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Mail of the month - November - Music, editing and iOS


I want be able to edit/change chords on PDF lead sheets such as the songs in Real Books, Colorado Cookbook, etc. The only way I'm able to do so on my Android tablet is with my finger (extremely difficult). How can I make editing easier?
The only editing of PDF files possible in Fakebook Pro is "painting" on top of the image described in the file. This is due to the nature of the PDF format, but most importantly because the books you mention (as well as most other similar music collections) are actually paper scans.
That being said, you can simplify and increase the precision of your edits by using a stylus suitable for your tablet, and by zooming in on the part before editing.

I do have iReal Pro on my mac (chords). What I miss is to also see the melody, together with the chords, both in a transposable fashion (which iReal Pro provides, but it's without the melody). Does your Fakebook Pro provide that, or do you have another offer or hint where to buy something like that?
The quick and simple answer to your question in "no, the Fakebok Pro app doesn't transpose melody notes, only chords".
But to answer your other question (about other possible app options) and to explain why Fakebook Pro currently can't do this, this depends on the music format. Most music available on-line (free and for purchase) are in PDF format, often in the form of a scanned page (i.e. an image). Other PDF files may have embedded music fonts or be in vector format, but these can still not be transposed because they contain no explicit musical information.
To do that you need to use some of the specialized music file format, which in many cases are proprietary (e.g. the major Mac/Windows notation and DAW applications). There are open formats as well, most importantly MusicXML, but Fakebook Pro does not yet support that (although that is on the to-do list).

I'm a singer-songwriter and I'm just in the process of switching over from using paper charts to using an iPad. I've been researching sheet music readers, and it sounds like Fakebook Pro is probably the best out there. But of course you don't make it for iOS. What a shame. Do you have any plans to make your product available for iPad users?
Right now we have no plans to port Fakebook Pro to iOS, sorry about that. The reason is that there are already so many similar apps for iPads and we don't have the resources to support both platform in a good way. Hope you will find a suitable app for your iPad.

How do I find the user guide?
There is no user guide (in the form of a PDF manual or similar), but I’m here to help and there is plenty of information in the FAQ at http://www.skrivarna.com/search/label/FAQ

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