WWW Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Remember the Freehand Systems MusicPad? Well, I think that the iPad will work better! The Freehand is $899.00! The iPad can be had for a lot less... We would have to create a "music reader" softeware app - and it would help to build an integrated hardware stand that would dock the iPad, with power and a footswitch to change pages... Anyone feel like going into a venture deal on this idea? Hammond C3, Leslie 122, Steinway B, Wurlitzer 200A, Rhodes 73, D6 Clav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linwood Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Prolly dl the real book to it and your off and runnin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Well, I think that the iPad will work better! Where do I plug in the pedal to the iPad for page turning? Just sayin'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linwood Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Turn it w/your finger just like paper,right? maybe touch the bottom right hand corner 1x and it goes to the next page. 2x's...2 pages. Bottom left hand goes backwards. I could work w/that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Turn it w/your finger just like paper,right? maybe touch the bottom right hand corner 1x and it goes to the next page. 2x's...2 pages. Bottom left hand goes backwards. I could work w/that. Yeah, I know... just trying to point out the inaccuracy of the original assertion, comparing it to the Freehand, saying how expensive it is, when it's a dedicated device to do a specific job. It's like bitching about how a Macbeth M5 is more expensive than an Alesis Micron... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 That being said, I do think the iPad might find a market as a music reader... just without the specialized functionality of the Freehand device (at least initially; aftermarket development might be interesting...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Kaenel Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Bill, This is my vision, too, and I'm already pretty far down the road on the software side: https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/2159885/ Windows and OS X versions are already done; work is proceeding on the iPad version via the iPhone SDK and the iPhone Simulator. Of course, this is just a leadsheet reader and doesn't display actual notes. (Maybe in a later version) But PDF support is built into the iPad already and this might be enough for viewing "real" music. Maybe a custom app would be useful for cataloging your sheets and calling them up fast, creating a set list, etc. The iPad is cool, but it isn't my first choice because its screen is still smallish, and it's fragile because of the glass. I'm actually more interested in the Skiff and Que e-ink readers (see my README in the download from the above thread), but these are very new and don't have published SDKs yet -- that's why I'm going to iPad, initially. I've always liked the Freehand *idea*; I just never dug the dedicated hardware (and the high price). Anyway, I'm a softare guy. Footpedal? That'd be up to you! Personally, a tap on the screen is easy enough, and that's what my app uses now. On the iPad, the "correct" gesture would be a "swipe". Just off the top of my head, I'm not sure there's really a practical need for a custom stand, etc. The battery life is 7-8 hours, which is more than adequate for the average gig, or even a day of rehearsal. The iPad housing is already aluminum, so it's sturdy. There are going to be some nice vinyl and leather portfolio covers for it, which would facilitate placing it on a music stand or a piano shelf without slippage. But, again, I don't think that much about hardware... Legend '70s Compact, Jupiter-Xm, Studiologic Numa X 73 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
resigned Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 I have a Freehand MusicPad Pro and it seems that product has always had problems with slow support and hardware/software issues, but the format was pretty cool. Which makes me wonder if the Freehand file format (*.fh) could be used in an iPad app? It would give the app a ready music file format that would attract people like me who already have hundreds of pieces of music in the Freehand format. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyboardwizz Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Last year Asus announced a dual screen color E reader, it opens like a book and would be ideal as a music pad. It should be even cheaper as the Ipad....... http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20090907/croppedeee.jpg Kurzweil Forte, Roland Integra, Korg Prologue 8, KeyB duo, Korg Radias Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Kaenel Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Since you can scan sheet music into .fh format, my guess is that it's some kind of raster format, but with tags to store your custom markups. It probably isn't any kind of "smart" format that actually knows the meta-information about the music (i.e. the note values, durations, etc.). It would certainly be possible to write an iPad app to read and display .fh files, but unless you were up for reverse-engineering the format (which would probably be illegal), you'd need the specs on the layout from Freehand. Using a proprietary file format is a common way to "lock in" customers to your platform, and it would be their principle value item of intellectual property -- I would doubt they would make it public because people (like me) would use it to do exactly what you've said. But as I've said, it's kind of unnecessary. If you have the original sheet music, simply scan it into PDF files -- You can display those on the iPad natively. You'll lose the markup capabilities, of course. But you'll have the ability to view and page thru your music. Legend '70s Compact, Jupiter-Xm, Studiologic Numa X 73 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floyd Tatum Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 On the back of this month's Internation Musician there's an ad for a new system that has a big screen that shows two pages at once. Can't remember the name of it, though... It also includes a personal monitor mixer, or something. I'll get back to y'all later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
resigned Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 If you have the original sheet music, simply scan it into PDF files -- You can display those on the iPad natively. You'll lose the markup capabilities, of course. But you'll have the ability to view and page thru your music. Actually I can print my .fh pages out from the Freehand program so it'd be rather esy for be to covert my .fh files directly into PDF files without rescanning the music. Thanks for your thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floyd Tatum Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 I'll get back to y'all later. Found it, here's their web page: SamePage Stations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.E Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 I'll get back to y'all later. Found it, here's their web page: SamePage Stations Looks that PC is winning in this department. Korg SV-1 73, Korg M50 61 Teaching here My music at kompoz.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_D_in_MD Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 Finger-swipes and foot-pedals to turn pages? That seems so passé. The killer app for a tablet computer would be software to display the score *and* to recognize (via the microphone and some signal processing) that your playing is nearing the end of the page and therefore turn it for you! Yamaha P2 acoustic, Yamaha P120 digital, Nord Electro 3HP, QSC K10. FOR SALE: Nord Electro 2-61. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobson Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Musicpad is great in many situations, but it can be aweful when playing outdoors. Having a backlit alternative when you've got an outdoor gig would be a godsend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Ditto that. In fact, I'd go further and say it's nigh-on unusable outdoors, 99% of the time. Studio: Yamaha P515 | Yamaha Tyros 5 | Yamaha HX1 | Moog Sub 37 Road: Yamaha YC88 | Nord Electro 5D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Muscara Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 http://www.musicnotes.com/ipad/ Sheet Music for the iPad You asked for it - Musicnotes.com is bringing sheet music to the iPad. Our programmers are hard at work building the official Musicnotes iPad app, designed to allow you to access your Musicnotes sheet music library on the upcoming Apple tablet. Automatic synchronization with your Musicnotes library with easy page turns and navigation? You just may be able to finally give your printer a rest. I wonder if it will have built-in purchasing of songs. "I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck "The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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