We’re very proud to announce the immediate availability of the third major version of forScore, just $4.99 (USD) or free for all existing users. For this update, we’ve spent a lot of time considering how people use forScore on a few different levels: from how they interact with each score, to how they work with their libraries, and finally how forScore fits into the bigger picture of a musician’s workflow. Here are some of the highlights from the dozens of revisions we’ve made in this update:
Scores
To really improve the ways that people interact with individual scores, we began by thinking about the kinds of things people can do with paper that they can’t do with digital files—like rearranging pages. Links have always been one of forScore’s most innovative features, but with the growing popularity of page turners it just wasn’t enough, and so we’ve added a new Rearrange feature that allows you to reorder, duplicate, and delete pages of any score in your library and save them as a new PDF file (or over the original).
We also took some time to consider ways of using scores that just aren’t possible with paper, and we came up with our new Versions feature. With it, you can work with multiple sets of information for the same score (great for music teachers). It’s a feature that we think will really open up the ways that people think about working with individual files.
Library
One of the most important features that forScore offers is the ability to create setlists for manually grouping and reordering your scores. In 3.0 we’ve added search functionality, and we’ve provided four different ways to view and play through your setlists: manually, alphabetically, randomly, or by least-recently played.
We’ve also added an important safety feature to version 3.0: now every time the app launches it creates a backup of your library and keeps the latest versions from both the current day as well as the last day that you used the app. We can’t guarantee that your information will always be 100% safe, but we think this will help.
Big Picture
We know that forScore users don’t just live in a bubble, so we’ve taken a lot of time to improve the ways that people share their files. We’ve added our Darkroom feature which allows you to create PDFs from images in your iPad library or taken with your camera. We’ve updated the browser to use a download queue so you can save files without previewing them first, and so you can continue browsing while they download.
Finally, we’ve added DropBox integration. Now you can download PDF or 4SC files directly from your DropBox account and save them to your library, or upload either kind of file for safe keeping.
Final Thoughts
There’s a lot more to forScore 3, though, so be sure to head over to the app store and check it out. We’ve worked hard on this update, and we’re sure that the improvements we’ve made will make this version of forScore the best yet. With over 40 updates in 15 months, it should be clear that we want our app to be the best that it can be, and thanks to the support and feedback of customers all around the world, we know that it will continue to improve with every revision.
We’re happy to announce the immediate availability of forScore version 2.7. This update brings the implementation one of the longest-running feature requests we’ve had. Now, in addition to the score-wide margin adjustment tool that zooms in towards the center of all pages at once, you can crop individual pages by moving them around and resizing them to make the most of your iPad screen’s real estate.
We’ve also added the ability to import bookmarks from a PDF’s table of contents, included a way to edit entire categories with just a few taps, and more. The full list is below, and thanks to everyone for their incredible support and feedback!
• Pages can be cropped individually and off-center
• PDF table of contents information can now be imported as bookmarks
• Categories can now be edited directly from the score menu
• Optional scaling of text annotation font sizes when adjusting margins or cropping
• Metronome accuracy improvements
• Improved VGA out performance with iPad 1
• Performance improvements
• Bug fixes
We’re happy to announce the immediate availability of forScore 2.6, a huge update bringing great new features and important fixes. Here are a few of the highlights from today’s update:
First off, we wanted to solve a problem that’s been bugging us since many popular iPad-compatible page turners came to the market. Technically, page turners are very similar to keyboards, so when the iPad detects that one is connected, it assumes that you’re using a Bluetooth or wired keyboard and hides the virtual on-screen version. Normally that’s a great feature, but for people who are using page turners it means that searching, browsing, and editing metadata are all off-limits while using one of these devices. Well, we’ve managed to find a way of using both at the same time, and we’ve added an option in the settings panel to force the virtual keyboard to appear no matter which external device is connected. We think this is an important change, and one that our competitors are still scratching their heads over.
Next, we made an important change to forScore’s bookmarking feature. One request we got very often was to allow bookmarks to overlap. We’ve done this in 2.6, but with a caveat—since one page can potentially be a part of multiple bookmarks, the app no longer inherits bookmark information automatically. If you want to use a bookmark and all of its related metadata (audio track binding, zoom, etc.) then you’ll first have to select it from the main menu or from the bookmarks menu itself. We’ve also got other features coming soon that depend on this behavior, so while it was a difficult choice to make, we think it’ll be the right one ultimately.
We’ve also taken some time to consider how we can improve overall workflow. To that end, we’ve added a centralized search panel to the app that lets you find scores, composers, genres, keywords, actions, and setlists in seconds. More importantly, you now get to choose which gesture you’d like to use to open it: a two-finger tap, or a tap & hold gesture. Both of these are configurable to a number of different tasks through the settings panel, so you can find the combination that’s right for you.
