. That might make it a little easier.

Generally, I want to remove the slurs, since they translate so poorly via XML. O to select the lasso, drag across the area, and G to remove articulations (including slurs). Click again in the area to dismiss selection.

---
SS64 Pro v. 11.5.99, Mac Ventura 13.6.3, Finale 27.4.1
wawoodman at aol dot com
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I found so many new problems in the 11.3 version of SmartScore 64, that I wonder if they did not hire a saboteur to justify a bankruptcy or if, without their knowledge, they would have hired a spy promoter in charge of undoing the company's reputation.

J'ai trouvé tellement de nouveaux problèmes dans la version 11.3 de SmartScore 64, que je me demande s'ils n'ont pas engager un saboteur pour justifier une faillite ou si, à leur insue, ils auraient engagé un promameur espion charger de défaire la réputation de l'entreprise.
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Re: SS64 comments


I respectfully disagree. There are some GUI problems, but in the main, most of the issues can be pretty easily overcome. Can you give us some specifics, rather than a rant?

---
SS64 Pro v. 11.5.99, Mac Ventura 13.6.3, Finale 27.4.1
wawoodman at aol dot com
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