[agittins]

I just started using MS a week or so ago and I am loving it - I rarely find myself happy to purchase an app but I am extremely happy that I bought this one! Tonight was the first time I used it during a big rehearsal (St Matthew's Passion) and it worked great - I had no problems navigating the 240-odd page score.

Anyway, on to the feature request... I notice this was on the one-day feature list years ago but I couldn't find anything recent about it.

Something that is often required when performing acapella is (1) tempo, which is ably taken care of with the metronome feature, and (2) starting note, which could be addressed with a pitch pipe feature. 

Additionally, I sometimes find it would be handy during rehearsals to tap out part of a melodic phrase or particular notes on an on-screen keyboard.

Is this a feature that is in the works, or at least, desired by a fair number of users?

As far as the interface goes, I'd love to see it implemented as:

• separate window that can be dragged around, like the metronome and audio player interfaces
  
• an octave or 1.5 octaves of piano keys (perhaps depending on screen resolution and size)
  
• horizontal scroll bar at the top which allows you to shift what section of the full 88-note keyboard you "see" in the 8ve / 1.5 8ve "window"
  
• double-tap on the scroll to re-centre (or left-align) the keyboard at middle-c
  
• ability to raise the window by binding it to any of the song display touch zones and to a button in the quick action box.
  

Also great would be a light-grey stave drawn across the strip of white keys, with minums on each key showing which note it is - this could be really useful for people in choirs who are not good sight readers, so they can more easily peck out a melody while practicing. The clef could be shown at the leftmost key, and clef selection could be a combination of where on the keyboard they have scrolled to and an option setting for a home clef (alto, tenor (treble dropped an octave) etc).

I'd be happy to draw a mock-up of the interface if my description is a bit hazy, and if you're interested.

As for the sound, a plain sinewave would be perfectly suitable, but whatever is easiest to implement.

Is this a feature still under consideration, and would the above sound like a feasible way to implement it?

Thanks again for an awesome app!

[itsme]

That sounds like you'd better install a separate piano app. If you search for "android piano" you'll find many.
The Android task switcher makes it easy to jump between several open app windows.

[agittins]

That sounds like you'd better install a separate piano app. If you search for "android piano" you'll find many.
The Android task switcher makes it easy to jump between several open app windows.

The same logic would have precluded a metronome being added as well, but now that it's there I'd bet a lot of people would say that having the metronome built-in is FAR better than using a separate app.

I know I can use a separate app (in fact I have and use them), but I'd prefer to have the functionality built-in. Tapping through a melody line by switching back and forth for every note is... well, silly (see note, tap intents button, tap piano app, tap note, tap intents button, tap MS app, see next note, repeat).

The split-screen feature in the latest android might make it work (I don't have that on my tablet yet) but I think having the MDI-style interface of a separate window that can be positioned anywhere works better from a UX perspective in this case, and it will work on any android version.

[GraemeJ]

Feature creep!!

While MSP tries to be all things to all users, I think it's only fair to point out that a metronome is probably something that many use, whereas your ideas are only applicable to a minority.

[Zubersoft]

A on-screen keyboard is something that has been requested a fair number of times from users, and other competing apps provide one. I think it's a feature that can benefit enough users that it is warranted, whether as part of the core product or an add-on. I do have a long term plan to add an on-screen keyboard, and I'll make sure it doesn't get in the way of any of the other features in the app. You've provided some great feedback agittins, and I appreciate that. I should provide reasonable expectations though - I have a lot of requests and features on the backlog that need to be implemented, so I'm not sure on the exact timing where this one will fit in. The annotations rework that is occurring and some of the other features like synchronizing multiple devices and more library backup features are going to take awhile.

Thanks,
Mike

[sciurius]

While MSP tries to be all things to all users, I think it's only fair to point out that a metronome is probably something that many use, ...

This is not the correct argument.
The metronome must necessarily be a part of MSPro since the metronome parameters (tempo, signature, start/stop ...) are controlled by MSPro.
Playing some notes on a virtual keyboard is independent of MSPro

[curtisprevo]

Choral singer here.  This would be a wonderful feature.  One further integration might be to include the ability to have a smart button programmed to play a particular pitch or spelled out chord when tapped ("F3,C4,F4,A4").

[samibe]

You could record what you want and add it to the songs you need as an audio file.

[chuckmcla]

This is a terrific idea. It's my understanding that ForScore allows you to place a button on your sheet music that you can program to play the starting pitch, so the developers obviously believe--contrary to what some folks on this forum might think--that this is a feature that a great many users would want. A pop-up keyboard is a great solution (although if all I need is the starting pitch, also having that button always there on the page would be incredibly helpful, and take up less real estate.

[LouisCroisez]

Hi Mobilesheets community,
i am interested by this keyboard feature inside MSP.
What is the status of this feature, in 2024 ?

[Zubersoft]

I'm tentatively aiming to include a virtual piano keyboard with one of the 3.10.X updates.

Mike

[LouisCroisez]

I'm tentatively aiming to include a virtual piano keyboard with one of the 3.10.X updates.

Mike

Nice! Thx!

[LouisCroisez]

I'm tentatively aiming to include a virtual piano keyboard with one of the 3.10.X updates.

Mike

Yesterday, version 3.9 has been released on Google Play.
But what about version 3.10 you mentioned in this Forum thread ?
Must I subscribe to some kind of testing channel to have this 3.10 version ?

[Zubersoft]

Version 3.10.0 will be released in the future when it is ready. I still have a number of promised features to deliver with the 3.9.X updates before I turn my attention to 3.10.0.

Mike

[JonCohen3D]

I also would find the pitch pipe feature incredibly helpful. While integrating a full keyboard sounds nice, that would be at least 88 times more complex and could indeed be considered feature creep, in my opinion. A simple pitch pipe connected to a smart button seems like it would be much faster to implement and get out the door.