Thanks Jim, however I want to list my songs, not my styles.
I solved my problem by copying my song file onto another computer with a copy of BIAB 2018. I could then generate a CSV file as it was always done. I have got 800 song files along with 15 ring binders of annotated sheet music for every one. I really need to create a good filing system to locate everything.
I sympathize with your plight. Probably like everyone, I started out with a small binder, kept adding pages and getting bigger binders until my 3-1/2 inch D-ring was full, songs printed on both sides of the page.
Some time ago I had had enough and decided to go digital. I took each song and re-did it to fit a Windows tablet format (portrait mode, touch screen).
I set it all up with hyper links to an alphabetized index and I can now get to any of my 800 plus songs with a few finger pokes.
I sympathize with your plight. Probably like everyone, I started out with a small binder, kept adding pages and getting bigger binders until my 3-1/2 inch D-ring was full, songs printed on both sides of the page.
Some time ago I had had enough and decided to go digital. I took each song and re-did it to fit a Windows tablet format (portrait mode, touch screen).
I set it all up with hyper links to an alphabetized index and I can now get to any of my 800 plus songs with a few finger pokes.
No more binders! Yay!
Good luck. LLOYD
Do you mean you scanned each paper page to a digital format that would display on a tablet? I play keyboard and cannot memorize a single note so I have to read the music as I play including flipping backwards and forwards between pages to cover repeats etc. Would your method allow me to do this? Can you supply some more technical details?
Tony wrote: "Would your method allow me to do this?" - I would say yes but let me do some testing
"Can you supply some more technical details?" - Yup, for sure. I have a short video clip of it in action. Let me find that first, then figure out how to post it here (I know there's a post somewhere on how to do that), and then you can see if it's what you're after.
Church commitments today and music commitments tomorrow but I'll try and get you this info as soon as I can.
This is easily doable Tony. You can use either an Android tablet or an iPad. Both have apps for handling charts on a gig. I'm also a keys player and I'm also cheap. I bought an Amazon Fire 10" tablet for $149 two years ago. They reduced the price last fall to $99. The one thing is 10" is barely large enough for me to read the charts. I could use a larger one but those are three times the price or more. A 12" Samsung is about $500 and a 12" iPad Pro is close a grand or more so for that kind of money I can make do with a bit smaller screen.
Here's how it works. You can either scan your existing pages or take a pic of them with your phone. Either way can be imported into the tablet. What I do with Biab charts is use Biab itself to save them as PDF's. No scanning necessary, just import the PDF's. The app I use is Fakebook Pro. It costs a whopping $3. Their website includes a whole bunch of fakebooks in pdf format and as pdf's FB Pro will automatically index them. I downloaded over 5,000 songs off their website into the tablet. I also use iReal Pro on the tablet. It costs $14. Another gazillion songs available on that app too. Out of all these songs in the master list you can create as many individual set lists as you need. Right now I have about 10 for different bands I play in. Both of those apps allow you to actually create a chart, make notes or whatever you want inside the app itself so if you do that no scanning or pic taking is required.
I totally agree if you've already got 800 songs printed out then scanning to pdf is probably the best way to go. I've never done that but I'm pretty sure there's a way to scan all those as one big document that can be indexed. That way Fakebook Pro recognizes that just like it already does with all the existing fakebooks on their website. You would have to research how to do that. It may require you to buy Adobe Pro and not be able to use the free Reader for scanning. For single pages, my standard home Brother fax/scanner will scan to pdf but I have no idea about scanning a large multipage indexed document.
For multipage charts I just make sure each page has the same song title with the number 1, 2, 3 as the last character. They then show up in order. All I do is swipe on the screen to the left with a finger to the next page. No different than turning the page in a physical binder. You can also use different apps that allow for the use of a bluetooth footswitch page turner if you want to do it hands free.
Again, I went for the cheapest thing I could find but there are many other apps that do way more than what I've described. In addition to simple set lists, they let you link them to backing tracks, display scrolling lyrics, all kinds of stuff. I don't do singles, I'm always in a band so just the chart by itself is enough for me.
For more info just Google "live gigging apps" for IOS or Android and you'll be amazed what's available. If you decide to pursue this and think the Amazon Fire could work, there's a few tricks involved that I can explain to you because Amazon uses their own version of Android and you need to do a few simple things to make it work properly. iPads have more options, have way more and better apps than Android does but they're also very expensive so there ya go. I'm cheap so I made the Fire tablet work for me.
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