Related
I have ordered a Zenithink ZT-180-102A and plan to use it to view sheet music for the band I play in, and turn the pages with a USB foot switch that sends a PgDn key to Acrobat Reader.
Has anyone tried this before? Any gotchas?
I would think that the tablet will be (just) big enough to view A4 PDF sheet music at 10.1" (would have preferred slightly bigger)
I'm hoping Adobe Acrobat Reader for Android can go full screen and respond to PgDn messages
Battery life seems a bit light, but figure I can run it from the power adapter if required
Hopefully no outside gigs, as I don't know how well the screen would work in sunlight
If I'm reading the foot switch description right, I can configure the key press via the software on a Windows machine, then plug it directly into the Zenithink as a standard HID device. Anyone tried anything like this?
Zilch said:
I have ordered a Zenithink ZT-180-102A and plan to use it to view sheet music for the band I play in, and turn the pages with a USB foot switch that sends a PgDn key to Acrobat Reader.
Has anyone tried this before? Any gotchas?
I would think that the tablet will be (just) big enough to view A4 PDF sheet music at 10.1" (would have preferred slightly bigger)
I'm hoping Adobe Acrobat Reader for Android can go full screen and respond to PgDn messages
Battery life seems a bit light, but figure I can run it from the power adapter if required
Hopefully no outside gigs, as I don't know how well the screen would work in sunlight
If I'm reading the foot switch description right, I can configure the key press via the software on a Windows machine, then plug it directly into the Zenithink as a standard HID device. Anyone tried anything like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, did you get this set up yet? I was looking at something similar for my band. Does the ZT180 have usb slot in it for the foot switch?
Yeah - that particular tablet is pretty iffy in build quality and design. I posted some details on it here.
The main limitation is the screen size for displaying A4/Letter. Since it's a 16:9 (or 16:10?) ratio, you get black bars at the top and bottom if you display the full page, so it's more like A5 size. For most of my music that is readable, but not ideal.
In landscape the size is about right, but you can only see half the page at a time.
The Adobe Reader software lets you do Cntl-N to move to the next page (dunno why PgDn doesn't work). The cheap footswitch I got of eBay works fine (you set it up once with some Windows software and then plug it into the USB port of the tablet)
I've ordered a 3 pedal one to try though, (cheaper than the 2 pedal ones strangely) so I can do Forward/Backwards, a maybe some sort of Scroll with the middle switch if I have it in landscape mode.
A proper A4 one would be nice though. I think I would actually take an eInk based one in preference - if I could find a reasonably priced A4 one - as the battery life would be so much better. Or maybe a Windows tablet so I could also run GuitarRig or similar for FX/MIDI stuff at the same time. Still thinking about it though. Let us know how you go.
Any update?
I would love to hear how this is going.
I am planning on getting a tablet for guitar music and would love foot pedal options.
Any suggestions? Tablets, apps, pedals etc...
I haven't used it much to be honest. The screen is a bit small, esp at 16:9 ratio for A4/Letter sheet music. The pedal idea works pretty well though, I'm using on my Thinkpad (sitting on it's side on a a music stand) for now.
I'll revisit when some genius invents a tablet which is greater than 10.2", and when a decent build quality model with Gingerbread is out.
I have to admit I'm slightly tempted with the 14" (?) EEE Windows slate that has come out recently. I think it's an i5 or so, and this would allow me to run guitar rig etc while viewing sheet music.
I purchased a Viewsonic G tablet for this very same purpose. I can read my music using Adobe in the Portrait mode ok but I would like to put it in landscape mode and use my cicada by page flip foot pedal to do a page up and page down. Have you come across anyone who can remap the keyboard to recognize page up and page down or as you have found out control N for page down.
I got my Gtablet a few weeks ago and have been playing with a few apps.
Chord Reader (pretty much just a phone), eSongBook and GuitarTapp
The each have nice features but I really need a combination of the three. I don't own a foot pedal but would like to have that feature and hear how that is working for other people.
Features I would like:
1. Change keys
2. Make setlists
3. Nice, big display
How are people mounting this for a stand? Or do you just set it on a music stand?
