Songsheet -> Ipad Workflow

[jaz761]

I'm finally trying to go totally paperless and have been gradually shifting to my 2014 Ipad Mini for everything...though I know I may have replace it soon with something from this decade. I know the reason I have been reluctant to buy a new ipad is that I never wanted to be a guy who played live from an ipad but have come to accept that it can't be avoided. The OS on my Mini is super old and can't be updated further. I use ForScore for now and have been reasonably happy with it.

I am finding the workflow involved in getting songs onto the ipad and into ForScore to be kind of cumbersome and was wondering if anyone had a simpler path to recommend.

For my 30-odd originals, I have converted to PDFs (from Word and Pages) and imported to ForScore by using Dropbox from my laptop to the ipad. This is fine because I have to type up music and lyrics anyway.

I play in a trio and we often use the Ultimate Guitar Tab website to get new tunes going. I think we have about 80-odd tunes, some of which I know by heart and some of which I need to read off the ipad at shows. I currently either copy and paste from the UG website, save into a Pages doc (which I prefer to MS Word) and reformat into something that will occupy a single ipad screen. Reformatting is very cumbersome, I assume there is a better way that I haven't figured out. Anyway, then I convert to PDF and save into Dropbox. Then I go to Dropbox on my ipad and import into the library on ForScore. This seems a little nuts.

I also sometimes play in theater pits and use a bluetooth page flipper but don't want to do that at other gigs. So having tunes on a single page is a goal.

There's got to be a simpler workflow! Also open to ideas on the simplest, smallest new ipad to purchase.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jaz761

…There's got to be a simpler workflow! Also open to ideas on the simplest, smallest new ipad to purchase.

Hi jaz-etc…
My display app on the iPad (unrealBook) has the capability to download files directly from Dropbox into the app's library.

I have Dropbox both on my computer and iPad, so I load into Dropbox directly from the computer, and download files into the iPad directly from the iPad app (it connects to Dropbox and I tell it to download new files).

Cannot speak to simplifying the entire chain you listed, but if you can install files from Dropbox from Forscore, it might eliminate one step.

As with many chart display apps, part of our chart uploading/downloading process may be 'old'. Dropbox has only been with us since 2007, and it has been changed several times to make it easier/faster to access and exchange files. Perhaps there is a direct way for you to drag/drop your converted pdf files on the iPad.

[jjbigfly]

I also use Ultimate Guitar for songs. But, I also use the ON SONG app. I can send the songs direct to the Ipad and into ON SONG in two moves.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jjbigfly

I also use Ultimate Guitar for songs. But, I also use the ON SONG app. I can send the songs direct to the Ipad and into ON SONG in two moves.

Hi jjb…
I want to like ON SONG, and even subscribed to it (which I let lapse at the end of the subscription period). Mostly because it has zero features that improve its use over my old-faithful app I've been using for about 15 years now.

If I were a worship leader, I'd likely learn to harness and use ON SONG…because worship teams are ON SONG's main target, and many high-tech worship teams have a decade and a half relationship with ON SONG which they now are having trouble divorcing from their process.

However, the app "Planning Center" which many 'new-to-tech' churches nowadays employ for inviting, posting, and communicating with teams…also distributes charts and has an inexpensive, built-in companion app which will automatically sync, and display the songs in proper key and order for about any tablet out there (it is for non-tech oriented players).

I have several hundred charts, and because I store many non-church related charts into my iPad, I need a third party display app.

There are several to choose from, and even when they are targeted (like ForScore for orchestras, ON SONG for Worship Teams, unrealBook for any pdf charts and list building/sharing) they work as display apps for whom-ever learns how to harness them.

To me ON SONG is like the Peterson Tuner of display apps. Tons of extra features which I'd never use, at a premium price to the end user.

For most of us those added features are like gold-plating on the turn signals of a car. Pretty…useless.

I own, and love my Peterson clip on tuner, which I usually only use a couple times a year to intonate the octaves on a guitar. And I use it in conjunction with the version which is on my iPad. At the time I bought it, it was a great addition - but other tuners have improved upon it.

Peterson tuners are over the top with features, but too sensitive to tune an instrument in the middle of the band in the middle of a song (which I do most Sundays on Worship Team). If I were an acoustic piano tuner, I'd own one of their strobes for sure.

