No Tears App to Import Charts to Tablet

[allan_evett]

After seeing how a fellow keys player had her charts arranged on an iPad, I downloaded the free version of SongbookPro (12 chart limit) to see if it'd work for me. The app can pull files from iCloud or import from a website (Ultimate Guitar and others). SongbookPro works capably on my 2015 iPad Air 2, but iCloud importing is a multi-step mess. I scan files from a printer/scanner into my MacBook Pro, but despite it being listed as a destination, the files rarely end up on my iCloud (it's kind of random). When they do turn up on iCloud, then it's a 50/50 chance they'll be found when attempting an import on SongbookPro. After today's session of messing with this, I think I'm done. Including a previous couple-hour effort, there are apparently 3 pages now in my iCloud: two of which turn up in SongbookPro, one is greyed-out.

 

Are there any super-simple and quick apps for getting my years of charts into digital format? Though I use Apple for computer-based production (plus the iPad), my phone is Android (also have an Acer laptop PC, along with the 2012 MBP)

Would be awesome to find a tablet-based app that would allow simple phone photo imports (from Google Photos or Drive) and allow organizing into a library and varied set lists. Heck, if getting a non-Apple tablet simplified things more, I'd do it. For the iffy results so far, this SongbookPro/iCloud-based effort has been an annoying time-suck.

[timwat]

Allan -

 

Are you thinking of ones and twos, or a mass import?

 

The only experience I have with a large number of imports is either with IGigBook, which has worked very well for me presuming the files are all PDFs.

 

I also don't use iCloud - I use either my own connected storage of OneDrive. But either way, iGigBook works on multipage real books, multipage PDFs I created in Sibelius or scanned and named, etc.

 

Ones and twos are easily Airdropped (copied into the iPad via Finder). Or am I missing something in your workflow you're trying to accomplish?

 

I'm admittedly behind the times - over the years I've ended up using only two apps for charts and scores: iGigBook for PDFs, and iReal Pro for chord charts. Doubtless there are better and newer things out there, but I'm pretty set for my workflow, although my needs may be a lot less complex than other folks.

[ElmerJFudd]

I use an app called SwiftScan with my phone or iPad.

Place your paper sheet under a desk lamp.

SwiftScan uses your phones camera to sense the edges and corners of your paper to snap the photo.

There are filters for black & white and gray scale that work best for printed material.

You can export as PDF and send straight to iCloud or whatever cloud drive you use.

Or save locally on the device and import into your chart librarian app.

I use Forscore.

 

Side note: if you"re copying from a book or something bound, get it as flat as possible and use a black folder or magazine or something to cover the page you don"t want to scan. It helps the app ignore where the binding is.

 

If you have a lot of individual sheets of paper that you want to scan quickly. Access to a machine like a Xerox copier with a USB thumb drive port and a document feeder router be fast. It would give you one big PDF. Then you could use Adobe Acrobat or Apple Preview to export PDFs from it by song.

[miden]

Most of the chart reader apps I see have built in Dropbox support - that's about the easiest way to do it...UnrealBook (my reader) and OnSong can both import direct from Dropbox.

[bfields]

I import from Drive and Photos to MobileSheetsPro all the time.

[AnotherScott]

Set List Maker has a few mechanisms, but I think the simplest may what at least used to be the most common/standard way to bring documents into an app... From your Mac, drag the documents into the app's document location using iTunes. To avoid iTunes, the iMazing app gives you easy access to each app's document location, and again, you can just drag things in. I would think that would work with most apps.

[allan_evett]

I've checked out a few suggestions here, and for now am going to wrangle a bit more with forScore - which has been on my iPad for several years. I used the iPad's camera in 2017 to import a bunch of charts individually, but remember the interface as being not-at-all intuitive. I updated the app, and started studying the current manual; finally found a video tutorial and am going to try that. The interface is still a scattered, touchy challenge, but if I figured out the Jupiter 50's interface 10 years ago I should be able to unravel this one.

 

MobileSheetsPro looks awesome - and much more straightforward, but it's still Android/PC only at this time.

