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Apps that you use for gigs? Song charts etc...

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous [BG]' started by bassguy1960, Jul 22, 2016.

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  1. Jul 22, 2016 #1
    bassguy1960

    bassguy1960

    Sep 24, 2012
    Central Illinois
    I know i'm late to the game as far as using a tablet on stage for song charts, but I'm at the point now that I can't remember half the songs til we're halfway through the song and just plainly can't remember some without reading a chart.

    What i've done is made spreadsheets that i bring to gigs with the name, major key and chord changes for intro/verse/chorus/bridge etc.

    Problem is that I don't like bring a music stand to the stage and see all these other musicians with tablets that apparently have the song downloaded in some fashion.

    I'd like to be able to choose a song quickly (we rarely stick to the set list) and have it bring up the chords etc...

    Is there such an app like that which will also let you upload songs via spreadsheet or some other method?

    I should also mention that I don't have a tablet yet, will depend on the app.

    THanks,
    Don
     
  2. Jul 22, 2016 #2
    RoadRanger

    RoadRanger Supporting Member

    Feb 18, 2004
    NE CT
    I just use DropBox on my iPad and have my song charts in .rtf format using Jarte on my laptop - Dropbo automagically syncs them and backs them up :) . I usually write out all the notes but on some songs just the chords:
    Index of /abc

    DropBox on the iPad lets you re-order off-line files into set order, I don't think the Android version does that :( .
     
  3. Jul 22, 2016 #3
    tfer

    tfer

    Jan 1, 2014
    OnSong.

    Nothing else even comes close.
     
    s0c9 likes this.
  4. Jul 22, 2016 #4
    Bryan R. Tyler

    Bryan R. Tyler TalkBass: Usurping My Practice Time Since 2002 Staff Member Administrator Supporting Member

    May 3, 2002
    Connecticut
    Reviewer: Bass Player Magazine
    I wouldn't say that- I have both OnSong and ForScore and eventually stopped using OnSong in favor of ForScore. I think both are great, but ForScore edged out OnSong for me for features/ease after a while.

    To the original question, I keep all our charts in .pdf format and upload them that way. You can transfer songs or whole setlists including annotations to each other over Bluetooth in the app's native format, which is very handy.
     
  5. Jul 22, 2016 #5
    tfer

    tfer

    Jan 1, 2014
    The problem with PDFs is the inability to transpose keys.
     
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  6. Jul 22, 2016 #6
    Groove Doctor

    Groove Doctor

    Feb 23, 2009
    Sydney, Australia
    Whatever you go with, this is the main point - to find it fast so you don't waste time. Some apps are a real PITA.
     
  7. Jul 22, 2016 #7
    Bryan R. Tyler

    Bryan R. Tyler TalkBass: Usurping My Practice Time Since 2002 Staff Member Administrator Supporting Member

    May 3, 2002
    Connecticut
    Reviewer: Bass Player Magazine
    Yup- they warn you about it before buying. We don't have a need to transpose so it's not an issue for us, and writing our sheets and converting them to .pdfs was far easier than converting them exactly as I write them to OnSong's ChordPro format, so it won out.

    I'm going to give OnSong another try when 2.0 finally comes out- they've been putting out way too many version 1.99999x updates for a while now :D
     
    tfer likes this.
  8. Jul 22, 2016 #8
    tfer

    tfer

    Jan 1, 2014
    I don't use the OnSong format. I just copy as text, and import.
     
  9. Jul 22, 2016 #9
    elgecko

    elgecko

    Apr 30, 2007
    Anasleim, CA
    Mobilesheets for PDFs and iReal for transposable chord charts. I use Android.
     
  10. Jul 22, 2016 #10
    Bryan R. Tyler

    Bryan R. Tyler TalkBass: Usurping My Practice Time Since 2002 Staff Member Administrator Supporting Member

    May 3, 2002
    Connecticut
    Reviewer: Bass Player Magazine
    That unfortunately didn't work well with a few of the formatting things that were happening trying to import my charts as they are written. I had a long email exchange with Jason from OnSong at the time about it. 2.0 is supposed to have some noticeable changes, so maybe that'll get worked out.
     
    tfer likes this.
  11. Jul 22, 2016 #11
    elgecko

    elgecko

    Apr 30, 2007
    Anasleim, CA
    That's true but the ability to do so on the fly is worth developing!
     
  12. Jul 24, 2016 #12
    BassChuck

    BassChuck Supporting Member

    Nov 15, 2005
    Cincinnati
    I play for music theater pits. I scan the music and put the pdf's in ForScore. If needed I can easily change the order of the songs (extremely rare need) or re-arrange the pages withing a pdf. Page turns are handle by foot pedal. Many ways to annotate the music and add all kinds of instruction. A very flexible app if you are reading standard notation.
     
    Groove Doctor likes this.
  13. Jul 26, 2016 #13
    bassguy1960

    bassguy1960

    Sep 24, 2012
    Central Illinois
    Mostly chord changes not standard notation.
     
  14. Jul 26, 2016 #14
    ak56

    ak56

    Apr 2, 2015
    Carnation, Wa
    MobileSheetsPro which supports PDF's, image files, chordpro files, has a metronome, plays audio files, etc.
     
  15. Jul 26, 2016 #15
    filmtex

    filmtex

    May 29, 2011
    I have been using SongBook synch'ed to a folder in my Dropbox. I usually grab songs with my laptop, format them, save as .txt to Dropbox, then change the file to .pro. Sync my iPad when I have wi-fi and that's it. Transpose, shift from black on white to white on black text if needed. Change font size, auto-scroll. It's a great solution and with over 500 songs on it, it gives me very few problems. An occasional restart of the app is about all. Also does playlists and ordering by title or subtitle. (Think keyword or songwriter/performer.)
     
  16. Jul 26, 2016 #16
    rtslinger

    rtslinger

    Nov 14, 2006
    Belleville,New Jersey USA
    I too am using this one works great
     
  17. Jul 26, 2016 #17
    s0c9

    s0c9 Supporting Member

    Jan 9, 2014
    Ft.Worth/Dallas
    1964 Audio artist, Fractal Audio Beta Tester
    OnSong - tried lots of other apps - in chordpro format..
    have the books segmented by Christian, Rock, Country, other.
    Easy search.. and given that any church song can vary keys from week-to-week.. OnSong works great.
    Only issue I have with it is that it's not been ported to Android. :(
     
  18. Jul 26, 2016 #18
    Hotblack

    Hotblack Pay the cost to be the boss. Supporting Member

    May 20, 2002
    Provided content for Genzler Amplification
    DeepDish GigBook
     
  19. Jul 29, 2016 #19
    Bob_Ross

    Bob_Ross Gold Supporting Member

    Dec 29, 2012
    Still carrying paper charts, so the only apps I've used for gigs are Google Maps and the stock Compass that comes with iOS, 'cuz I always wind up getting lost on the way to the gig!
     
  20. Aug 15, 2016 #20
    Ulf_Hansson

    Ulf_Hansson

    Apr 15, 2014
    As stated (proudly) in my sig: Fakebook Pro - I'd never leave root without it!

    Great PDF handling (with automatic indexing of most common real books, and slickbook which is a guilty pleasure of mine) but also importing chord pro, onsong and ireal chord charts (transposing!). The best of both worlds, in my opinion.

    Only problem is it is Android only...
     
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