Submissions General Questions, Comments, etc

[Zeila]

There are some piano arrangements of game's full OSTs that I find that would be great for submissions. What are your thoughts? It would seem as a good convenience for some; having the full track to play or choose from.

On that I note, that might be a project that we can someday start on. Compiling a game's ost into a complete set.

I personally don't think it is necessary to compile entire game OST's into one file as some type of sheet music book on the site itself, and anyone who wishes to do so themselves could put in the work to compile their favorites into one pdf if they so wish. As for arranging entire OST's to be displayed separately on site, there were a few Arrangement Projects in place for that very purpose (where Undertale is an example of one that's 100% complete), although interest and commitment levels tapered off with the Diamond and Pearl soundtrack so there are different official projects put into place now

However, if you want to organize your own unofficial arrangement project for a game then you are free to do so. There's already one that exists for Deltarune, along with a few others that have died out.

[The Happy Song Salesman]

What file format should uploads be in? I have Musescore, not Finale.

[Code_Name_Geek]

What file format should uploads be in? I have Musescore, not Finale.

Submissions to the site should be in .mus, PDF, and midi formats. The .mus format is Finale only, but there are a few ways to convert MuseScore files to Finale that are used by many MuseScore users here. Probably the simplest way is to download the free program Finale Notepad and import an xml file exported from your MuseScore arrangement. Notepad doesn't have all the features of full Finale, but if you run into issues there are people here with the full program who can help. It's also Windows-only, unfortunately, so this won't be much help if you're on Mac or Linux.

[SageOfSpirit]

So I finally have a PC and have the capability to submit things to this website... spent several hours learning how to make all the necessary conversions of my Musescore files into Finale files... only to find out that it is literally, completely, legitimately impossible to meet the submission guidelines with only Finale Notepad. I don't have $600 to drop just so I can indent the first system and add measure numbers.

I'm quite frustrated, as I was really looking forward to submitting a few things, and I don't understand why a) Finale Notepad lacks such BASIC functionalities when software like Musescore has them available for free, b) the admins of this open-source, free site would decide that its volunteer submitters can only use the software that locks basic functionalities behind a paid gateway (and excludes Mac and Linux users as well).

I'm sorry if I come off as short here, but I'm annoyed and confused. This website has brought me a lot of joy and entertainment over the years, and I wanted to contribute to it, but I'm feeling pretty excluded here.

[Dekkadeci]

So I finally have a PC and have the capability to submit things to this website... spent several hours learning how to make all the necessary conversions of my Musescore files into Finale files... only to find out that it is literally, completely, legitimately impossible to meet the submission guidelines with only Finale Notepad. I don't have $600 to drop just so I can indent the first system and add measure numbers.

I'm quite frustrated, as I was really looking forward to submitting a few things, and I don't understand why a) Finale Notepad lacks such BASIC functionalities when software like Musescore has them available for free, b) the admins of this open-source, free site would decide that its volunteer submitters can only use the software that locks basic functionalities behind a paid gateway (and excludes Mac and Linux users as well).

I'm sorry if I come off as short here, but I'm annoyed and confused. This website has brought me a lot of joy and entertainment over the years, and I wanted to contribute to it, but I'm feeling pretty excluded here.

If you want to meet the submission formatting guidelines with Musescore and your only Finale product being Finale Notepad, definitely try out the template and program in https://www.ninsheetmusic.org/forum/index.php?topic=10136.0. Copy your desired music into the template first, fiddle with the copyright, etc. ...Or just follow the instructions in the OP of that thread. Be aware that Step 5, "Drag-and-drop the .xml on the .exe", is Exactly As It Says On The Tin, and attempting to run the .exe won't work. Do whatever necessary to make the .exe pass virus checks. ...Then you'll have to move the "quarter note = # bpm" away from the "Allegro"-like tempo indication in the Finale file. And you'll likely have to adjust ottava lines and the notes they affect in the Finale file, too. But at least you should meet the submission formatting guidelines now!

I'm a fellow Musescore-into-Finale-Notepad user and Musescore fan myself, and the template and program in that thread have made submitting scores to NinSheetMusic substantially easier for me without paying a cent for music notation software.

...I don't trust whatever Musescore 3.0 tries to do with "smart-adjusting" the template and its contents, though, so I work on template-using music in Musescore 2.X only.

I've personally heard and read that this website primarily uses Finale for legacy reasons and because Finale is rather popular and changing primary file formats or adding additional ones is surprisingly hard in the back-end. I guess we haven't received enough complaints from Mac users (who apparently can only use the fullest-price Finale version) to make a file format change.

...I also personally doubt that NinSheetMusic itself is open-source. The times I've brought up a website-related bug report, I always got the hunch this website was closed-source.

[Latios212]

Hi!

Yes, I apologize for the inconvenience. As Dekkadeci mentioned, the short and simple answer is that the site has always used Finale files as the standard - this site was founded before MuseScore even existed and the overall submission paradigm has not changed significantly in the past decade or so. Of course, here we are in 2020, but it's not just as simple as allowing non-Finale files - the software doesn't currently allow for enough visual consistency with the rest of our collection (you can ask Bespinben about that), and there isn't sufficient expertise/support among the staff at the moment to expand the site's capabilities as such.

All that said, in addition to the pointers Dekka mentioned above, people around here are super willing to help you out with file formatting as well as musical feedback. There are a bunch of people around who use MuseScore as their primary notation software and still produce stuff for the site. So don't feel excluded

[Draco456]

What instrument combinations are allowed in the submission? Because I just finished an arrangement for 2 pianos, 8 hands, which I've never seen before on this site. I wonder if this combination is allowed.

Hope to hear back soon!

[Latios212]

Currently, we don't support sheets for more than four hands (either one one piano or two).

[Draco456]

Darn it! I hope that changes in the near future! I think you'd like this version.

[ManOfDucks]

Hi, I'm new here so sorry if this is a stupid question.

I have an arrangement I've been trying to submit, and I used the form in the NSM Panel thing, but nothing is popping up under the submissions area for my sheet. Under the NSM Panel, it also says I have zero submissions. I wasn't sure if I did something wrong or if it just takes a while for it to get posted there for feedback. Any help would be appreciated!

[Static]

Hi, I'm new here so sorry if this is a stupid question.

Not at all! We get this fairly often

So, once you enter the series, game title, track title, and instrumentation, you need to make sure you upload all the files needed. You need a MIDI, PDF, and a MUS (Finale file). If you don't have Finale, export an XML file from your notation software of choice, download Finale Notepad (free from the Finale website), and export as MUS. Then be sure to click the "Submit" button at the bottom.

Hope this helps!

[ManOfDucks]

Turns out I was trying to submit a .musx instead of a .mus file, thank you for the help!

[ManOfDucks]

I just had one of my sheets accepted, and I finally was able to actually read through it myself and I noticed a typo that didn't get caught in the screening process. Am I still able to edit the files after they've been accepted, and if so do I just do it through the NSM panel the same way I would edit it if it hadn't been accepted yet?

[Alpacatron]

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[Zho]

So uh, i just joined and want to submit an arrangement for 'Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations' (Arranged the Pursuit theme).

But the problem is whenever i click on the 'Submit a New Sheet' button, i get redirected to the 'Submission Info' page...