Best rig would be with a 13 inch macbook I believe. Check out Modbook http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook
New Sheet Music Reader: MobileSheets
For anyone that happens to come to this thread looking for information, I recently released an android sheet music reader app called MobileSheets. It's currently only available for 10'' tablets. The app is designed to let you take images or PDFs you have (either from scanning, taking a picture with the tablet camera, or from files obtained on the internet) and create songs from them. You can organize your library based on album, artist, and genre, and create setlists. It also comes with a built-in metronome, and companion app for your PC. Please check out zubersoft.com/mobilesheets for more information.
One of the best reasons to get a tablet ever! How does the footswitch work?
An update is coming out this Sunday, Dec 4th that's going to add support for any bluetooth pedal for hands-free playback. Examples of supported bluetooth pedals include the Cicada PageFlip and the Airturn BT-105. I'm going to start offering a deal soon where if you buy the Airturn BT-105 through a link on zubersoft.com/mobilesheets, you will be given a free copy of the paid version of MobileSheets.
As for how the pedal works, the previously mentioned devices have two pedals. My app supports multiple modes - the default mode is the left pedal goes back one page, the right pedal advances a page. Another mode is the left pedal scrolls the page while the right advances to the next page (great for landscape mode). Once you try hands-free page turning, you will never want to go back
hmmh... this seems to be just what i was looking for... i am planning on going completely digitla on my students, as in: have 'em watch their sheetmusic on the tablet in lesson (in this case motorola xoom), then afterwards send 'em the sheets for them to print out by themselves. i'm just sick of lugging 10+ kg of sheetmusic around all day actually i was planning on buying an inexpensive printer and hook it up to the zablet via usb, wifi or bluetooth and print the stuff for them on site, but as there's no pc or router nearby and usb doesn't semm to work either, i settled for the paperless approach (which does have it's pros and cons).
one thing i'd like to know about your program though: i've got several realbooks in pdf form that i'd like to use, each containing around 2-300 songs on about as much pages. how would i go about organizing those? simply bookmark each song seperately? or would i have to split the huge single pdf into small, single ones?
[/quote] from blue powder --- one thing i'd like to know about your program though: i've got several realbooks in pdf form that i'd like to use, each containing around 2-300 songs on about as much pages. how would i go about organizing those? simply bookmark each song seperately? or would i have to split the huge single pdf into small, single ones?[/QUOTE]
I use ezPDF viewer. (available on Android Market) It allows me to use my foot switch (cicada page flip) and allows me to mark my .pdf sheets with notes for corrections or whatever. I agree with a previous poster, once you use a foot switch you won't want to go back. I am in a JAM that has about 500 songs. It took two 3 inch binders to carry them every night. Well we have now converted 16 of the 21 members to electronic viewers. It is the only way to go.
As far as organizing my folders I simply created 26 folders labeled "A" to "Z". Then every time I add a new song I simply put it in the appropriate folder. You can leave them all in one giant folder but it takes longer to find the song you want later. I found a little pain up front saved a lot of pain later.
