Klarinet Archive - Posting 000189.txt from 2010/01

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Great idea!
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:06:37 -0500

At 07:04 AM 1/27/2010, g wrote:
>Roughly six years ago I purchased the real McCoy -- the Music Pad
>Pro -- and it has my highest endorsement. Any scores scanned vis my
>home computer scanner will work, as well as "electronic" format from
>pretty much all the most popular software programs may be directly copied in.
>I have no less than two dozen USB Flash Drives with music, and I'd
>guess the number of pieces through the years is well over a couple
>of thousand! Burned to CD "back-ups", too. Music is readily
>user-programmed in terms of DS's, DC's, Codas, repeats, et cetera;
>also, by touching the screen pages advance, or go back. A tap at a
>spot near the top goes to either very first, or very last page. You
>can "write" on music, adding notes, practice queues, or
>"whatever". I personally have but two issues with _my_ unit. To
>wit, playing outdoor venues on a sunny day -- hey, my screen could
>not be readily seen by me -- even when rigging an impromptu
>sun-shade. And, on another occasion we played in an arena sans
>electric outlets. I turned the screen brightness down to minimum
>battery consumption, and by golly just made it -- BUT -- had we an
>encore -- the battery would have been depleted just a few bars into
>it. (I "immediately" bought an out-board battery pack to alleviate
>future stress, should this again occur.) In several groups I am at
>the keyboard, and most piano parts are many, many pages
>long. Hence, just to eliminate the page-turning hassle has more
>than "paid" for the unit. For clarinet parts it, too, is a
>delight. I think they're still be made and sold (at a much lower
>price than I paid, too). Two foot pedals, too: one to advance a
>page with each tap, and the other to go back a page with each
>tap. A slick device, and my six-plus years of use attests to its durability!
>However, even owning and using this, I last evening purchased one of
>the stands Mr. Fobes posted as worth looking into. Yes -- while I
>just wrote a small chapter on the Music Pad Pro's virtues, I am a
>member of three groups, all of which "ended" their season with the
>Christmas holiday. All three will be resuming this, and next week
>-- with new charts. Further, I often pack a horn on non-music
>related business trips. The stand Mr. Fobes told you and me surely
>looks like it will be lighter, and pack better than one of my
>Manhassets. Sure, there isn't a mousetrap out there that might be
>better built, or an ingenious musician who can conjure up a better
>portable stand facsimile or design. But, for me, I think it surely
>-- if nothing else -- will bestow a bit more 'class' than using an
>open clarinet case with a rolled up hand towel to keep my music from
>folding....
>
>Just a couple of "cents".... hopefully rhetorical.

The price on the MusicPad Pro is down to about $750 last I heard. My
employer is the distributor for this area, but demand is not
great. They are still to expensive for schools and amateurs,
although touring professionals like them.

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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