We’re not stopping there, though—version 2.7 is already in the works and brings just a few (but very important) features that we’ve been working to get right since we started last April. Thanks to everyone for your support, and for your feedback. We couldn’t do it without either!
After an unexpectedly long approval cycle, version 2.5 has gone live and brings a ton of great improvements. New settings, improved table views and animations, and setlist refinements make this the best version of forScore yet. Here’s the list of changes that 2.5 brings:
• Table views have been rewritten for better performance and smoother animations
• Setlist creator category view now includes search and keyword/genre lists
• Menu secondary controls have been lowered for improved accessibility
• Includes the ability to view setlists in their actual order or alphabetically
• Scroll to the top of most menus by tapping their title
• Menus can now re-open to their last scroll position
• Adds an optional two-finger tap in the middle of the screen to open the score menu
• Adds an option to show bookmarks in the main score menu
• Adds a debounce setting for better compatibility with some page turners
• Adds a setting to always open the score menu to the category view
• Adds support for PDF keyword fetching
• Lowers the Quick Scroll threshold to 25 entries from 40
• Improves Page Peek performance
• Extends undo/redo support to text annotation creation
• Helps prevent text annotations from being created off-screen
We’ve worked hard on this update, and also on version 2.6 that’s coming up next, so stay tuned for an exciting month of March!
The last maintenance release in our string of 2.4.x updates, version 2.4.3, is now live and resolves a timing issue with auto-turn for landscape files. We’re also working hard on version 2.5, and we’re hoping to finalize it for release later this month. We know maintenance releases aren’t very exciting, but we also know that by taking the time to weed out these bugs we’re providing a strong foundation for the many features to come. We think you’ll agree when 2.5 ships, and we appreciate the support and feedback that makes it possible!
forScore 2.4.2 has just gone live, fixing some minor bugs related to the metadata view’s auto-suggest functions, as well as resolving an issue where the browser could not properly detect PDF files hosted on a small number of websites. Thanks to everyone who submitted feedback allowing us to fix these nagging bugs!
forScore 2.4.1 has gone live, fixing an issue with BT-105 recognition after editing certain types of metadata. This minor update is recommended for all users of the BT-105, and will be followed up by another maintenance release next week with several more minor bug fixes and refinements.
In fact, the 2.4.x series of releases will all be focused on small fixes and refinements, rather than the addition of any major new features. It’s not as glamorous, we know, but these fixes will help provide a solid foundation for 2.5 and beyond. Thanks to everyone who has submitted feedback, allowing us to discover and correct these issues!
Apple retail stores recently updated their window displays, which now feature forScore prominently amongst a number of other iPad apps in a mobile-like setup for their 300+ stores worldwide. Our app is featured twice, actually, and we couldn’t resist stopping by our local store to snap this shot:
Special thanks to reader Matthew for sending us the tip!
We’re very proud to announce forScore version 2.4, which brings several new enhancements and some important fixes. It’s available immediately for just $4.99, or absolutely free for existing users. Here’s a look at a few of the changes in this version:
With the 2.3 series of updates, we focused heavily on performance optimizations, and sadly some of these changes had unforeseen consequences. One casualty was the video output feature, so with the 2.4 update we took the opportunity to not just patch it up, but to complete rewrite it from scratch. All of the features and options are exactly the same as before, but the output is now a true mirror of the iPad’s screen, rather than just a particular view. More importantly, it’s far more stable than before, and we apologize for any inconvenience this process may have caused.
Version 2.4 includes a few other notable additions, such as custom signature support. Add a PNG image to forScore via iTunes file sharing (use 360×45 pixels for best results), and the image will be used for the composer by the same name. A signature file for “John Doe” would be named “John Doe.png”, for instance. We’ve added a PSD template to our extras page to give you a better idea of exactly how your signature image will look in forScore. You can also read more about this feature here. [Updated March 2018: custom signatures are no longer supported by forScore.]
This version also implements several ideas based directly on feedback from our users, so thank you all for your continued participation and support.
Hot on the heels of our 2.3.1 update, we’re happy (and a bit surprised!) to announce the immediate availability of forScore 2.3.2. This update addresses some minor issues introduced in version 2.3.1, as well as the following:
• Resolves an issue with the bookmarks menu for larger files
• Faster score deletions
• Improved new file detection
Updates have typically taken upwards of a week to go through Apple’s approval process, so we’re delighted to see this timeframe improving and hope that it is indicative of future updates, since ultimately we believe that a greater ability to respond to unexpected issues benefits our customers.
Also, AirTurn has now resumed shipments of the BT-105, and our promotion will be continuing into the new year, so don’t forget to check out our promo page or pass it along to a friend!