Stage Traxx beta version 3.0.0

EEddieH · Jun 7, 2019

iPhone 8, iOS 12.1
Here are more result from my testing. Be aware that I'm testing mainly for my workflow, and if I don't mention a setting, it means that it doesn't affecting how I use Stage Traxx.
1. If I manually add songs to a cleared queue and a placeholder is the first song in the queue, the lyrics will not display. Only after adding and playing a backing track, can I go back to the placeholder and the lyrics will then be visible.
2. The Song/Set volume icon is missing.
3. As DickyDutch mentioned, I cannot add to the playlist unless the queue is clear.
4. How do I get the song to remain in the queue after playing.
In Settings:
5. Master Eq works
6. Volume slider works
7. I don't use the Fade settings
8. I don't use the Network sessions (I perform mostly solo)
9. Dark mode works, I wouldn't use light mode.
10. Haven't tested the color settings yet, not a high priority.
11. Screen lock is not a high priority
12. Stop button mode works
13. Double tap to stop works
14. Show lyrics on play works
15. Default queue add position works
16. Volume control: Works except that in device mode, the display doesn't update if the
iPhone buttons are used. If device volume is used for the set volume as in v2, the display would make more sense.
17. Clock mode, I'm not sure how useful Timer and Queue End modes are.
18. Autoscroll lyrics work
19. Fixed font width works, but I wouldn't use it.
20. Centered text works.
21. Haven't tested remote control yet.
22. Backups: Create and Restore works

Current settings:
Master Eq: Off
Fader Settings (all): 0s
Buffer size: 512 (default)
Host session: Off
Dark Mode: On
Color settings: n/a
Disable Screen lock: On
Stop Button Mode: Rewind
Double tap to stop: On
Show lyrics on play: On
Volume control: Song
Clock Mode: Clock
Autoscroll lyrics: Off
Fixed font width: Off
Centered Text: On
Remote control: Not set up

I hope you'll find this helpful.
Thx,
Eddie

EEddieH · Jun 7, 2019

Would you consider adding Audiobus or IAA into Stage Traxx in the future? If I wanted to use Bias Fx or other iOS apps, it would be more straight forward in the context of using a mixer such as AUM to send the different audio to my Behringer XR18.
Thx again for your work. Perhaps you should set up a PayPal account for me to donate to your project(s).

peter · Jun 8, 2019

EddieH Would you consider adding Audiobus or IAA into Stage Traxx in the future?

Audiobus is already supported.

DickyDutch Yes, I am aware about this problem but I did not find a way to make it work yet. The problem is that the mini player has a life of its own and it doesn't seem to accept the position changes I send to it. I tried to contact the developer of that component, but no progress so far on that front.

EddieH 1. If I manually add songs to a cleared queue and a placeholder is the first song in the queue, the lyrics will not display.

Can't reproduce this. Lyrics are shown fine for placeholders as first song in empty queue.

EddieH 2. The Song/Set volume icon is missing.

No room for them on the iPhone. You need an iPad for that.

EddieH 4. How do I get the song to remain in the queue after playing.

You can't that's how a queue works. The next version will have a history of played songs. So you will be able to see all songs played.

EddieH 16. Volume control: Works except that in device mode, the display doesn't update if the
iPhone buttons are used. If device volume is used for the set volume as in v2, the display would make more sense.

Don't know what you mean by v2 as there was no way to control device volume except in the settings dialog which is similar in ST3. But you are right that the slider should change when using the hardware buttons.

EEddieH · Jun 8, 2019

iPhone 8, iOS 12.1
IPad Mini 4, iOS 11.1

peter Audiobus is already supported.

Thx, I will make no further assumptions because it is not available in ST2.

peter Can't reproduce this. Lyrics are shown fine for placeholders as first song in empty queue.

When I go into Queue, I found that I had to tap anywhere within the navigation block except for the Next button. Ok, this is moot if loading the queue from playlist.

peter Don't know what you mean by v2 as there was no way to control device volume ...

Sorry Peter, v2 is ST2. So in ST2, I can control the song volume and playlist volume within ST2, and device volume with the hardware buttons. The playlist volume is super convenient for my break music which is a different volume setting than backing tracks. But I do like the vol up/down buttons, it makes it much easier during a song.

peter No room for them on the iPhone. You need an iPad for that.

Ok

peter You can't that's how a queue works.

Ok

peter · Jun 9, 2019

EddieH The playlist volume is super convenient for my break music which is a different volume setting than backing tracks.

As ST3 adds everything to the queue when you want to play it, there is no longer a playlist volume. Instead you now have the device volume slider available on the player screen to quickly change the overall volume.

EddieH When I go into Queue, I found that I had to tap anywhere within the navigation block except for the Next button. Ok, this is moot if loading the queue from playlist.

Hm, still can't reproduce the problem on iPhone or iPad. Here are my steps:

Clear queue
Add placeholder song to queue
Open player view
=> lyrics are displayed

Mmusicadi · Jun 9, 2019

Hi Peter,

Regarding the queue: is there a way to change the behaviour at least for playlists and instead of removing the already played songs, only mark them played?

After all, the purpose of a playlist is to have the same songs in the same order all the time.

So, here’s my use scenario:
- I load the playlist, which contains all the songs I play, because I don’t want to keep exiting the player in order to select the next song
- sometimes I am requested to play a song that I already played, but since the played songs are deleted from the queue, I have to exit the player and readd the song from the Songs window.

If instead, the songs would be kept in the queue and only be marked played, I wouldn’t have to exit the player window in order to repeat a song.

So basically I would want to have all the songs from my repertoire (my playlist) available in the player window (queue) all the time.

Another thing I haven’t yet figured out: how to quickly search a song in the queue. I have about 300 songs sorted A-Z, so if I play a song starting with A and the need to play a song starting with Z, it takes some time to swipe all the way down.

Thank you and have a nice day!

Mmusicadi · Jun 9, 2019

peter

peter Well, in Germany many people use "H" instead of "B" that's why that line is detected as chords. Coloring only bracketed chords would leave everyone unsatisfied who uses the notation where chords are written above the lyrics. So that's not an option.

Yes, I know, but maybe you can check if the given letter is actually intended to be a chord. The app might check whether there is a space before A, B (H), C aso. for example. Also, it could exclude letter combinations that couldn’t possibly represent a chord, or only interpret given combinations as chords, like A, Am, Adim, A#, Ab aso. (with space characters before and after)

Of course, it’s not a big deal, if someone thinks Ah is some kind of chord, they might not need the app in the first place

peter · Jun 9, 2019

musicadi Please wait for the next beta, I think it might solve your issues. Although the solution does work in a different way than you describe.

dellamore · Jun 9, 2019

peter Hello Peter ,
this version is stable we can use it on our show ?
Thankls
Michel

peter · Jun 9, 2019

New beta build 3271

Finally version 3.0.0 is feature complete. There will be no more beta versions with new features. From now on it is only bug fixing.

ATTENTION: After updating to this version, the app will run in demo mode. That means that playback will stop after 2 minutes and you can not connect to a network host. You can unlock the full version with an in app purchase. Don't worry, you will not be billed in the beta version. But please make sure to unlock the full version before using ST3 on stage.

Next step is to start working on the documentation and fix the last remaining bugs.

Changes

Added functionality to unlock full version via in app purchase
Added a history tab to view your playback history with the option to store it as a new playlist
Added a tab bar in player view to switch between queue, history, playlists and songs views.
Host will no longer drop network clients when the app is moved to the background
Next song title is now transfered to network clients
Hardware volume buttons will update the device volume slider in player view
Moved toolbars above the mini player as the player sometimes overlapped the toolbars.
Disabled screen lock during restore and backup
Opening backup files from outside the app (for example in Files app) will copy them into the app
Fixed unzip error when restoring backups located outside the app
Fixed possible overflow crash during waveform rendering

peter · Jun 9, 2019

dellamore Yes, but make sure to unlock the full version via in app purchase before taking it to your show.

JDSMUSIC · Jun 9, 2019

Hi Peter, I just downloaded this latest version. I must say that it is Exactly What I have been wishing for!. For those of us the do not like to play same songs in same seq but rather "read" the crowd and play songs on the fly, this is absolutely perfect. I can be thinking 2,3,4 songs ahead and stack them in the queue. Also as Happy Birthday and other requests come it it is very easy to add to the queue.

One thing, I believe the last time I tested this I had added my songs to each of my genre playlists by importing from Library. I may have missed that but I just went to a Playlist, clicked the + at the bottom of the page and it seemed to go directly to songs. With 500+ songs in my library, I generally (with ST2) added songs to my playlists by choose to add from Playlists and not Songs?

Again, Thanks for adding the new runtime interface! PERFECT!
JD

JDSMUSIC · Jun 9, 2019

JDSMUSIC One more thing... would it be possible to only add ENTIRE playlist queue with a slide or double tap. I am playing guitar, lyrics pane open and want to add a song to the queue from a playlist. I hit the playlist tab, when selecting the right playlist, if I MISS the I> at the end of the line All songs get added, which is not what I want to do.

Mmusicadi · Jun 10, 2019

peter

Hi Peter,

Wow, that’s a genial solution, thank you! That actually resolves both issues

A few things that might be needed with the new feature (I guess that would only make it in the next version):
- a visual feedback when adding songs to the queue from within player window. Maybe a change of background when tapping the song title would do, some kind of quick “flash”, so you know “ok, song was added to the queue”. Actually, “Added to queue” feedback is gone overall, this kind of “flash” (quick fade-in/fade-out of a white background for the title that you just tapped) might be optimal as an overall feedback when songs or playlists are being added to the queue
- search bar in the Songs tab of the player view
- a “Clear” button in the Queue tab of the player view
- an option to select which of this tabs would be active by default when the player window opens (ie. for me it would need to show the Songs tab all the time). Same option might be cool for the main windows also.

