DX Kindle by amazon for live performance?

[Sam CA]

Ok, my keyboard set up looks like this pretty much, with a triton studio and a PA800

http://trinifieds.com/classifieds/wp-co ... 509269.jpg

I'm 6' tall, so I had to raise the note stand all the way to be able to see the music. Lately, i just use the note stand that comes with PA800. It's pretty reliable, and it eliminated the need for carring a stand. This was another reason why I wanted to use an E-reader, because they're very light-weight, and could be placed on PA800's note stand. I like to put the music in front of me, and not on the side. I don't see how i could use a laptop with this set up.I would have to get another stand, unless there's a stand designed for laptop?

How does your keyboard-laptop set up look like?

[Sharp]

Hi kbrkr.

Thanks for checking out the progarm. I'd only be too delighted to make any enhancments you suggest but I have a few questions first.

It would be great if it could load PDF files as that is how I prepare my lyric files.

Can you explain how you feel that will add to the program ?. If I can understand the benefit I can look at implementing that, but I'm not sure I understand how you see that working since a PDF file can contain more than one page.

The way the system works now you can jump to any page within a song at the press of one button, plus you have page up and down buttons to flip through the pages.

A PDF file won't allow you to jump to any page unless you scroll or place markers in the PDF file.

The reason I also went with standard image formats is because that's exactly what people would be dealing with when scanning their music into the PC. No additional conversion process.

Also, having a larger "LOAD DOCUMENT" button would be great to help with loading either during a performance or between songs.

Can you please explain ?. There is no load document button in the program ?. Do you mean list where all the songs are displayed ? If so that's something I can easily do.

The full version also allows you to create folders so that's also a quick way to jump between libraries of songs. If you grab the left hand side of the program right now you can see a hidden window of 2 folders. This is where the end users folders would appear and you can touch these and navigate to any song withing them.

Regards
James

[Sharp]

Hi Assyrianpianist

This was another reason why I wanted to use an E-reader, because they're very light-weight, and could be placed on PA800's note stand. I like to put the music in front of me, and not on the side. I don't see how i could use a laptop with this set up.I would have to get another stand, unless there's a stand designed for laptop?

We all use the same APEX stands here and have had custom music stands designed for the keyboard stand. If you look at the top of your keyboard stand there is a slot with about a ¾ inch opening at the top. My music stand slots down into that and then rests on the top area of the keyboard stand.


It looks like the standard music stand you have for your Pa800 only instead of the two bars that slot into the back of the keyboard there is one flat piece of metal that slots down into that ¾ inch opening on the stand. The base of the music stand then sits on the keyboard stand.

I know that's not much help to you, but for what it's worth, we got 4 made for 100 euro from a local engineering workshop. If you have something like that near by you, it could be an option worth thinking about.

Regards
James.

[Rob Sherratt]

Sony just released the most perfect touch screen computer imaginable for musicians, the Vaio L series. There is also a notebook version for those with deep pockets.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... 1#overview

Trouble is I don't think it will go down my chimney when Santa is passing overhead

Cheers,
Rob

[Sam CA]

Sony just released the most perfect touch screen computer imaginable for musicians, the Vaio L series. There is also a notebook version for those with deep pockets.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... 1#overview

Trouble is I don't think it will go down my chimney when Santa is passing overhead

Cheers,
Rob

This is REALLY nice Rob. They say it's around 27 lbs. But it's a 24'' screen. Don't you think it's too big? How you're going to add to your set up in a live gig situation?

[Rob Sherratt]

... there's the new Vaio X-series touchscreen laptops as well. My "gigs" are all at the Villa for invited guests, I don't tour But even if I wanted to tour, setting up a 27lb all in one unit with wireless peripherals is a cinch. The rest of my stuff weighs much more. What about the M3-88?

[Sharp]

Anything with an Atom processor and a touch screen would do.
You can get something that looks like that all in one desktop Sony for 600 USD now. It's made by ACER or ASUS, I can't remember which one, but it's one of those two.

Regards
James

[Sharp]

Found it here.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/09/asus ... y-enjoyed/

Would be lovley for Studio use, but I think a good Netbook/Tablet would be better for on the road gigging.

Regards
Sharp.

[fzero]

There's no question about it, the Music Pad is an excellent device. I had a version 3 unit myself, and right now two of my friends have the version 4 units. They both play live 3 nights a week with them and would never go back to printed sheet music every again.

Regards
Sharp.

Hi Sharp , I have a MPP in version 3 to .
If you are agree I ll send you all my convert files .
It's not very easy to have a good result with the MPP.

I use this process to have a very good result.
I scan in JPG format and 600 DPI
I reduce them in 766X1022 DPI
I import them in the MPP.

I stop to scan the page in pdf format , results after import in the MPP
are horrible ...

Can you say me your method ?
Regards,
PaT

[Sharp]

Hi fzero.

I'd scan in at very high resolutions and then resize the scan in an image editor to the exact resolution of the Music Pads screen. It's the only way to get the best out of the music pad, but even at that your going to have limited success. It will always be usable, but nowhere near as good as it should be.

There's not a lot more you can do. It's limited by it's hardware being so old and underpowered.

I can't see them saying in business over the next few years. A Netbook with Tablet functions now costs less than the music pad and it has better battery life as well as a CPU fast enough to give instant access to everything. Not to mention full playback of all files formats and scanned music as clear as the original sheets.

Regards
Sharp.

[Sam CA]

James, i'm fully convinced that I'll run into problems with these E-Readers. I know Rob has a giant stand that you could pretty much live on it,but i'll be looking for something more portable that could support 2 keyboards and a laptop...I'll look around and see what's out there.

Back to your software again. Can you turn pages with a foot controller?

[Sharp]

Hi Assyrianpianist

Can you turn pages with a foot controller?

Yes sure but I'd highly recommend rather than a straight connection to the PC from some sort of pedal, if you run the little application like kanthos mentioned in the background you can connect your Pa800 directly to the PC and then have your EC-5 Pedal controlling both your Pa800 and the Music displayed on the PC.

For example, assign EC-5 pedal numbers 1, 2 and 3 to Pa800 normal functions and numbers 4 and 5 to turning pages on the PC.

Or you could go with a second pedal like the Behringer one and not only change pages, but also jump between entire songs. It's just a matter of putting the songs in the order you need which can be done as quickly as drag and drop.

Regards
Sharp

[Rockitman]

Is there the possibility of sending the required NRPN values to bring up the song in the songbook when you select a score from your program?

[Sharp]

Yes, I've been working on a newer version which allows me to transmit SysEX, program change, and control change commands.

You can freely browse the songs without it effecting your keyboard, but when you want to play the song you have on the screen, you press PLAY and it then transmits the SysEX data to your keyboard which in turn recalls all the settings needed to play the song.

Regards
Sharp

[Rockitman]

Bravo! That is Brilliant...That will be I great thing indeed. Count me in as a customer for that app. I have been using a old MSB+ to setup my keyboards in my live band. That spoiled me, because two button pushes and all of my keyboards are on the right sounds. This will be just as cool, to be able to select a leadsheet, and have the PA800 come up on the right song.