Android production workflow suggestions
Fellow phone lovers--
I've made so much progress breaking free of the desktop in other life areas that it's chronically frustrating to still need the desktop for music production.
Musescore's progress over the last five years has been astounding. On the desktop. 🙂
I understand a bit about the hardware architecture problems. Sigh.
Here's what my current workflow looks like, curious if anyone has ideas about how to Androidize it.
• Start in Musescore on Windows. Deliverables: musicxml, midi, occasionally PDF. Tried lilypond on Android, but I struggle to work that way and lilypond doesn't play well with musicxml (conversion to lilypond introduces rhythmic errors, and Frescobaldi (on Windows 💻) chokes too often on the return trip to musicxml).
• Convert midi to wav with sforzando on Windows. Easy, simple tool that doesn't make me think.
• Head back to Android to finish mixing with Sox.
Not an emergency, it's just amazing that nobody else seems to mind still depending on the desktop (after 12 years of iPhones). Have you ever gone for a long hike and found music inspiration from nature? I am not lugging a laptop that whole way. 🙂
Comments
It's encouraging that Musescore 2 works on Lxqt on UserLAnd on Android. Note entry is tedious because the keyboard is broken in some apps (Xkeyboard/TightVNC issue). No sound or synthesizer, but sound export works with the built in soundfont.
(Not quite ready to uninstall Chrome Remote Desktop yet.)
In reply to It's encouraging that… by andrew907
A full MS2 on Android would be great – worth paying for. It would be so nice to simply switch between Android and Windows with the same score by saving it to the cloud.
Chrome Remote Desktop is very good but you do need to have your desktop PC left on, which is not always convenient.
I currently use the Notepad feature in the Guitar Pro Android app if I don't have desktop access. MS can open guitar pro files so transfer to MS is easy.
In reply to A full MS2 on Android would… by yonah_ag
Thanks for the tip. I don't use guitar or tablature myself, but lots of people would find that helpful.
The world is going mobile, but it's taking forever (it's not just Musescore).
It's a hardware architecture problem (though Qt is supposed to reach Android too--maybe just Android on desktop chips?).
It's a user interface problem. Mobile first design scales up better than traditional design scales down (but it takes a serious, resource-intensive disruption to redesign from the ground up).
It's a culture problem. Like lawyers, government workers, and journalists, musicians are fixated on paper. That's why it's going to take forever (maybe mnx can help) for a composer's deliverable to change from an A4 paper sheet (or, more backward yet, US letter size) to a responsive webpage. It's hard to ask Musescore to make such a big shift when people are still using Microsoft Word (!) and then printing it out (!?!).
First, we can learn music by reading the old PDFs off a tablet, then perform from memory as even Western musicians have already been doing for 200 years. 🙂 🌲🌳
In reply to Thanks for the tip. I don't… by andrew907
There are lot of symphonic groups that are now using tablets (or something simlar) rather than paper scores. Some of them even use MuseScore to transfer the scores from PDF or paper to digital format so their musicians can use it.
In reply to Thanks for the tip. I don't… by andrew907
Another option could be to have a Windows tablet with Android installed, either as a VM or natively. Could be an easier solution than waiting for a port of desktop MS to Android. I might have a play with this to see how well it works.
https://www.android-x86.org/installhowto.html
In reply to Another option could be to… by yonah_ag
I'd love to hear about how that goes. If a Windows device could run Android apps with enough phone functionality (sensors, calls, camera &c) and Windows desktop apps that would be intriguing. (The Windows Store still feels underdeveloped to me. ) Meanwhile, I guess Chrome Remote Desktop is what we have. 🙂
Mike, that's terrific that more musicians are going digital. A tablet with one of those pedals to control scrolling, that could save a lot of headache. This virtuoso violinist has enough to worry about without having to coordinate with a page-turner: https://youtu.be/6d7K6JRHFr8
In reply to I'd love to hear about how… by andrew907
I am so excited! Haven't tried this for production work yet... but successfully installed Musescore 2 on Ubuntu 18.04 xfce on Andronix on Android and saved a dummy audio clip. 🥂 Audacity also works. This is likely to be a game changer as I push to free myself from the desktop. No word on iOS.
In reply to I am so excited! Haven't… by andrew907
Sounds like good progress. Does Andronix replace the tablet's supplied OS or is it a dual boot?
I haven't been able to try dual boot Windows/Android as I have no access to a Microsoft Surface tablet PC.
In reply to Sounds like good progress… by yonah_ag
Andronix is an Android app on the play store. You'll also need termux and a vnc but honestly it was surprisingly painless to set up compared to some hacks like this
no rooting needed of course