måndag 1 augusti 2016

Fakebook Pro


The Fakebook Pro is my app. Featuring the functions I need. Working in the way I want. Perfect for my gigs. That's it! But judging from the popularity of the app, the Fakebook Pro might be right for you as well.

App: Fakebook Pro
Available for: Android
Price: $3
Developer: Skrivarna Software
Website: http://www.skrivarna.com

Starting out as a dedicated Real Book reader, sporting 1600 transposable chord charts and iReal Pro compatibility, the Fakebook Pro app has since developed into a all-purpose sheet music reader. The current version imports music in PDF, iRealPro / iRealb, ChordPro, OnSong, ABC, JPEG and PNG formats. Or you may just snap a picture of the music with the device's camera.

Fakebook Pro has all the important tools for a gigging musician. But none of the less important bells and whistles, which makes the app fast, reliable, and easy to use. Consistency and simplicity is key, which shows in the way this app works:
  • Instead of a Band-in-a-Box style playalong, which may be great for practice but often sound cheesy and only works for chord charts, the Fakebook app has links to real performances on Spotify and YouTube.
  • For a music reader app, annotation is crucial. In Fakebook the marker and highlighter pens are always available and works in the same way on chord charts, PDF music, ChordPro or OnSong lyrics and photos.
  • All types of music are created equal and you can mix and match them all in the set lists. The excellent search also works independently of source or type and finds anything immediately, whether it's in the title, the composer, the book, a comment or the style.
  • The lack of zooming or cropping tools may seem limiting at first, as scanned and commercial sheet music often comes with quite wide margins, necessary for paper copies but a waste of screen on a phone or tablet. But instead, Fakebook does automatic cropping at import. And it actually works!
  • The same can be said about the chord and lyrics editor added in Fakebook Pro version 2.5, it is quick and easy to use. And it works!

One drawback is that the initial PDF parsing is rather slow, and there's also a disclaimer on the Fakebook import link site about this. Importing and indexing a complete PDF Real Book (over 500 pages) may take more than an hour. On the other hand, once the songs are imported paging between them is instantaneous. (Update: From Fakebook version 1.6 there is a highly optimized PDF parser. Huge improvement! Import time is reduced by at least 50% on Android 5 and up.)

With the Fakebook Pro's focus on live performances, the extensive support for wireless foot pedals (such as AirTurn and PageFlip) comes as no surprise. The functions are configurable, so pedals may scroll, change pages, change songs, transpose, start or stop the metronome.

Verdict:
Simply the best. Currently Fakebook Pro is exclusively Android; but I'd say it is so good you should switch from iOS to get it. And at less than $3 this app is a steal!
Fakebook Pro - 5 stars -

(Tested: Fakebook Pro version 2.5.0 on Android, phone and tablet)

1 kommentar:

  1. "but I'd say it is so good you should switch from iOS to get it."
    :) Are you kidding? Let me clear first. I'm a Windows user (PC) and Android user (smartphone). Last days I was very intensively learning this sphere. I've read a lot of opinions, I've seen a lot of videos. I've read some good articles. And I'm going for iPad Pro 12.9". And I should say, I was deciding between iPad Pro 12.9" and Microsoft Surface Book (13.5"). But I even didn't consider Android tablets! Because even despite I'm an Android user, I belive that Android tablets just piece of crap. And if to talk about reading sheet music, they are nothing to do with their horrible 16:9 not big enough screens. And only THIS reason alone is the first and most important to consider (decent and most convenient and suitable screen for this purpose). Not to mention amazing forScore application and tons of others. I was watching a lot of video reviews about them last days, and I was amazed how convenient they are and well thought-out (sorry, but I will never believe there is something better on Android than forScore). One more argument in favor of iPad Pro, being a digital pianos user, I see that most digital piano manufacturers develop their great apps exclusively for iOS. For example Kawai: Virtual Technician, Sound Museum (I could use them with my digital piano.) And also Touch Notation. It is also possible to connect the iPad wirelessly to digital piano using the Quicco Sound mi.1 Bluetooth MIDI device. And again this device is developed exclusevely for iOS devices… So returning to your sentence "but I'd say it is so good you should switch from iOS to get it" – for me it is even not funny and not smart. For the moment for my purposes Android devices just have nothing to do. And iPad Pro 12.9" is no-brainer.

    SvaraRadera