Another question. Can I take photos of my charts with my I Pad and load them into On Song? Thinkin the ones that are final...show ready that wont need editing any time soon. Thanks.
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iPad PDF Music App?
- Thread starter J Posega
- Start date
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with ForScore in any way, other than using the app.
Another (long time) ForScore user here, and love it. Not a bad learning curve and pretty user friendly. I use it for anything I need sheet music for anymore. I even added some "blank page" PDFs so I can create (rough) charts when needed. Like Christianbass mentioned, I LOOOOooovveee not having to carry thick binders. I've had a couple triple gig days (ex: church choir a.m., musical #1 matinee, musical #2 evening show) and only need my iPad. It eliminated two 4" binders for my church choir, and helped me avoid a 4" binder for my funk band, not to mention any musicals I play, or random charts for my urban gospel band.
Some of my favorite/most used Forscore features:
Bookmarks. For a 92-page book (like for a musical or something), you can create bookmarks to take you wherever you need to go. It can be a little tedious, but a little prep work up front and it really pays off come performance time.
Built-in Dropbox connectivity. For the church choir I played for, most of the members used ForScore/iPads for charts, so I created a Dropbox folder where we could dump all our PDFs. Boom, everyone's got the most recent version and we're all on the same chart. I do the same with all the charts for my funk band. Super slick.
Annotation. ForScore is super slick with annotations, too. I've got all sorts of highlighters set up... Pink for repeats, green means go, red means stop, yellow for miscellaneous things like rests and 1st/2nd/etc endings, orange for things I need to go back and work on, etc. You can type in notes, and there's even "stamps" for adding some musical symbols like fermatas. (see attached chart for an example).
Links. Need to go from page 4 back to page 1? Drop in a link. Press the blue dot on page 4 and presto! back to page 1.
Like DaveAceofBass mentioned, page turners are GOLD, particularly since we bassists need both hands to play our instruments. Tapping the iPad is easy enough, but turning pages with your foot can eliminate tricky turns completely. I have an AirTurn BT-105 and it's super slick. The trombone player for my funk band tried mine and ordered one the next day, and a guitarist friend uses a Pageflip Cicada.
ForScore did have some issues with a couple of the recent iPad updates. They've gotten everything squared away though, and newest version on the newest iOS runs fine.
Absolutely. I have one of those all-in-one printer/scanner deals and it's slick. I can scan single pages or an entire book to PDF if needed, then just load it up on the iPad. (For extra style points, have the scanner output to your Dropbox folder, which you can then link to directly from ForScore.
)
I'm sure some of the other readers have similar options, but I've never tried them. Aside from a couple rough patches with iOS updates (which could happen with ANY app), I'm a big ForScore fan.
And finally, a typical example of how I might mark up a chart!
5sg.
Another (long time) ForScore user here, and love it. Not a bad learning curve and pretty user friendly. I use it for anything I need sheet music for anymore. I even added some "blank page" PDFs so I can create (rough) charts when needed. Like Christianbass mentioned, I LOOOOooovveee not having to carry thick binders. I've had a couple triple gig days (ex: church choir a.m., musical #1 matinee, musical #2 evening show) and only need my iPad. It eliminated two 4" binders for my church choir, and helped me avoid a 4" binder for my funk band, not to mention any musicals I play, or random charts for my urban gospel band.
Some of my favorite/most used Forscore features:
Bookmarks. For a 92-page book (like for a musical or something), you can create bookmarks to take you wherever you need to go. It can be a little tedious, but a little prep work up front and it really pays off come performance time.
Built-in Dropbox connectivity. For the church choir I played for, most of the members used ForScore/iPads for charts, so I created a Dropbox folder where we could dump all our PDFs. Boom, everyone's got the most recent version and we're all on the same chart. I do the same with all the charts for my funk band. Super slick.
Annotation. ForScore is super slick with annotations, too. I've got all sorts of highlighters set up... Pink for repeats, green means go, red means stop, yellow for miscellaneous things like rests and 1st/2nd/etc endings, orange for things I need to go back and work on, etc. You can type in notes, and there's even "stamps" for adding some musical symbols like fermatas. (see attached chart for an example).
Links. Need to go from page 4 back to page 1? Drop in a link. Press the blue dot on page 4 and presto! back to page 1.
Like DaveAceofBass mentioned, page turners are GOLD, particularly since we bassists need both hands to play our instruments. Tapping the iPad is easy enough, but turning pages with your foot can eliminate tricky turns completely. I have an AirTurn BT-105 and it's super slick. The trombone player for my funk band tried mine and ordered one the next day, and a guitarist friend uses a Pageflip Cicada.
ForScore did have some issues with a couple of the recent iPad updates. They've gotten everything squared away though, and newest version on the newest iOS runs fine.
Absolutely. I have one of those all-in-one printer/scanner deals and it's slick. I can scan single pages or an entire book to PDF if needed, then just load it up on the iPad. (For extra style points, have the scanner output to your Dropbox folder, which you can then link to directly from ForScore.