Enjoy
do you mark your pdf's using a pen? if so, which one? if not - how DO you do it? that's one thing i would be missing in a purely digital surrounding, being able to mark up certain things etc. i don't think i'm going to have much need for a footswitch in a teaching situation, though, and as far as gigs are concerned, i play mainly jazz, and most of the leadsheets i get are a page long. if not - tough luck, i'll play better from memory anyway ;-)
the folder a to z folder-approach seems absolutely feasible, i'd probably go even more ballistic and create several mainfolders (like fingerpicking, theory, leadsheets etc), then have the a to z folders inside those. something like that. i'm more worried though that my students will be turned off by not getting physical handouts anymore. may take them a while to get used to it
ezpdf app and boxwave pointing devices
bluepowder said:
do you mark your pdf's using a pen? if so, which one? if not - how DO you do it? that's one thing i would be missing in a purely digital surrounding, being able to mark up certain things etc. i don't think i'm going to have much need for a footswitch in a teaching situation, though, and as far as gigs are concerned, i play mainly jazz, and most of the leadsheets i get are a page long. if not - tough luck, i'll play better from memory anyway ;-)
the folder a to z folder-approach seems absolutely feasible, i'd probably go even more ballistic and create several mainfolders (like fingerpicking, theory, leadsheets etc), then have the a to z folders inside those. something like that. i'm more worried though that my students will be turned off by not getting physical handouts anymore. may take them a while to get used to it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK first I would recommend looking at ezpdf on the android market. The developer has been very quick to make certain changes. I can say that the program has really improved 800 % over the past 4 months I have been using it. The developer updates the product about every 4 days. New features and bug fixes. Granted I don't use all of it's features but I think it is better than Adobe. I tried to embed a copy of the annotations page but I could not so go here "https://market.android.com/details?id=udk.android.reader&hl=en"
Pen - I do use a pen/pointer to write on my pdf's. I use the boxwave products as they were rated the best and most reliable on a capacitive screen. I have bought others but I keep coming back to the boxwave products. I even have one with an actual writing pen on the other side of it so I can take paper notes if I have to.
Folders - I do the same thing with my music folders. I have it broken out to Christmas music A - Z, Our Regular Music A - Z, Then stuff that I am practicing for my self A - Z.
Sheet Music - If you are going to stick to one page and you are young enough to be able to see clearly then forget the foot pedal. It is just one more thing to have to carry. I am 60, the old eyes are not as sharp as they used to be.
Students - I don't know how you are planning on giving them the files or where you teach, ( private classes, class room setting, high school etc) But - Hey when I was learning (still am) I would have loved it if the instructor gave me a downloadable file with all of my music for the semester. Then I could either print it or put it on a tablet. My choice. Most parents today think that if they don't buy their kids the latest gizmo they will be stunted or social outcasts, so I bet most of your students already have tablets.
Another thought - Another thing to keep in mind. My buddy teaches banjo. He was going to get a tablet for himself then we talked and he decided to get a tablet and a notebook and a projector. He then calls up the sheet music on his laptop and projects it on the screen for the class of 6 students. He uses the tablet for private instruction with out the projector.
Hope that helps.
Really take a look at ezpdf
Hello -
My solution to this problem was:
1. Scan in all my sheet music as high resolution files (300 or higher).
2. Use a photoshop technique on each image to eliminate grey and make sure the blacks are black and the white background is white - (there is a great way to do this with the eyedropper tool which you can find on youtube). At this stage I also straighten the image of each page.
3. Use a photoshop action to import the individual scanned image of each page as 'layers' on a single photoshop document --- and then save as a photoshop document.
4. Use a photoshop action to stack each photoshop layer (on a given document from step 4) out in a long continuous sheet of music and then flatten the image and save as a bitmap (so now the image would look like a flat, opened out, long, scroll).
5. Use a photoshop action to set the canvas size the correct dimensions and dpi for your given display/tablet.
6. Manually open each 'scroll' and move around the systems of your music to fit in the window you have made in step 5 ---- and save each window as a high res jpeg. Save the jpeg as the name of the piece followed by the page number.
7. Use a photoshop action to add a text layer of the same value as the file name. Save as a pdf.
8. Combine the individual pdf pages into a single pdf document for each individual piece.
9. All done. I now have 3 hours of music as PDFs that are perfectly viewable in my tablet AND can be searched for using the find feature of the PDF reader (thanks to step 7). What could be easier!
----
The lenovo A4 size tablet is an ugly looking brick - I wouldn't like that compared with this ipad solution
Fakebook
For many of the above reasons my favorite gigging tool is the Fakebook. It does PDF very well (even importing and indexing huge collections like a real book or vocal book), but at the same time it has thousands of built in chord charts (transposable). Nice annotation or scribbling, search, links to YouTube and Spotify performances and great playlist editing.
