Well, the first week of gigs with the MPP has come and gone and all I can say is..

WOW!!!

Really, I had zero problems with it on all my gigs last week. Obviously, preparation is critical, but I guess I had my ducks in a row and it was just a breeze. No more music stand, pit lights, over-stuffed folder of music to mess with, no large crate of music on the stage next to me...

At both club dates this weekend, members of the audience actually asked to come up on stage to check it out while I was playing. The client on Saturday couldn't believe that ALL my music was already scanned into the unit and in order. He also told everyone about it during his announcements on break, lol...The older folks thought it ingenious that I could turn pages by just touching the MPP screen.

My typical routine is (on the Tyros 2, that is) as I approach the end of a song, I've already pulled up the next one, but not engaged it. So, first song ends...Touch the MPP once and it's ready...I hit two buttons on the T2 and it's ready...That's it...It takes about 3 seconds to get into the next tune.

Even my sax player who usually rejects anything made after 1950 commented how slick this was and how easy it made my job. That's huge, because in almost ten years of working with him, he NEVER has anything nice to say to anyone about anything, lol...

How much better can this get? Again, this is a closeout model, with an updated software download that I paid $399.00

Talk about a piece of equipment intelligently designed with the working musician in mind...

IMO, Freehand nailed it!



Bill in Dayton

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 01-29-2007).]

Just to play the devils' advocate here, Bill, but what would you do if the thing simply refused to work while at a gig?

Do you still carry your music along as a back-up?

Ian

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Remember to leave good news alone.

Ian-

Of course I do, lol...

I've put everything away, but my sets are still in working order, so...worse case scenario...

Assuming it fails without warning in the middle of a gig...

I'll announce a short break...bring the old box of sheet music, old music stand and pit light, have it all set up in under 5 minutes and be back in business.

Actually, my bass player still uses his sheet music, I'd probably NOT take a break at all, rather, take his music-have him read over my shoulder on the tunes he needs to...then set my back-up plan in motion on the next regular break we take...

Sometimes I feel like I'm running Noah's Arc...I have two of everything and/or a backup plan for every piece of equipment I use.

I do not wish to talk any more about my equipment failing on me. I think to discuss it is bad luck, lol...



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Bill in Dayton

Ditto to what Bill mentioned.I have one small binder with the more popular tunes I play. Enough for a 3 hour gig. It's stashed in the SUV. I've had mine a little over a year and it has never failed ( knock on wood). The only downside to the MPP is that it's pretty much useless for the outdoor gig I play about once per month in the summer at a marina. The bright sunlight is just too much.


[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 01-29-2007).]

I'm glad to hear everything goes well with these.

I did some research on the closeout $399.
They are version 3, the new version is 4 and has all new software and some new hardware.

Unfortunately now version 4 is not downward compatible with 3, but I believe you can load version 3 saved songs onto version 4.

I get my first shipment this week, I'm very excited myself to get rid off all my overstuffed music books and stands.

Just curious, are you talking about using actual sheet music on the job, or lyric/chord charts?
DonM

Frank you're right on with saved in 3 working on version 4. I originally had version 3 then upgraded to 4. All worked just fine. I tried to send Bill some files done in 4 for his MPP version 3 and he could not open them.

Don, I use mine for actual sheet music and lyrics.

Actual sheet music, usually also containing chord charts...

Sometimes just chords/lyrics...

With over 500 tunes in there already, its a little bit of everything..



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Bill in Dayton

Just some thoughts to add on the MPP:

One thing to watch out for: when adjusting the screen brightness it is very easy to mistakenly select the screen calibration instead, which is like a Palm Pilot - you have to touch selected points to calibrate the touchpad. If you touch the wrong places (easy to do) then the mouse won't work anymore (actually, it'll get thrown off the screen and you can't get it back). I did this in the middle of a set once and had to take a break and fix it. The fix is to insert a paperclip into the tiny reset hole in the lower left back of the MPP, which brings the screen calibration panel back up and lets you fix the problem. You should familiarize yourself with this if you haven't already in case you need to know at a gig. I've screwed up my calibration accidently a couple of times now and I suggested to Freehand that in a future OS upgrade they move the brightness and calibration controls away from each other.

Speaking of Freehand, we are now well over a year with no service updates to buggy v4.0.6 OS which is inexcuseable. The company has long been aware of simple issues that cause v4 MPP's to crash all too easily and they haven't done a damn thing about it. I can't tell you how disgusted I am with Freehand as a company and if/when anything comes along that can replace my MPP then I'm there. There is absolutely no reason to upgrade to v4 unless you enjoy rewarding bad product support. If that sounds harsh it's meant to be.

Jim-

Thanks for the tip, I didn't even know there was a master reset, lol...

