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Hi there,

First post here after quite a few years of lurking!
I'm after a PDF app that can easily and cleanly present PDF music scores on my Microsoft Surface Screen, for use at home on the piano.

Im not after notation or any other features, just a clean display and with any luck, a nice simple page turn.

More 'business' oriented PDF readers such as Adobe etc are way too cluttered and not built for navigating at the piano.
Any help much appreciated!

First of all, hello and welcome!

I'd very much like something like this too, so thanks for asking the question and I'll be watching the replies

I use Drawboard PDF It's great for displaying and annotating scores. I pair mine with a bluetooth pedal for page turning.

What do you mean by that?

Nearly everyone I've seen uses Adobe Reader in the full screen mode and does finger swipes to turn the pages.

What else do you need?

I have happily used Musicreader and an Airturn pedal on the tablet section of my Surface Book for some time. I can swipe to turn pages if I wish instead at any time instead of using the pedal. The scores are input in PDF, a bit of a chore, but easily searchable in future. The screen normally shows just a small line of info at the bottom of the page - I find knowing the time useful - but that can be hidden. I prefer the portrait orientation, since the music appears normal size.

MobileSheets is another one.

Has anyone used Autoflip to automatically turn the pages? Seems a lot easier than fiddling with peddles.

I second this one.

It's not only a PDF reader, but also a whole music library organizer, with filters, search function, tagging, set lists, various page turn options, cropping and auto-cropping (to maximize screen space), variable page ordering, jump points (for repeats and da capos), bookmarks, music annotation tools (for fingering, text notes, highlights, etc.), library backup, cloud storage access, multi tablet usage and lots and lots of other features. And of course it is compatible with page turn pedals (AirTurn Duo in my case).

I have been using it for three years on an Amazon Fire tablet and now recently migrated to a surface tablet. It was very easy to migrate over my whole library and it also works great with the surface pen. I love this app and recommend it wholeheartedly - it is really worth the (low) price!

It is also available for Android and Amazon Fire tablets, so if you want to migrate at some point (or use an Android or Amazon tablet as a backup) you aren't locked in to Windows.

Thanks nhpianos and Jobert, I will have to try that one.

I have a 2-in-1 laptop and I just use Microsoft Edge (the built in web browser) to read pdf files. My vision is still good enough that I can use 2 page view (15.6 inch screen), at least in full screen view. I use a pedal switch to turn pages. Edge also has annotation features that you can use with a pen (just zoom in).

Maybe I'm just cheap but I don't like paying for software when I have a perfectly adequate solution that came with the operating system. I also use MuseScore for my notation needs. It's free and can export pdf files that look great.

I just had a look at this, really like what I'm seeing, except - I'm not very technical so I don't know how the app "learns" turning the pages, if it's not done with a pedal? Care to elaborate?

From the app description:
It can account for variations in tempo as well as minor mistakes. Autoflip version 1.0 is optimized for solo performances using pianos and keyboards. Autoflip works with any sheet music in PDF format. You can enable automatic turning for each new piece by running it through a simple training session. A training session is simply you playing the piece and turning the pages! After that, all you have to do is play and Autoflip will take care of the turning.
So essentially, it is only useful for pieces that you can already play relatively well (only minor mistakes) and that you want to play through. As it says, it is optimized for performances. It isn't really useful during practice or for pieces where you still make too many mistakes.

It's ok to be cheap and what you do works just fine. As a matter of fact I did the same as you until this morning but I bought Mobilesheet. Looks like really nice software sometimes paying for convenience is the way to go.

I worked that out too, just a function I wasnt aware of at first, but yeah, its actually fine swiping the pages in full screen mode. Thanks for the reply.

Thanks very much to everyone for welcome and the suggestions here, I will also give Mobilesheets a look. Turns out that MS Edge reader is probably enough for what I need.
With this and the scores on IMSLP, I think my sight reading is going to improve pretty quickly!

Mark,

Thanks for bringing MobileSheets to my attention. I have just paid £9.99 for the Pro version and installed it on my Galaxy Note Pro 12.2. What a great program and with so many features!

Ian