tablet for gigging

[Captain Jim]

Originally Posted by Wyllys

PROFESSIONALS

When "free" just won't do...

This is why I provide quality, professional sound reinforcement for events. While you're up there playing for free, I'm making a comfortable living providing the stage, power, sound system and engineering. I then go home and pick a bit of music for the cats.

Good to find your niche! I spent a lot of years schlepping equipment. I've never had a gig where I could just walk up, plug in, and start... sounds good to me!

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On edit: regarding the use of a "prompt" while playing... I used to think any kind of a prompt was a sign that the player didn't really know the song. A few years ago, I started using an iPad while playing, and the number of songs I was comfortable playing expanded greatly... especially if someone has a request for something I haven't played in months. So, another iPad/OnSong user here; I find it great for set lists, too; easy to change on the fly, as well.

While I don't care what another player thinks, I do want to please the audience. I will glance at the iPad if I need the prompt (How does that second verse start?), but I don't "read" from it. If I see someone using an iPad now, I think: "He can afford an iPad - must be doing OK!" ;-)

[guitargabor]

The op is not asking about the philosophy of using visual aids during music presentation.

I am also looking at tablet options but reading many of the replies isn’t very informative .

[hotwired]

The question asked though is "what kind of tablet" not "should you use one or not".

I am leaning toward a samsung after reading this post. I can actually get by with "lyric prompts" (i.e. just seeing them there gives me the security in my head so I don't forget) but I use my phone! Not enough....I was not aware of the "view" and might just go for that. I'd LOVE to try iPad but have never owned an apple product. Hearing lots of good things about this MobileSheets and will PROBABLY go with that. I generally need ONLY lyrics, NOT Chords and in fact would be too much up in my head vs. heart if I had to read chords too, I think.

What do you all think about a smaller tab like the Tab3 or 4 with 8-9 inch screen? Too small?

[CASD57]

Originally Posted by macmanmatty

I hate to say this but, using a tablet makes you look unprofessional. It tells people that you can't be bothered to actually put in the effort required to learn the songs or don't have skills to do so and have to read off of a cheat sheet instead. I would try and learn the songs / chords / charts / scales / licks rather than read them off of a tablet if at all possible.

Disagree...
I played with a Country Band that the Lead was a Nashville picker and we all used Music Stands...How else can you take request...from a catalog of over 200 hundred songs?
People don't care...they are there for entertainment. They don't care about your guitar...your amp...or anything else other than you do the songs well and with the right amount of dance songs mixed for fast and slow dancing....with some ballads thrown in...
The only one who cares about a music stands is someone's ego.

[FrankHudson]

As to the "it violates the audience's expectation/hurts your performance impact" question, depends on context and is similar to music stands while being less intrusive. Dance band? Not much a factor. Orchestra or even an intimate setting with a string quartet? Almost expected. Small folk club? May be noticed, may violate audience expectations. Jazz combo in a club? May go either way, but likely a low impact.

Punk show with lots of beer, bodily fluids, stage diving, and the mic stand being swung around like a drum major's baton? Well....

I have not actually used a tablet for lyrics or cheat sheets yet, but someday I likely will.

My experience with a small Samsung Android tablet (in other uses) was not satisfactory. Worked OK for a year or two, but I expected longer service life. Eventually the battery just swelled up and split the case open. This was in gentle, mostly indoor use. Sample of one. YMMV.

I have a quite old iPad (first "Retina model") and it still works fine, though it's now hampered by not being able to run the latest IOS, which limits the apps I can add. I use Apple products, not as a fanboy (indeed sometimes I use them somewhat reluctantly, which has it's irrational elements too) and would recommend an lower-end iPad as being a cost-effective option that will likely work better longer.

As to size, I don't have your eyes or know the distance you need to read. Thankfully Apple has at least three sizes.

