Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
On 4/7/2015 4:20 PM, timothy price wrote: On Apr 7, 2015, at 4:08 PM, Darcy James Argue wrote: If there was a way I could instead just sit down at any piano and reach into my bag and pull out a slim tablet computer with a stylus and just start writing… Yes, Hayden, Mozart, Beethoven...et.c., were very proficient with quill, paper, and ink. Would be a gas to be able to set one of these tablets in front of Mozi and watch him light up. Aren't the files produced with Staffpad compatible with Finale on a Mac. Am sure they are. Yes -- StaffPad files can be exported as MusicXML for import into Finale or Sibelius or MuseScore. -- David H. Bailey dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
On Apr 7, 2015, at 4:08 PM, Darcy James Argue wrote: If there was a way I could instead just sit down at any piano and reach into my bag and pull out a slim tablet computer with a stylus and just start writing… Yes, Hayden, Mozart, Beethoven...et.c., were very proficient with quill, paper, and ink. Would be a gas to be able to set one of these tablets in front of Mozi and watch him light up. Aren't the files produced with Staffpad compatible with Finale on a Mac. Am sure they are. tim ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
Hi Robert, It's true I am a lifelong Mac user (since the 1984 Macintosh!) but I'll admit that the idea that I could take a tablet that's as powerful as my current laptop, plunk it on the music stand of any piano, write music directly on-screen with a pen, and then easily bounce that output to Finale — running on the same device — is pretty appealing. Currently, when I'm on the road, I have to haul around a backpack with my laptop, a 2-octave MIDI keyboard, a bunch of cables and chargers, etc. I usually have access to a room with a piano, but then I've also got to have a desk or table where I can set up my laptop and MIDI keyboard and phone (used as a numeric keypad)… plus a nearby power source because my laptop's battery doesn't hold a charge well anymore — it takes a little while to set everything up, and then pack it up again when I'm done. I'm always going back and forth between using the piano to try out ideas, then inputting notes into Finale using the MIDI keyboard (sometimes awkwardly if there's a lot of octave-shifting), the numeric keypad app on my phone is always losing connectivity, and so on… it's a slow and cumbersome way to write. If there was a way I could instead just sit down at any piano and reach into my bag and pull out a slim tablet computer with a stylus and just start writing… in a format that imports easily into Finale… that honestly sounds like a minor miracle to me. In all honestly, I will probably wait and see what Windows 10 is like before deciding. Obviously it would be a huge, disruptive switch, and I'd want to go into it with both eyes open. But replacing my aging MacBook Pro with a high-end Surface Pro tablet is not out of the question. Cheers, - DJA - WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org On Apr 7, 2015, at 12:50 PM, Robert Patterson rob...@robertgpatterson.com wrote: I got interested in StaffPad http://www.sibeliusblog.com/news/staffpad-is-a-music-handwriting-app/ after Darcy posted about it a few days ago. The more I read, the more impressed I become. The very fact that an apparently committed Mac user like Darcy is interested in a Windows-only platform makes it that much more intriguing. I am curious if anyone on the list has any experience with it. Specifically, how well does it handle meter changes or even passages without meter? If I end up getting it, I'll almost certainly be using it as a front-end for Finale through its Music XML export feature. ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
On 4/7/2015 12:50 PM, Robert Patterson wrote: I got interested in StaffPad http://www.sibeliusblog.com/news/staffpad-is-a-music-handwriting-app/ after Darcy posted about it a few days ago. The more I read, the more impressed I become. The very fact that an apparently committed Mac user like Darcy is interested in a Windows-only platform makes it that much more intriguing. I am curious if anyone on the list has any experience with it. Specifically, how well does it handle meter changes or even passages without meter? If I end up getting it, I'll almost certainly be using it as a front-end for Finale through its Music XML export feature. I did take the plunge and bought StaffPad, since I already have a SurfacePro3, and am very impressed with it so far but I am just barely getting into it. Meter changes seem to be no problem but the choices currently available are limited to 2/4, 3/4, 5/4 6/4, 7/4, 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 12/8, 2/2, 3/2, C and cut-time. Just as with all notation software I'm currently aware of, you can't do unmetered music -- there has to be a time signature. It does have all the major and minor key signatures. The shortest note value it currently recognizes is the 32nd note. It works with a combination of pen and finger. I plan on investigating it much further over this week and next and plan on offering some sort of organized review here, on sibelius and and orchestralist at yahoogroups. One drawback is the limited instruments currently installed with the program. For example, I did a MusicXML import of a file which started in Sibelius, a Stamitz Fantaisie for 2 clarinets in C, 2 horns in F, 3 violin parts, 2 viola parts, cello and bass. It imported the MusicXML very nicely -- the rhythms showed up complete with slurs, ties, etc. However, StaffPad assigned its own clarinets to the clarinet staves (as it should have done) but its clarinets