iPad for lead sheets

M

multivir

Inspired
Hi,

It looks like I got a new job with a really good party band. They play everything from jazz to pop and have a repertoire of more than 100 songs. The first thing I was given is a huge stack of lead sheets. I have an iPad and would prefer to use this instead of hauling a heavy case binder.
I can scan all the pages and create either one PDF or separate PDFs for each song (which might be a good thing - I must be prepared to add new pages for songs they might add to the repertoire).

Has anyone set this up on his iPad? It would be easy to do it with just a simple pdf reader if it were just twenty songs, but I need this to be expandable and I need quick access to every page without spending too much time on browsing. Plus - it should be doable within reasonable time. I'd rather be practicing than assigning single PDFs to a setlist manually on the iPad for 100+ songs.

Any suggestions (Apps or a simple way to do it) ?

Thanks

Mat
 
Interesting..... I have no experience of this, but will need something similar in the future. I take it a Kindle would be too small?
 
I do something similar with my iPhone. Setup a Dropbox account and put all your files in it. Dropbox has an app for the iPhone/iPad. You can favorite items that save to the device.
 
Take a look at forScore for iPad. It will let you create set lists, attach songs from your iTunes library for rehearsal and highlighted touch spots on the page to take you backward or froward for repeats and such. You can also highlight and mark your music. Works very well. I think it was around $4.99.
 
@BigD: I don't have a kindle - I guess there are no apps available. You'd probably need a light for it on a dark stage...

@larsmars: I have GP (and TabToolkit), but this would mean that I'd have to search or write the lead sheets into tabs (if that's even possible) myself. For about 100 songs...

@JackNapalm: That sounds good. And it also works with no WiFi or 3G access - local files only?
 
multivir said:
@JackNapalm: That sounds good. And it also works with no WiFi or 3G access - local files only?
Click to expand...

It does. If you favorite an item it downloads it for quick access so you don't have to wait for a download. With WiFi its not a problem but 3g can be slow at times.
 
Jack Napalm said:
It does. If you favorite an item it downloads it for quick access so you don't have to wait for a download. With WiFi its not a problem but 3g can be slow at times.
Click to expand...

...and if you have a prepaid plan (like me) you'd spend a lot of money just to be able to play the gig.
There's a software called set list maker. I didn't find the time yet to play around with it. It can integrate PDFs, but since I don't really need a setlist - rather a catalog - I'm not sure if this hits the nail on the head. I also have Good Reader and could just do folders there, but wanted to see if there's a more elegant solution.
 
I created a setlist maker in an Excel document. It takes a little work sometimes but does a good job and gives me what I need. I rely on a specific patch number and only have a number displayed on my controller. My set lists display the song and then the patch number next to it and I print them out before hand. Outside of the cost of the device and plan its free. :)

I use the dropbox solution with my iPhone so I am already paying for my phones plan.
 
You can also check out the app called UNREALBOOK from the app store which can carry all your pdf´s. It´s made exactly for the OP´s demands.
 
I use forScore together with a little device, called airturn. It' a bluetooth device which can use two switches, so you can scroll forward and backward within a leadsheet or within a setlist. Works fine.
 
forscore & unrealbook look like they are what I need. Has anybody tried both? It's hard to see which one is better (for my needs).
 
I've been using my iPad for over a year now, got rid of three binders (currently over 200 different songs!)of music, and never looked back. I tried all the different apps to store/ keep/ maintain my sheets , and this is what I found.

First of all, I bought an x-clip so it's firmly mounted to the mic stand.

GoodReader seemed to be the best all around - it can read PDF, jpg, txt and MS Word docs - one thing that concerned me with a few reader apps was they only wanted to use PDFs, but if I needed to make any changes, I'd have to go back to a word document to edit, then save again as a PDF...... Too much trouble. Also, one feature I loved about GoodReader was I could transfer the files onto my iPad wirelessly, like an external drive, as opposed to most other apps that had to connect to iTunes to do so (and for me, that's an issue, as when I hook up my iPad to iTunes, it takes about 2 hours to Fully synchronize).

So - how I organize my songs - it gets to be an issue with so many songs on the iPad, and originally, I put them all in one big alphabetical list(sorted by artist, then song name, I.e. "Beatles - I am the walrus"), but I found I would have to scroll like a mofo to get to the bottom of the list, so I ended up making a fo,der for each letter of the alphabet, and then storing just the artists that start with that letter in that folder. If someone asks for zz top, I scroll to the Z folder.

Then, I found an even better idea - since our band would almost always follow a set list, I made another folder that was just the songs for that night (again, very easily organized on my p.c., wirelessly to the iPad), and I would copy in the 45 songs for the night into that folder, while still keeping the original song sheet in It's original folder as well. Ice even gone fined to rname the songs,so they're in order - if I am the walrus is #13 song, i quickly rename it 13 - Beatles - I am the walrus"

The only thing I wish Good reader had - the ability to work with the air turn footpedal.

That's my 2 cents!

One other thing - the best of all - whe. Someone asks for a song I do 't have, I always keep Safari open to a site like chordie.con and I flp over to there and look up the song and play it right away!
Cheers,

Duke
 
I upload all my PDF charts to dropbox, then I use save2pdf to arrange setlists, it allows you to take multiple pdf's and merge them on the iPad, then I use goodreader to view them. I agree it would be great if the foot pedal worked but it's much better than carrying the multiple binders I used to use. I also use one of those ik iklips to hold it on to my mic stand, they work, but they could definitely be designed better.
 
iReal book is the best... but you can't simply scan pdf files...

The great thing about iReal book is you can load the song and play it in any key - it does on-the-fly key changes.

L
 
Gigbook is another candidate. It's very flexible. Coolest thing about Gigbook is ability to pull individual pages/sections of pdf files into one songlist. Makes getting tunes from fake books into useable form really easy.

Iannotate is also a very different kind of program, but very useful for working with pdf files.
 
Last edited:
What about the Kindle? Cheap, light, great battery life... As I see it, the only downside would be that you can't read it in the dark.

EDIT: Tried it yesterday with PDFs, the screen is too small for tablatures. Still could be useful if you only put the lyrics with corresponding chords above.
 
Last edited:
I bought forscore and ireal b - since I work with scanned PDFs forscore does the job just fine. it has a tendency to crash once in a while, but since it can be restarted with a single click and it doesn't do that too often, it works out fine.
 
I'm looking for the same thing except for a PC/netbook with Windows7??? I have the dell netbook that converts to a tablet. any Ideas? TIA
 
Make a presentation with Powerpoint, insert the PDFs as sheets.
Export it to Keynote on the iPad. Buy and use the wireless pageturner for iPad (I forgot the name).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom