Tablet stand for live gigs

My only reason for having a tablet is to use Ireal - so thats why I am posting here and guess many others might be the same. I have been using a K&M tablet bracket mounted onto a concert music stand. Its sturdy but its a bit of a pain to carry due to the various odd shaped parts and now that the concert stand has developed a crack its time to look for a replacement. Any recommendations. Ideally secure, quick fitting of the tablet to the bracket and ideally with some kind of carry case to keep everything together. I did try a very cheap one from Amazon but it was very lightweight and made of plastic so more suitable for occasional home use and definitely not suitable in a bar where people walking past could knock it over.

For gigs, I’ve used over the years a small iPod, a 12” iPad, and currently an iPad mini (8” diag.) which for me, has been the best compromise between readability and portability. In its case, I can carry it in the side pocket of a suit jacket.

The case I found is a “book” style made by iHome
https://www.amazon.com/iHome-IH-IM11.../dp/B00DZIYNWU
It acts as it own table-top stand in both portrait or landscape as the tablet can swivel 360° in the case.
The swivel mechanism has a “half-moon” shaped cut-out in the back cover. (This is important...read on)

A tablet holder for the bandstand must be reasonably stable and secure as well as easily adjustable for height and both left/right and up/down. I’ve learned that when the tablet is in just the right spot, the screen will perfectly reflect the light or window that's above or behind you.
It's also helpful if the tablet can be easily removed from the holder for web-searching or to share your chart with a band-mate.

I had been using a ProLine music stand
https://www.guitarcenter.com/Proline...74228076964.gc
The tablet is NOT secure on this device and the assembled stand is like a surfboard to carry around.
If only there was a way to safely connect the tablet to the bottom part of the folding stand and leave the table-part home.

I took the stand and tablet to my local Home Depot.

I found that this thingy would slip into the stand.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-1...-CTN/100404151

I found that this gizmo would slip snuggly on to the big end of the other piece
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Charlott...00HD/203812455

I'm guessing on the sizes I used but the photos are representative.
The 90° arc swivels left/right and cross fitting tilts up/down.

The top of the cross fitting slips up through the half-moon cutout in the tablet cover (remember that?) and holds it securely enough for me. I basically just “hang” the tablet/case on the “hook” formed by the top of the pvc cross fitting.
It could be made more secure by inserting a short (~2”) piece of pvc pipe into the top of the cross fitting. Since the pipe was sold in 10’ lengths, I decided the fitting alone was secure enough. After years of experience with it, I’ve concluded that is in fact, the case.

The benefit of being able to move and reposition the stand independently from the mic (for me) outweighs the inconvenience of the additional stand. On many sub gigs I don’t load-in a mic stand.

One thing that I don’t enjoy about shopping at a big-box home store is the LACK of available customer assistance.
So there I was, standing there holding an electrical thingy in one hand and a plumbing gizmo in the other, exploring how they might connect together... people kept coming up to me asking if they could help!
That's what happens when you are thinking outside the box in a big-box store.

As a finishing touch, I wrapped each piece with black electrical tape. With the black tablet cover, the unit is rather invisible from the audience.

Necessity is a mother

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:))BOB

Thanks Bob. Excellent info there. Unfortunately I have an Android tablet and I need at least a 10" screen to avoid using glasses. I will see if I can find a similar tablet case and then as I am in the UK find a DIY shop with the pipe fittings.

For my Galaxy Note 10.1 and Tab S4 I invested in a spare cover, removed (cut off) the front part (that normally covers the screen) and made two holes in the back part to tightly screw it to a music stand (e.g https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_or...ult_deluxe.htm) with music holder removed. This proved to be a good setup, much better than using one of those universal holders.

Thanks. I did originally use that same stand but just placed the tablet on it. I then removed the heavy top section and replaced it with the k&m clamp on tablet bracket. This works fine but it's still an awkward set of bits and pieces to carry. I notice K&M do a bracket that fits on top of a mic stand so if I could get a short mic stand about the size of the orchestra stand then that would probably be ideal

I used K&M holders for my Galaxy Note 10.1. Then I got a Galaxy Tab S4 that has a larger screen (10.5") than the Note 10.1 but the height of the tablet is about ½" smaller so the holders didn't fit anymore. The price of a new holder was about the same as a spare cover ☺.