Supported notations in PDF uploads
Our PDF upload feature is still in beta, and there are several notations it doesn’t import. Here’s a guide to what’s unsupported and how you can quickly fix problems using our editor.
Standard notation
| Notation | Supported? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Accidentals | Yes | Each note’s accidental is detected. For cautionary accidentals, the fact that they’re cautionary is detected. Parentheses are detected. See how to change note pitches and accidentals. |
| Alternate endings | Yes | We detect the ending numbers and place them over the appropriate bars. See how to change alternate endings (voltas) if things need to be tweaked. |
| Arpeggio markings | No | Use our editor to add arpeggio markings. |
| Articulations | Yes | We detect staccato, staccatissimo, accents, heavy accents and tenuto markings. Use our editor to make tweaks. |
| Augmentation dots | Yes | We detect dots, including double dots. See Using augmentation dots if things need to be tweaked. |
| Barlines | Yes | We detect barlines. In the rare chance a barline wasn’t detected, you can add or remove bars as needed. |
| Beams | Yes | We detect beaming and preserve it in your slice. See Beams if things need to be tweaked. |
| Breath marks | No | Use our editor to add breath marks (commas). |
| Chord names | Yes | We detect chord names. We assume they’re above the staff; use import settings to tell our system your music uses chord names below the staff. See Chord names/diagrams if things need to be tweaked. |
| Chord diagrams | No | See Chord names/diagrams for info on how to add chord diagrams. Note that diagrams are currently only supported in instruments that have tablature enabled. |
| Circle and plus | No | Use our editor to add circles (used to indicate harmonics, or open strings, or percussion effects) or plus symbols. |
| Clefs | Yes | We detect all modern clefs, including the percussion clef (the one that looks like a pause button, not the rectangle one yet). See Clefs if things need to be tweaked. |
| Clef changes | Yes | See Adding an inner-bar clef change. |
| Colors | No | Everything comes in as pure black for now. See Setting note colors. |
| Cross-staff notes/beaming | No | The notes will be imported and assigned to the proper staff, but they won’t be beamed across staves. Use our editor to set cross-staff beams. |
| Cue notes | No | Cue-sized notes will be imported but will be treated as full-sized noteheads. Use our editor to set them to cue-sized. |
| Directions (jumps) | No | Directions such as “D.S. al Coda” or “Da Capo” aren’t yet imported. Use our editor to add them manually. |
| Doit/fall/plop/scoop | No | Use our editor to add these symbols. |
| Double barlines | Yes | We detect double barlines. In the rare chance a double barline wasn’t detected, you can add one as needed. |
| Drum sticking | No | Use our editor to add sticking. |
| Dynamics | Yes | Commonly used dynamics are detected. Use our editor to add or remove. |
| Fermatas | Yes | The standard fermata symbol is detected; others aren’t yet. Use our editor to tweak. |
| Fingering | Yes | Both numeric fingering and right-hand fingering (e.g., p, m, a) are detected. Use our editor to tweak. |
| Font | No | All imported music will use our standard notation and text fonts. |
| Ghost notes | No | Use our editor to add parentheses for ghost notes. |
| Grace notes | Yes | Use our editor to tweak as needed. |
| Grand staff bracket | Yes | We detect a grand staff bracket and make the appropriate optimizations to your music. |
| Hairpins | No | Use our editor to add crescendo/decrescendo markings. |
| Instrument names | No | Currently the instruments are labeled “Track 1,” “Track 2,” etc. Use our editor to rename them. |
| Instrument sounds | No | Currently all instruments use our piano sound by default. Use our editor to change an instrument’s synthetic sound. |
| Key signatures | Yes | Use our editor to change the key signature as needed. |
| Line breaks | Yes | Your slice will use the same line breaks we detected in the image (assuming you have “Respect author’s stave breaks” checked). Use our editor to change break locations. |
| Lyrics | Yes | Works for English-language lyrics (or other languages with Latin characters), and supports multiple verses/stanzas. We assume lyrics are below the staff; use import settings to tell our system your music uses lyrics above the staff. Use our editor to make changes or additions. |
