Well, it’s happening…. the tide is changing, the revolution is coming.
Users are demanding more. Developers are pushing the envelope. Apple is giving us better and more powerful tools.
Us users are longing for that next great tool that will inspire us to create like never before. Developers are finding ways to give us those tools because Apple and technology has gotten to a point where the devices in we carry in our pockets and hold in our hands are powerful enough to do mind boggling feats.
iPad has had it’s holdbacks – people have not been fully able to honestly support Apple’s declarations of iPad being the same as a laptop or desktop computer. I mean, Apple has been dead spot on for a majority of end users. There are many people that will never ever need another computer other than an iPad to do everything they wish to accomplish for the rest of their lives. But if you are really pushing the tech to it’s fullest potential in the creative world of genius minds then you know that claim is dead in the water.
But the tide is turning.
A few years ago there was this company that claimed they had an iPad app where we could actually use a stylus to handwrite music notation! HOAX we all cried! Prove it the masses yelled!
That app never actually came to fruition. But several others did step up and gave us that dream.
Fast forward to today, Feb 2020, and once again a new app has been brought to the creative geniuses that will change the way we are inspired to make music. David William Hearn released StaffPad for windows based tablets five years or so ago. Since then there have been notable and remarkable iOS apps that allow us to handwrite music notation on Apples platform. I’ve written about several of these apps here –
MusicJot – BlogPost
Notion – BlogPost – or you can watch the YouTube Video from 2016
This release of StaffPad is not notable because it is bringing handwritten music notation to Apple devotees…. no, it is notable because of the astounding innovative steps David has incorporated into this first release on iOS! StaffPad has features and ease of use not yet seen on a tablet. Now I have never used a windows tablet so therefore I can not speak as to what StaffPad was like on that platform for the last five years but I’m telling you that even if it was THAT amazing then with this release StaffPad is even better.
David has for one thing put together the most impressive set of introductory and tutorial videos I’ve ever seen released with an app. Watch the YouTube videos, they will convince you what his app does, how easy it is to accomplish tasks that in other apps are simply impossible, and how beautiful the new sound libraries are!
But that could all be smoke and screens as they say. I mean anything is possible on the big screen right?
The real proof is in the using of the app. Now let’s talk about this situation. This is where the tide is turning in pricing of iPad apps. This isn’t a $5 app. It’s $89! Now, now… sit down and grab a drink…. let’s talk about this! StaffPad is not the first “professional” level app that has been released for iPad. We have LumaFusion, Cubasis, Notion and Korg has released many apps that contain sound libraries rivaling desktop options. None of these apps have been priced at this point though so I get it… you are in disbelief. What are these guys thinking…. $89? Well I’m here to tell you they are thinking that they have spent significant time rewriting the original version of the app in a totally new code allowing us end users to reap the benefits of new tools not possible before! They are trying to make a living and $5 isn’t going to get them very far.
The other side of this price tag is that they have been hard at work inside of StaffPad not recreating what has already been done but instead giving us brand new capabilities!
Let’s get to talking about some of my observations whilst watching the YouTube videos that made my jaw drop….
- drawing and editing hairpins (crescendos) is mind-blowing! tap, drag it out, then drag up or down to change type.
- copying music (or anything that is selected) from one place to another is as simple as tapping in a new location!
- selecting a section is as simple as double tapping one measure then tapping another will select a range of measure.
- That selection can then be copied into other measures beside or above or below the current selection, by simply dragging out the little icon in the bottom right corner. This is just like dragging out a loop in GarageBand! Genius!
- On iPadOS copy and paste gestures are supported so with a simple three finger pinch I can copy a selection and then tap where I want to paste and use the three finger gesture to paste it there.
- Talking of copying and pasting – I can copy a selection of music and then paste it into ANOTHER APP! No need for a screen shot and all that cropping and old fashioned stuff we used to have to do!
- drawing a quarter rest can just be drawn as a small s
- whole and half rests are short lines
- slurs can be easily adjust by dragging the ends of slur or the middle to change the curve
- rhythms slashes and bar repeats are super easy to create! No more digging in menus.
- oh…. and text…. yeah there is only one kind of text in StaffPadd! No more trying to remember if I want an expression, a dynamic, technique…. blah blah blah….. just put the text in where it is supposed to be and away we go.