are only in Bb or Eb, there are no C clarinets, so the clarinet staves are sounding a whole step too low. I can move the clarinet staves to flute staves (the only way I've found so far is to add 2 staves and copy the music, then delete the clarinet staves) but there may be the possibility of an instrument change which I have not found yet. One big drawback is that there is no organized help file or manual or even contextual help. But one big asset is that they have very nicely organized tutorial videos -- I've watched some and know that I have to watch them all and take notes if I truly want to learn the program. The drawing of the notes is easy as long as you follow the strokes they have outlined in the videos, and the recognition is very accurate. It's fairly easy to alter them once they've been entered if you get the pitch or the rhythm wrong. This app has been in development for a few years, so it didn't just spring up overnight and the programming, at least as far as I've experienced it, has been very well thought out. However, if you have a SurfacePro (the device the app was designed to run on) you can simply install Finale or Sibelius and work with those, with no need for MusicXML intermediary files. This seems aimed mainly at people who want to start works in StaffPad by using their SurfacePro as an old fashioned pad of manuscript paper, only since it's electronic and a very capable computer it can do a whole lot more than manuscript paper can. I don't see any reason for anybody to run out and buy a SurfacePro3 simply to run this software -- once you buy the SurfacePro3, install Finale or Sibelius and use that since they run just fine on the SurfacePro3. But if you want software which actually allows pen entry and you prefer writing the original thoughts down with a pen, this is a wonderful app. And if a person doesn't own Finale or Sibelius and wants something a bit simpler to use than MuseScore, then StaffPad is an ideal app to buy. The blog at their web-site already mentions a couple of things (lyrics and more sophisticated chord entry -- now you simply enter text above the staff) that will be included or improved in an upcoming update. I'm sure there will be more -- the development team is very committed to making this a world-class piece of notation software. And as a first-version release I think it's very good. As I mentioned earlier I plan on delving into the software much more deeply but I may not be able to until after this coming weekend since I have a big concert with the community band I conduct. -- David H. Bailey dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
On 4/7/2015 6:08 PM, Darcy James Argue wrote: On Apr 7, 2015, at 4:35 PM, David H. Bailey dhbaile...@comcast.net wrote: I don't see any reason for anybody to run out and buy a SurfacePro3 simply to run this software -- once you buy the SurfacePro3, install Finale or Sibelius and use that since they run just fine on the SurfacePro3. But if you want software which actually allows pen entry and you prefer writing the original thoughts down with a pen, this is a wonderful app. Hi David, Of course any serious user would not be giving up Finale or Sibelius. But having the pen-entry front end on a tablet is, for me, the exciting part. I know I could also just do the note entry directly into Finale on a Surface Pro, but realistically that also requires a keyboard, a numberpad, and a MIDI keyboard, whereas StaffPad requires none of those things. That's why I'm excited about it, too, and why I made the plunge (easy since I already had the SurfacePro3 so getting into StaffPad is only a small expense.) The web-site for StaffPad suggests buying at least a Surface with an i5 processor and 256GB of storage because that comes with 8GB of RAM. I had already bought my i5 with 128GB of storage so I'm not about to go out and buy a new one. Even though my model comes with only 4GB of RAM, my initial experiments with StaffPad seem to indicate that my hardware will be adequate. Of course I haven't gotten into a full romantic orchestra score of great length so I have no idea how it will work should I attempt such a work. One thing I have found is that the pen-strokes are not quite as freewheeling as I might like, but the pinch-to-zoom feature works so we can enlarge the staff we're entering notes on for greater accuracy. I hope that someday soon I can be as proficient as the people in the tutorial videos with their pen strokes. Watching and re-watching those videos is very helpful! -- David H. Bailey dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com -- David H. Bailey dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
The appeal for me is the pen-based entry at the beginning. I can't imagine giving up my multi-monitor Mac setup when the time comes to finalize the edits and especially to do the page layout. (On a 12 screen? No way! I'm not going back to those days.) On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 5:02 PM, Darcy James Argue djar...@icloud.com wrote: On Apr 7, 2015, at 4:20 PM, timothy price timothy.pr...@valley.net wrote: Aren't the files produced with Staffpad compatible with Finale on a Mac. Am sure they are. Of course, but that would require a separate device. The whole appeal of this (for me at least) is that everything lives in the same lightweight tablet, on which you could run StaffPad and Finale simultaneously. Cheers, - DJA - WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
On Apr 7, 2015, at 4:20 PM, timothy price timothy.pr...@valley.net wrote: Aren't the files produced with Staffpad compatible with Finale on a Mac. Am sure they are. Of course, but that would require a separate device. The whole appeal of this (for me at least) is that everything lives in the same lightweight tablet, on which you could run StaffPad and Finale simultaneously. Cheers, - DJA - WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