Best $1.50 spent on my Google Play account! play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.skrivarna.fakebook.android
The Adobe Reader software lets you do Cntl-N to move to the next page (dunno why PgDn doesn't work). [/QUOTE said:
Yes. ctrl + n gDn. But what could be the code of PgUp?? If anyone knows the answer, please describe it is very important to me. . And there's a code table of Adobe Reader for Android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just switched from an iPhone to the G-Note. While I love the phone and the great screen on it, I have a few issues I just don't get and I would "hope" there are work arounds too. Not being in this world of android long however, I'm lost so after digging around and trying to fix things on my own, I'm coming back here with the few remaining questions / issues.
1) Contact Images - WTF is up with the 96x96 crap? I'm pretty sure my old windows 3.1 could handle those too. When my iPhone rang, it would show great full screen images of the caller and not this crappy little image. I've played with a few apps to overcome this, but they all feel like a kludge to me. I am sync'd with both google and exchange contacts, and the problem is on both of them, not one or the other. I know ICS will up that to 256/256 (only on the local device, the sync data to gmail will still be 96/96 acording to the post i was reading by a google dev), but still, most ALL new phones are at least 720p ( or close ).
2) Quality of Apps - No description needed. The quality of Apps for the android, with a few exceptions, doesn't even compair. As an example, where are the real GPS apps? And those that do exist, I can't find a single one that lowers the volume of playing music etc to give directions. This is a STANDARD for all gps systems today, including my aftermarket in car radio...
3) WHY is 1-202-555-1234 not the same as 202-555-1234 as a contact phone number? Really? I get seperate logs for them this way, as well seperate entries in the contacts info ( when for instance I sync with say facebook and they included a "1" in the info there ).
4) Music Player - Similar complaint to #3. But why is the band "Van Halen" not the same as "van halen" in the info? For that matter, it does the same with the album name as well. This does not just hold true for Music player either, many many apps on this platform do this. This has forced me to spend COUNTLESS hours going over my music library on the old PC to make sure everything is the exact same in each and every mp3 file. EVERY programming language in the last 20 years allows you to do case insensitive comparisons...( strcmp, stricmp anyone? ).
5) Ya know, my list is MUCH longer then this, but for the life of me, now that I'm sitting here to rant/ask how to overcome some of these issues, I can't think of them... Story of my life.
Just alot of "little" things like this that make it feel very.. "clunky" to me. I love some of the features, but some of the little unrefined parts are just a pisser.
Jailbroken / rooted what ever. Yes I was jailbroken on my iphone and yes I'm rooted on the GNote.
1. Try GO Contacts or Dialer One(from Market)
2. No can do my friend. Personally I don't think so.
3. Again, Go Contacts or Dialer One
4. Umm... Alternative music player? WinAmp, PowerAmp, DoubleTwist etc.(I don't know why, but that didn't happen on my phone)
rkennison said:
1) Contact Images - WTF is up with the 96x96 crap?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a samsung touchwiz issue/feauture. I first had an HTC desire then I got a Samsung Galaxy S2, the hardware is great but the software still (after a year of owning the SGS2) feels pretty rough, unlike HTC's Sense
2) Quality of Apps - No description needed. The quality of Apps for the android, with a few exceptions, doesn't even compair. As an example, where are the real GPS apps? And those that do exist, I can't find a single one that lowers the volume of playing music etc to give directions. This is a STANDARD for all gps systems today, including my aftermarket in car radio...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sygic and Navigon are there I guess only TomTom is missing; If you really miss a feature in Sygic usually if you post it in the forum you will find a in an update with 2-3 months.
rkennison said:
2) Quality of Apps - No description needed. The quality of Apps for the android, with a few exceptions, doesn't even compair. As an example, where are the real GPS apps? And those that do exist, I can't find a single one that lowers the volume of playing music etc to give directions. This is a STANDARD for all gps systems today, including my aftermarket in car radio...
3) WHY is 1-202-555-1234 not the same as 202-555-1234 as a contact phone number? Really? I get seperate logs for them this way, as well seperate entries in the contacts info ( when for instance I sync with say facebook and they included a "1" in the info there ).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2. Really, I've used a friend's iPhone and the apps honestly are the same. I'm not sure what you are talking about...? Google Maps with Navigation Beta is an awesome free navigation system. It's gotten me out of messes just fine. And I think your audio issue is a problem with your OEM. Mine handles lowering the volume just fine. Maybe try another ROM?
