SLM 6.3 and annotations

[Daddyg]

Hi,
Been using SLM 10+ yrs now on an iPad 3.  It's gotten me through 4 major projects that lasted years, or are still going, plus countless events outside of these projects.  I've currently got like 15 databases and over 1000 documents.  Needless to say, I love it, and it's become as integral to performance as anything else I carry to gigs.   

I viewed with interest the YT video on the new build to see what was new and what could make life easier on the stage.  I primarily use the core functionality of SLM plus the MIDI functionality to do patch changes as I flip from song to song.  So definitely not a power user here.  I also rarely play with anyone else using a tablet, so the functionality of BandHelper really doesn't translate for us.  Since the beginning, I've had a routine whereby I find  chord charts & lyrics on line, save them as PDF, and import them into SLM, hence the quantity of docs in my databases.  What i was hoping to see was an upgrade in annotations.  While the PDF's give me the basics, it never fails that something needs to be added, i.e notes, lead lines, keyboard directions, etc..  I've used annotations on the fly, during rehearsals, etc,  to trigger things I need to do/remember during the song.  While sometimes I will go back to the PDF and revise it, I usually only do so when there are too many annotations and the page become difficult to read.     I'm grateful for this functionality, but it could be greatly enhanced for those who use PDF docs.  The ability to more easily define the size of the bubble, the ability to choose type size/font, tools to position, and even perhaps the ability to create a note outside of the actual annotations to subsequently insert it where you need it would be a tremendous improvement to the ease of use of working with documents.  Not that I expect this will be a future features, but it would be awfully nice.

Just my $.02.    Thanks you Arlo for what you do!

[arlo]

All right, I'm glad this is still working for you!

You probably don't want to rework everything now, but have you considered copying and pasting lyrics directly into your songs rather than saving web pages as PDFs and attaching the PDFs? Then you can more easily make edits later, change the text size, transpose chords and have all your content included in database exports (backups). I think PDFs are okay if you already have them from a previous system or from paper sheets (or for music notation), but if you're pulling text content from the web they're more limiting.

Anyway, regarding your requests:

The ability to more easily define the size of the bubble, the ability to choose type size/font

For text a.k.a. "sticky note" annotations, you can drag the lower right corner to resize the box or pinch-zoom to resize the text.

tools to position

Not sure what you mean by that.

the ability to create a note outside of the actual annotations to subsequently insert it where you need it

You can add text to the Notes field of a song, is that what you mean? Then you could display that by clicking the Notes button, or placing the Notes field directly into your layout, or I copy and paste it into an annotation later.

[Daddyg]

Wow!  That was fast...thanks so much for that.

Interesting idea, pasting directly from the web. Don't think I'd take on converting my current docs, but definitely a possibility for new ones.  I've set up a template in Word so that I can quickly format and arrange chord charts I copy & paste from websites, then save as PDF, save to Google drive to then bring into SLM.  Google serves as a good backup repository, for sure, but certainly ads a step in the process. 

I'm aware of the right corner to resize, problem is I usually wind up opening another sticky note, or two, trying to get my fat finger in the right spot.   That's what i meant by "tools to position"; something a bit more precise.

Notes field...duh!  Haven't used that as I wasn't aware you could view that along with full lyrics.  Great suggestion!

After this long, one gets into a routine that's somewhat hard to break.  I appreciate your response & suggestions.

[arlo]

I realize this isn't what you had in mind, but I keep a cheap stylus on my desk and use it occasionally when I'm trying to make precise on-screen adjustments. Something like this:

https://amzn.to/3wVj1ZF