[KeyMoe]

I have used ForScore for many years. Agreed that the interface is clunking but it works. I either scan a chart to my laptop as a PDF or use Word to create the chart and save it as a PDF and email the PDFs to myself. Open the email / PDF on my iPad and there is an option to open / save the PDF to ForSore directly. Pretty quick and simple. I know it"s a few steps but it only takes a few minute total.

 

ForScore works well for set lists and the search is fairly good.

[obxa]

Long time user of ForScore, Ireal book, and IGigbook. As mentioned above most apps integrate with Apple Files- Dropbox-Google drive etc.

 

As an alternative, I started using Paperless Music earlier this year for something that's lightweight, very clean UI- non-fussy and quick. Has just the right amount of editing- annotation ability, and can easily create set lists. Price ($5) is great too. Highly recommended.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/paperless-music/id951039841

 

I use the Midi thing in Forscore for its ability to do program changes in shows, and I like its Mp3 rehearsal player, but often find the UI to be more cumbersome than it needs to be.

i'm starting to use Paperless music more often, (though I miss the mp3 player) - Igigbook for anything that needs the Real Book, or standard jobbing fake books.

[xKnuckles]

Mobilesheets Pro does everything you want and more than you can possibly imagine. It is a PHENOMINAL app. I strongly recommend it. ð

[Moonglow]

Mobilesheets Pro does everything you want and more than you can possibly imagine. It is a PHENOMINAL app. I strongly recommend it. ð

That does look like a really nice app. I"m in a similar situation as Allan, lots of paper chord charts that would be great to have available in a tablet format. Dig the Setlist function, and the Windows editor looks pretty cool. I"m now considering a relatively inexpensive Windows tablet to use exclusively for charts.

[allan_evett]

Mobilesheets Pro does everything you want and more than you can possibly imagine. It is a PHENOMINAL app. I strongly recommend it. ð

That does look like a really nice app. I"m in a similar situation as Allan, lots of paper chord charts that would be great to have available in a tablet format. Dig the Setlist function, and the Windows editor looks pretty cool. I"m now considering a relatively inexpensive Windows tablet to use exclusively for charts.

 

Very intriguing, Chris. I'll still likely check out Paperless Music for my iPad, but Mobilesheets does look like a great, easy-to-use app. Maybe a separate, basic Windows tablet for charts would be best, especially if I can get it in a larger, iPad Pro size. My current iPad is a mid-size, 2015 Air 2, and my eyes would welcome a larger screen.

[Moonglow]

Same here regarding the eyes, for sure. I have an iPad, but my computer is PC/Windows. Plus I would be far less annoyed if an el-cheapo tablet grew legs and walked away at a gig than my iPad.

[xKnuckles]

If anybody is interested in mobilesheets Pro, I should mention that I think it does not operate on Apple products. It is just on Windows and Android at the moment, as far as I am aware.

 

I find it great as I have a Samsung phone and a Windows computer. I use the computer for jazz & reading gigs and it will display 2 pages at once if the computer is placed in landscape mode. I use it on my phone for pop gigs with simple charts and it also controls my keyboard's midi sounds. It is easy to transfer songs or groups.of songs from one device to the other (complete with annotations).. If you have books of music, it will let you select out just a few pages and index them separately from the book. You can link audio to your songs if you wish. The annotations you can do are so extremely good (everything from freehand coloured pens and highlighters to written text.) It even draws a mini staff and you can add note & rest symbols to it anywhere on your page..... The annotations are so good that I tend to edit my business PDFs in mobilesheets rather than bother with a dedicated PDF program...

[ElmerJFudd]

I have Mobile Sheets Pro on a dell laptop running Windows 10. It"s purchase-able through the Microsoft App Store. Like Forscore, it"s featurefull and you"ll have to read the manual and dig around the GUI to find what you"re trying to do.

