iPad/Forscore

mike ansberry · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2019 10:43 am Post subject: iPad/Forscore

Picked up an iPad Pro from Ebay and purchased ForScore. Used it last night at rehearsal. I think I'm gonna like this!
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jhahntpt · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2019 11:34 am Post subject:

I've been using a 1st gen iPad Pro 12.9 with Forsocre for at least two years now. It's been the best thing to happen to performing and practicing. I can erase cut sections, use a foot pedal for fast awkward page turns, store EVERYTHING on the iPad so I never need to carry 20lbs of books to practice, and playing outside I'll never worry about a page blowing away!
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plunkett · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2019 2:12 pm Post subject:

I particularly like the ability to create set lists. I also like the ability to annotate on the music to remind me of key signatures (I sometimes circle them in red!), add conductor "reminders", and just call my attention to difficult passages. I usually "poke in" my music using iWriteMusic and then export to ForScore, but it can import PDFs as well.

Pat
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Pat Plunkett

LittleRusty · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2019 2:49 pm Post subject:

ForeScore is a great piece of software. I use it for our church's brass rehearsals.

I import the PDF director scores and then link the score to a MP3. I then set up the program to turn the pages when the MP3 reaches the end of the page.

After than I use the highlighter to mark the entrances of each instrument. I then find the point in the MP3 that corresponds to two measures prior to the each entrance. I then drop a "button" at each entrance that starts the MP3 at that point.

It makes the rehearsals move very smoothly.

lexluther · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2019 3:36 pm Post subject:

I wish Forscore had a cloud service! That would make it perfect!!!!!
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pinstriper · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2019 6:01 pm Post subject:

No stand lights needed anymore.

I do extensive touchup in Forscore, getting rid of speckles and other scanning artifacts, aggressive cropping and de-keystoning.

It really makes a difference for old man eyes.
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Bill Ortiz · Heavyweight Member Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Posts: 904

I also use ForScore and the large iPad Pro-very good combination. I especially like the half-page option, which helps with multi-page charts.
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Rapier232 · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2019 10:05 pm Post subject:

There is a new kid on the block called Blackbinder. It has some good features but I think ForScore has the edge because it allows you to take a photo of sheet music and add it instantly.
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Voltrane · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2019 10:51 pm Post subject:

I have been using Forescore with my IPAD pro for years and I agree with what to has been said before.
I just add that I am the only one in my community band to be always ready to play whatever you want while many people waste time to look after missing or forgotten parts...
I tried Blackbinder but do not see any interest unless I completely misssed the point.

jengstrom · Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 4:48 am Post subject:

Turkle · Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 4:51 am Post subject:

Because I'm cheap, and my needs are limited to lead sheets, I chose a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 10" tablet, and I use Mobile Sheets Pro.

While the tablet is a bit smaller than the iPad Pro - and Mobile Sheets Pro lacks many of the incredible features of ForScore - for my modest needs it is perfect. I use the AirTurn stand while on stage.

I went digital because the book for one of my bands got so heavy that it literally destroyed a music stand on stage. Oops. I bought the tablet and never looked back. It's a huge quality of life improvement!

Regarding cloud service - Mobile Sheets Pro and ForScore will both connect to whatever cloud service you choose, correct? My entire life is on Google Drive and my tablet integrates with it seamlessly.
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GizB · Veteran Member Joined: 11 Jan 2005 Posts: 200

I'm another MobileSheets Pro user, and use Dropbox to load my charts. I have ALL my band charts on my Pro12 tablet, as well as many pdf books from qPress.

I'm curious as to what features Forscore has that MobileSheets lacks? From my casual reading, they seem pretty evenly matched.

Rapier232 · Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 10:44 am Post subject:

Jengstrom, The camera option has never failed me.
_________________
"Nearly as good as I need to be. Not nearly as good as I want to be".

Smith-Watkins Bb
Will Spencer Bb
Eclipse Flugel
Smith Watkins K2 Cornet
JP152 C Trumpet
Besson Bugle

jkarnes0661 · Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 12:12 pm Post subject:

+1 to using Genius Scan along with Forscore and an 12.9 iPad. I've had that setup for 3 years and love it. Genius Scan lets me convert to B/W pdfs which take up less room on the iPad and lets me correct less than perfect framing of the picture better than Forscore's crop feature.

I picked up AirTurn's Manos stand a year ago which is a great accessory for using an iPad or any tablet as well.
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pinstriper · Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 8:34 pm Post subject:

Crop in Forscore on something that came in via PDF is....okay.

When I have heavy keystoning to deal with, I take a screen capture of said dodgy scan. When you bring it in as an image, you can set the four corners anywhere and it snaps to square. Which also lets you crop at the same time.

Then you can adjust the brightness/contrast/saturation to make a pure black and white and also sharpen everything, which gets a LOT of speckles out.

From there, painting white over any skid marks down to the pixel level and you can get something pretty darn near perfect from a very scabby scan of a scan of a scan of a scan of a scan....
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~'77 DEG Dynasty II Soprano Bugle in G
'13 Chinese POS "Hawk" branded Flugel
'59 Olds Ambassador Cornet
'51 Olds Super
'69 Olds Studio
'40 Olds Special Cornet, Military Issued

LittleRusty · Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2019 10:46 pm Post subject:

pinstriper · Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 7:36 am Post subject:

RandyTX · Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 1:50 pm Post subject:

Key thing to remember when scanning music for ForScore (or any other use of PDF music, imo) is to scan in *pure* black and white. Not shades of gray or color.

For several reasons. First, it makes the resulting PDF files much smaller on a computer or tablet. Second, it makes for much higher contrast when you're looking at the music. It's particularly nice when dealing with old faded/coffee-stained music, you know the kind that's been sitting in a library for 20 years turning slowly brown.

When you rescan to pure black and white, you get the maximum possible contrast between the music and the background white.

Some scanners use the term "OCR" (optical character recognition) for pure black and white, and use "black and white" to actually means shades of gray, which does not give you the same contrast or small files.
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taoduh · New Member Joined: 13 Oct 2019 Posts: 6

I have ForScore and looked at the foot pedal. It was $50. Uh... is there a cheaper option?

mrhappy · Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 7:56 pm Post subject: