What app is the best for onstage iPad lyrics

[Tnfiddler]

What app is the easiest and best if you’re using an iPad/tablet for lyrics, onstage?

[gfirob]

I just use Pages, which is free from Apple. I make a play list and then any lyrics I am uncertain about I add to the end of the playlist (which is in a table format). You can flip down a page with very little effort with one finger, and the whole thing attaches to a sprung clamp on the mic stand. It is easy to edit or change on my laptop or desktop computer and once loaded into the ipad, it stays there, no need for wifi or any other kind of connections. Very simple and free. Compared to friends that use ring binders and music stands it is much simpler and faster.

[BlueStarfish]

With the caveat that I use it mainly for the practice room not stage … I really like ForScore. You can easily load in PDF’s of whatever music format you like best (lyric sheets from a word processor, printed or hand-written lead sheets, Nashville, etc.) And then add metadata to organize your library as you like. Easily build set lists.. You can also easily annotate the PDF’s with your performance notes, lyric corrections, etc. You’ll have to produce the PDF’s themselves with a different piece of software, but for the purpose of organizing your library and making playback easy, it’s great. It can sync with a Bluetooth page turner pedal as well, if you need it.

[xjojox]

I use Lyrics+

You can import files, make song lists, make setlists, and for long songs you can set it to auto-scroll. Cool little app.

I only rarely use an ipad onstage but Lyrics+ works nicely when i do.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

What app is the easiest and best if you’re using an iPad/tablet for lyrics, onstage?

Hi Tnfiddler…
Pages is not a good choice for building flexible lists which are easy to create store, keep songs separated, and load quickly and amend easily.

I use an app called UnrealBook (it's been around around a decade and a half). Another commonly used one is OnSong (which has now gone to a subscription model).

Both of these are robust apps with tons of perks…

OnSong will read Text, Chord Pro Text, and pdf. This is the app for people who write songs, and most of their charts are in text format (versus pdf). The subscription is $2-$4 per month.

UnrealBook ($9.99 one time on the App store) only reads pdf files. It stores songs in an alphabetized and indexed list inside the app. Worth the $10 if you have a ready source for pdf files.

Other folks will wade in with some of their choices, I'm sure. Tomorrow I'll ask a friend who uses one which auto-scrolls through the lyrics top to bottom rather than page 1, page 2 etc.

I play in Worship Team settings often, and my iPad with UnrealBook is hooked to a foot-pedal which turns pages (both forward and backward) and I have about 600 song files in the internal 'library'.

I can quickly upload copies of new pdf song sheets to my Dropbox and then download them into the app and then add them to new or existing song lists.

I also use the Apple Pencil to alter and annotate charts (pretty heavily and regularly).

If I were writing music and creating my own chord charts (a lot of writers do this), then I'd go with OnSong because of the ability to format text files easily and position the chords directly over the proper lyric syllables. It uses a very simple to learn/use language called ChordPro.

And OnSong can extract text from pdf files and then convert them to chord pro.

Just scratching the surface here.

I've had lots of friends try cheap apps only later to return to something substantial which can organize songs, easily build lists, and turn pages by a tap on the side of the screen, or a foot switch.

Hope this helps…

[jjbigfly]

Onsong works for me, and I am unable to comprehend modern electronics…..

[leew3]

another OnSong user here. I bought the app before the subscription fee was in place so it was a one time buy. I find it to be very useful and practical. Our duo has around 200 songs loaded in and we use our iPads live mainly just for reference on occasion. At my age lyrics can be elusive!

[Nymuso]

I have one called Setlists which I use rarely, but when I do I use it in concert with a Bluetooth page turner called Firefly. This set up allows me to set the size of the font large enough to read a a good distance and to advance pages as need to accommodate the font.

I have tried some other popular apps but keep coming back to Setlists

[latentaudio]

I've used Forscore probably since ~2011. It has been 100% reliable since the day I first used it. The company is great to respond to questions and the app is frequently updated with new features and improvements.

It's easy to import PDFs from just about any cloud platform and you can share scores with other ForScore users even while at a gig.

[Jeffreykip]

This is a useful thread - thanks.

[BillyH]

Mobilesheets works for me. Many features that give flexibility to use many different ways. Can create setlist easily

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by leew3

…At my age lyrics can be elusive!

Hi leew3…

Boy some days that is SO true…

Others I'm good to go.

I usually memorize and just reference charts and lyrics as needed too.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by BillyH

Mobilesheets works for me. Many features that give flexibility to use many different ways. Can create setlist easily

Hi BillyH…
Many of my Window's friends use this as their chart reader. I've seen it in action and it's very simple, supported, and useful.

OnSong, UnrealBook, & ForScore all started as iPad apps, and all now added support for other platforms.

Mobilesheets started as Windows and has added Android and iPadOS.

The catalogue features, import processes, and ongoing support are the things to consider.

I have a friend who spent weeks importing all his songs only to have the 'free' app he chose go out of business
(it was not being updated or supported, and with a system update to his tablet, it died).

Lots of hours wasted, and the need to move the files to a different app.

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by BlueStarfish

With the caveat that I use it mainly for the practice room not stage … I really like ForScore. You can easily load in PDF’s of whatever music format you like best (lyric sheets from a word processor, printed or hand-written lead sheets, Nashville, etc.) And then add metadata to organize your library as you like. Easily build set lists.. You can also easily annotate the PDF’s with your performance notes, lyric corrections, etc. You’ll have to produce the PDF’s themselves with a different piece of software, but for the purpose of organizing your library and making playback easy, it’s great. It can sync with a Bluetooth page turner pedal as well, if you need it.

I use that as well.

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by leew3

another OnSong user here. I bought the app before the subscription fee was in place so it was a one time buy. I find it to be very useful and practical. Our duo has around 200 songs loaded in and we use our iPads live mainly just for reference on occasion. At my age lyrics can be elusive!

Ditto. Apparently it's too late to buy the non-subscription version.