[CaliaMoko]

I have Music Sheets Pro for my Android tablet and I have the companion in Windows 10. I want to get all my music into the app and use it for performing.

I am hoping I can learn how to 
1. enter the music, some as sheet music and some with just words and chords, at a size I can see AND that fits in the window
2. make each song scroll at the proper speed so I can sing along with it
3. have all the songs in a format that will allow me to transpose them to different keys sometimes

I entered some songs by typing them in Notepad, following the coding in the instructions, and saving them with a *.pro extension. I can't find a way to load them into the Companion app on my computer, plus I don't know what I can do with them once I do that, anyway.

I've tried to find simple tutorials. I tried several searches of this forum. I can't find any instructions simple enough for my dense brain. They all seem to assume I know more than I do already.

I've given up several times. This time I'm back and thought I'd start right out by asking for help, before I get too frustrated. I did open my Companion app and try to load some songs, but it only wants to import *.msf or *.mss files. I don't know what those are. Almost all menu items in the Companion are grayed out, so it doesn't even look like it will do anything.

Is there anywhere I can find a really super, super simple, extremely detailed step by step tutorial to get me started with this?

[Zubersoft]

Hello,

Try the following steps:

1) Load MobileSheetsPro on your Android tablet
2) Tap the three dots at the top right corner of the screen and then tap on "Connect to PC"
3) Load the companion application on your PC. You should see a popup indicating that the tablet wants to connect. If you do not see this, stop reading past this and let me know as it means you have a connection problem and I will have to provide suggestions for how to get past it. One thing you can try in that case is Connection->Manual Wifi Connect, type in the IP address shown on the Android device and then tap OK to connect.
4) Once you are successfully connected to the Android device, many things will be enabled and you can now manage your library and import files. Drag & drop your .pro file (or multiple .pro files) into the companion app window.
5) If you drag & drop one file, you will see the song editor pop up and you can add additional information for the new song. Tap OK in the dialog to create the song (the file will be sent over to the tablet along with the song information). If you drag & drop multiple files, a simplified import dialog is shown. You can add some metadata if desired, and then tap OK to import all of the files at once.
6) Disconnect the companion app from the tablet by tapping the disconnect button on the Android tablet
7) Go to the Songs tab and tap on one of the songs to load it
8) Tap the center to bring up the song overlay, tap the circle at the bottom left and then "Scroll Settings". Change the scroll behavior to "Scroll continuously to end of song". You can change the speed later to fit your needs
9) Tap OK to close the dialog, tap on the display mode icon to the left of the page scaling icon which has blue arrows in it
10) Change the default display mode dropdown to "Vertical Scrolling". This works much better with automatic scrolling than the default mode which turns pages horizontally.
11) To transpose, tap the notes icon at the top right. To edit the display settings for the text file, tap the "A" then tap on "Text display settings".

Let me know if that's enough to get you started.

Mike

[CaliaMoko]

Thanks, Mike. I'm sure I've done some of this stuff before, but it's been a bad year and I haven't been able to be consistent and I forget what I've done and what I haven't.

Anyway, I started through your list of instructions. I already had the apps installed so I went right to connecting the two. I had to do the manual wifi connect, but it worked fine. I'm not really sure what exactly happened next, but some songs ended up in the companion app. They just popped up in there. They included some songs I had just typed in using the tags in a chordpro file format reference guide I found somewhere. I don't think they were on the tablet. At least not all of them.

I've run out of time tonight, so I'll play with this some more as soon as I get a chance. I'm a 24-hour a day, 7 days a week caretaker for a recovering stroke victim, so it's hard to work on anything consistently. As he gradually recovers, though, it's getting better.

[CaliaMoko]

Am I doing #7 on the tablet or the computer?

This does give me a start, and I can save it to refresh my memory when I forget. I'm hoping I can keep going this time so I can build on what I'm learning instead of having to start all over again. And again.

It looks like I just have to keep messing with it and figure it out, little by little.

Is there a quick way to enter songs or do I just have to type them individually? 

If I import PDFs, can I still change keys on them?

[Geoff Bacon]

#7 is done on the tablet (the description includes the word "tap" - many pcs don't have a touch screen)

I always prepare my files on the pc as it allows me to use tools/editors that I am used to. Having prepared the files, I then import them (and/or other files on the web) into MSP.

You can't change keys in a PDF file; If you want to be able to changes keys, you will need to use chordpro files (these are basically text files that conform to the chordpro format and are given an appropriate file extension).

MSP has a good manual and I advise you read it from start to finish. For a new user, it might not all make sense immediately (it didn't to me) but that doesn't matter as you don't need to remember it all (knowing what it contains, you can look it up when you actually need it).

It would also probably be a good idea for you to get a small notebook. This can be used to make notes about how to do different operations (after a bit, you won't need it but it will always be there should you forget what to do or need to do something that you do infrequently). Strictly speaking, you could just rely on what is on this site but the act of writing it down helps you to remember what you are trying to achieve. You can always ask questions on the forum when needed but obviously, if Mike needs to respond, this eats into the time that he could have spent developing this great software. 

I hope this helps
Geoff

[CaliaMoko]

@Geoff Bacon: Thanks. I do have the manual and have read lots of it, but not the whole thing. And you're right; it doesn't make a lot of sense to me at the moment. Fried brains don't help, I suppose.

I didn't realize this was going to be such a time-consuming venture. I have at least 400 songs I want to get into the tablet, and it's tempting to forget it and keep using the 3-ring binders. Except for how heavy they are.... It's looking like it'll take me years to digitize all the music. The good side of that is, I should really know what I'm doing by the time I'm done. Not that I'll ever actually be done....

I have a good start on what I need to do now, and I'll just have to keep plugging away at it.

Thanks again,
Vicki

[Geoff Bacon]

Hi Vicki

It may seem like hard work at the moment but you will probably only use/need a small number of MSP's features i.e. once you have sussed it out it will seem very easy.

A couple of friends use MSP in a very basic mode i.e. they just import songs, put songs into a collection and display them (they are not interested in technology or learning how to use MSP). They don't normally bother with setlists  (although I find this one of the most useful features). They don't bother with cropping pages (this is useful as it zooms the page making it easier to read)

You may find it a good idea to just play around with just a few songs at the start then,  when you are familiar with the program, do a bulk import of all our songs (assuming they are already in computer files)

Cheers
Geoff