

Etude for iPad is out - dangrover
http://etudeapp.com/

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archgrove
It looks lovely, and I'll probably grab it (especially at that price).
However, as an Etude for iPhone user, I have to say - you really need to get
some more scores into the store. At the moment, months after launch, you still
only have material from 21 composers. Everyone I've shown it to loves it, but
it's a really hard sell with such a limited selection. I've no problem with
paying for sheet music, and I'd probably pay _more_ for the convenience of
this format - it just needs to be there!

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dangrover
Also, it's free if you bought the iPhone version.

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archgrove
That, I didn't realise. Great value :). Almost too great - I'd have paid for
an upgrade!

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samstokes
I can see how this could be convincingly better than the analogue equivalent,
and worth buying an iPad for (if I still had a piano):

* Is page-turning easy? With paper you have to carefully dog-ear the sheet music so that you can grab the corner and turn the page without breaking flow. A simple one-finger swipe or tap would be less disruptive to playing.

* On-demand sheet music purchase is a great idea, if the catalogue is comprehensive enough. It would be great to be able to go from hearing a great piece on the radio to having the score in front of you in minutes.

I assume you need music to be converted so that you can support the
synthesiser and simulated keyboard. To bootstrap, can you take existing sheet
music unconverted (just scanned, say) and display it without those features?
TBH I'm not sure I see the utility of watching the keypresses anyway (maybe
because I haven't tried it).

* As well as hearing a synthesised version of the piece, what about a link from the score to world-renowned recordings, to stream or purchase? I'd often struggle to learn some passages that seemed boring or repetitive, but to hear the same passage played with fluency and passion would be very motivating.

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samstokes
Also, it bugs me that it's Etude and not Étude, but I'm probably alone in that
:)

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lanstein
Yeah, you are, because accents are often left off of capital letters in
French.

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samstokes
Huh, didn't know that, but you're right
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_alphabet#Diacritics>). I declare myself
out-pedanted :)

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samstokes
Metacomment: I find it amusing that I got more upvotes for providing
attribution for a refutation of my own minor criticism of Etude than for my
original comment actually discussing Etude.

I guess I'm being rewarded for admitting and embracing my own wrongness!

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w1ntermute
I've heard about Etude several times on HN, but only in reference to iP* -
does anyone know if there are plans for an Android app?

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username3
Is there anyway to tap to reposition the cursor and play? Loops? A/B?

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sshumaker
I would love this - it would be an essential feature for practicing difficult
sections.

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delackner
Indeed the first thing that I tried was to pinch-spread across a section in
hopes that that would turn the width I had specified into a looped playback
region.

Going to have some fun with this. Bravo!

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silencio
Awesome work on both the iPhone and iPad version :) I've been grumbling at
everyone and their mother telling me about Etude because it's not an app for
me, but it's certainly one I will and have recommended to friends that want to
learn how to play a real piano. (And it's not for me only because I may suck,
but I've been banging away at a piano for over ten years and can sight read
most of the pieces in Etude in my sleep. Understandably I am not the audience
for this app, a PDF reader with metronome is more suited to my needs... :) )

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dieterrams
Beautiful app. I've always wanted to learn how to play the piano, and this
just lowered the barrier to entry by a mile. Thanks for making it.

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paul9290
So does the app hear what Im playing and turn the page automatically for me?
Huge pain-point for piano players.

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sshumaker
I've been holding off because of the reviews complaining about lag. Do those
apply to the iPad version as well?

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dangrover
Not sure. I think these people might have been using old phones with lots of
other stuff running.

~~~
grandalf
works great on my iPad.

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samratjp
The price is a steal. Sure, Xelements is cool, but this completely is reason
alone to buy the iPad. Congrats and hope that some day soon orchestras could
have this.

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kapuzineralex
Did anyone else notice how the blue-ish marker lags behind the actual position
of the piece during playback? Having that in a demo is kind of ridiculous...

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bryanh
Sorry to nitpick, but the sound in the video is off! It's driving me crazy!

This almost makes me want to get an iPad... almost.

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dangrover
Yeah, ffmpeg screwed that up. The h264 and flash versions play correctly.

I wish Firefox would just fall back to the flash version rather than going
"Oh, it's not Ogg. I guess I'll just give up."

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sh1mmer
Also happens to me in Chrome.

I love the video but I would love it more as a lightbox closer to iPad size.

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quizbiz
Big congratulations! This alone is a reason to buy the iPad.

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jra101
Very cool, any chance you will be adding drums? :)

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fookyong
beautiful app. bought, admired, and getting all nostalgic (I used to be a
concert violinist but I stopped playing about 8 years ago)

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username3
Why can't we practice on the piano in Etude?

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dangrover
The reason the keyboard in the current UI is there is so you can see most of
the keys and play the piece on a real instrument.

If I made it playable, people would just complain it's too small.

A new "practice mode" is coming in an upcoming update that gives you a big
enough keyboard and lets you practice one hand of the piece.

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friendstock
is there a video of this iPad app somewhere? I just tried searching on youtube
but couldn't find anything.

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dangrover
There's a video on the front page.

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davisml
Congratulations Dan!

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kevinelliott
Good job!

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zaveri
Congrats!

