capella Reader: Display, play back and print capella files.


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Many capella scores for your free usage.


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Frequently asked questions about capella-scan

Before you search this list for a solution to your problem...

...please confirm, that you are using the latest version of capella-scan. Load capella-scan and open menu help | about capella-scan. The version number will be displayed. Compare your version number with the version in our download section. If necessary, download the current version and install it on your PC. This might already solve your problem.



Installation/Configuration FAQs...

Installation manual You need help with installation? Please follow the instructions in our manual "First steps" which you can download here:
Administrator rights You need administrator rights on your pc for installation.
As this is an important point you will often find the information:
"You will require administrator rights" In user account on your control panel you can control if you have these rights.

Product activation Detailed information on this issue is available here.
Activate again? Major changes on your pc such as change of hard disk or new installation of your operating system will make tonica require another activation code which you will obtain from us.

Update installation Owners of previous versions can purchase updates at reasonable prices. Technically spoken, these updates are full versions. The previous program version does not have to be installed on the PC.

Free revised versions Our software is constantly revised, and we regularly offer free improved versions. The software automatically searches online for such a free update. If it finds one, you are asked if you want to install it. Accept with "ok", and the update is installed automatically.
No Internet Install the software from your product CD. You can install stepUps by downloading the file on another pc. Copy the file via USB stick on your computer and start the installation by double-clicking the file. Product activation will be done on the phone.

Installation on Mac or Linux There are no software versions for Mac or Linux. Several users work successfully with a Windows emulation or virtualization software.

Wrong serial number This problem may have different causes. Have you made a typing mistake? Did you install the wrong software or the wrong program version? Please make sure that the information about the program version in the upper right hand corner of your screen and on your eMail with the serial number is identical. The version number must be correct, too.

Program version Please click the <Info>button. There, you will find information about your program version, for example capella-scan version 7.0 - 09. The last number (09) tells you which stepUp is contained in this version.

Installation on a new PC Do you have to reinstall capella-scan? Please download the current demo version from our download page. When starting the program for the first time you will be asked to insert your serial number. Please make sure that the information about the program version in the upper right hand corner of your screen and on your eMail with the serial number is identical.
Installation on your old PC Do you want to install a new capella-scan version? Please check if you have the eMail with your serial number. If this is the case, then deinstall your old version with the commandStart - User account - Programs (with Windows Vista) or Start - User account - Software (with Windows XP). In the program list, choose the name of your old program version, for example capella-scan 6.1, and click Deinstall / remove. After having completed this process, you can install the new software.

Deinstallation If you want to deinstall our software, choose the command Start - User account - Programs (with Windows Vista) or Start - User account - Software (with Windows XP). Choose your old version from the program list, for example capella-scan 6.1, and then click Deinstall / Remove.

License again If you had installed capella-scan with an invalid serial number, simply deinstalling the software is not sufficient to license it again. In this case you will have to access the Windows registry database. We recommend this approach for experienced users,only! Start the registry editor and choose the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/capella-software/capella-scan/[Version]. At this point delete the key SerNum. When starting the program for the next time you will be asked to enter the valid serial number.

Strange characters Instead of green notes, strange characters are displayed. The error message "True-Type font Capella3.ttf not found" appears. Please install the font capella3.tff in control panel - fonts. As an alternative you can also install the free demo version of capella 7.1. By doing so, the missing font is also installed. Both demo version and font can be found here:
Scanning FAQs...
Scanner recommendation You can use capella-scan with every customary scanner. As you need neither high resolution nor special colors for scanning of sheet music, you may even use an older scanner or one bought at a reasonable price.

Scanner resolution Why not use high resolution? The higher the resolution, the better the result? This picture editing standard does not apply here. Recognition works best with a picture resolution of 200 to 300 dpi.

Cooperation of scanner and capella-scan If your scanner and capella-scan do not cooperate properly, please check on the Internet if the scanner manufacturer offers newer driver software. If yes, please install it. If not, you can try out different settings via the command: File - scan options - scan. If your scanner offers different modes, for example "automatic" and "manually", then try out both.

Cooperation of scanner and capella-scan not possible You can still work with capella-scan: Scan your sheet music with another software with the recommended settings and save the image for example in Windows bitmap format (*.bmp). You can open this file in capella-scan and work with it as described.

No scanner available You do not necessarily need a scanner to work with capella-scan. capella-scan is able to read several image formats. You can photograph you sheet music with a digital camera or import sheet music in PDF format (since version 5.0).

Image format capella-scan reads the following file formats: agi, bmp, dcx, emf, jpg, jpeg, pcc, pcx, pdf, png, ps, tga, tif, tiff, vst and wmf. You can save as agi, bmp, jpg, jpeg, pcc, pcx, png, tga, tif, tiff and vst.

Scanning at a friend's place If you want to scan sheet music at a friend's place or at work, you should scan in grayscale mode. If you do so, you can adjust the scan density later on on your own computer.

PDF files Many score sheets are offered as PDF file on the Internet. Since version capella-scan 5.0 you can have the software recognize PDF files. You will need the free software "Ghostscript" which you can download here.
Recognition FAQs...
Handwritings capella-scan is not recommended for handwritings. Maybe you will eventually obtain a decent result in case you have very accurately written notes, but as a rule writing the score in capella will be done in less time than scanning them and then doing all the corrections.

Poor recognition (1) Try different scan settings: You can scan lighter, darker or with different resolutions (between 250 and 600 dpi).

Poor recognition (2) Is your copy pale with broken lines, holey note heads, note stems not touching note heads etc.? capella-scan will have difficulties with recognition here. Handwritten notes on the score or stains will also affect proper recognition.

Poor recognition (3) Not every piece of sheet music is equally suitable. Far more than any human viewer, capella-scan relies on clear, unchanging shapes. Although the technology is very complex, its scope is restricted: What an experienced musician feels to be easily legible may be completely useless for the software.

Although recognition is good, a certain symbol (for example a quarter rest) is never recognized Obviously the layout of this symbol does not meet any common standard. Please send us the score as image file, maybe it will help us to improve capella-scan's capabilities in one of the next versions.

Error message: "No staves found" You have probably scanned a greyscale image and now have to adjust the grey threshold value (see manual or program help).

Realbook scores Realbook scores differ strongly from notation standard. Same as with handwritings, good and complete recognition is not to be expected.

Postprocessing FAQs...
Why postprocessing? Postprocessing is essential as mostly, capella-scan does not recognize a full 100 % of the score. However, small mistakes may lead to bigger ones: A single note which was not recognized will move all following bars of the system and will make the result unusuable to start with.

Sheet music from the US: Accidentals appear only in the first system This does not correspond to traditional notation standard and will lead to serious problems during scanning! Please insert the accidentals manually in each stave during postprocessing.

It is laborious to correct eigth notes: Beam to the right, to the left, to both sides... Please deactivate the command "save beaming" in "Options-save...". Now you can simply provide all eigth notes with flags, as capella will redesign the beaming after export.

Export FAQs...
Exported notes cannot be found! To which directory did you save the notes? You have to address this directory in order to open the file. In the "save" dialog, capella-scan shows the place where the file is saved. Remember this address or change the directory according to your requirements.

Error message: "Unable to open file ...\capscan2.cap" In this rare case we recommend to reinstall the software.