3. The numbers are different due to a number of issues. Gosh, how do I explain this.... Ok. All outside-of-area code numbers are now supposed to be dialed as 1 (555) 201 2222 instead of (555) 201 2222 to help the system establish the country. This is especially true for landlines. Since you're on an international phone it helps to add the 1 (or even +1).
So just make it a habit to add +1. So enter it as +15552012222.
I hope that helps.
A couple ICS roms are ready for the Note although they are beta(so what? i used CM9 as my daily driver when it was just in alpha stage!)
Maybe try them first
You mentioned you were running CM9, is that ready in any "reliable" form for the i717? ( I don't have the international , I'm in the USA with "good old" at&t ).
I am hoping to record some video tutorials for a mobile device user group at work (I work at a university) that would be directed toward the faculty and staff. I'd like to record the screen of an Android device as I walk through the different tutorials, but not by video camera. I'm thinking screencast, but not sure what the best software is to use...
I'm more comfortable recording everything on my computer using Camtasia. I have the Android SDK and got the emulator working, but I don't like that I'm limited in terms of apps (some tutorials may go through different apps). No market makes me feel limited.
I also tried AndroidScreencast (the java file that's floating around). That fails to load, I'll have to post the error code(s) later if someone actually wanted to tackle it.
I also tried [email protected] (droidcap) but the image is over exposed/washed out. I even tried saving a png to see if I could correct the image in Photoshop and found the png s mostly transparent, which is what is causing it to look washed out.
Then there's the Screencast app that I'm not sure I want to spend money on yet. So far the demo looks promising and I may end up going this rout instead, but are there any other options I'm missing? I'd actually prefer a root-free option as I may upgrade my phone and choose not to root when that time comes (I don't plan on leaving this job and expect this group to grow).
Is there even a way to just send a video signal out like mhl but directly over usb to a computer? I'm guessing you'd need a specific program to receive it, but I can day dream right?
Screencast is pretty good. It will be worth the money if you are gonna make a few videos. It produces a very nice video. Worth the $4...
I read Game Informer digitally on my iPad 3. It's a very cool app with quite a bit of interactive material in addition to the static material from the print magazine. It's also available for "10 inch Android tablets", so I installed it onto the Nook HD+ with CM10.1 installed since the screen size is close and the resolution is better than pretty much anything short of the Nexus 10 right now.
While technically, it does *work*, that's being kind! The magazine doesn't expand to fill the entire screen, leaving significant borders on either size, and it's really flaky, often not showing the correct page when performing explicit page selection, and eventually it just FCs.
Does anyone have any experience with this (or similar) apps on the HD+? Is there a way to make them work properly, or is it just a lost cause. This one of the only apps that I use heavily on my iPad that I can't get working well on the Nook HD+ so far (the other notable one being Marvel Unlimited, but it has the same behavior as on my Galaxy S4 so I think that's an app issue, not a device issue).
Thoughts?
Ditto for most Android efforts for magazines. Half hearted in comparison to iPad.
Hey SCWells72,
Ive seen Game Informer in the Play Magazine section. GI now lets you get the issues right from Play Magazines with your digital subscription. If i remember right: go find GI in Play Magazines and in the subscriptions options you should be able to chose existing customer, or what ever its called. From there you will have to login with you GI Digital ID created when you switched from physical to digital subs. this should let you just download the new issues from Play.
Cam
Heya, chaps
So, the idea of this thread is to share information on the apps you have found to work best with your RAZR HD's. Or something like that Share your favourite apps with a short description what it does and why you consider it to be good at it Mentioning apps you found to be incompatible with our apps, even if they said they were, or the ones that just don't work as advertised is welcome, too.
When you do list your apps of choice, please mention which ROM you're using, too! There are many differences between various ROMs and Android versions, so it's only natural that some apps don't bridge the differences well.
This post will possibly turn into an index of recommended applications, if the thread gets enough attention
Cheers!
