wa7bqb
12-22-2005, 11:01 AM
A couple of weeks ago, we were talking about this device, and I mentioned that I had ordered it. Well it arrived a week ago, and I'm quite impressed with it. I haven't had hardly any time to spare since it arrived!
I know there will be lots of issues surrounding copyright matters, but we need to defer the topic of copyright to another thread, in order to review the capabilities of the Musicpad Pro Plus.
I have spent a week scanning music into the format this device requires. I now have well over a hundred songs, arranged in folders with separate "playlists" for easy searching, and song management. With the playlists, one can organize songs in a manner that one would like to play them, or it can serve as an index into a large quantity of songs. That's perfect for me, since I frequently (until now!) just picked up a songbook and played through from page one on.
I didn't order the "Premium Tools" option, since I didn't know about it when I placed the order for the pad. They are shipping these units now with a just released (version 4) software and the Premium Tools add on seems to give you a Sibelius like interface for those interested in composing. These tools also include an audio player, you can listen to your notation, or play mp3 and midi material through it. (I think I will order it, though.)
Since the device has USB ports, memory addition can be as simple as plugging in a flash drive. It comes with one 64MB device included. One can connect the unit via USB directly to a computer, or via ethernet or wireless connectivity.
As for the display, I had been checking the Freehand Systems forum before my unit arrived, and noticed several people complain about the lack of crispness of their own scanned sheets. At first, I also had a little problem with that. But it is only a matter of a few tweaks now and I get very nice, good contrast, very sharp images on the pad. It all has to do with getting the image straight, pixel settings correct, and the contrast ratio set .
With Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Acrobat Pro it is a simple matter to get 'actions' assigned to function keys, and the whole process can be a matter of pushing two function keys to get from scanned input to finished Freehand format material. This gives very consistent results. You could also do these things with any paint program, it's just a matter of manual vs. automation in the different programs.
So where do you get sheet music? Freehand Systems has aligned itself with Sunhawk and they have available a large database of material available for sale that is already compatible with the mpp (Musicpad Pro Plus). So if you are at all concerned about legal as opposed to fair use of material, this is a great resource. Many websites also host public domain (largely classical) sheetmusic, and you can learn of these sites in user groups, as well as they can be 'googled' if you are interested.
Finally, and not for the feint of heart, there are user groups that live for this very thing. With an international membership in these groups, just about any song, score, songbook, fakebook, etc., has found its way to those interested.
Since the mpp is backlit, only a minimal amount of lighting is needed in order to see the control center of your CVP. Reading the sheet music display is as easy as it ever was on the printed page.
So to paraphrase Egbert, I give it "Two thumbs up!" (So far.)
-Dale-
I know there will be lots of issues surrounding copyright matters, but we need to defer the topic of copyright to another thread, in order to review the capabilities of the Musicpad Pro Plus.
I have spent a week scanning music into the format this device requires. I now have well over a hundred songs, arranged in folders with separate "playlists" for easy searching, and song management. With the playlists, one can organize songs in a manner that one would like to play them, or it can serve as an index into a large quantity of songs. That's perfect for me, since I frequently (until now!) just picked up a songbook and played through from page one on.
I didn't order the "Premium Tools" option, since I didn't know about it when I placed the order for the pad. They are shipping these units now with a just released (version 4) software and the Premium Tools add on seems to give you a Sibelius like interface for those interested in composing. These tools also include an audio player, you can listen to your notation, or play mp3 and midi material through it. (I think I will order it, though.)
Since the device has USB ports, memory addition can be as simple as plugging in a flash drive. It comes with one 64MB device included. One can connect the unit via USB directly to a computer, or via ethernet or wireless connectivity.
As for the display, I had been checking the Freehand Systems forum before my unit arrived, and noticed several people complain about the lack of crispness of their own scanned sheets. At first, I also had a little problem with that. But it is only a matter of a few tweaks now and I get very nice, good contrast, very sharp images on the pad. It all has to do with getting the image straight, pixel settings correct, and the contrast ratio set .
With Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Acrobat Pro it is a simple matter to get 'actions' assigned to function keys, and the whole process can be a matter of pushing two function keys to get from scanned input to finished Freehand format material. This gives very consistent results. You could also do these things with any paint program, it's just a matter of manual vs. automation in the different programs.
So where do you get sheet music? Freehand Systems has aligned itself with Sunhawk and they have available a large database of material available for sale that is already compatible with the mpp (Musicpad Pro Plus). So if you are at all concerned about legal as opposed to fair use of material, this is a great resource. Many websites also host public domain (largely classical) sheetmusic, and you can learn of these sites in user groups, as well as they can be 'googled' if you are interested.
Finally, and not for the feint of heart, there are user groups that live for this very thing. With an international membership in these groups, just about any song, score, songbook, fakebook, etc., has found its way to those interested.
Since the mpp is backlit, only a minimal amount of lighting is needed in order to see the control center of your CVP. Reading the sheet music display is as easy as it ever was on the printed page.
So to paraphrase Egbert, I give it "Two thumbs up!" (So far.)
-Dale-