So are you saying that the version 3.1.5 is superior to the current build?

I know its still early, but this version meets all my needs...basically its exceeded my expectations. I had been concerned about the quality of image due to a fairly unsophisticated scanning procedure, but the results are perfectly acceptable to me. Some of my oldest charts are pretty rough, I'll replace them over time, but that's not a MPP issue.

I know the newer version has a MP3 player in it and has a high res-screen, but for the price...I think I'll be pretty happy with the older version.



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Bill in Dayton

Esh,

When you say buggy, can you give me examples, I'm getting my first shipment of Version 4 in the next couple of days, is there are problems I will make sure I find out what they are doing about it.

I will not sell a product that doesn't do what it's supposed to do.,

My paper music never locked-up or failed.

Thanks

Bill:

That's not a master reset on the back - it only brings up the screen calibration page so you can get your mouse to work again. And BTW: v4 does not include the MP3 player... you have to upgrade to v4 AND pay an extra $50 for the "Premium Tools" unlock code (a rip). I've never had v3 so I don't know if it's more stable or not but it seems like a better deal price-wise to get basic functionality instead of paying extra to get higher-res and lots of frustration.

Here's a link to my v4.0.6 bug documentation on Freehand's forums.

A few highlights:

* When using the annotation tool in the MP Manager, if you place the text entry box too high on the score, the program crashes.

* If you use the erase tool with a different background color other than white, the "erases" remain white resulting in a messy display. The erased score area is supposed to change with the background color.

* The EQ function in XMMS media player does not work. Actually most functions other than the play button in XMMS do not work.

* When you load the saved playlists into XMMS it causes the XMMS player to crash.

* XMMS starts playback of some MP3 files several seconds into the file rather than at the beginning. No explanation or solution.

* The volume control on XMMS, which defaults to 64%, reverts back to 64% no matter what volume you set it to.

* Sometimes when you try to playback an MP3 file using XMMS, the player gets "stuck" in some kind of loop temporarily and makes a soft popping sound that sounds very much like a record stuck in a groove. The pad freezes when this happens and there's nothing you can do but wait it out.

* Sometimes a loud audio pop occurs when you start playback of MP3 files in XMMS.

These are all faults I submitted to Freehand last spring and nothing has been done to date.




[This message has been edited by Esh (edited 01-30-2007).]

Update: it's been a long time since I bothered Freehand tech support with a phone call asking when a fix would be coming for OS v4.0.6 and the XMMS media player in particular so I did yesterday. I got a reply last night that they have no intention of fixing the problems, which are apparently related more to the hardware rather than the OS. They said they knew that wasn't what I or anyone else wanted to hear but that was that.

I can't say anything worse about Freehand that they haven't already said for themselves. They sell faulty products, period. This must be why some retailers were dumping MPP's so cheap recently.

Jim-

That is pretty piss-poor customer service. Did they even offer to send you a new replacement unit? (Unless the problems you cited are existing in all the newest version.)

Not sure if you're motivated in this way, but I have to think if you started climbing the customer service ladder, more towards the management level, you might hear a different response.

On the other hand, Music 123 has version 3.1 on sale for $399 that work beautifully...

Ouch...

Hang in there...

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Bill in Dayton

Esh sorry to hear of the problems you've had with the MPP and dealing with Free Hand.

Being a part time musician puts a different spin on things for me. My needs aren't as demanding as a full time pro. The MPP does everything I need it to do. My intention of the MPP was the elimination of fake books. It's done exactly that no more no less. It's durable built more solidly than a laptop. Music on breaks is supplied via a 30g iPod

The technology is advanced enough so that another player could get into the market place. I don't think others want to enter that market because the potential for high volume of sales/profit is limited.




[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 01-31-2007).]

Thanks for the support guys. I will pursue this further and keep up some of the heat but Freehand is a small company and I doubt there is much of a corporate "ladder" to bother with. They have been avoiding further discussions about the problems with OS 4 and XMMS on their own forums (even though they claimed some problems had "simple fixes") and I had long suspected they had hit a wall. Obviously if they could fix the problems then they would. They could at least refund the $50 I paid for the Premium Tools but even the request I sent for that has gone unanswered. In short, they suck. Maybe frankieve as a dealer can get better answers than I can as a lowly customer.

My concept was to use the MPP both for music display and for MP3 accompaniment with a digital piano (Kawai ES4), thus making an ultra-compact rig for small gigs. I fed the MP3 output through the piano so the sound would come out of the piano's internal speakers. And it works more or less, mostly because I have developed a few work-arounds to the faults (like inserting 1.5 seconds of silence in front of all my MP3's). When using my arranger rig I use the MPP as a music display like anyone else so operationally I'm getting about 90% of the usage I expected out of the MPP... but what a difference a few bug fixes would have made. Guess we'll never know. The rig looks nice though:

I'm sorry Esh is not going to get his problems solved too. In my case,I got mine upgraded to v4, but opted not to buy the mp3 and midi playback capability, so this doesn't bother me .

