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iPad PDF Music App?

#61
ForScore. I have literally hundreds of songs and instruction books in there and can call stuff up instantly on gigs. It's changed my entire live reading system.

Just make sure to name every page when you add them. That way ForScore will have everything alphabetized for easy reference.
 
#62
It's do-able, but I have found that resolution setting are make or break. I had a chart with notation I made by hand, "scanned" in into my device as a photo and then brought that in to forScore Could barely read it. Just make sure you get a high enough resolution image.

I have used forScore, iGigPad, OnSong here and there for chart. For performance (lead singer/bass) I use SetLists on iPad - reads a text file that you can edit on the fly, make whatever notations you want and it comes out as a telepromter style readout - (black background, green font) I can see that a mile away regardless of lighting conditions. Very dynamic for arranging, rearranging setlists based on a song catalog. I also use the Cicada page flip bluetooth pedal - it was a bit buggy until I figured out how to use it properly; now I can count on it to work at a gig no problems.

If I have word docs or PDFs, SetLists in not so useful. I revert to OnSong for that.


Already In Use said:
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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#64
Pacman said:
GigBook does, and doesit extremely well.
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Very cool. I write up simple chord and lyric sheets for my band- this would be a helpful way to save space. I also really love the way this side mount stand works- it would mean I might actually be able to position music in a way I could read it with my terrible eyesight:
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#65
DirtDog said:
It's do-able, but I have found that resolution setting are make or break. I had a chart with notation I made by hand, "scanned" in into my device as a photo and then brought that in to forScore Could barely read it. Just make sure you get a high enough resolution image.

I have used forScore, iGigPad, OnSong here and there for chart. For performance (lead singer/bass) I use SetLists on iPad - reads a text file that you can edit on the fly, make whatever notations you want and it comes out as a telepromter style readout - (black background, green font) I can see that a mile away regardless of lighting conditions. Very dynamic for arranging, rearranging setlists based on a song catalog. I also use the Cicada page flip bluetooth pedal - it was a bit buggy until I figured out how to use it properly; now I can count on it to work at a gig no problems.

If I have word docs or PDFs, SetLists in not so useful. I revert to OnSong for that.
Click to expand...


Thanks. I am getting through learning On Song, I like it so far. Haven't performed with it yet. Peace:bassist:
 
#66
fivestringgecko said:
ForScore has a page peek feature... you can turn "half-page turns" on and off in the settings menu. Screen shot below. ;)
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Mobilesheets for Android will be introducing that exact feature soon! I'm waiting with baited breath! :hyper:

fivestringgecko said:
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 :D

5sg.
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I've got that issue sorted out now with a little adjustment of the debounce settings. :D
 
#67
Interesting thread. I've not gone electronic with chart display yet but this is pretty cool.

The only contribution I have is this: if you need a mechanism for creating PDFs there is a free application called cutepdf writer. My printer has a scan capability, but it only creates image files. CutePDF writer installs as a printer on your pc and so you can select the pages that you want to print and it creates a PDF file. I'm not sure if it's available for mac's but it might be.

I hope this is helpful to someone.

Jim
 
#68
What I've been doing is copying my chord charts (or rewriting them in) OpenOffice, a really nice freeware word processor, which has "export to PDF" as a standard option. OpenOffice also lets you alter the margins to parameters you can't print from, which some processors don't allow for. This means you can eliminate the margins altogether, as they aren't necessary on an iPad. Also, the page length of an iPad is a bit more than the 11" standard on word processors. I've been setting mine at 11.12", which fits a bit more on there without cutting anything off- it's enough to sometimes let you increase chord chart letters another font size up.
 
#69
Our jam band has been using Songbook by Linkesoft with Dropbox as storage. Songbook works on all the various platforms too, including smart phones. Uses the Chordpro format so transposing into another key is just a matter of a mouse click/finger tap.
 
#70
Pacman said:
Cool - it's much easier in GigBook - it's a built in feature.
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There was an update on ForScore this week and this feature was added. Amongst a bunch of other cool stuff, there's now a dedicated setlist icon, which makes things much easier for me.

I've been going back and forth between forScore and OnSong. OnSong has some really interesting features like quick transposing, showing chord fingerings with audio when touching a chord, etc. The only problem is that you have to have your files in Chordpro/OnSong/txt format for that to work, and that's just been really difficult to work with as you don't have the same choices you get when making a chart in Word or OpenOffice.
 
#73
If you need to carry entire RealBooks along with you, I strongly recommend iGigBook.. The reason being is that they provide indexes to most of the common fake books, so if you have the PDF files already, you can load them all into the app, and then search for any tune, and it will show you a list of every fakebook with that song, then you just tap to load the sheet. VERY handy for jazz jam sessions when you don't know what songs are going to be called.
 
#74
Do you know how I can extract one page from a pdf? I couldnt find a way in gigbook. As far as I could understand I would have to take a screenshot, convert it to pdf, let dropbox sync it and finally upload it in gigbook. Uffff. Is there a better way?
 
#76
Ukiah Bass said:
Has anyone figured out how to use iPad for reading charts on gigs outside? In the bright sunshine, especially while wearing Polaroid sunglasses, everything on the iPad screen disappears. I have to use paper charts outside. Would be interested in a solution for this very practical issue as most of my gigs are outdoors.
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I believe this sunglass phenomena only happens in portrait view. Use landscape and you should be OK.
 
#79
lsabina said:
You think I jest? Seriously...check it out. There are lots of articles on this.
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Actually, I'm aware of this, but landscape creates a different issue: the charts become too small to see. I'm barely able to see them in portrait mode and much prefer 8.5" x 11" paper. Just saying, the iPad isn't a great solution for everything. And I'm a huge fan, otherwise!
 
#80
Ukiah Bass said:
Actually, I'm aware of this, but landscape creates a different issue: the charts become too small to see. I'm barely able to see them in portrait mode and much prefer 8.5" x 11" paper. Just saying, the iPad isn't a great solution for everything. And I'm a huge fan, otherwise!
Click to expand...

Cool. I have that problem too. At least when I use forScore with my foot controller, it'll "turn" half pages only in landscape mode. Somewhat of a drag to use it this way though, too much footwork!
 

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