Question: new ipad user

• Sep 28, 2011 - 01:48

Hi,
I would like to purchase musescore app for ipad; however, I have 3 questions.
1. Can I open files with extension .ove (created using Overture)? If so, how?
2. Can I open Overture files attached to my email? If not, what do I need to do so I can open them?
3. Is this a view only app or a full version app type?

Thank you.

TD


Comments

The current iPad app is a viewer only, allowing to to browse, download, and view scores from the score sharing site musescore.com. I know from comments they've made here that they are working on moving beyond that, but it sounds like it's probably still a ways off.

Overture support is listed as experiment in the regular MuseScore program; I've never tried it as I don't own Overture. But assuming you could successfully open an Overtune file in regular MuseScore, you should then be able to save it in MuseScore format, upload it to musescore.com, and view it with the iPad app, just like any other score.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Whilst reading other topics, I came across a brief mention about a Musescore iPad viewer. A wonderful idea and I would love to have the app but it is not available for download via iTunes in the UK. Any idea when it is likely that the UK can catch up with you dollar spending guys?

In reply to by derummer

The app that exists for Android is the MuseScore "player" - it can actually load MuseScore files, display them, and play them, back. This is the app that is not available for iOS yet. And no editor of any kind for any mobile platform

What *does* exist for iOS are three other apps, of which apparently only two are still in the App Store. The MuseScore Viewer came first, and it was really just a PDF viewer but with a built in browser for musescore.com, so you could download scores (really just the PDF files) from there. I actually still use that app from time to time, not sure why it disappeared from the store. But what still exists in the store are two special versions of a player app - one that is preloaded with some Christmas songs, the other preloaded with the Goldberg Variations.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thank you for your response.

Such a shame that there is no app for the iPad. At the moment I convert all Musescore files to PDF and print them out. I am considering purchasing an iPad and using an auto-cue app that will scroll the pdf scores as I play. A specially designed Musescore app that read the mscz files even without the ability to update would have been better.

Oh well never mind.

In reply to by derummer

My suspicin is that while an iPad "Player" app would be nice to have and fun to use, it woildn't likely be as well optimized for use as a sheet music reder for live performance situations as an app that was specifically designed for that purpose. So even though an iPad Player app may well be forthcoming, I'd still consider sticking to generating PDF's and using those with a dedicaed sheet music reading app.

Actually, though, this is an interesting topic in itself - best apps & workflow practices for getting sheet music from MuseScore on one's computer to PDF's in a sheet music reading app on iPad. I woild say that's offtopic for this particular thread, but given that this thread has no particular single topic - but did start out as a discussion of the (now departed) Viewer app - maybe it's not so off-topic after all.

Probably the msot straightforward method I have come up with to get from SMCZ on computer to PDF on iPad is this:

1) run Batch Export plugin in Musescore periodically to make sure I have up to date PDF's of all my scores on my computer
2) use SugarSync to keep this folder semi-automatically synchronized with my iPad
3) when I want to view a score on my iPad, open it from SugarSync in my app of choice

I like SugarSync because it doesn't require me to keep the files to be synchronized in a special folder, but you could just as easily use Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.

I don't have a single favorite app for sheet music reading. I use different apps depending on situation. I use Set List Maker for ongoing projects where I need to be maintaing info about songa in a database, keeping set lsits, etc - it's really phenomenal for that. But overkill for just browsing a colletion of sheet music. I actually use Adobe Reader as much as anything else. I have GoodReader and like its feature but don't particularly like its interface. I like a lot about GigEasy but find it, like Set List Maker, a but cumbersome for just browsing / viewing sheet music. I'm considering forScore.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

To sum it up and confirm,

- MuseScore, the sheet music editor, is currently available for Mac, Windows and Linux. It's free. It opens a lot of file format s, including OVE.
- MuseScore Player is currently available on Android. Users can load MSCZ files from their device or from MuseScore.com, the music notation can be reflowed according to the screen real estate and font size. It plays the score, and users can choose the part they want to display. In the future, it will feature a mixer, transpose, and more See http://musescore.com/android
- MuseScore Player for iOS is not yet available but it's being work on as we speak. The feature set will be similar than the one on Android. See http://musescore.com/ipad
- MuseScore Viewer for iPad was a PDF reader for iPad only and linked with musescore.com, only scores from musescore.com could be downloaded and loaded. It has been discontinued.

I hope MuseScore Player can prove Marc wrong and will be suitable to use in any situation, study, rehearsal or on stage and that it will be at least as good than any PDF reader.

In reply to by [DELETED] 5

Yes, I hope to he proven wrong too! And yes, transposition is - at least in some situations - a feature that coild make an MSCZ-based player app much more interesting than a mere PDF-based reader for live performance uses.

FWIW, I don't use my iPad all that often for reading music on gigs, in part because of the limitations of the format (smaller than ordinary scores, can only see one page at a time, page turns can be awkward). But I know many who do use their iPads in performance more regularly, including the developers of the GigEasy iPad stands and app, and I have discussed the subject with many of these people. Based on my own limited experience but also hearing from others, some of the important things the PDF-based readers are currently doing "right" (or at least are attempting to) than a MuseScore player woild need to match are:

- must work with Bluetooth page turn devices, but also provide reasonably idiot-proof gesture-based page turns
- ability to organize a library of music to make music easy to find if you've got dozens / hundreds of scores
- ability to form set lists
- ability to annotate scores - typing text, freehand drawing, a highlighter
- ability to comfigure a score for non-linear page turns, to handle repeats that span pages
- continuous scrolling, half page turns, or other means of showing top of next page while reading bottom of current page
- given that most bands use music that wasn't created in MuseScore, handling PDF is pretty much a must

None of this is impossible for a MuseScore player app, of course - it's more a question in my mind of how these types of features are currently being prioritized.

MuseScore does have experimantal support for Overture files (*.ove).
File -> Open -> File Type -> Overture.
This is MuseScore, not the MuseScore app for Android or iPad though.

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