Jump to content

Score to PDF


mirflee

Recommended Posts

Hi all, I’m having trouble trying to fit a piece with strings, woodwinds and brass on a PDF score. Logic uses only half the page even on landscape. Also, the instrument names aren’t on all the pages apart from the page one. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you share your specific example? Either share some screenshots to show us what you're seeing or share the project file itself: How to attach files to your post

 

Hi David, thank you for the response and apologies for the vague explanation. Anyway, the project I'm working on would require me to score an orchestral piece for musicians. After hours of toying around the preferences and sifting the manual, I've come to two issues.

 

Firstly, I'm not sure what's the common practice for orchestral scoring but is it possible to put every instrument and section on the view page correctly without jumbled across lines as shown in the screenshot?

 

1352969805_ScreenShot2021-10-25at5_26_26PM.png.33cbd27246b46a7f49dca65f97b36bc4.png

 

Secondly, the notes are showing up wrong when I compiled it as a PDF in a section than individually, in this case the Vibraphone.

 

301325526_ScreenShot2021-10-25at5_31_34PM.png.801e6c868ae087648361e64ffd91d9db.png

 

541250744_ScreenShot2021-10-25at5_30_00PM.png.33944f577ea43476af699fe9e65ca63e.png

 

Thanks so much!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although this might be a bit of a switch for you, you might need to use a dedicated "music score writing" program, such as Finale or Sibelius.

 

Or, a very powerful open-source alternative, MuseScore, available free of charge at https://musescore.org. (Which I adopted in preference to these commercial alternatives, for my admittedly non-commercial projects, even though I then had money burning a hole in my pocket.) It runs on everything, and does everything I need and more. I've almost never had it crash or screw up: it has a very active developer and support community.

 

In my view, it's a matter of "the right tool for the job." A tool like Logic is focused on "a very precisely timed sequence of musical events," from which it can produce a very acceptable score most of the time. "The primary intended output is a sound or MIDI file."

 

Whereas, a true music-scoring program is focused on "a musical score," from which it can produce a plausible playback. "The primary intended output is a printed page."

 

Happily, both applications support the MusicXML file format, which allows projects to be swapped back-and-forth between them quite easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never tried exporting musicXML, but importing musicXML to Logic sometimes represents things differently from the original content, leaving out some high notes (even though they are well within the tessiatura), notes which would be imported perfectly as MIDI, and refusing to playback articulations, even though they clearly get imported. (Maybe recent versions have fixed some of these issues.) My version is 10.5.1, versions some time before that didn't really appear to support functional musicXML so hopefully your version is more recent. The jumbled lines in your PDF looks like a glitch, such that there's some part in the music which is messing everything up. You might try cutting parts of the music, cutting half of the parts away, or cutting some of the parts away to see if the glitch is caused by some specific part. Wish I had a better tip.

 

For the vibraphone notes showing up wrong, are you sure (1) the vibraphone is not marked as a transposing instrument (if there is such a feature in Logic), and (2) how about when you use a 8va clef, which is sometimes necessary for the music to be readable?

Edited by Palimpsest9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I offered "MusicXML" as a possibility for moving the project from a "less well-suited application" (Logic ...) to something else.

 

If what you ultimately need is a piece of paper, then use an application that focuses on that. And, if what you ultimately need is a performance that maybe goes far beyond what is written on that piece of paper, then use Logic.

 

There really is a very-large "impedance mismatch" between these two concerns. Well, it turns out that we have the freedom of choice: we are blessed with ready access to tools – some of them free of charge – which have zeroed-in on both concerns, and which provide a reasonable import/export path to the others. Don't use a wrench to drive a nail and vice-versa: don't waste your time. Use the most-appropriate tool for the job.

 

---

I'm not aware that Apple has produced "a dedicated music scoring program," but I do find myself wondering where all of this very-excellent functionality came from. I'd certainly be willing to buy their product if they offered one. I definitely like many of the features of Logic's "Score Editor."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...