)I'm sure some of the other readers have similar options, but I've never tried them. Aside from a couple rough patches with iOS updates (which could happen with ANY app), I'm a big ForScore fan.
And finally, a typical example of how I might mark up a chart!
5sg.
Attachments
We need a sub forum on technology in music IMO. Some sticky threads...start here...new to I Pad...etc..How to's..various app instruction..That would make for a new place for advertisers too(site owner willing) after all revenue will follow function..or something like that.
- Apr 1, 2000
- 17,398
- 9,830
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Roscoe Guitars, DR Strings, Aguilar Amplification
One thing that I like about GigBook (not iGigBook) that ForScore can't do: In setlist mode, I can put a blank "title only" page. I don't need a chart for "Africa", but I want to be reminded it's there. viola - "add set list item" And it does everything that ForScoe does also.
I solved that problem in ForScore by adding the blank page PDFs. Not only can I make a title page like your talking about, but I can make a quick down & dirty chart if I need to. Then rename and save. Boom.
5sg.
- Apr 1, 2000
- 17,398
- 9,830
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Roscoe Guitars, DR Strings, Aguilar Amplification
Interesting. Guess I never thought about needing that feature, because even though I can make my own, I often find that I'm eliminating title pages if the PDFs I get have them. It's an extra page to turn through when I'm reading charts. "Wasted space" to me I guess. Personal preference!
I also added some blank staff paper PDFs to my files. You could do that with any app of course, though. Another thing that's come in pretty handy when using a tablet for music as opposed to hard copy.
5sg.
I also added some blank staff paper PDFs to my files. You could do that with any app of course, though. Another thing that's come in pretty handy when using a tablet for music as opposed to hard copy.
5sg.
I'm currently doing my first show with a tablet and here are a couple of things I learned.
- It helps to make notes in the lower right corner regarding what's coming up in the first measure of the next page. The main down side to using a tablet is you only get one page at a time. There's no sneaking peeks over to the next page like there is with paper.
- If you use a pedal, step accurately! Nothing beats thinking you're turning the page when you're actually turning two!
The ensuing panic-sticken search for the correct page is hilarious.
- It helps to make notes in the lower right corner regarding what's coming up in the first measure of the next page. The main down side to using a tablet is you only get one page at a time. There's no sneaking peeks over to the next page like there is with paper.
- If you use a pedal, step accurately! Nothing beats thinking you're turning the page when you're actually turning two!
The ensuing panic-sticken search for the correct page is hilarious.I work in a wedding band and I need access to about
300 PDF charts. GoodReader works great for me.
The search feature is awesome. You just type
part of the title and all songs with that word show up.
It also gives you a most recently read list and a most
recently added list.
300 PDF charts. GoodReader works great for me.
The search feature is awesome. You just type
part of the title and all songs with that word show up.
It also gives you a most recently read list and a most
recently added list.
ForScore has a page peek feature... you can turn "half-page turns" on and off in the settings menu. Screen shot below.
- If you use a pedal, step accurately! Nothing beats thinking you're turning the page when you're actually turning two!
It does take a little getting used to, but my Airturn has hardly any delay, and now I rarely even have to look down at it once I get set up. Give it some time, you'll get used to it. I've gotten to the point that the last time I was using my pad and got handed a hard copy chart, I instinctively went for the turner with my foot to try and turn the page... and got stumped when it wouldn't turn. LOL
5sg.
Attachments
- Apr 1, 2000
- 17,398
- 9,830
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Roscoe Guitars, DR Strings, Aguilar Amplification
ForScore has a page peek feature... you can turn "half-page turns" on and off in the settings menu. Screen shot below.
The absolutely BEST ForScore feature!
This is a fascinating thread for me, as I just wrapped a production of "The Jungle Book" (a 4th-grade play, but they do things extravagantly in my town -- I should upload some set photos...).
Anyway, guy came up to me at an intermission to tell me he uses an iPad in the pit. I think the app he mentioned was Music Reader?
I'm kind of a tech luddite, but I was wrangling some pretty unwieldy charts for this show; an iPad could lighten my load with all the Real Books I tend to tote around.
Anyway, guy came up to me at an intermission to tell me he uses an iPad in the pit. I think the app he mentioned was Music Reader?
I'm kind of a tech luddite, but I was wrangling some pretty unwieldy charts for this show; an iPad could lighten my load with all the Real Books I tend to tote around.
And..... if you're doing musicals with your book on tablet, during the 'downtimes' you can check email, read the paper and generally goof off in ways you couldn't only a few years ago.
Don't ya just love techno-distractions?
Don't ya just love techno-distractions?
Never heard of that one, but I'm sure there are quite a few good ones out there.
Regardless of what app you use, switching to an iPad for charts will change your life. I wasn't even thinking about charts when I bought mine, but it's turned out to be one of the best music gear purchases I've ever made.
Amen to that, brother. Lol
5sg.
ForScore has a page peek feature... you can turn "half-page turns" on and off in the settings menu. Screen shot below.
And there is the solution. Unfortunately, I'm runnin Mobile Sheets on Android and it doesn't have that feature.