Other than what Esh mentioned,I believe all I gained from my upgrade was a better playlist function.

I still wouldn't part with mine for the $1100 I paid.

Jim-

What are you using for a digital piano? What do you use for an arranger?

Just curious...

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Bill in Dayton

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 01-31-2007).]

Tomorrow the MSRP will be lowered to $899

Esh, I am getting a unit with the Premium tools installed,.

Once I get it in, I'll try out those issues and see if they can give me the non-coporate answers we are looking for.

BTW the other upgrade from V3 to V4 was also a better display, and a couple of other features.

I have looked at HankBs musicpad, and it works really well.
My question is, couldn't a person, for comparable money, maybe a little more, get one of those computers that are flat and have touch screens? I forget what they are called, maybe tablets.
It would seem you would have ALL the capacity of a full-fledged laptop, and still the small footprint of the MPP.
Just a thought. And they may be considerably more expense--not sure. Anybody checked it out?
DonM

I've researched it from time to time. Those are called tablet p.c.'s and are exactly what I had in mind to use due to the high cost of the MP Pro. Since I need a new laptop anyway, it would serve more than one purpose. Only reason I haven't done it is budget. Like, lack of. It's pretty high on my list.

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Bill
smallGig.com
:::
As a songwriter, I need feedback on songs posted! Thanks!

Good idea using a tablet PC for charts, lyrics, etc.... thought about it myself except.....

You have to use the stylus on all the ones I've ever seen. They don't respond to just finger touch, which means you would have to keep the stylus handy and pick it up to do anything on the screen, dang near impossible while you are playing.

Just a thought.... Think I'll consider an older version through Music 123.... juat need to talk to the boss and see what she says ......


Jeff

Would a wireless mouse work on a tablet p.c.? That's what I use now.
DonM

People,

My shipment came in, and I have a demo unit with the premium loaded so as soon as I figure this stuff out, I'll let you know.

Also I have one left, anyone interested let me know, I'll take care of you.

In reply to the tablet PC idea - I followed that idea through before buying an MPP. The main question became - what format do you use? Short of writing software I couldn't find anything that would give me the page-turning touch interface of the MPP. Also the dedicated editing features of the MPP software makes it very convenient for sheet music... nothing else would allow you to erase and replace music notes without erasing the staff lines like the MPP can. However, now that I HAVE the MPP software, it might be more feasible to move to a touchpad computer in the future and ebay the MPP away.

Thanks for your help frankieve... I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Piano: Kawai ES4 (pictured above)

Arranger: (2) Yamaha 9000 Pro's.

I don't use the piano and the arrangers together but as separate rigs. I use an 88-note graded hammer controller with the 9000 Pro's.

Good idea using a tablet PC for charts, lyrics, etc.... thought about it myself except.....

You have to use the stylus on all the ones I've ever seen. They don't respond to just finger touch, which means you would have to keep the stylus handy and pick it up to do anything on the screen, dang near impossible while you are playing.

Just a thought.... Think I'll consider an older version through Music 123.... juat need to talk to the boss and see what she says ......


Jeff

I purchased a Music Pad Pro two months ago.
I put a lot of time into scanning the music but it is well worth the effort.

When I play at home, all of the music I play is in the MPP. In the past, my music was in many different binders and fake books.

I used the MPP at a one hour concert I performed on the accordion. I sat on a high stool when I was playing. The music pad pro was on a stand in front me
(at a lower hight with the screen tiltd up).
I had all the songs in a playlist and turned the pages with the foot switch.
When you are playing the accordion, it is very disruptive to turn pages. The MPP was terrific.

I have played a few ten minute piano preludes before a church service. I usually put together a medley of four or five songs. With the MPP, I set up a playlist and just tap the screen to move to the next song or page. When I am playing a medley, the MPP is so much better than a binder with pages to turn.

So far, I am extremely happy with the MPP and would recomend it to anyone. I have not used the Mp3 player, so those problems have not affected me.

The boss said go ahead so I wasted no time... went online last night to music 123 and using my paypal account, ordered the MPP 3.0 version.

It said free shipping so I imagine it will be a few days before I actually get it.


Looking forward to getting it....I'll post a report on how things go once I get it.

P.s. thanks to whoever posted the music 123 information. With the money I saved on the MPP I can start saving quicker towards my next keyboard purchase... I'm thinking......s900 ?

Jeff