[allan_evett]

As an alternative, I started using Paperless Music earlier this year for something that's lightweight, very clean UI- non-fussy and quick. Has just the right amount of editing- annotation ability, and can easily create set lists. Price ($5) is great too. Highly recommended.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/paperless-music/id951039841

 

 

Last ditch effort to try and stay within the iOS ecosystem; the idea being to upgrade to an iPad Pro - especially for onstage reading. There are plenty of 12.9 refurbished units available.

 

So I downloaded Paperless Music into my iPad Air 2. The app works fine if accessing Apple's own photo app, but is a fiddly mess for any other files within the iPad. And accessing files from the internet (as detailed in the Help tab)? Nope...Simply irritating AF, and a big timesuck. I'm looking into how to export Google Photos files to my ioS photos app, but shouldn't have to do that - as Paperless Music details plenty of sources for music files.

 

Any Paperless Music users here who've gotten the 'Add Music' page to fully work? I'm about to scrap the idea, and go find a budget 11-12" Adroid tablet to run Mobilesheets Pro. Hopefully that app doesn't have any similar, apparent shortcomings.

[cedar]

I'm about to scrap the idea, and go find a budget 11-12" Adroid tablet to run Mobilesheets Pro. Hopefully that app doesn't have any similar, apparent shortcomings.

 

For what it's worth, I've been using Mobile Sheets Pro for a few years. It's one of my favorite programs, extremely easy and versatile.

[allan_evett]

I'm about to scrap the idea, and go find a budget 11-12" Adroid tablet to run Mobilesheets Pro. Hopefully that app doesn't have any similar, apparent shortcomings.

 

For what it's worth, I've been using Mobile Sheets Pro for a few years. It's one of my favorite programs, extremely easy and versatile.

 

Good to hear another vote for Mobilesheets Pro. I've read some of the manual, and it looks like I could ultimately import files from Google Photos, where I have a majority of my charts backed up. Do you know if I'd be able to import those directly, or would I have to save them to a different cloud location for MSP access?

[cedar]

I think you can import directly from any location. I know there is option to import from Google Drive in particular. But I haven't played around with that much because I just happen to put my charts on local drive.

 

The Mobile Sheets forum is also very helpful. The guy answers all such questions.

[obxa]

I've had no problems using PaperlessMusic with Dropbox, Google Drive or email- have never actually done it from Photos. But have had similar issues with Igig and Forscore, especially with Dropbox.

 

Have you got the share files thing enabled in IOS? It's under the "Files" app. You have to enable it.

 

Once that's done they should import. Also, you need to have the most current version of each file program (Gdrive, Dropbox, Microsoft-one) for your IOS system.

AFTER you've updated them, reboot the ipad. That was instructed to me from the guys at Dropbox and Music Stand (another app) because that clears the Cache.

 

 

1. Tap "Music". Hit the "+" then "add from files". A "Browse" directory should appear, Hit the upper left arrow to go to the available file sources. Click the upper RH Circle w/3 dots, then "Edit Sidebar" to make sure all your file share apps are enabled. (That's a one time thing)

 

You should see a window like the enclosed picture when you go to import.

 

The program will go back to the last used directory for any additional imports.

 

 

Please let me know, I'll try to help if I can, and the app developer is very responsive.

[Paul Harrison]

For what it's worth, I've been using Mobile Sheets Pro for a few years. It's one of my favorite programs, extremely easy and versatile.

 

+1

[allan_evett]

I ended up staying within the iOS ecosystem for this.  Sold the iPad Air 2, then picked up a iPad Pro 11".  And that one seems the 'Goldilocks' size for onstage viewing - definitely a step up from the Air 2, but not the generous real estate the 12.9" ipad Pro offers (along with the more generous bite from my wallet).

I'm also going to try using the iPad Pro live in an expanded manner - running B-3X in the visual background while reading charts. From studying the YC88's control architecture, I believe I can control B-3X live from the organ section of the YC; though it appears I'll have to set up presets for Percussion and C/V, as those buttons do not send MIDI CC.

 

Once I sorted out the  importing of files, Paperless Music has worked very well. And when I finish loading up two acts worth of charts - which is well along, it'll be time to get two previous decades of paper digitized.  This past move drove home just how much stuff I still have.