Some things that might need to be fixed:
- headers of the main windows (except Settings and History) are “pushed” up by default, so they have smaller font size and are middle centered. When pulling down, they get to their normal position (big font size and left centered). BTW, would look maybe better if the headers would be always centered
- you can swipe up in the main windows even when the content doesn’t fill the screen. This makes the header change to small when swiping and then back to big when releasing
- when first opening sections with a lot of content (in both main and player views), it takes about 2 seconds before the content appears. Actually, even with about 20 items, the content takes about 1 second to show up.
- seems to me that the app takes longer to start (about 3 seconds)

Thanks again for the great work, the app is now almost perfect for the way I use it, I will look forward for the organisation feature in the next version (year, key, genre tags aso.) and maybe having the already played songs marked as played (different background), eventually with a counter and a “last played” date ... that would be the icing on the cake

Have a great day!

dellamore · Jun 10, 2019

Hello Peter
I'm testing now tract beta on my iPhone 6 and i have a question

why there is no colours on the name of song for the current song and next song ?
thanks a lot
best regards
Michel
image img-1871.png

dellamore · Jun 10, 2019

peter no problem

peter · Jun 10, 2019

dellamore why there is no colours on the name of song for the current song and next song ?

Because the queue will always be played from top to bottom. So the current song is the top song and the next song is the second from top. There is only a color indicator while the song is played so that you know that you can't move the top song to another position.

JDSMUSIC With 500+ songs in my library, I generally (with ST2) added songs to my playlists by choose to add from Playlists and not Songs?

In ST2 you have most likely added them from your iTunes playlists. Now you can only add songs to your playlist from the list of already imported songs. I understand your issue and this is something I will tackle with the library improvements I have planned for version 3.1.

JDSMUSIC One more thing... would it be possible to only add ENTIRE playlist queue with a slide or double tap. I am playing guitar, lyrics pane open and want to add a song to the queue from a playlist.

We had this discussion about 100 posts above and I also thought that a single tap is too quick, but the general consensus seemed to be that a single tap is the way to go.

musicadi - a visual feedback when adding songs to the queue from within player window.

I see a message "Added song to queue" pop up when I add a song. But it is indeed missing if you add a playlist. I will fix that.

musicadi - search bar in the Songs tab of the player view

Yeah, that should be there.

musicadi - a “Clear” button in the Queue tab of the player view

For that button I would need to display the navigation bar which would take up too much space for a button that you only need from time to time. I guess it should work to close the player if you want to clear the queue.

musicadi - an option to select which of this tabs would be active by default when the player window opens (ie. for me it would need to show the Songs tab all the time). Same option might be cool for the main windows also.

Default when starting ST3 is queue except it is empty, then songs are displayed. I guess displaying the queue is the option that makes the most sense so that you see where you left off.

musicadi - headers of the main windows (except Settings and History) are “pushed” up by default, so they have smaller font size and are middle centered. When pulling down, they get to their normal position (big font size and left centered). BTW, would look maybe better if the headers would be always centered
- you can swipe up in the main windows even when the content doesn’t fill the screen. This makes the header change to small when swiping and then back to big when releasing

This is standard iOS behavior definded by Apple and I don't want to change standard behavior if it is not absolutely neccessary.

musicadi - when first opening sections with a lot of content (in both main and player views), it takes about 2 seconds before the content appears. Actually, even with about 20 items, the content takes about 1 second to show up.
- seems to me that the app takes longer to start (about 3 seconds)

I don't see currently any unnecessary processing in my code. I don't think I can improve in these areas much. But I will keep an eye on the performance aspect.

JDSMUSIC · Jun 10, 2019

I remembered how I got around issue of not being able to add songs to a playlist. As an example here is the workaround:
1. After adding new song to the "Dinner Music" playlist in iTunes, SYNC To Ipad
2. Then in ST3, Go to Songs menu, click plus to add songs,
3. Select from Library, then Playlists
4. Select "Dinner Music"
5. Since most songs are already in the Songs library it will go pretty quickly and then sync the new song aqded.
6. Go to Playlists and you will see a new playlist , something like "Import-19-06-10..."
7. Select the playlist and note the number of songs.
8. Select orig playlist and note the number of songs, it will be 1 less than Import
9. From Playlist menu swipe Left and hit the TrashCan icon to delete the playlist
10.From Playlist menu swipe Left on the new playlist .. "Import...." and hit the Gray 3 dots menu and Rename
11. Rename the new list as the orig... in this example "Dinner Music".

dellamore · Jun 10, 2019

dellamore
Don't understand peter .
In my show i need to have the playlist in order . And when i play a song i can choose the next song in this playlist without change the order . and as well i need to see the next song I can change it at the final moment for any reason . Why is not possible on this version ?
The picture has sent is on playlist mode not in queue mode .

image img-1872.jpeg

image img-1871.png

JDSMUSIC · Jun 10, 2019

As for the single tap to add playlist to the queue, perhaps add a Slider in the Settings much like you did for other things. I have not used this new version for a gig yet so I don't really know if I will be inadvertly adding all to the queue until I give it a try. I just forsee this being a problem.