[jwellsy]

I've been looking for a way to do this without using Apple products.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jwellsy

I've been looking for a way to do this without using Apple products.

Hi jwellsy

There are options for non-Apple devices/tablets and computers.

The name of the app friends of mine use on their non-Apple tablets and Windows laptops is Mobile Sheets. It's been $15 for a while, and I have friends who use it and it does a good job (it's also available for iPads and Windows).

[jwellsy]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi jwellsy

There are options for non-Apple devices/tablets and computers.

The name of the app friends of mine use on their non-Apple tablets and Windows laptops is Mobile Sheets. It's been $15 for a while, and I have friends who use it and it does a good job (it's also available for iPads and Windows).

Thanks for the tip on Mobile Sheets. I'll look into that.

[jaz761]

Thanks for the replies. I’d like to avoid the subscription model if possible and I am comfortable with forscore and Dropbox. There might not be a way to avoid reformatting charts in pages or word or whatever.

[The Bard Rocks]

I too have ForScore and an iPad. I spent a good part of my free time in the first COVID summer getting files over. At first, it was very cumbersome and time-consuming. 28 different steps for each song as I recall. Then I learned a better way that was considerably faster. I should mention that when I started all my songs were already digital, in the computer, something I'd done long ago when I started emailing them.

It was a big job as over 1000 songs were entered, many of them going in two or 3 other files places in ForScore. And I had to type in each title too - each time.

But now, it's a breeze. I "print" them to the desktop. And add the title using a real keyboard at that time. One with room for my fingers. The title will stay with it from now on. I drag them to a folder on the desktop, and from the folder use DropBox to move them magically to my iPad where they appear instantly in a folder there. From that folder, I clone (if duplicates are needed) and assign them to the folder(s) where they will reside. I make sure the titles of my folders in ForScore are short (less typing, less mistakes, less time).

Now, the most time-consuming part of the process is going upstairs to get my iPad. Or so it feels.

Now, I can find and bring up the 1100 different songs there in a few seconds. Assuming I remember the name and can guess which folder they were assigned to, which not normally a problem. There are close to 3000 entrees there now if you count the duplicates. What a blessing to have any song I want, organized and at my fingertips. The only thing faster would be if I had them memorized. (Good luck on that one, Bard.)

I might add that I have arranged things so each song take up no more than 1 pages (there are only 3 exceptions) and there is one song per page, with 14 point type for the lyrics, 18 for the titles. Nearly all have simple notation as well, so if I don't remember well how a song goes, I can still play it. That is all done earlier, in the computer. In the process, I have become adept at getting more words onto the available space without having to reduce the font size. But that's a topic for another thread sometime.

[jaz761]

Thanks. This sounds pretty much like what I’m doing now so maybe it’s just the way it has to be done!

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jaz761

Thanks for the replies. I’d like to avoid the subscription model if possible and I am comfortable with forscore and Dropbox. There might not be a way to avoid reformatting charts in pages or word or whatever.

Hi jaz
Is anybody other than ON SONG using subscription model. Oh yeah, the chart reader in Planning Center is like $3 year, and our Worship Team springs for that fee for our musicians.

[jaz761]

Not sure. I use ForScore which was a one-time purchase and I am not looking to switch that up. It sounds like OnSong has much more functionality than I need and lacks features I would hope to use to streamline my process.

As this thread has evolved, it seems like my workflow is about the best I'll be able to do. I think buying a current ipad might be a smart move.

[Juiced06GTO]

I also just made the move from having all my lyrics printed out in a binder to using the ipad at live gigs. I ended up just paying the $30 subscription for Ultimate Guitar and utilize that as it has an auto scroll feature that is pretty handy while playing live. You just need to practice and make sure the speed matches what you are actually playing.

It has worked ok for what I am doing now and has also allowed me to fulfill some requests from people for songs I know, but maybe not well enough to play from memory. I currently have about 280 songs loaded and then have a few playlists put together to cover different gigs. If I am doing a restaurant style gig it is usually some quieter or slower stuff, and then pubs and brewery's get some more upbeat sing a long type songs.

For my originals, I have my lyrics saved to a single page each in google drive and just make them available offline so I can reference them if I need them at a gig. The music part of my originals I know for the most part so didn't bother with that part.

That is another positive to Ultimate Guitar, if you save the tabs to your favorites they are available to you offline without an internet connection should you be in a venue where it is not available.