LargePrintMusic (LPM) is a program that generates large print sheet music in any size.
The program can convert any PDF with normal sheet music to a larger format.

This makes sight impaired musicians able to read the sheet music in any size they need.

LPM uses staff and measure locations to generate a correct enlargement of the sheet music.

To make this easy, LPM includes a detection technology that allows automatic detection of staffs and measures. The user can also make manual adjustments whenever necessary to make the detections correct

The software has multiple options to generate the right size and to optimize the quality of the result. LPM generates a PDF that can be used in normal PDF Viewers.

Projects

LPM works with projects that can load and save the sheet music you are working on.

This way, you won’t lose the settings and can easily continue working on the file.

Start a new project

Press this icon if you want to start a new project.
LPM will then ask you for a PDF file, this is the sheet music you want to enlarge.

After you have selected a PDF, LPM will create a project, starting with the staff detection described under (1) Staffs.

Load / Save Project

By pressing these icons you can load or save a project to/from a file.
When you save a project, please be sure to put it on a location where you can find it.

Also use a name that makes it easy for you to recognize the file.

(1) Staffs

In order to work, LPM needs to know the location of the staffs on the page.
To make it simple, the software automatically tries to detect it, but you can also add / remove / change the staffs yourself whenever necessary. When you are ready with the staffs, please continue with (2) Measures.

Automatic detection

LPM automatically starts with detecting the staffs as soon as a project is created.
This detection can take some time, so please be patient until it finishes.

After it finishes, we highly recommend you to check the result for mistakes and change if necessary.

During the detection, LPM might ask you if you want to use grouped staffs.

Press “Yes” if the sheet music contains multiple parts (for example for piano parts and scores).

Otherwise press “No”. For more info on this, check the “Multiple Parts / grouped staffs” section below.

If you want LPM to clear the existing staffs and detect again, press this icon.

This will clear the existing staffs and the program will detect the staffs again.

Please be aware that automatic detection is very dependent on the quality of the sheet music.
Slightly rotated pages and low image quality can cause a poor result.
In those cases you need to get a better quality file or manually process the staffs / measures.

Add staffs

If LPM missed staffs during detection, you can manually add them in 2 ways:

You can draw a rectangle around it. Press one corner and drag it to the location of the diagonal corner so you get a rectangle around the staff, then release.
You can also press the first corner and then the diagonal one, without dragging.

If a newly drawn staff overlaps an existing one, the existing one will be removed.
The new staff will not be created.

Resize staffs

To resize a staff put your mouse on a side or angle of the rectangle.
Then drag to resize it.

Remove staffs

There are two ways to remove staffs:

You can draw a new staff and let it overlap the existing one.
This will remove the existing one and add the new one.
You can double click a staff.
You can press the staff for two seconds to remove it.

Multiple Parts / grouped staffs

If you have multiple parts in the sheet music, you need to make sure they have the correct color:

The top staff of a group must be green (main part)
All other parts need to be yellow.

To switch between green and yellow, press inside the staff.

The staff will change color.

During the detection, LPM could ask you if you want to use grouped staffs.

Press “Yes” if the sheet music contains multiple parts (for example for piano parts and scores).

Otherwise press “No”.

If you press then you will see green and yellow staffs.

(2) Measures

After detection the staffs, LPM will detect the measure lines.
These can also be added and removed manually.

When you are ready with the measures, please continue with (3) Output Settings.

Automatic detection

LPM automatically starts detecting the measures as soon as you enter this step.
This detection can take some time, so please be patient until it finishes.

If you want LPM to clear the existing staffs and detect again, press this icon.

This will also clear the existing staffs and LPM will detect them again.

Add measures

Measure lines are added by clicking the staff, this will add a measure line on the pressed location.

Remove measures

Click on an existing measure line to have it removed.

(3) Repeats

In this sections you can manually specify repeats and jumps like D.C. and .D.S.

You do this by clicking a jump start measure on the screen and then a jump end measure.

On the left of the screen you then see the jump in a list.
In the resul LPM will then repeat the measures according to these jumps.

For example:

You click measures:

20 and 10

15 and 21.

Then the result will be:

measures 1-20, 10-15, 21-....

(4) Output Settings

After detecting the staffs and measures, you can decide how the enlarged sheets will look.
This can be done with the settings below.

Margin top & bottom

In many cases there are notes above or below the staffs.

This setting determines how much space should be included above and below the staffs.

Margins should be increased if there are very high or very low notes above or below the staff.

Starting measure and ending measure

Sometimes only a subsection of the sheet music needs to be enlarged.

By choosing a different starting or ending measure, you can change the range of measures you want to have included.

Staffs per page

This setting determines how many lines (groups of staffs) you want on one page.

Measures per line (average)

This setting determines the number of measures on one line.

Inverted Colors

With this setting the colors can be inverted.
This will result in a black page with white staffs.

Title

The title printed on top of every page.

(5) Preview

Here you can see a preview of how the sheet music will look with the chosen settings.

If you are not satisfied with the preview, you can either:

Check the Output Settings and adjust them.
Check the staffs and measures for errors.

(6) Generate

In this step the resulting PDF with enlarged sheet music will be created.

You can choose a name and a location for your PDF.
The PDF can be opened in any PDF Viewer.

Button Explanation

Windows Magnifier

If LPM is too small for you, the Windows or Mac Magnifier can be activated.
Click the icon above to do so.
This will activate the magnifier that is bundled with Windows or Mac.

Previous / Next Step

Use these buttons to go to the previous or next step in the process.

Previous / Next page

When the file contains more than one page, you can go to the next / previous page using these buttons in the top menu. You can also insert a page number in the white square.

These half circles are extra page navigators for ease of use, located at the sides of the sheet music page. By clicking them, you can go to the next/previous page.

Undo / Redo Changes

With these buttons you can Undo or Redo changes you made in the staffs or measures.

View

When defining the staffs and measures of the sheet music, you can choose between two views:

One that displays the full page on screen.
One that displays the page with full screen width.
In the full width view, you can scroll up and down to see the full height of the page.