Several people on the Finale forum have reported doing that with good results. They identified some XML export/import issues, but they didn't sound like deal-breakers, especially when viewing StaffPad as a tool for the early stages of a project. I think there might have been some XML issues with text placement and maybe grace notes. On 4/7/2015 4:33 PM, David H. Bailey wrote: Yes -- StaffPad files can be exported as MusicXML for import into Finale or Sibelius or MuseScore. ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
On Apr 7, 2015, at 4:35 PM, David H. Bailey dhbaile...@comcast.net wrote: I don't see any reason for anybody to run out and buy a SurfacePro3 simply to run this software -- once you buy the SurfacePro3, install Finale or Sibelius and use that since they run just fine on the SurfacePro3. But if you want software which actually allows pen entry and you prefer writing the original thoughts down with a pen, this is a wonderful app. Hi David, Of course any serious user would not be giving up Finale or Sibelius. But having the pen-entry front end on a tablet is, for me, the exciting part. I know I could also just do the note entry directly into Finale on a Surface Pro, but realistically that also requires a keyboard, a numberpad, and a MIDI keyboard, whereas StaffPad requires none of those things. Cheers, - DJA - WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
But beyond this, another reason I am attracted to the Surface Pro is the ability to use it as a music stand. The pen-based interface seems ideal (and the 12 screen just about ideal) for abandoning printed sheet music. On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 5:43 PM, Robert Patterson rob...@robertgpatterson.com wrote: The appeal for me is the pen-based entry at the beginning. I can't imagine giving up my multi-monitor Mac setup when the time comes to finalize the edits and especially to do the page layout. (On a 12 screen? No way! I'm not going back to those days.) On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 5:02 PM, Darcy James Argue djar...@icloud.com wrote: On Apr 7, 2015, at 4:20 PM, timothy price timothy.pr...@valley.net wrote: Aren't the files produced with Staffpad compatible with Finale on a Mac. Am sure they are. Of course, but that would require a separate device. The whole appeal of this (for me at least) is that everything lives in the same lightweight tablet, on which you could run StaffPad and Finale simultaneously. Cheers, - DJA - WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
On 4/7/2015 6:45 PM, Robert Patterson wrote: But beyond this, another reason I am attracted to the Surface Pro is the ability to use it as a music stand. The pen-based interface seems ideal (and the 12 screen just about ideal) for abandoning printed sheet music. I'm using it as a music stand and I love it. I'm not completely abandoning printed sheet music because sometimes paper is simply easier (faster random searching) but it's a wonderful way to travel with one's complete library so that I can play anything I want to from my library or study any of the scores from the Musician's CD-Rom Library. And the SurfacePro's screen is vastly superior to the iPad (in my opinion -- I have both a SurfacePro3 and an iPad4 with Retina display) for music reading. If the iPad is ever brought out in a 12 it would be a toss-up for me as I much prefer ForScore on the iPad to MusicReader on the SurfacePro for my music reading app. But given the screen difference between the iPad and the SurfacePro, I will put up with MusicReader And of course anybody can use Adobe Reader or any other PDF program to read the music PDF files instead of a dedicated music-reading app if they'd prefer. But both ForScore and MusicReader have built-in devices for annotating the music and writing reminders and such on the PDF files. The pen-input of the Surface makes that particularly handy. If you don't already have a SurfacePro3 I recommend buying the i5 processor with the 256GB storage -- it comes with 8GB of RAM. They have a microSD slot but those cards only come up to 128GB in size and the timing lag of reading from a SD card make it important to be able to store the music library of PDF files on the main storage for faster access. The microSD card is great for storing data files for other apps, but not for storing data which you want read at the fastest possible speed for page turns or switching between PDF files. -- David H. Bailey dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
On 4/7/2015 6:45 PM, Robert Patterson wrote: But beyond this, another reason I am attracted to the Surface Pro is the ability to use it as a music stand. The pen-based interface seems ideal (and the 12 screen just about ideal) for abandoning printed sheet music. I'm using it as a music stand and I love it. I'm not completely abandoning printed sheet music because sometimes paper is simply easier (faster random searching) but it's a wonderful way to travel with one's complete library so that I can play anything I want to from my library or study any of the scores from the Musician's CD-Rom Library. And the SurfacePro's screen is vastly superior to the iPad (in my opinion -- I have both a SurfacePro3 and an iPad4 with Retina display) for music reading. If the iPad is ever brought out in a 12 it would be a toss-up for me as I much prefer ForScore on the iPad to MusicReader on the SurfacePro for my music reading app. But given the screen difference between