So I finally bought myself an iPad. It took three versions before I ended up buying one, but I didn’t buy it due to the hardware or software changes. A while back I bought a Nook Color and began using it for storing song lyrics and chords for my acoustic performances. It was useful being able to pull up a “library” of lyrics and chords in case it had been a while since performing a song and a refresher was needed. Yet, the Nook’s screen was too small, and I was unable to find any sufficient mounting system for setting it on a mic stand. So I decided to research the possibility of an iPad upgrade and what options were available for it.
Initial Music Preparation
Compared to the Android app market, the Apple iOS App store still has more options, and from what I saw, typically better quality options in regards to musicians. Putting aside all the “digital piano” and “digital guitar” toy apps and such, I focused more on music screen reader apps. Now at this time, most of my lyrics/chords were stored in plain text files and synced via Dropbox to the Nook; it was also the Dropbox built-in text viewer that I was basically using as my sheet music reader as well. However the two highest recommended iOS apps for sheet music display are set up for PDFs. Not a big deal to fix thanks to the Save to PDF option when using Print on a Mac. It just meant going through the lyric files and saving them to PDFs. So I did this for a handful of songs first, then tried them out in the apps only to find that the text was too small now thanks to the iPad’s better screen resolution. So I learned that it is best to test the PDFs, then make adjustments as needed until the text is sized right for the iPad. Once a PDF is ready, I still use Dropbox to sync it over to the iPad to load into the sheet music apps.
forScore
This was the most recommended sheet music reader for the iPad that I found. I can easily understand why. It is easy to navigate, you can group songs into “Set Lists”, you can import music directly from the web or via Dropbox, and it allows for making quick annotations to a piece of music. It works with many of the bluetooth page turners available as well, though I haven’t bothered with purchasing one just yet. Overall it is a great app. However, it has some quirks that make it more suitable to a musician like my father rather than me. If I was performing a set list in the specific order with no plan for deviation, then this would be great. In my case, the set list adjusts during the night according to the crowd size and responses so having the full list visible is a must. To pull up your set list in forScore, you have to open it in a dropdown menu, and unfortunately this makes the text far too small to read easily on stage. When you’re trying to minimize silence on stage between songs, you don’t need to be leaning down and squinting to read the song list. Also, many songs I don’t need the chords or lyrics for, but have them as a just in case. Another reason why I just need to be able to keep the whole song list on screen. This was the one aspect of forScore that made me abandon it for GigBook.
Deepdish Gigbook
After trying forScore, I went to using GigBook as it was the second highest recommended sheet music reader. It has all the same features of forScore, but takes a different approach to the interface that I liked better. In Gigbook, you open your “Set List” and it shows the song list full screen. It shows the title, key, tempo, time signature, duration, and any notes you added. If you tap on the song, it opens up the sheet music then. For me this was already perfectly suited for my needs. On top of that, there is a Performance Mode that gives it a more paper-like quality and enlarges the fonts for easier viewing. In my opinion, the only thing that would improve this set up is the allowance for user specified fonts and font sizes, as well as a built-in option to invert colors in case you are on a dark stage. Now I know I can do this through the iOS settings, but it would be a nice addition to the app itself. Just like forScore, GigBook is supposed to be compatible with most of the bluetooth page turners out there right now.
Mic Stand Mounting – Griffin iPad3 Mount Kit
I wanted something that would firmly secure the iPad, mount to a mic stand but still be somewhat movable in case I need to turn the iPad towards a performance partner’s view, and not cost too much. Many of the the options I initially found seemed perfect until I began reading reviews and discovered many iPad3 owners complaining that they didn’t fit their iPads. I finally came across the Griffin kit which explicitly stated it would fit the iPad3. It also was a good price of around $30, and came with a desk mount, mic stand mounting bar and top piece, and it had the necessary adjustability once mounted that I needed. Well you get what you pay for. The mount is mostly made of cheap plastic so in minutes of opening up everything I had a tab break off the back of the holder. It also doesn’t seem like it will survive too many stage uses in the end, so I am looking for an upgrade option in the next few months. For now though, it will work.
Beyond Performance
While I bought the iPad for the performance aid aspect, I’m not limiting myself to just that. There are so many ways to incorporate the iPad into your music work or elsewhere. I know eventually I will going to try one of the guitar interfaces with it, but I have not decided just which yet. This will not for performance or serious recording, but more as a warmup and practice tool when I’m away at a gig. I have Evernote on my phone in part for logging song ideas I get while away from a guitar, so I am thinking about adding Garageband onto the iPad to expand on the ability to write and demo a song while away from home. I’m also experimenting with the use of Evernote as a way to track progress of my guitar students week to week, and using the iPad for this due to the larger display.
First Live Performance Using iPad3
So I made it through my first performance with the iPad3 last night. Since I only have a small selection of songs ported into Gigbook, I primarily used Dropbox to display the set list and switched to Gigbook when lyrics were needed. I did have trouble during one song trying to get Gigbook to go to the next page of the lyrics. It seems to be that Gigbook doesn’t recognize swipes as well as forScore does. So I guess this means I’ll be looking into one of the bluetooth page turners soon. Overall, the iPad made it easier to pull up the lyrics as well as display them for my acoustic partner, Matt, without having to remove the iPad from the stand mount. I’m pretty pleased with the usage last night aside from the page turning issue with Gigbook.