Those are all observations that change my perspective on how easy tasks are to accomplish compared to other apps and a desktop computer.
The above list is not an exhaustive list of things that have made a serious impression on me but just the tip of the ice berg.
Let’s talk about features I’ve not seen in other notation apps.
- Automation Layer – dynamics on steroids that make it easy to add those expressive
- Tempo Track – again…. trying to create tempo changes in the past 50 years has been a hassle. Until I started using a computer and a full fledged DAW. Now…. I can simply draw in the changes using bezier curves.
- Tempo Track – when importing MIDI files with pre-recorded tempo changes the multitude of tempo info can be filtered to show WAY less info that then becomes actually useful to a real live musician. Those tempo changes even get turned into terms like accel. or rit.!
- Chord Staff – Chord analysis of the music that is in my score! Say what? You mean I don’t have to input my own chords!?????? Reminds me a LOT of Presonus StudioOne arranger feature. If StaffPad and StudioOne would just share all the capabilities of these two features – oh wow! Imagine being able to view your entire score from just the Chord/Arranger staff which really just shows us chunks – you know, intro, verse 1, chorus 1, verse 2, bridge etc…. and then being able to drag sections back and forth or delete any section to create the exact arrangement you needed for your next upcoming show! Oh man! I’m getting goose bumps…..
Let’s talk about playback.
When I have created music notation files it has always been a pipe dream to have that digital computer screen sound like real instruments. I can still remember when Apple’s QuickTime movie player actually gave me access to Rolands General MIDI sound bank of tones on a computer. This blew my mind and I made great use of that tool! But it of course never could compete when we started talking about wind instruments especially. Even my hardware keyboards couldn’t really get me to that point of realism that I’ve wanted.
Now-a-days we have sample libraries and other technology like Audio Modeling that give us that realism.
PreSonus and Notion have given us a Notation app, at an astonishing price point, that has blown me away with its realism. They accomplished this by recording London Symphony musicians and then using those recordings for playback inside of Notion.
Finale, Sibelius and Dorico along with DAW’s on a normal computer can all access other sample libraries from various companies that allow us this realism. But never before on an iPad.
StaffPad has teamed up with CineSamples, Orchestral Tools and SpitFire Audio to bring desktop quality sampled libraries to the iPad. If you want to hear the ultra realistic possibilities then listen to this…
The good news is that it works… the bad news is it’s not going to cost $5…. the other bad news is that no other app can access those sampled libraries that are as sweet as Aunt Mables honey biscuits and homemade peach jam.
Let’s talk about collaboration.
If I am a composer, band leader, arranger or band member and I want my whole entire band to be on the same page, and I do mean literally “THE SAME PAGE”…. what do we do?
We open StaffPad Reader – as in the FREE StaffPad Reader app that has been developed for this exact purpose.
Each person with the Reader app can view and annotate on their own personal screen while viewing the same score that the main StaffPad app is viewing. Each person gets their own personal metronome! Each person gets their choice of three different viewing sizes of the part that they are playing. You will not be able to view the entire score on the Reader apps though without purchasing the pro upgrade. But that’s OK because that is not the purpose of the Reader app. You will also not be able to to actually edit the score from the Reader app because it is….. well…. how do we break this to you…. THE READER APP!
When the Reader apps are all in score sync then all readers will stay in sync and all pages will turn as lead by the main iPad running StaffPad. Wait… did I say “iPad” because it doesn’t have to be an iPad because you can have a mixture of Windows tablets and iPads! See…. we CAN play nice with each other! Oh…. how many devices can you have? Unlimited!
So now we have an entire band, orchestra, choir, rock cover group, accordion polka band or Andean Fusion group all reading from the same score. The director can make changes and edits as needed and the whole group instantly sees those changes. Anyone in the group can make annotations to share with the rest of the group as well as annotations that only they see. No more copying of parts, no more distribution of parts, nor more folders to collect and music to file away later. No more percussion section that looses there music every other day. No more stopping rehearsal with 50 middle school band kids and trying to find that low brass player a new part before the trumpets throw a paper airplane at the percussion section while the euphonium kid is …… ok…. you get the picture.
