Trilsbeek, P. and Thienen, H van (1999) Quantization for Notation: methods used in commercial musical software. Nijmegen.

Abstract

Music transcription is a difficult task. Being able to listen to a musical performance and subsequently writing it down in some form of music notation requires much training and experience. Many musicians would appreciate computerized help in this task. The ideal is a music notation typewriter: one plays a piece of music on an electronic keyboard, and the transcription is done completely automatic. However, the task turns out to be difficult for computers as well. An important part of such an automatic system is the quantizer. We tested the latest versions of five commonly used software packages to see what quantization methods they employ for the transcription of MIDI performances, and how well they work.

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