Using an iPad for scanned charts (a field report)

[davecheng]

I just finished a stint in a pit band for Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" and played the entire production run with all of my charts scanned onto an iPad.

The result? An enormous success.

I was using forScore with PDF scans I made myself. On screen annotations were quick, clean, and easy to follow—especially when entire bars were removed. I could use a white "marker" and completely visually remove the measures from the music, so there is absolutely no confusion when playing. Page turns were fast, and forScore's "half page turn" mode made up for the fact that I could only see one sheet at a time. (In a "half page turn", you can preview the top half of the next page while you're still reading the bottom of the current page.) Repeats and jumps were ridiculously easy to follow with forScore's "hot zones". And battery life was fantastic—I could do two shows a day on a full charge and still be left with over 65% battery.

Was it perfect? No, not entirely.

The iPad's a little on the small side compared to traditional 9.5x12.5" charts, so you have to have glasses or a decent set of eyes. (I figure the iPad is about the size of a choral octavo.) And though my iPad was rock solid stable (never a glitch, crash, freeze, or miscue) there was always the paranoia of "what if" (and thus the paper chart still sitting in my bag as backup).

But I think I'm sold. Goodbye paper!

Anyone else out there use an iPad for charts?


Me in the orchestra pit.


Charts scanned to PDF and loaded onto an iPad.

p.s. Yeah, and I guess some of you may notice, I wasn't playing the right instrument for the show. I don't play upright—at least, not well enough to sight read in keys like A-flat minor. Flats, EQ, muting, and plucking up on the neck was enough to fake a bloomy plunky sound that met with MD approval. But oh, it's on the to-do list...

[longfinger]

Interesting iPad app. Thanks for sharing. It's funny how in this pic you still have your music stand light on, when the iPad, unlike paper, emits it's own light.

I wish there was a 14" diagonal 3:4 tablet. 9.7" seems physically too small to read.

[groooooove]

while i do like apple stuff in genneral, using any digital form of charts would bug me. paper never glitches..

what really is the upside to using the ipad instead of the regular charts? (that you mentioned you had anyway.) i think it'd be nice to have all my music on one thing, but battery power, and the possibility of it glitching, would worry me. especially when im reading stuff i dont know as well as normal jazz standards or things like that..

[davecheng]

Originally Posted by longfinger

I wish there was a 14" diagonal 3:4 tablet. 9.7" seems physically too small to read.

The size does leave something to be desired. The iPad's size seemed to work well playing an electric bass, where I can physically be closer to the music stand.

Originally Posted by groooooove

what really is the upside to using the ipad instead of the regular charts? (that you mentioned you had anyway.) i think it'd be nice to have all my music on one thing, but battery power, and the possibility of it glitching, would worry me. especially when im reading stuff i dont know as well as normal jazz standards or things like that..

Maybe I'm just a klutz, but I can turn the virtual iPad pages a lot more reliably than paper pages. (Just a tap on the side of the screen gets you the "half page" preview, and so on.)

Battery power was never and issue. When Apple claims a 10+ hour battery life on this thing, I believe it. As I mentioned, a matinee and evening show left me with about 65% battery. I could likely squeeze six performances out of one charge it if I actually turned it off at intermission.

To minimize the possibility of glitches, as a precaution, I closed all other apps and rebooted the iPad (to clear out the memory). I also put the iPad into Airplane Mode. It performed flawlessly—the application was rock solid stable.

What was actually better? Nothing ground breaking, I suppose, other than the convenience factor. A few small things: I have longed dreamed of using yellow highlighter, red pen, etc. on rented scores. The app can do that. Furthermore, completely removing measures with a "white marker" left a much cleaner look to the music, so it seemed a little easier to follow when encountering passages with all kinds of changes.

I guess this was an experiment to prove a concept more than anything else.

[jwn1969]

I haven't used my iPad for charts yet, but I have used it for set lists and chord/lyric cheat sheets. It's performed great and I mount it right on the mic stand with the iKlip from IK Multimedia. It's a great convenience and I have actually used it to download chord charts during set breaks (using the club's wifi) for songs that people have requested that we don't normally perform. It's been really nice to have.

[younggun]

Thanks for posting this review. Having convenient access to charts is precisely one of the reasons I'm considering purchasing an iPad. Glad to know it works well.

[Bassamatic]

My neighbor is a keyboard player and has transferred thousands of charts to his iPad, with a wireless foot pedal for turning the pages. He is really happy with it and has had no issues. I am really looking forward to doing the same.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by davecheng

Anyone else out there use an iPad for charts?

The jam host at one winery I play at a lot has been using one for quite a while now, and I can hang just behind him and use it perfectly happily. There are now usually two or three somewhere on the bandstand most nights. I'm just waiting for a generation skip or two, then I'll likely buy one used.

[prokfrog]

Our new PreSonus mixing board has an IPAD mixing app. We used it for the first time last night. We do our own sound, so to be able to mix from the audience was HUGE!! very cool..

[younggun]

Originally Posted by Gio S

My neighbor is a keyboard player and has transferred thousands of charts to his iPad, with a wireless foot pedal for turning the pages. He is really happy with it and has had no issues. I am really looking forward to doing the same.

Any idea who makes the wireless foot pedal and where he got it at?

[NickyBass]

Originally Posted by younggun

Any idea who makes the wireless foot pedal and where he got it at?

Home - AirTurn, Inc.