recommend a tablet for live shows

[hbarcat]

Transferring stuff into the iPad requires iTunes which does not run on Linux. no real biggie, however, to get my music into Songsheet Pro on the iPad, I have to first copy the PDF into the "Books" program and then export it to songsheet Pro with a pile of adjustments to suite.

Whoa, I don't like that at all!

I want to keep things simple, which means I can just dump whatever I have (PDFs, Text, JPEGs, mp3s, WMAs, etc..) on my Windows laptop onto my tablet.

If I'm forced to jump through Apple hoops just to do simple stuff like that, then I will be most unhappy.

 

[Jefenator]

This is an example of what I want a page to look like. Actually, most pages will be simpler than this.



WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN - CCR
(G Major)


V1 -- Long as I remember . . .

V2 -- I went down Virginia . . .

[Add guitar solo] (same chords as Verse)

[Bridge] C / G / D . . . . A / C / E

V3 -- Heard the singers playing . . .



* No 'B' V1

# Trigger moonflower lights after bridge

* V3 starts Lagato
with early harmony vox

You could almost display that on a phone.
No joke - for my latest phone update, I went to a bigger screen in no small part so I could read stuff onstage (in my case chord charts) in a pinch.

 

[Pilgrim]

If you're a PC/Android guy like me, don't mess with an iPad. You will be much happier navigating PC to Android file maneuvers.

Also, there are used Android tablets at much, much lower prices than used iPads.

I agree that much of the music industry is Apple based. Screw that. If I knew then what I knew now, I would not have gotten an iPad. I've learned to do things with it, but it always - always - takes me at least twice as long as an Android would, and the process is never ever intuitive.

BTW - the sample you gave of what you want to see on your tablet is something you can write yourself with much less brain damage than trying to convert files. The software I use shows the lyrics throughout the whole song and each key change where it occurs in the lyrics. I add notes as needed and where needed.

 

[Jefenator]

I don't particularly like bits of fruit. BUT, I currently use an iPad that I inherited from my wife. Music production software seems to be predominantly apple based.

Whilst it serves me adequately. I get frustrated wither the Apple way of doing things as all of my music has been developed on a PC over the decades. Transferring stuff into the iPad requires iTunes which does not run on Linux. no real biggie, however, to get my music into Songsheet Pro on the iPad, I have to first copy the PDF into the "Books" program and then export it to songsheet Pro with a pile of adjustments to suite. Sadly, this appears to be one of the best solutions to my problem. My recommendation is to do a lot of research into the software that best serves your purpose and then purchase the hardware to suit.

My future plans are more likely to include a touchscreen laptop.

I haven't used iTunes once yet to transfer files to my iPad.
I use AirDrop or folders in the Apple cloud. (Assimilation has its perks.)
But Dropbox works in much the same way - in fact that's what I started out with.
Having your charts in the cloud for easy sharing & emergency backup is a significant advantage of tablet reading life IMHO.
Google drive might also be worth looking into - especially if you go the Droid route.

 

[Pilgrim]

The only way I have ever found to reliably transfer documents to the iPad is Dropbox. Everything else is FUBAR beyond description. That actually works OK because my band keeps their Chordpro files in a Dropbox account so I can download them easily into the software I use.

For me, transferring music with iTunes is roughly akin to jumping up and down on one leg while rubbing your stomach clockwise with one hand and rubbing the top of your head counterclockwise with the other. I'd like to slap the silly SOB who invented it.

Where is the problem with saving a file to a folder, then opening the folder on another machine and uploading the file??? In this regard, PC logic has it absolutely right.

And the only way I can transfer video from PC to the iPad is to use VLC: Connect iPad and PC to the same wireless network. Open VLC on the tablet and note the network IP number VLC is connected to on the iPad. Then open VLC on my PC and use VLC to transfer the files. It works amazingly well, which means that it's nothing Apple had anything to do with. The process can be found online with some searching.

 

[Phil Smith]

I don't particularly like bits of fruit. BUT, I currently use an iPad that I inherited from my wife. Music production software seems to be predominantly apple based.

Whilst it serves me adequately. I get frustrated wither the Apple way of doing things as all of my music has been developed on a PC over the decades. Transferring stuff into the iPad requires iTunes which does not run on Linux. no real biggie, however, to get my music into Songsheet Pro on the iPad, I have to first copy the PDF into the "Books" program and then export it to songsheet Pro with a pile of adjustments to suite. Sadly, this appears to be one of the best solutions to my problem. My recommendation is to do a lot of research into the software that best serves your purpose and then purchase the hardware to suit.

My future plans are more likely to include a touchscreen laptop.

I don't know what version of iOS is running on your device but the Files App can be used to transfer PDF files that you have downloaded from a Cloud Service Provider such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. If you have access to a Mac you can use Finder to copy files to and from your Mac and your device. iTunes is no longer required to do that on a Mac.

 

[Phil Smith]

My main issue with Android tablets is that they're designed for watching video and not reading documents. I have a Galaxy S7+ 12.4 inch which is a nice tablet but it has less viewing real estate that my iPad 12.9 inch.

 

[Phil Smith]

The only way I have ever found to reliably transfer documents to the iPad is Dropbox. Everything else is FUBAR beyond description. That actually works OK because my band keeps their Chordpro files in a Dropbox account so I can download them easily into the software I use.

For me, transferring music with iTunes is roughly akin to jumping up and down on one leg while rubbing your stomach clockwise with one hand and rubbing the top of your head counterclockwise with the other. I'd like to slap the silly SOB who invented it.

Where is the problem with saving a file to a folder, then opening the folder on another machine and uploading the file??? In this regard, PC logic has it absolutely right.

And the only way I can transfer video from PC to the iPad is to use VLC: Connect iPad and PC to the same wireless network. Open VLC on the tablet and note the network IP number VLC is connected to on the iPad. Then open VLC on my PC and use VLC to transfer the files. It works amazingly well, which means that it's nothing Apple had anything to do with. The process can be found online with some searching.

I've had no issues with Google Drive.

 

[Pilgrim]

I've had no issues with Google Drive.

To tell you the truth, Google drive and the MS OneDrive both confuse me. (Especially OneDrive...I've never been able to use it on any computer.) I'm sure Google Drive would work, but I shy away from it. Dropbox is a separate function and I'm happier keeping the process separate.

And yes, I did manage classroom technology for a 30,000 student university. It's weird specific stuff like this that frustrates me......

 

[Leigh Semmens]

I am aware of the dropbox/cloud server method, however. if you are in a a situation with no cloud access (yes, it does happen) then that becomes an issue. I prefer to have everything accessible at all times (which means on my computer, tablet). Why is it so hard for apple to realise that drag and drop from a file manager on your home computer to a specific folder on your iDevice is much simpler than either iTunes or uploading to the cloud and re-downloading it.

Anyway, this is way OT. lets get back to the recommendations and appropriate software, too.

 

[fdeck]

Out of curiosity, I fired up an old Google Nexus 7 running Android 6, which I use to play streaming radio in my basement workshop, plugged into a pair of bookshelf speakers. I'm able to display HTML, PDF, DOCX, and TXT files. This is just using the pre-installed apps that came with the device, which was a hand-me-down.

The 7" screen is big enough to read iRealPro chord symbols, but definitely not standard music notation.

Getting files into and out of the device isn't too hard. You can connect it to your PC via a USB cable, and it behaves like a flash drive. Drag and drop the files you want to use. Otherwise, on other devices I use an app called CX File Explorer that lets you get stuff from network drives. My house is set up with one networked disk drive that everybody shares.

Something to think about: Having a friend who already knows their way around a device can go a long way.

Older devices may have limited battery life. Also, you will forget to charge it. Don't leave home without a charger and a long enough cord to power it while it's on your music stand. I played one gig where one of the players had a dead battery on their tablet, and they needed transposed charts, so we were extremely lucky that another band member had a spare charger.

What it seems like is that Android doesn't force you to use their "ecosystem" or anybody else's.

 

[hbarcat]

I am aware of the dropbox/cloud server method, however. if you are in a a situation with no cloud access (yes, it does happen) then that becomes an issue. I prefer to have everything accessible at all times (which means on my computer, tablet). Why is it so hard for apple to realise that drag and drop from a file manager on your home computer to a specific folder on your iDevice is much simpler than either iTunes or uploading to the cloud and re-downloading it.

Anyway, this is way OT. lets get back to the recommendations and appropriate software, too.

No, this is exactly the type of information that I need to hear. I want to be able to take files from my PC, laptop, or phone, stick them in a folder and transfer them directly to my tablet, via USB (or similar tried and true method) The very last thing I want to have to do is use "the cloud", which I have NO IDEA how it works, and then figure out how to use some proprietary apps or software.

Did I forget to mention that I live pretty frugal and don't have internet service at my house? If I need to work online, I either need to use my cel phone's data plan, or access it from work and steal it from there. Whichever method, it makes for a very roundabout way to transfer a few PDF files from one device to another when they're both sitting right in front of me.

