Ipad for storing/reading music????

[Acmespaceship]

This is my workflow for turning paper into PDF documents. I make no claim that it is efficient, nor that it will work for anybody else...

1) Can I find this online? More than half the contents of my tab binder originally came from online sources. If I can't download the file directly as a PDF, I take a screen capture, clean it up in Paint, and export as PDF. Does this take less time than scanning the page? Hmm... probably not. But it's more fun.

2) Do I need this song? You know how when you're packing to move, you find clothes in the closet that you would have kept for years except now that you're moving you'd rather get rid of them? It's easy to accumulate tab you'll never play, but that doesn't mean you have to scan it.

3) Relocate the printer/scanner/copier so it's sitting on my desk, not tucked behind another printer on a side table. Now it's convenient to scan a few pages while I check email and drink coffee. My scanner takes about a minute to scan a page at 300 dpi. Black and white scans are faster than color, so check your settings. I'm using a Canon MP470 flatbed which is surely obsolete by now.

4) Knuckle down and spend a few rainy afternoons scanning. At least it's better than cleaning house (and, unlike a clean house, once paper's scanned it stays scanned).

I've been scanning photo albums (pre-digital) and it's going faster than I expected. A friend tells me she scans photos while watching TV. If your tab is in good enough shape to pass through a sheet feeder, maybe check out the scanning services at FedEx/Kinko's or Staples. Or bribe someone. Teenagers might be talked into a few hours of scanning for babysitting-rate pay.

Now if I can just get started converting all these VHS tapes to DVD...

[nancymae]

Could I ask a silly question to those of you who use your Ipads? How do you adjust the screen to stay "lit" longer? My ipad turns off after like a minute...I know there has to be a setting for that, but I can't find it!

Thank you so much!

[twaltz]

I don't know why (must be a setting inside the ForScore app) but the screen doesn't go blank when I have it open. It probably helps if you turn pages or switch songs every now and again. My biggest problem with the iPad setup is with the bluetooth page-turning pedals turning themselves off (like during intermission of a show) and remembering to reativate them when we come back to the pit. I haven't yet had any issues with the iPad turning itself off, even in shows where there are long dialogue scenes between musical numbers. With dulcimer, I tend to play more continuously. Probably that's why it hasn't happened to me.

[bradleyi]

Perhaps some of you Android users can answer a question for me. I have an ASUS netbook with a 10.1" screen. When I bring up PDF music files on it, with Adobe Acrobat settings of show full page and the page rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise, the full 8-1/2 x 11 page takes up little of the screen due to the screen's 16:9 aspect ratio. Is this the case on the tablet screens or are they in a more "letter size" friendly aspect ratio? As it is, I think I'd have to go to a 13" tablet or larger to really be able to see the files all that well on my music stand, and I really don't want to spend the kind of money that entails. I'm also not very interested in buying an I-Pad.

[TABLEDIT]

TEFview for iOS, the free TablEdit file viewer now on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.
TEFview allows you as well to view and listen to ASCII tabs, .ABC tunes, MIDI and musicXML files.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tefview/id492060413?mt=8

TEFpad is a lite version of TablEdit designed for the iPad.
Just like TEFview for iOS, TEFpad opens, displays and plays all .tef files and imports many types of music files (ASCII tablatures, ABC files, MusicXML, MIDI, Guitar Pro, PowerTab ...).
In addition to this, TEFpad lets you create new tablature arrangements from scratch. Existing .tef files created with TablEdit or imported files can also be edited in TEFpad but you won't be able to save more than the 16 first measures.
The .tef files saved with TEFpad can of course be reopened and completed in TablEdit.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tefpad/id517830471?ls=1&mt=8

We are currently working on the Android version of TEFview

[tentmaker]

TEFpad is a lite version of TablEdit designed for the iPad.
Just like TEFview for iOS, TEFpad opens, displays and plays all .tef files and imports many types of music files (ASCII tablatures, ABC files, MusicXML, MIDI, Guitar Pro, PowerTab ...).

Using TEFpad on my I pad. Easily loaded .tef files from my PC and it works great onthe ipad. "Play" is especially nice since the cursor acts like a visual metronome (a audio metronome is also available) and keeps my place when I am playing from memory and wake up and wonder where I am in the tune.

I put the ipad on a stand that holds it just above my dulcimer and have no trouble seeing the tab in landscape mode (however I do have bifocals) If the music is on two sheets the play feature will scroll all the way through and return to the beginning for a hands free operation.