Hi All

I thought this would be easy but it is not! I just want the following:

1. Something that works with I-Rig blue turn (foot pedal)
2. Something where I can just take a photo of my crib notes with my ipad and create a song (using that photo)
3. Something where I can group songs into set lists (and use the I-Rig blue to turn to move from song to song)
4. Something that works offline and I don't need wifi or computer to operate...

Does anybody know one?

I think I have it! It is called Piascore....

http://www.mike-warren.net/dfbhelp/themes.html



Regards,


Bob

Onsong would be worth a look.
I add backing tracks from BiaB with the lyrics and chords. Sets are a breeze and huge options for display and chord settings...change keys etc.
Works with Irig or Bluetooth pedals.

Thanks Bob and Wish

Spent a bit of time on this....I looked at Onsong and it looked way too complicated for what I want. When I bought the pedal I thought I could just use it will the photos in my camera roll in my ipad. No such luck. Anyway. It seems that Piascore will do what I want (and it is free).

It is really just for performing.I find if I just have crib notes on stage with me with some lyric prompts and some chord prompts then I can cope. If find if I have the whole song in-front of me then that takes my focus away from the audience.

forScore is another app which will take scanned pages and give you a song index and set lists.

I prefer OnSong as although you have to put in a little effort to input the lyrics and chords first, in the end the program is much more versatile. You can change the key of the song at will and you can display normal chords or you can go for the Nashville display if you wish.

To enter the songs is not too much of a hassle as an internet search for the song you want with lyrics and chords in normally forthcoming. You can copy and paste these into a text editor, get everything looking right and then import the text file into OnSong using Dropbox if you are working on a PC.

The nice thing with any of these programs is the immediacy of loading a new song if you deviate from a set list.

I recently upgraded to an iPad Pro 12,8" which gives me virtually the same display as an A4 sheet of paper - much needed as you get older and the eyesight fails.

BTW if you can't find lyrics for a song on the internet but you have a reasonably clean printout, you can scan it and feed the image into a OCR program (there are several free ones).

If you need any help the please shout. Believe me I have spent many hours trying to get a workable system.

Kevin

Onsong is what the former worship leader of our worship band used. Current worship leader has it all memorized each week.

Thanks Guys. Scott, I do try my hardest to memorize everything. I am working with a guitarist for our National Arts Festival and for this festival we have five shows scheduled and we intend to make changes to the set list for each performance. Last year I memorized everything but this year we have about 60 songs to choose from.

I find I just need a little "nudge" every now and then (such as what key a song is in and whether I use a capo on it and the first word of each verse..etc) so this is really just to give me that "nudge" when I am onstage and am nervous. I intend to hide my iPad behind the onstage monitors and flip along the photos with the foot pedal.

At an event like this you really need to stick to a predetermined set list because it is more like a "show" than a "gig" and is only 45 minutes long. You cant be fiddling around with an iPad or with a book on a music stand because people are sitting about 5 feet from you and are are watching your EVERY move.

Why I put myself through this I will never know

We do it because we enjoy it. A little suffering is good for the soul. When then when it is all done and dusted we enjoy being showered with congratulations and praises.

Hey we're human...


Kevin

I would have to have a 32 inch display to read my lyrics as bad as my eyes are getting!!

Or like the Jumbotron scoreboards at a football stadium!

Hey this is his full-time job, and our set list is 5-6 songs/week, with one repeated song throughout the 4-5 weeks of the month, so memorization for him comes with the job.

That said, we have a prompt screen in the back of the church up high, which has the current lyrics, and then the next phrase off on the right. I forget which program allows us to do that, but there's a volunteer at the sound/lighting booth that is hitting us up with those prompts. Actually that person is putting up the prompts for the congregation, and the program is handling the 'next phrase' part of things.

So, it's a totally different thing than what you are doing. Where I saw OnSong in action was on a church camping trip and the former worship leader had me playing along with him. We were just a couple of dudes with guitars, and this sweet scrolling song book in front of us. Worked really well. You set each for a tempo, and it it just moves along for you. No page flipping needed, though I believe that footpedal activated flipping is part of it's capability.

After trying many other notation apps I find Newzik to be the top.

For the needs you described it has
- A "Lyrics and chords" mode that allows you to type in or copy paste your L&C.
- It can transpose your L&C file to the desired key
- Library with setlists
- Ability to work offline
- All saved in Newziks cloud so no worries about loosing your data incase something happens to your iPad. You can always access your account from another device.

In add it has
- MusicXML: Ability to import MusicXML files.
- Audio/video/youtube: Ability to import any audio, video or youtube link and attach it to a piece.
- Collaborative Setlists: You can share your markings or any edits in real-time


Hope this helps.
Good luck !

I just wanted to thank Joanne for a very interesting thread.

While I haven't converted to an iPad yet, I do have one and a foot pedal with ForScore that I use for practice.

The music I play in concerts is either my composition or my arrangement, so I don't read it, but I keep a music stand in front of me for two reasons:

1) in case another musician's stand tips over, in which case I give them my part;
2) to see the name and info about the next song. Music is no problem for me but announcing is difficult, and making sure I see a phrase to count off the right tempo is critical.

I think I could do most of what I need with an iPad and I'll check out the apps mentioned.

Matt - If you do get an iPad check out Piascore. I absolutely love it. Works with my bluetooth page turner. I have the iPad mounted on a clarinet stand (very low and out of site) and just turn the pages with my foot pedal. Works like a charm.

I have been using Onsong for sometime now. It also supports airturn devices. I use a computer to connect to Onsong and edit my songs instantly with a internet browser on a select IP address. It also backs up all my songs to dropbox autamatically. Has many features as capo and transposing.
Brian

Found this while browsing.

"A guy who does over a hundred weddings/cocktail hours a year told me he imports the song to a Word doc on his tablet then takes a screen shot. Then he organizes photo albums for each event type. One swipe left and you are on the next song. I’ve done that ever since and it is simple and works great."

Charlie McG,

That's clever. It doesn't take much time either.

Hi All, last week I asked a similar question but for a PC (without a response). After a bit of a look about I came across SongBook by LinkeSoft. See https://www.linkesoft.com/songbook/ whilst I initially downloaded the tablet app for Windows this didn’t suit me so I purchased the PC version which is great. I understand the iPad version is even better as it was created for IOS. The Windows version is under US$20, tablet, iPad and Mac even less.

The program is fairly simple, initially set up the fonts and colour scheme that you want. Different colours for lyrics, headings, comments etc.

The import the lyrics. This can be in text (txt) or Chordpro form. Insert the chords into the appropriate places within the lyrics. Import the music, set the scroll time for the song. Set pauses where required. Whilst initially it takes a little work to adjust the timing you soon get good at it.

On stage you simply start the scroll and start the music and play along. (I had all this written better but went to another link and lost it all but the gist is here)

This is all very easy and very good. You can have set lists as opposed to the entire song library making it easier to sort through songs. It is very easy to select a song not in the set list if you want or play from the set list in different orders (very flexible).

I used this for a show on Friday and IMHO it was brilliant.

I tried a several different apps but found Songbook the pick of them.

My thoughts Tony

+1 Tony!

I have used SongBook on my iPad for years with incredible results. In my opinion a very short learning curve too.

Tip:
On my PC I use a program called ChordSmith to set up copy and paste lyrics/chords from the internet and quickly edit and convert to chord pro format. At least on the iPad that is the best format for songbook. Very easy to tag Title, Artist, Key, Capo, Length (I start by adding 30 seconds to the original song time & tweak from there. Perfect scrolling for song playback) and transpose plus so much more. And it's FREE.

Check it out here:
http://www.statistics101.net/chordsmith/

Have fun
Mike