 

[discochris]

For most of my playing years, I played in a band that played original music with a few covers. All the originals were written by our lead singer, but the lead guitarist and I wrote our own parts. I think only once in 20 plus years was I asked to play something different. Since I wrote the parts, I didn't need much help. If there was a cover I struggled with, I just had some notes on my set list.

My first show in six years was a couple weeks ago. All oldies covers with some former bandmates. About 55 songs, and while I knew quite a few, there were some that were either more complicated or I wasn't as familiar with. I wrote up a document in Adobe InDesign (I'm a graphic designer by day, so for page layout, it's my go-to - you could use MS Word, or Libre Office which is freeware) with each page the chord progression for a song. I created a PDF of the file, ordered the pages to the set list, and uploaded it to my Samsung tablet.

I had a cell phone/tablet RAM mount for my motorcycle, and I clamped it to a mic stand - just stuff I had laying around. It was discreet and worked perfectly if I needed to look down for some help. Even our lead singer had a tablet for this show, and she's a semi-professional singer.

We played pretty well, the crowd loved us, and we've been asked to play some more shows. I have no shame in using a tablet now. Our drummer has used one for years for different things.

 

[ArtechnikA]

...Whichever method, it makes for a very roundabout way to transfer a few PDF files from one device to another when they're both sitting right in front of me.

I previously mentioned MobileSheets, which IIRC was about $15 and worth it...
The MobileSheets Companion - a free download - enables peer-to-peer connectivity between a PC and a tablet for the purpose of setlist maintenance and file transfer. I use WiFi but it also supports USB.

LibreOffice makes it easy to export almost any document as a PDF and it's free too.

 

[djero44]

I am not an apple guy at all, but I agree the Ipad is a superior product.

There are some good deals on older models around: as long as you don't go more than a year or two it will do more than you need it to for a long time.

From your original post, however, I also think you would be OK with an inexpensive tablet. If you can up your budget closer to $300 I think you can find an iPad, though.

I've never used one on stage, but if I was in a band with 100+ songs I probably would!

 

[Pilgrim]

No, this is exactly the type of information that I need to hear. I want to be able to take files from my PC, laptop, or phone, stick them in a folder and transfer them directly to my tablet, via USB (or similar tried and true method) The very last thing I want to have to do is use "the cloud", which I have NO IDEA how it works, and then figure out how to use some proprietary apps or software.

Did I forget to mention that I live pretty frugal and don't have internet service at my house? If I need to work online, I either need to use my cel phone's data plan, or access it from work and steal it from there. Whichever method, it makes for a very roundabout way to transfer a few PDF files from one device to another when they're both sitting right in front of me.

I agree. I NEVER depend on having connectivity on a tablet that I use for playing music. Every file I need must be on it before I leave home, period. My motto is that if the file isn't on the device, I don't have it.

That's one place where the iPad is a huge pain in the butt. The only dependable way I've found to get text or data files onto it is Dropbox.

I do have a cell plan that lets me set up a hotspot and connect the tablet to it, but that's a time-consuming process and I'd never depend on it for any situation where I'm playing. for that matter, I never assume I will have cell service where I am playing. There are any number of places where cell service is not available.

 

[Vic Winters]

I had an ok enough time with an Amazon HD8 running SongBookPro. I created whatever sheets I needed in Word, exported them to PDF and loaded them on the tablet via USB. SBP then lets you make setlists or you can search alphabetically. It took some time to set up, but it was fine. You can then sync it across devices regardless of platform, but you need to purchase the version for each. I had to buy it for my phone (Android) and my HD8 (Amazon).

Basic 64GB iPads are $250 right now at Target and BestBuy if that you're thinking of going that route.

 

[Jefenator]

A quick Googling turned up some promising hits on transferring from PC to Android. If the hardware can manage, wireless is pretty freaking sweet IME. An app like AirDroid might help with that.
No matter what solution you adopt, there's going to be some learning curve. Most folks seem to manage, but I do know a few who would probably be better off just getting a good stand light (and there's no shame in that).

 

[KenovaBass]

I’ve been using an Apple IPad Pro 12.9 with pencil for a couple of years now. I am using Forescore and have been very happy with it. I have several hundred charts from three different bands separated into 3 different libraries and associated set lists.
I use a google drive and import pdfs directly into ForScore
I also use Finale to write out parts and chord charts the export them as pdfs to the google drive. It has allowed me to dispense with large notebooks and file boxes of music. It also makes handling multi page parts much easier.
You might also want to look at imazing software to backup and exhange between IOS devices and PCs

 

[hbarcat]

So, this arrived for me, today.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8.




I do want to thank all of you for taking the time to reply and comment. Your contributions have been extremely helpful.