Let me start, I suppose. Although, at the moment, I really don't use many (except the AOSP ones) at all
gStrings Free Tuner - I play the bass and having a phone as a decent tuner comes in rather handy at many occasions and I've found this app to be pretty accurate, as well. The author has since made a fancier version called "Waves" but I've remained faithful to this one.
CM Next Camera - this has been my favourite camera app ever since I first installed it while I was on CM11 with my R HD. The UI is simplistic, yet absolutely perfectly intuitive for me - you set all your modes up and just flick through them with up and down swipes, while video recording starts as soon as you hit the dedicated in-app button. No need to switch to video camera mode first, as in many other apps, and no need to go into any menus if you, say, want to capture that beautiful scenery before you in HDR mode. But, ever since CM12 came along, it just doesn't seem to work as well, at least not for me. It often does a shot off-focus and the exposure and colour balance just aren't as good as they should be. I've searched and found newer versions of the apk, but it didn't help. I'm looking for an alternative now... Might switch to Camera Zoom FX, because that has given me great shots whenever I used it, but I'm open for other suggestions! I don't expect an DSLR-like pictures, don't get me wrong, but there's clearly something amiss here.
K-9 Mail - I've tried all of the fancy e-mail clients, but I always come back to K-9. It's just feels the most robust of all and it does everything I need. I don't mind if I need to tap the screen once or twice more than I would with a different e-mail client.
QuickOffice Pro - version 5.5.209 - this is an app I got from my old Defy and just continued installing it on the R HD. I've tried switching to different, newer versions and apps and I just don't find them as good. This works very fast, isn't bloated with a fancy UI, and has been able to open everything else any other office app can as of now. Is there a worthy replacement?
Did you try A Better Camera? One downsize for me is saving data to SD card is under development for Android 5.
niksy+ said:
Let me start, I suppose. Although, at the moment, I really don't use many (except the AOSP ones) at all
gStrings Free Tuner - I play the bass and having a phone as a decent tuner comes in rather handy at many occasions and I've found this app to be pretty accurate, as well. The author has since made a fancier version called "Waves" but I've remained faithful to this one.
CM Next Camera - this has been my favourite camera app ever since I first installed it while I was on CM11 with my R HD. The UI is simplistic, yet absolutely perfectly intuitive for me - you set all your modes up and just flick through them with up and down swipes, while video recording starts as soon as you hit the dedicated in-app button. No need to switch to video camera mode first, as in many other apps, and no need to go into any menus if you, say, want to capture that beautiful scenery before you in HDR mode. But, ever since CM12 came along, it just doesn't seem to work as well, at least not for me. It often does a shot off-focus and the exposure and colour balance just aren't as good as they should be. I've searched and found newer versions of the apk, but it didn't help. I'm looking for an alternative now... Might switch to Camera Zoom FX, because that has given me great shots whenever I used it, but I'm open for other suggestions! I don't expect an DSLR-like pictures, don't get me wrong, but there's clearly something amiss here.
K-9 Mail - I've tried all of the fancy e-mail clients, but I always come back to K-9. It's just feels the most robust of all and it does everything I need. I don't mind if I need to tap the screen once or twice more than I would with a different e-mail client.
QuickOffice Pro - version 5.5.209 - this is an app I got from my old Defy and just continued installing it on the R HD. I've tried switching to different, newer versions and apps and I just don't find them as good. This works very fast, isn't bloated with a fancy UI, and has been able to open everything else any other office app can as of now. Is there a worthy replacement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
forserg said:
Did you try A Better Camera? One downsize for me is saving data to SD card is under development for Android 5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do Been using Camera Zoom FX (Pro) for a few days and it keeps asking me to comment and rate it on the Play store every 3-4 shots, it's awful. The video interface is bad, as well, you need to switch modes, then start recording, then it asks you whether you want to save it after pressing the stop button... Nearly lost my recording when I used it. Photography wise - it keeps trying to focus (and set other parameters) in the dark without firing flash for assistance so I get photos that are at least "burnt" by flash or blurry, along with that. Dang