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#2800420 01/10/19 09:06 AM
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I thought about this a while ago, but there weren't many options at the time. Just wanted to revisit the idea. Do you all have any suggestions? Something at least the same size as a real sheet of paper would be ideal.


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"Discipline is more reliable than motivation." -by a contributor on Reddit r/piano
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Looks perfect, but $1600? Dayum!


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I use a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7" with the Document Viewer app, and the end result is about the perfect size for sheet music.

The app has an automatic crop function that will remove the margins around a scanned page so the content will fill the screen without a bunch of white space around it. The end result is close enough to "actual size" on printed sheet music.

Having all of my music on my tablet allows me to keep stuff organized since I'm not sorting through eight inches of paper to find that one thing that I know is right here in this pile. And my wife appreciates me not having a bunch of paper stacked on and around my piano.

I suppose the only bad thing is that I don't get the "oh look, I forgot about this one!" feeling when I'm digging through the pile looking for something else. But I can still sit on the couch and scan through everything that I have, if I want to.


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I have recently switched over to a 12.3" Microsoft Surface Pro tablet.

Before that I had been using a cheap 10.1" Amazon Fire tablet for 3 years. While I was quite happy with the Fire tablet, the larger Surface Pro is really a step above, especially together with the (optional) surface pen, which really makes it very easy to work with score annotations. But of course the larger screen size is the main improvement. I always said that the smaller Amazon tablet was fine for me, but now that I have the larger size, I know what I have been missing. The larger size really does make a difference. If it's in the budget (maybe by getting something used), I really recommend to get a 12" or larger device, instead of the more common 9-10" devices.
And compared to my old tablet, not only is the Surface Pro larger, but it also has a sharper resolution and a screen size aspect ratio that is better for sheet music, which is another plus.

So together with the MobileSheets app (see below) I can really recommend a Surface Pro + pen for sheet music.

It is however not exactly cheap, so I minimized its cost a bit by getting the 2017 model and by getting the smallest configuration (with smallest memory and processor). As its main use is as a music sheet display device, that smallest version is still plenty for my needs. It can handle the sheet music without problems and delays, much faster than the old and cheap fire tablet.

I believe that an iPad Pro, which is about the same size and also has a similar pen, would work just as well, but it is a good bit more expensive than the Surface Pro (in the configuration I got) and also I didn't want to get locked into the Apple "walled garden". Plus, I wanted to continue to use the same sheet music app as before:

On the Surface Pro I am using the MobileSheets app. This app is also available for Android and Amazon tablets (under the name MobileSheetsPro) and I had already been using it on my Fire tablet. So moving my sheet music library (with all annotations and everything) from my old tablet to the new Surface Pro was as simple as making a backup on the old tablet and restoring it on the new tablet.
And as long as MobileSheets keeps being available on Windows, Android and Amazon devices, I feel I have more options for future device changes.

So if you end up with a similar Windows, Android or Amazon device, I simply cannot recommend MobileSheets enough,


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Originally Posted by JoBert
I have recently switched over to a 12.3" Microsoft Surface Pro tablet.
So together with the MobileSheets app (see below) I can really recommend a Surface Pro + pen for sheet music.

So if you end up with a similar Windows, Android or Amazon device, I simply cannot recommend MobileSheets enough,


Interesting. I have a cabinet full of music next to my piano, plus all the music scattered on top of it and the piano - so much faffing around putting it back and forth. So looking at a tablet or something similar but concerned about size. There is this
12.1 Windows 7 tablet

which looks as though it could do the same job much cheaper. What do you think?


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Originally Posted by JoBert
I have recently switched over to a 12.3" Microsoft Surface Pro tablet.

Before that I had been using a cheap 10.1" Amazon Fire tablet for 3 years. While I was quite happy with the Fire tablet, the larger Surface Pro is really a step above, especially together with the (optional) surface pen, which really makes it very easy to work with score annotations. But of course the larger screen size is the main improvement. I always said that the smaller Amazon tablet was fine for me, but now that I have the larger size, I know what I have been missing. The larger size really does make a difference. If it's in the budget (maybe by getting something used), I really recommend to get a 12" or larger device, instead of the more common 9-10" devices.
And compared to my old tablet, not only is the Surface Pro larger, but it also has a sharper resolution and a screen size aspect ratio that is better for sheet music, which is another plus.

So together with the MobileSheets app (see below) I can really recommend a Surface Pro + pen for sheet music.

It is however not exactly cheap, so I minimized its cost a bit by getting the 2017 model and by getting the smallest configuration (with smallest memory and processor). As its main use is as a music sheet display device, that smallest version is still plenty for my needs. It can handle the sheet music without problems and delays, much faster than the old and cheap fire tablet.

I believe that an iPad Pro, which is about the same size and also has a similar pen, would work just as well, but it is a good bit more expensive than the Surface Pro (in the configuration I got) and also I didn't want to get locked into the Apple "walled garden". Plus, I wanted to continue to use the same sheet music app as before:

On the Surface Pro I am using the MobileSheets app. This app is also available for Android and Amazon tablets (under the name MobileSheetsPro) and I had already been using it on my Fire tablet. So moving my sheet music library (with all annotations and everything) from my old tablet to the new Surface Pro was as simple as making a backup on the old tablet and restoring it on the new tablet.
And as long as MobileSheets keeps being available on Windows, Android and Amazon devices, I feel I have more options for future device changes.