[JimCA]

One of iPad's key features for music is its 3 x 4 aspect ratio, closely mimicking the 8.5" x 11" printed page (and the 12.9" iPad Pro is close in size). Most other tablets are 9 x 16 (or skinnier), optimal for video but not for scores.

[CASD57]

Originally Posted by JimCA

One of iPad's key features for music is its 3 x 4 aspect ratio, closely mimicking the 8.5" x 11" printed page (and the 12.9" iPad Pro is close in size). Most other tablets are 9 x 16 (or skinnier), optimal for video but not for scores.

I have an Amazon Fire, bought it when it went on sale last year for $50, ive installed guitar tapp pro,. It works good, just have not got the auto-speed perfected yet as i seem to change tempo as needed [emoji3]

[tonyo]

Originally Posted by nedley

I use an iPad with OnSong
Not the cheapest option but take a look at OnSong before you buy a tablet if an iPad is a possibility. OnSong is only for iOS but is very handy. I've got over 800 songs in mine.

I'm a mac fan boi from way back. Bought a 2nd hand iPad mini for $100 4 years ago and put onsong on it. Works very well.

If you use your own pdfs, onsong doesn't come into it's own. You can't use the transpose feature, etc.

If you enter the songs in onsong format (it's an easy text format), then any song can be transposed, and song sheets with chord charts (including custom fingerings) are easily done.

I can share my own onsong backup which has hundreds of songs, just send me a pm

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by hotwired

The question asked though is "what kind of tablet" not "should you use one or not".

I am leaning toward a samsung after reading this post.

What do you all think about a smaller tab like the Tab3 or 4 with 8-9 inch screen? Too small?

Hi hw

This is a zombie thread (several years old) so a lot of the original info is pretty outdated.

Of course a smaller screen (8-9 inches) can work if your eyes can read it.

I find it better if your tablet or app have reverse screen mode. It's easier on many people's eyes to run the screen black with white lettering. Plus your tablet doesn't turn into a spotlight when stage lighting is low as well.

The real key to any tablet working is the app which displays songs, and how easily it can be setup for lists, and how fast you can alter them (or find requests) on the fly.

I've been using the same app on my iPads now for 9 years. It handles everything I need, and the list building/altering capability is amazing. The biggest thing to me is IT IS STILL BEING SUPPORTED, IMPROVED, AND UPDATED. Many apps are not…so read reviews.

These days there are music reading apps for all the main platforms. Apple, Android, Mac, Windows…you will be covered no matter which choice you make.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by tonyo

I'm a mac fan boi from way back. Bought a 2nd hand iPad mini for $100 4 years ago and put onsong on it. Works very well.

If you use your own pdfs, onsong doesn't come into it's own. You can't use the transpose feature, etc.

If you enter the songs in onsong format (it's an easy text format), then any song can be transposed, and song sheets with chord charts (including custom fingerings) are easily done.

I can share my own onsong backup which has hundreds of songs, just send me a pm

Hi tonyo

This little zombie resurrected thread has been fun.

I'm a Mac guy, and at age 71 my eyes are not what there were a decade ago, so I bumped up to the iPad Pro 12.9" and what a relief it's been to my eyes on stage.

I don't need transpose features (I can transpose on the fly in my head), and all my charts are in pdf format. I have nearly 400 songs in my backup.

I tried the three 'big ones' for iPad (Onsong, ForScore, & unrealBook) and for my usage, unrealBook is best.

Onsong has become so 'bulky' and over-featured. If I were managing an entire Worship Team for a church who needed to have the coordination across several on stage iPads, it would be my choice.

ForScore is for reading, marking, and running scores…something the average guitarist (outside the classical realm) doesn't need.

And unrealBook has been being improved and updated for over 9 years now. The developer is active, and answers e-mails in lightning speed, knows his app and is friendly to deal with.

All three are great apps. One just needs to know what he/she needs. Sounds like that is what Onsong is for you.

