08-21-2021, 01:59 PM
Andrew, I was just thinking about your question about pushing updates to the players' devices. I'd been assuming it wouldn't be possible but just realised that it might be.
MSP maintains a file for each piece (the PDF/text file etc that has the music on it) as well as a database which contains the metadata (annotations, attributes etc) for all the pieces plus system settings I think. Usually MSP controls the location of the files and the database but you can choose to control them (unselect 'let MSP manage my files', choose a storage location, then select 'expose database file'). Each player's device could have the storage location for the files and database be, say, a dropbox folder on their device. Your librarian could maintain a device with a separate dropbox folder for each player. The players would have to have dropbox (or whichever cloud storage you use) on their devices but shouldn't need to pay for it because they could use the free storage that comes with the app.
If the librarian wanted to add a piece to a player's device they would just have to make sure the dropbox folder for that player was up to date (so as not to delete their annotations etc), move the files and database from that folder into the storage location on the librarian's device, open MSP and add the piece, close MSP and move the files from the storage location back to the player's dropbox folder (i.e. the one on the librarian's device). The next time the player turned on their device, as long as the dropbox app was on then the new piece would be added to their MSP folder with the updated database and then when MSP is switched on the new piece should be there.
One complication I can see there is that if the player has made some changes (e.g. put in some fingerings) but hasn't connected to the internet then those changes would be lost when your librarian adds a new piece but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Orchestras often switch repertoire completely between the last performance of one programme and the start of rehearsals for the next so the updates could be done in that time. If you needed to add a piece after rehearsals have started then you could easily time it to avoid losing the players' changes.
I haven't tried it but it might work, as long as moving the database into a dropbox folder doesn't cause any problems. If you have a couple of devices you could try it our for yourself. Let me know if you need a hand with that. Cheers, Guy
MSP maintains a file for each piece (the PDF/text file etc that has the music on it) as well as a database which contains the metadata (annotations, attributes etc) for all the pieces plus system settings I think. Usually MSP controls the location of the files and the database but you can choose to control them (unselect 'let MSP manage my files', choose a storage location, then select 'expose database file'). Each player's device could have the storage location for the files and database be, say, a dropbox folder on their device. Your librarian could maintain a device with a separate dropbox folder for each player. The players would have to have dropbox (or whichever cloud storage you use) on their devices but shouldn't need to pay for it because they could use the free storage that comes with the app.
If the librarian wanted to add a piece to a player's device they would just have to make sure the dropbox folder for that player was up to date (so as not to delete their annotations etc), move the files and database from that folder into the storage location on the librarian's device, open MSP and add the piece, close MSP and move the files from the storage location back to the player's dropbox folder (i.e. the one on the librarian's device). The next time the player turned on their device, as long as the dropbox app was on then the new piece would be added to their MSP folder with the updated database and then when MSP is switched on the new piece should be there.
One complication I can see there is that if the player has made some changes (e.g. put in some fingerings) but hasn't connected to the internet then those changes would be lost when your librarian adds a new piece but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Orchestras often switch repertoire completely between the last performance of one programme and the start of rehearsals for the next so the updates could be done in that time. If you needed to add a piece after rehearsals have started then you could easily time it to avoid losing the players' changes.
I haven't tried it but it might work, as long as moving the database into a dropbox folder doesn't cause any problems. If you have a couple of devices you could try it our for yourself. Let me know if you need a hand with that. Cheers, Guy