NOW – to be real… this is NOT the full solution we are looking for because I am NOT going to be inputting every band score I perform with my bands into StaffPad. I do NOT have that much time! But the future is not that far away and the technology is here!
Let’s Be Real Though…
StaffPad in it’s current form does have it’s issues. The recognition you see in the YouTube videos makes it look easy as pie. I’m here to tell you that I about threw my iPad out the window trying to get StaffPad to recognize accents! I mean seriously…. it was a good thing I was in my basement corner that didn’t have windows because it was frustrating as well get out! The worst part… there is no alternative method of inputting accents! So unless I erase, redraw and repeat until it works, I just am out of luck!
I am not used to the method of erasing on iPad – they decided to use a technique that sounds great – use slightly more pressure and drag over what you want erased. My problem is that I must write with a heavy hand because I’d frequently end up erasing what I want to be drawing! Then frequently it would take a lot of back and forth effort to erase something I actually wanted erased. I am sure that this is a matter of muscle control memory that needs to be built up over time.
Getting used to the writing techniques needed to master input does take some practice. No there is not an AI engine running inside of StaffPad that is learning you handwriting. YOU are being trained by StaffPad. SO in other words you CAN teach an old dog new tricks – ( I know this because it was my birthday yesterday and am now 52)
Also, only having the ability input notation via handwriting is NOT ideal for a great deal of people. I use music notation apps frequently because I am re-arranging and digitizing pre-existing music. I can accomplish this much faster by hitting record and playing a MIDI keyboard. Thank goodness StaffPad supports music XML because now I can pair StaffPad with NotateMe’s PhotoScore tech and we are getting close to a perfect pairing!
I also believe that if StaffPad (or Notion for that matter) would actually support the capability to send MIDI signals out of the app into other apps on iPad we would really be on the way to full outright chaos in the music industry. That sort of power from a tablet is what we are longing for! I’ve got SO many apps on my iPad just itching for a signal from some app telling it which note to play! StaffPad COULD be that app!
Tools That Inspire
When you give me a tool that looks so beautiful and sounds so beautiful as StaffPad I get inspired to create. The design has been largely nailed right on the head here in StaffPad, the developers have really done an excellent job. One way I can tell is when I go back to other apps they feel outdated and clunky.
StaffPad makes me want to compose and create new music. It makes me want to write out sections of my band music that my students are having problems with in class so that I can play it for them so they can hear what it is actually supposed to sound like.
I am NOT convinced that I want to create using JUST handwritten music notation though. That is the sad part…. Now if I could combine StaffPad and Cubasis into one app and then have the ability to tap tempos to stay with a live performance as I do on Notion on my laptop….. now THEN we’d be talking!
What if all my students had this tool – they could practice with an astonishing sounding band or orchestra that allows them to rehearse as they need – slower, in small chunks, looping things as needed. Maybe my students would create more on their own? If they had sounds like the SpitFire sound banks they would be inspired to create more.
That’s another thing…. is handwriting the BEST method for music notation? Well I do know that by using an Apple Pencil I get rid of a good many questions of “how do I” and I just do. I want an eighth note so I draw and eighth note. I want a note on that space I draw a note on that space – I don’t have to be a keyboard player and know which key is which.
Even for me, a musician of 45 years with two college degrees in music, I still find it faster just to handwrite musical examples when I am in the front of class. I KNOW how to input and create those musical examples a multitude of ways but then I am looking various menus and buttons and keys. With this…. I just draw it.
oh…. one more thing
Want to gain instant “cool” status with your middle school students? Use a handwriting app like this that turns into digital notation in class Monday – watch the kids reactions! INSTANT reactions! I love it!
Final Thought
Is StaffPad going to become my music notation app of choice? Nope. But it did make me stop dead in my tracks and reconsider whether or not I was going to upgrade Sibelius on my laptop or purchase Dorico.
One other thing….
THANK you StaffPad for NOT going the route of a subscription based model. If I am going to put out the money to use your app I want to be able to purchase it and then know I will have it to use for several years. Even if that means I need to purchase an “upgrade” in the future to gain additional features you may come out with in the future.
Repeat after me now boys and girls… SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE BAD!
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