[tonyo]

Hey Larry. Good stuff. I may upgrade to a larger ipad when this one dies.

On stage I only use the iPad for my setlist, I play only songs I've memorized when doing open mic / festival sets.

Where the mini works well is at a jam as it can sit on my knee. I have the blue tooth air pedal but rarely use it, the auto scroll works pretty good for me.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by tonyo

Hey Larry. Good stuff. I may upgrade to a larger ipad when this one dies.

On stage I only use the iPad for my setlist, I play only songs I've memorized when doing open mic / festival sets.

Where the mini works well is at a jam as it can sit on my knee. I have the blue tooth air pedal but rarely use it, the auto scroll works pretty good for me.

Hi tonyo

Yup - I memorize songs, but load the set lists in for Worship Team - usually I'm about ⅘ of the way through the set and notice the iPad is still setting on the first song.

When I'm leading for our monthly prayer, I know I'm responsible for 10-15 minutes of impromptu worship, and have a 20 song set list for the year (some of which go back 30 years) so I use the iPad to give me access to some of the older ones to jog my brain. At age 71, I need a bit-o-help now and then.

[JimCA]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi tonyo

This little zombie resurrected thread has been fun.

I'm a Mac guy, and at age 71 my eyes are not what there were a decade ago, so I bumped up to the iPad Pro 12.9" and what a relief it's been to my eyes on stage.

I don't need transpose features (I can transpose on the fly in my head), and all my charts are in pdf format. I have nearly 400 songs in my backup.

I tried the three 'big ones' for iPad (Onsong, ForScore, & unrealBook) and for my usage, unrealBook is best.

Onsong has become so 'bulky' and over-featured. If I were managing an entire Worship Team for a church who needed to have the coordination across several on stage iPads, it would be my choice.

ForScore is for reading, marking, and running scores…something the average guitarist (outside the classical realm) doesn't need.

And unrealBook has been being improved and updated for over 9 years now. The developer is active, and answers e-mails in lightning speed, knows his app and is friendly to deal with.

All three are great apps. One just needs to know what he/she needs. Sounds like that is what Onsong is for you.

Hi Larry,

I'm a happy ForScore user, it does the things I need -- my only criticism is that its loaded with things I don't need. So I'd be willing to change for an overall simpler alternative, if there are other benefits.

So, what does unrealBook do that ForScore does not?

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by JimCA

Hi Larry,

I'm a happy ForScore user, it does the things I need -- my only criticism is that its loaded with things I don't need. So I'd be willing to change for an overall simpler alternative, if there are other benefits.

So, what does unrealBook do that ForScore does not?

Hi Jim

I have not even opened ForScore for a few years. I don't need to read scores or follow the markings in them. I do need to quickly build and edit lists (re-order songs) and have drop down lists and modify lists. ForScore's tools are built for scores, and unrealBooks are built for managing song lists.

unrealBook does all those amazingly well, and I'm hoping that with the addition of being able to directly import into iPads with the new upcoming iOS version (2019 fall) that we will have even more direct import access from the FILES app.

The power or unrealBook has always been the quick list management - loading/storing/accessing/modifying song lists. I can start a new list (from over 400 songs), add 5-10 songs, order them and save it in under 60 seconds. Then I can modify that list from a drop down even when displaying a song in under 20 seconds, and I can jump around in the list from the same dropdown, and reorder the list from the drop down.

And I can pull up lists I built years ago from anywhere in the program as well as mark up songs (non-destructive marking) which I can later re-modify when I need to do that particular song with a different group, or in a different key.

The power of ForScore used to be not only displaying scores, but marking them to jump forward/back in a score for repeats, codas, specific passages, first and second endings etc. within the score. Those 'jumps' can be triggered by a bluetooth pedal. I don't know what other features they have added over the years.

It's like Onsong which has added so many features that it's hard without an owner manual to even know what it is capable of. If you are already good/proficient with ForScore, why learn a new program?