More digital music readers

[BflatBass]

The horse isn't quite dead yet so I'm going to ask some more question on this topic.

Anyone out there using a Microsoft Surface Pro for reading music? I'm getting quite serious about buying a tablet/laptop for music reading as the dance band I'm in uses two books now with about 130 songs total. I'm getting really tired of lugging those things around and I can afford to go digital now so I want to make a good choice.
I've read the threads on the Apple products and Chromebooks. I've heard good things about the Surface line of tablets. If y'all are using one which software do you use for reading music?

Thanks for any input,
Robert

[brumpone]

I use my Surface Pro 4 for everything (mostly software development), and love it. I have the vastly overpowered i7 version with 16GB RAM.
I'm a fan of Drawboard PDF which has great touch support and was bundled with it, but I have no experience using a BlueTooth page turn device folk on this forum have mentioned, or what Windows software would operate with it. Swiping for page turns isn't ideal, but no worse than paper, I guess.
It may be a bit large for most music/mic stand mounts. I play casually at home when I manage to make time, so normally use the kick stand on top of a raised ironing board!
I saw what looks like a great deal here: https://store.boingboing.net/sales/micr ... efurbished

[BflatBass]

I ended up posting this thread too early. Just ordered an Acer Chromebook. After all the looking and research it's the most bang for the buck. Found a "renewed" version on Amazon for a little over $200.
As soon as I receive it and all is in working order I'll try MobileSheets and possibly a finger style page turner.

Cheers,
Robert

[Matt K]

I don't know which version of the Surface I have but I have one that's a few years old. I previously used an iPad with ForScore. There are some easier things about that (modifying the music with a stylus for example) but for library management, MobileSheets is way better for me. Some of the chromebooks can run Android apps; hopefully yours lets you use those otherwise I don't know of a chrome app that would take its place!

I purchased a tablet holder for a camera tripod. From there, I added a neodymium magnet to it and a backplate on a case I purchased for the surface. So far, it's worked fantastic and the magnet alone is enough to hold it in place but I like having the extra security of the arms around it as well.

One thing about the MobileSheets that's great is that if you have a Windows PC, you can install the software there as well (though if you buy Android you have to buy both the Windows and Android versions). Then you can do all your library management on the PC and then sync it to the tablet over Wifi or bluetooth. I'm in a band where the leader spends a ridiculous amount of time curating his library and he pushes out new songs every couple of weeks. With MobileSheets it takes about 5 minutes a month to add everything and I have a perfectly up-to-date library w/o lugging around a huge box of music.

I don't personally have a page turning switch. If I have a song with bad page turns, I flip the tablet sideways so I can see two pages next to one another. I've only encountered a handful of songs that had weird codas that this did not account for. My solution was to just copy the pages so it was able to be read linearly. It's cumbersome but since I've had few songs that didn't work for it has been less than probably 15 minutes in my entire time using MobileSheets to get weird songs like that to be readable.

[SimmonsTrombone]

I played for a short time in a combo where we all used iPads. We synced them so that the leader would load the next piece on his iPad and the music would load on everyone’s iPad. Do the surfaces sync in this way?

[brumpone]

Do the surfaces sync in this way?

That would be dependent on software. I’ve not looked for this feature, but there might be something out there that does it.

[Matt K]

I played for a short time in a combo where we all used iPads. We synced them so that the leader would load the next piece on his iPad and the music would load on everyone’s iPad. Do the surfaces sync in this way?

That sounds like pretty specialized software. I'm not aware of that feature in Mobile sheets but unless ForScore has drastically changed since I last used it I don't recall it being available either. I'd be interested in knowing that if you happen to remember what app it was.

[jthomas105]

Maybe he was just using the Airdrop feature.

[SimmonsTrombone]

I played for a short time in a combo where we all used iPads. We synced them so that the leader would load the next piece on his iPad and the music would load on everyone’s iPad. Do the surfaces sync in this way?

That sounds like pretty specialized software. I'm not aware of that feature in Mobile sheets but unless ForScore has drastically changed since I last used it I don't recall it being available either. I'd be interested in knowing that if you happen to remember what app it was.

I think it was Unreal Books on the iPad. However, I think it was the iPad’s ability to sync, iirc by Bluetooth, that made this work. It was very convenient in noisy situation. You didn’t have to hear the leader call the next tune - it just popped up on the screen.

[afugate]

One thing about the MobileSheets that's great is that if you have a Windows PC, you can install the software there as well (though if you buy Android you have to buy both the Windows and Android versions). Then you can do all your library management on the PC and then sync it to the tablet over Wifi or bluetooth.

I wish I could do this with ForScore.

I've only encountered a handful of songs that had weird codas that this did not account for. My solution was to just copy the pages so it was able to be read linearly. It's cumbersome but since I've had few songs that didn't work for it has been less than probably 15 minutes in my entire time using MobileSheets to get weird songs like that to be readable.

I really like how ForScore handles codas. I use the link feature for that. The link creates a blue touch bubble and when I touch it to go back, it also highlights on the landing page the corresponding bubble. Very handy!

My favorite feature in ForScore is the ability to crop and deskew images.

--Andy in OKC

[BflatBass]

According to my research the version of Chromebook I bought can upload Android apps. MobileSheets looks like it will work for me. I haven't chosen a page turner but I'd like to get used to using one.
Idk, this is all new stuff so we'll see how it goes. I like the idea of syncing a Windows PC to the Chromebook with MobileSheets. I'll definitely make use of that!

Thanks for all the info. Very useful.

Cheers,
Robert

[Matt K]

I really like how ForScore handles codas. I use the link feature for that. The link creates a blue touch bubble and when I touch it to go back, it also highlights on the landing page the corresponding bubble. Very handy!



My favorite feature in ForScore is the ability to crop and deskew images.

--Andy in OKC

The cropping is definitely something that I miss although I use NAPS2 to scan everything and it lets me crop while I scan. It's slightly less convenient but its more permanent than forScore. I think forScore has easier markup too and I do like the coda features although when I was using it, I actually still did the manual cut-and-paste style for codas as it handled half-page-turns better when I last used it in... 2016(?).

I think it was Unreal Books on the iPad. However, I think it was the iPad’s ability to sync, iirc by Bluetooth, that made this work. It was very convenient in noisy situation. You didn’t have to hear the leader call the next tune - it just popped up on the screen.

That's pretty slick.

[afugate]

One other plus for iPad...
For those who have an iPhone, AirDrop is extremely handy. We had a gig last year over the holidays where one of the band members left his folder at home. One of our saxes had both digital and hardcopy of his parts. So, we took his iPad and use AirDrop to send the other guys parts to the iPad.

No muss, no fuss. Everything just worked. We did everything on the bandstand.

--Andy in OKC

[BflatBass]

This is an aside from the original post but related.
I ended up purchasing a Chromebook and downloaded MobileSheets Pro. Everything is working great.
But now I have another question about MuseScore related to reading music in the same way.
The quartet music I'm working on now ends up having between 4 and 5 pages of music per part. So for this reason it's easier to use the Chromebook for reading the music when playing/practicing but I'm wondering if I can bypass the step of printing the music first, then scanning and uploading into the Chromebook to use it in MobileSheets.
Is it possible to use MuseScore as a music reader and also be able to use my foot operated page turner?
Has anyone ever used MuseScore this way?
If I can it would save me some printer ink and time and hoops to jump through before I start practicing/recording the parts.

Thanks for any input,
Robert

[BGuttman]

MuseScore exports PDFs. Is that what the reader program uses?

[BflatBass]

MuseScore exports PDFs. Is that what the reader program uses?

You know, after I posted that reply I went back into MuseScore and saw that "export" command in the File pull down menu. That pretty much does what I'm looking for. I still read the music with MobileSheets but I don't have to print, then scan then download. Once I export to a PDF format, I just upload to Google Drive (cloud) then download to the Chromebook. Saves me steps and printer ink.

Robert

[ssking2b]

iPad 7 - WiFi and 32GB storage $279 on Amazon
AirTurn B200-2 bluetooth page turner $79 on Amazon
iGigBook software $14.99 at Apple App Store

You can use your own pdf charts and sync tons of pdf fakebooks to the iGigBook software. This is the system I a using, and it is flawless.

[timothy42b]

Philip,
That's a really good price.
The 7 is a 10.2 inch screen, as opposed to the 12.9 of the pro - do you find that's big enough?

[afugate]

iPad 7 - WiFi and 32GB storage $279 on Amazon
AirTurn B200-2 bluetooth page turner $79 on Amazon
iGigBook software $14.99 at Apple App Store

AirTurn sells refurbished/open box equipment for a discount. The equipment comes with a full 1 year warranty. I have purchased from them twice in the past and had good experiences both times.

https://store.airturn.com/collections/refurbished

I use the PedPro. I really like that AirTurn included a space for a spare battery.
--Andy in OKC

[timothy42b]

I have a new Kindle Fire 10. With libraries closed I'm downloading books to the Kindle, and my old 8 was showing signs of failing.

So I didn't buy it to read music, but do want to test the screen size before buying an iPad or other.

I downloaded Mobilesheets thinking it would let me use the camera to scan music in, but apparently not. Am I stuck with using my flatbed printer/scanner, emailing the results (PDF, JPG, PNG?) and reading email on the Fire? or is there an easier way.

[timothy42b]

Update on the Kindle 10 and Mobilesheets.

I scanned a good bit of practice stuff on my scanner. I also discovered Mobilesheets itself has a camera button. The free version limits you to 8 songs, something I didn't find out until I put 20 files on the Kindle.

My scanner only does jpg, but I printed to PDF to merge pages anyway. The results are really good, but that 10 inch screen is limiting. It's fine for practice material I've seen before, not sure how it would do sightreading.

I store on a microSD card rather than the Kindle's internal. A 64Gb card is less than $15 and I don't see how I'd ever fill it up. (the one issue is that they come formatted in exFAT32 and the Kindle can only read FAT32. I had to use a third party program (Easeus) to reformat it, none of my windows variations could do it.)

I like the screen of the iPad Pro, I have one for work. I don't like that they have no external storage slot. And Mobilesheets is fairly intuitive even for an old geezer like me. If I stay with this I'll buy the paid version.