| Measure numbers | No | Your slice will start at bar number 1. Use our editor to change bar numbering. |
| Multi-bar rests | Yes | Use our editor to change multi-bar rests as needed. |
| Note rhythms/durations | Yes | Use our editor to change note or rest durations as needed. |
| Noteheads | Some | We detect some, but not all, special noteheads such as “X” noteheads. |
| Ottavas | Some | We detect 8va markings but may not detect other styles. Use our editor to add ottavas. Note you’ll likely want to move note pitches up or down an octave as well (search for the “Move down an octave” or “Move up an octave” commands). |
| Pedal markings | Some | We detect the classic “Ped” and pedal star markings, but we don’t detect the newer-style horizontal lines. Use our editor to tweak. |
| Pick-up bars | No | We don’t yet detect whether the first bar in your slice is a pick-up bar — which means its staff lines will be red if it rhythmic duration doesn’t match the time signature. Search for “Mark as pickup bar” to resolve this. |
| Pick/bow direction | No | Use our editor to add pick/bow markings. |
| Repeat barlines | Yes | We detect start-repeat and end-repeat barlines, but we don’t detect text such as “3x” or “Play 4 times.” Use our editor to set the number of repeats. |
| Similes | Some | We detect one-bar similes but not two-bar similes. Use our editor to add these. |
| Single-line percussion | Yes | We detect single-line percussion staves. Use our editor to tweak as needed. |
| Slash marks | No | We don’t yet detect slash marks/noteheads. Use our editor to add them. |
| Stave/page width | Yes | If the music in your scan is significantly wider than our default page width, we will change the slice’s stave width accordingly. You can tweak the stave width as needed. |
| Stem directions | Yes | Use our editor to tweak as needed. |
| Metronome/tempo markings | No | Use our editor to add tempo markings. |
| Text | No | We don’t yet import text in the score, such as directions, section names or expressions (with the notable exception of fingerings and chord names, which we do import). Use our editor to add text. |
| Ties | Yes | Use our editor to add/remove ties. |
| Time signatures | Yes | We detect numeric time signatures as well as the common- and cut-time symbols. Use our editor to tweak as needed. |
| Title | No | We don’t detect the score title, composer, arranger, lyricist, copyright information or any other ancillary text that’s outside the notation. Use the slice settings to enter this information if you’d like. |
| Transposing instruments | Yes | Our system assumes C transposition by default, but you can manually change the import settings to specify a different transposition. |
| Tremolo | Yes | We detect these markings, sometimes referred to as drum rolls. We detect tremolos with up to four slashes, plus buzz rolls. Use our editor to tweak as needed. |
| Trills/ornaments | No | Use our editor to add these markings. |
| Triplet feel | No | Use our editor to add triplet-feel markings. |
| Tuplets | Some | We import tuplets with any number (3, 5, 7, 9, etc.), as long as the number is displayed in the notation. Many publishers omit tuplet numbers in case of repeated tuplets; we don’t handle this yet. Also note that Soundslice itself doesn’t support nested tuplets. Use our editor to tweak. |
Tablature
Our importer supports tablature, with a few major limitations:
- Tuning: We only support two tunings: standard tuning for guitar and standard tuning for four-string bass. Adding support for alternate tunings, plus more/fewer strings (mandolin, ukulele, etc.) is on our to-do list.
- Corresponding staff: For best results, tablature should have a corresponding standard-notation staff directly above. If it’s just tab (with no notes), the system will still make an effort, but caveats apply.
Here are more notes on specific tab notations:
| Notation | Supported? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bends | No | Use our editor to add bends. |
| Capo | No | Use our editor to set an instrument’s capo location. |
| Hammer-ons/pull-offs | No | Use our editor to add hammer-ons and pull-offs. |
| Harmonics | No | Use our editor to add harmonics. |
| Let ring | No | Use our editor to add “let ring.” |
| Palm muting | No | Use our editor to add palm muting. |
| Slides | No | Use our editor to add slides. |
| Vibrato | No | Use our editor to add vibrato markings. |