So if you end up with a similar Windows, Android or Amazon device, I simply cannot recommend MobileSheets enough,


This has been my issue. I keep looking at the iPad Pro, the Surface Pro and the Surface Book 2. All three have their strengths and weaknesses. HELP!



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I'll say the same thing I always do when this topic comes up:

I use a 2-1 15.6 inch windows laptop. I use Microsoft edge (build it to windows 10) as my pdf viewer and a foot switch to turn pages. I can read 2 pages side by side to eliminate some page turns, but if I'm just learning something, I sometimes go single page and turn the screen to vertical.

If I was to replace the laptop, I would get a 17 inch version of the same thing, but not have a touch screen since I'm using the foot switch for page turns anyway. I am also considering just hooking up a 21 inch monitor to the laptop to display on that, but it would need to be at least UHD if not 4K. It turns out sitting so close to the screen, it needs to be higher resolution.


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Sometimes I use Piascore on an iPad.

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Originally Posted by RubberFingers
Sometimes I use Piascore on an iPad.

Have you done any comparisons between Piascore and forScore? If so, how do you feel they compare and why did you pick Piascore instead?


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across the stone, deathless piano performances

"Discipline is more reliable than motivation." -by a contributor on Reddit r/piano
"Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration." -by some other wise person
"Pianoteq manages to keep it all together yet simultaneously also go in all directions; like a quantum particle entangled with an unknown and spooky parallel universe simply waiting to be discovered." -by Pete14
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across the stone, deathless piano performances

"Discipline is more reliable than motivation." -by a contributor on Reddit r/piano
"Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration." -by some other wise person
"Pianoteq manages to keep it all together yet simultaneously also go in all directions; like a quantum particle entangled with an unknown and spooky parallel universe simply waiting to be discovered." -by Pete14
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Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Originally Posted by RubberFingers
Sometimes I use Piascore on an iPad.

Have you done any comparisons between Piascore and forScore? If so, how do you feel they compare and why did you pick Piascore instead?


Nope, I don't have a ton of experience. The review posted above has some good comments, and I've noticed that on my "regular" sized iPad that the music is a bit small. It works well for music that I already know well. I've never tried tricky stuff like blinking or turning my head (which may require a more fancy iPad). Piascore is free, at least the version I use, so there's no risk.

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Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop


Thanks Tyrone-very useful!



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Many months ago, I found an 11.5" touchscreen Insignia Android tablet with Android OS 7.0 at Best Buy for about $100. It has native wifi, bluetooth, detachable keyboard/cover. With MobileSheets for Android, this things works like a charm. You can flip the thing landscape or portrait just by turning it around.

I find the landscape view gives me a really nice wide LARGE (for my aging eyes!) image, but then the challenge becomes touching the screen to advance from top to bottom of each page, and then to advance across pages, without missing a beat of playing. Too many quick touches are required while playing.

Solution: So today I found the perfect resolution to that remaining problem... the AirTurn DUO BT106 for $99. This thing works wirelessly via bluetooth (which the Android table emits natively). This wireless (rechargeable internal battery) pedal advances pages or goes back, either a full page or a half page at a time, simply depending whether I've turn the tablet portrait or landscape.

This whole setup cost about $200 all told (and the foot pedal can be used for a variety of other purposes, even as just a remote for multimedia, etc. without the detachable pedals). The tablet/keyboard provides virtually unlimited storage for music pdfs (scans, mostly of our vast paper sheet music collection) and has now become an even greater pleasure to use for playing piano.

Some arrangement like this might work for you and I found it to be extremely cost effective, customizable, and easy on the eyes.

Food for thought.

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I also have a cabinet full of music books and sheet music but had the brilliant idea of scanning them all into my iPad Pro. That’s a project in itself and I’m sure I will die before THAT is finished. It did not take me long to discover that the music was still not quite large enough to read comfortably (I bought the 10” IPad). Someone on this forum had mentioned that he or she projected music onto a monitor so I decided to try that (I had a spare 24” one) and that was the perfect solution for me. I’m using a Donner page turner although I find it a little stiff and a little smaller than I’d like. I only have a fraction of my music scanned in, though, so it’s a work in progress and, for me, best accomplished on a cold and rainy or snowy day.

Last edited by piRround; 01/13/19 09:34 AM. Reason: Spelling

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I've used forScore on an iPad pro with an Airturn pedal for close to 3 years now for all my public performances and practice. It is fabulous.

I hate paper music now. When someone at a rehearsal or audition throws a paper score at me to sight read, I screw up because the pages won't turn when I press my left foot on the pedal! mad

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I should also mention that iPad Pros are very robust. I sat on mine for 20 minutes the other day will no ill effects to either it or my ass.

Last edited by prout; 01/13/19 10:49 AM.
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Originally Posted by prout
I should also mention that iPad Pros are very robust. I sat on mine for 20 minutes the other day will no ill effects to either it or my ass.


Prout - As with all practice materials, always good to warm up before playing. - OneWatt

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Originally Posted by OneWatt
Originally Posted by prout
I should also mention that iPad Pros are very robust. I sat on mine for 20 minutes the other day will no ill effects to either it or my ass.


Prout - As with all practice materials, always good to warm up before playing. - OneWatt
Good one.
ha


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