the iPad and the SurfacePro, I will put up with MusicReader And of course anybody can use Adobe Reader or any other PDF program to read the music PDF files instead of a dedicated music-reading app if they'd prefer. But both ForScore and MusicReader have built-in devices for annotating the music and writing reminders and such on the PDF files. The pen-input of the Surface makes that particularly handy. If you don't already have a SurfacePro3 I recommend buying the i5 processor with the 256GB storage -- it comes with 8GB of RAM. They have a microSD slot but those cards only come up to 128GB in size and the timing lag of reading from a SD card make it important to be able to store the music library of PDF files on the main storage for faster access. The microSD card is great for storing data files for other apps, but not for storing data which you want read at the fastest possible speed for page turns or switching between PDF files. -- David H. Bailey dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
Re: [Finale] StaffPad (for Windows Surface Pro 3)
On 4/7/2015 12:50 PM, Robert Patterson wrote: I got interested in StaffPad http://www.sibeliusblog.com/news/staffpad-is-a-music-handwriting-app/ after Darcy posted about it a few days ago. The more I read, the more impressed I become. The very fact that an apparently committed Mac user like Darcy is interested in a Windows-only platform makes it that much more intriguing. I am curious if anyone on the list has any experience with it. Specifically, how well does it handle meter changes or even passages without meter? If I end up getting it, I'll almost certainly be using it as a front-end for Finale through its Music XML export feature. I did take the plunge and bought StaffPad, since I already have a SurfacePro3, and am very impressed with it so far but I am just barely getting into it. Meter changes seem to be no problem but the choices currently available are limited to 2/4, 3/4, 5/4 6/4, 7/4, 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 12/8, 2/2, 3/2, C and cut-time. Just as with all notation software I'm currently aware of, you can't do unmetered music -- there has to be a time signature. It does have all the major and minor key signatures. The shortest note value it currently recognizes is the 32nd note. It works with a combination of pen and finger. I plan on investigating it much further over this week and next and plan on offering some sort of organized review here, on sibelius and and orchestralist at yahoogroups. One drawback is the limited instruments currently installed with the program. For example, I did a MusicXML import of a file which started in Sibelius, a Stamitz Fantaisie for 2 clarinets in C, 2 horns in F, 3 violin parts, 2 viola parts, cello and bass. It imported the MusicXML very nicely -- the rhythms showed up complete with slurs, ties, etc. However, StaffPad assigned its own clarinets to the clarinet staves (as it should have done) but its clarinets are only in Bb or Eb, there are no C clarinets, so the clarinet staves are sounding a whole step too low. I can move the clarinet staves to flute staves (the only way I've found so far is to add 2 staves and copy the music, then delete the clarinet staves) but there may be the possibility of an instrument change which I have not found yet. One big drawback is that there is no organized help file or manual or even contextual help. But one big asset is that they have very nicely organized tutorial videos -- I've watched some and know that I have to watch them all and take notes if I truly want to learn the program. The drawing of the notes is easy as long as you follow the strokes they have outlined in the videos, and the recognition is very accurate. It's fairly easy to alter them once they've been entered if you get the pitch or the rhythm wrong. This app has been in development for a few years, so it didn't just spring up overnight and the programming, at least as far as I've experienced it, has been very well thought out. However, if you have a SurfacePro (the device the app was designed to run on) you can simply install Finale or Sibelius and work with those, with no need for MusicXML intermediary files. This seems aimed mainly at people who want to start works in StaffPad by using their SurfacePro as an old fashioned pad of manuscript paper, only since it's electronic and a very capable computer it can do a whole lot more than manuscript paper can. I don't see any reason for anybody to run out and buy a SurfacePro3 simply to run this software -- once you buy the SurfacePro3, install Finale or Sibelius and use that since they run just fine on the SurfacePro3. But if you want software which actually allows pen entry and you prefer writing the original thoughts down with a pen, this is a wonderful app. And if a person doesn't own Finale or Sibelius and wants something a bit simpler to use than MuseScore, then StaffPad is an ideal app to buy. The blog at their web-site already mentions a couple of things (lyrics and more sophisticated chord entry -- now you simply enter text above the staff) that will be included or improved in an upcoming update. I'm sure there will be more -- the development team is very committed to making this a world-class piece of notation software. And as a first-version release I think it's very good. As I mentioned earlier I plan on delving into the software much more deeply but I may not be able to until after this coming weekend since I have a big concert with the community band I conduct. -- David H. Bailey dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com http://www.davidbaileymusicstudio.com ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
