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iPad PDF Music App?

J Posega

J Posega

Cat Dad and Dingwall Enthusiast
Inactive
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Jul 16, 2005
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Portland, OR
#1
I'm doing a musical next month and I've got 23 songs to play, all of them 2 or 3 pages long. I don't like the idea of shuffling pages on a music stand. The producer sent me pdf's of the songs.

What app should I be looking for that is dead simple to use? I'm hoping theres something out there that lets you just tap one side of the screen to move to the next page, not find some tiny button or swipe to move it (otherwise I'd load them into iBooks).

Thanks TB!
 
#2
forScore is reportedly THE music reader app for iPod. FYI, you can get a USB or bluetooth pedal to turn pages hands free! Also, I don't know how forScore handles annotations but with my Droid reader it was practically necessary to make notes on day one with a pencil on the score then transfer those notes onto the PDF or rescan the book. Until you get used to it, note taking can be really laborious on a tablet.
 
#6
I use forscore all the time for sheet music. Page turns are extremely fast. I have integrated most of my sheet music, including the real books and some method books into forscore and it works great. I no longer have to carry stacks of binders.
 
#9
I've used ForScore for 6 musicals now and intend to keep using it. No problems. I suppose most of the other pdf reading apps work about the same way, so the difference is probably minimal. I would suggest getting "AirTurn", a blue-tooth pedal to turn pages. Very helpful.
 
#10
Here's my tablet rig. This is the first show I've used it on and I was very nervous but it hasn't given me any problems yet. With the pedal, it's the only way to go.

IMG_20130317_150942_zpsae8354b3.jpg
 
#11
DaveAceofBass said:
For Score is it for sure. If you get a Bluetooth pedal at BestBuy you can do page turns with your feet.
Click to expand...

+1 Definitely forScore.

I tried a bunch of apps for organizing my music. I ended up with
forScore. It is perfect for PDF files because that is what it uses.

You can add all the PDF files you want to it and it's easy to
convert just about anything into a PDF file. Then, you can
edit them to add some metadata (e.g. title, composer, genre,
keywords) so you can sort it and view it in various list forms
or search through it.

When viewing, just tap on the right side of the screen to go
to the next page; left side to go to the previous page.

I took chord sheets from our whole set list and put them in
there. For many, I added pieces of scores with the important
riffs for quick reference. I've added every tune we've ever
played out, worked on or I wanted to work on in there.
I've got hundreds of tunes on it.
 
#12
This is a very informative thread, I just started playing with a group who all use tablets for their charts (while I'm over in the corner with my music stand fumbling with paper )I have at this point about 75-80 songs on copy paper, some several pages long held togther with paperclips...it's very cumbersome as you could imagine. I want to get rid of these binders and join the modern world.
It appears forScore is a highly recommended app. with the TB crowd here.
May I ask which tablet works best in a setting where:
1. I could quickly call up the chart for play
2.Could make notes and add band specific changes to the chart
3. Would only be using it for music (I'm not looking for another computer, I already have a laptop, Ipod and desktop at home)
4. Isn't going to cost a ton of dough...say under 300 bucks...well under...:cool:
 
#14
repoman said:
May I ask which tablet works best in a setting where:
1. I could quickly call up the chart for play
2.Could make notes and add band specific changes to the chart
3. Would only be using it for music (I'm not looking for another computer, I already have a laptop, Ipod and desktop at home)
4. Isn't going to cost a ton of dough...say under 300 bucks...well under...:cool:
Click to expand...

If you want to use ForScore, it runs exclusively on iPad. This is one area where Android really lags behind the iPad in terms of app support.

Already In Use said:
Super helpful for me too. Do you just scan your hard copies and poof! Ya ready to roll? Using an I Pad. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Yes, and in a pinch, I've taken pictures of charts with the iPad's camera.
 
#16
Thanks guys. I noodled around playing the sheets at good the last couple nights. I merged the PDFs into one long document and just opened it in iBooks. I'm going to give this a try before committing money to an app. This is my first musical, and I'm not sure if I'll do it again, but if I do go for an app, it'll be forScore. Lots of good info in this thread without the typical Apple and technology bashing... That's worth something on Talkbass!
 
#17
repoman said:
This is a very informative thread, I just started playing with a group who all use tablets for their charts (while I'm over in the corner with my music stand fumbling with paper )I have at this point about 75-80 songs on copy paper, some several pages long held togther with paperclips...it's very cumbersome as you could imagine. I want to get rid of these binders and join the modern world.
It appears forScore is a highly recommended app. with the TB crowd here.
May I ask which tablet works best in a setting where:
1. I could quickly call up the chart for play
2.Could make notes and add band specific changes to the chart
3. Would only be using it for music (I'm not looking for another computer, I already have a laptop, Ipod and desktop at home)
4. Isn't going to cost a ton of dough...say under 300 bucks...well under...:cool:
Click to expand...

You can get an spec-equivalent Adroid tablet for less than half of what you'd pay for an Apple. The key is to get one with a 9.7" display. Most Androids seem to be 10.1". I use the MobileSheets app with my Android.

Dogbertday said:
do these bluetooth pedals work with laptops?
Click to expand...

Yup! They also have USB wired pedals for about half the price.
 
#18
OnSong is the best app for this, but Acrobat reader is available free.

OnSong has a great navigation pedal, excellent DAM capabilities, will play the song along with you for practice/performance, can have sets premade, and it will flow from one song to the next automatically (if desired). It also uses plain text editing so you can change songs at will, and with just two quick touches will change key for you, including tabs or chord charts. It also has a huge online database of songs already formatted and downloadable for free, and it reads "Ultimate Guitar" Tab files natively for an even larger database. Yes, it reads PDFs natively, too, although they are not as editable.
 
#20
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