It would be nice to have two notations of this roll.  One the actual
note for note piano roll transcription, and then a second edited
arrangement that allows an advanced pianist to accomplish the piece
while at the same time preserves the characteristics of the piano roll
performance.

I have used Cakewalk for over 10 years.  It is heavy on the sequencing
side and light on the notation side.  At the present all notation is
done in Cakewalk Professional 7.0 and all MIDI and Audio recording on
ProTools, therefore I am a little behind on the newest notation
software.  With this experience here are some limitations to taking
a MIDI file created from a scanned roll and producing acceptable sheet
notation.

1. Many note lengths will need to be edited.  The majority will have to
be shortened but some will need to be lengthened.  This is best done in
the piano roll view.

2. Scanned MIDI "file" tempo vs. actual roll tempo.  This is were the
measures in the notation software and the actual MIDI file note values
and measures are (in my opinion) irreversibly "out of sync." With roll
acceleration and other variables it is almost impossible to scan a roll
and create a MIDI file that will be metronome accurate.  It takes an
enormous amount of editing and tweaking to get the downbeats on the
first of every measure.  Quantizing is a joke for these complex files.

It is very hard to hand play a piece into a notation program and get
a good result.  The human touch which gives music it's character is not
rigid and dependent on a strict and rigid tempo.  This is why it would
also be difficult to get a good notation of a roll even if it were to
be played on a piano equipped with a MIDI recording strip.

3. I have never seen a notation program (including Finale) that will
treat glissandos and other advanced embellishments correctly when the
note events have been imported from a MIDI file.  Again this requires
much editing.

Here are some suggestions you may find helpful.

1. Print the notation in a large enough format that will allow a lot of
hand corrections to be made.

2. Listen to the piano roll scan MIDI file and using a colored pencil
insert the measure bar lines in the correct places.  Colored pencils
and an eraser are a must.  In the Music Theory classes I teach there
are no pens allowed.  No matter how good you think you are corrections
will have to be made and pen makes a huge mess.  You will be thankful
you used a pencil before you get through the first page! Number all the
measures.  This will help a great deal when you begin creating the
sheet notation in Finale.  It may be useful to slow the tempo of the
MIDI file for all critical evaluations.

3. Listen to the file again and mark all the advanced embellishments
that print as clustered notes and write a comment on how the notes
should be correctly notated.

4. Continue this listening and marking until you feel confident enough
to open a "new" notation session and begin creating your transcription.

5. You may find it useful to do the first transcription by hand on
staff paper; however,  It is nice to have the ability to play back the
transcription as soon as it is entered in the notation software.

There are more suggestions but this may be of no interest to the MMD
readers so it can be left for another time or for private
communication.

Good luck,
Sam Harris
Greenville, North Carolina