Forscore

1000 Post Club MemberJoined: Nov 2014Posts: 1,067I'veused forScore for several years, but I've just bought Mobilesheets. The reason is this: I use a Bluetooth pedal to turn pages in a concert, and forScore doesn't not have a function to prevent an unwanted double page turn. I just found out that Mobilesheets has a "Debounce" setting, which does just this: for me that makes it worth buying, even if I only use it for concerts.I'm just getting familiar with Mobilesheets, but here are some of my first impressions, comparing it to forScore.PricingforScore costs $19.99. This buys a fully functional app which is surely enough for most people, but there are certain functions that are disabled: for these you have to pay $9.99 a year. For the "pro" version. I find the choice of functions reserved for the "pro" version somewhat strange: for instance, you'll find face gestures, pop-up menus that give different ways to access certain functions, some extra symbols for annotations, some stuff you can do if you have Apple Pencil hover detection, and customised app icons. You are also supposed to get better customer support, but I was not at all impressed by the support when I tried the pro version, so I didn't keep it.Mobilesheets costs $15.99. There are no locked functions, and although I haven't had the time to look at everything yet, I get the impression that it has much the same function set as forScore, including the "pro" options such as face gestures and a comprehensive library of annotation symbols. So for value for money, it's a clear advantage for Mobilesheets.User interfaceThis is hard for me to assess at present, since I am so used to forScore and have customised many things to suit my preferences. I like the fact that, in forScore, you hardly ever lose sight of the score that is currently open. For instance, if you adjust the setting for what a two finger tap will trigger, this action takes place in a popup window that doesn't cover the whole page of the score. When you've finished, you only need to tap

This post is a visual guide that follows up on a two-part podcast episode series published on The Piano Pantry Podcast in December 2023 on utilizing forScore app features.Episode 097 – forScore (pt 1): Organizing Digital Scores and SetlistsEpisode 098 – forScore (pt 2): Need-to-Know FeaturesIn those episodes, I gave a lot of details and described basic features that I thought were important for users to know. As a visual person, I realized it might be helpful to follow up the verbal descriptions with some supporting visuals.If you have never heard of ForScore, it is a digital sheet music app for iPad, iPhone, and Mac. It’s more than just a place to save digital sheet music, though. (In fact, I recommend still keeping master copies of your digital scores in your file manager). You can create setlists, annotate directly on the music, rearrange, delete, and duplicate pages, enable half-page turns, jump in the score with a touch of a button, and more. The features of forScore are extensive.Part 1 – Organizing Digital Scores and SetlistsSince this post isn’t about the basics of using forScore, I would start by listening to (or reading the transcript for) the first podcast episode – #97 (especially if you’re a newbie to the app). In that episode, I cover things like:How to get sheet music into the app.Whether or not you should scan individual pieces or entire books into one file.If the cost of the Apple Pencil is worth it vs. a stylus.The one thing you should do as soon as you import a file.Why it’s important to edit the Metadata.How to differentiate between “Tags, Genres, and Labels.”How to organize setlists.Here are some supporting visuals from that episode:Editing The File’s MetadataWhen you import a new file, I strongly recommend editing the title and adding relevant details immediately. You can navigate to the song’s metadata from two locations:(1) If you are inside the song, the metadata is located at the top of the page in the middle.(2) If you are inside the list of scores, click on the ℹ️ button next to the file name.Once inside the Metadata box, click on Properties. From there you can edit things like the title, composers, genres, tags, labels, and more. Adding details such as what book it’s from, the genre, key, and more can help keep your scores organized and easily searchable.(Again, be sure to listen to episode #97, where I share thoughts on differentiating between these items.)As you can see in the image above, none of the square checkboxes are selected. That means nothing is being edited or changed within the file’s information.In this screenshot, I am going to add the key (resting tone) of D and a

And hold on the dot, it will show a preview of the page.Editing the Metadata of Multiple ScoresOne time-saving trick is to edit the information of multiple scores simultaneously. This is especially helpful if you are importing a lot of pieces from one book as separate files but want to label every piece with the book and/or composer’s name.In the scores area of the toolbar, select “edit.”Then choose which scores you want to edit. You’ll see the number of items listed in properties and the checkbox will now show a + symbol, which means there are different items in those categories for each of those files.Proceed with caution when editing multiple files simultaneously!Duplicating and Rearranging PagesThe ability to duplicate and move pages around is really helpful for mapping through repeats, D.S. al Coda’s and such. Click on the suitcase button in the top RH corner, then select “rearrange.”forScore has a built in mapping tool system though that will do this for you. By adding a button on the screen you can tell it to jump to any page in the score. Oftentimes I prefer to duplicate pages, though, so I can always be moving forward and never back with my Bluetooth pedal.Merging and Cloning (Duplicating) FilesTwo final useful features are the ability to merge multiple files together as well as duplicate files. You do this from these scores area in edit mode.That’s it!I hope you found all of these screenshots to help you in your journey to utilizing all the wonderful features of the forScore app to their fullest!Tell me in the comments below – what are some of your favorite features in forScore?