Open Beta Version 3.8.0

peter

I consider version 3.8.0 a release to wrap up loose ends and add some of the most requested features for version 3. I consider this to be the last feature update for version 3 and will start working on version 4 once this version is running rock solid.

Here are the most important changes. A complete list is at the end of this post.

Multitrack improvements

I have added 2 more tracks for multitrack songs so that each song can have up to 8 tracks. I have also enabled pitch and tempo changes on multitrack songs. The oldest iPad able to run ST3 is a iPad Air 2. On my iPad 2 I can even crossfade between two 8 track songs where both are using pitch and speed changes. So I am happy to announce that even though I doubted it is possible, you can use this feature on any supported device without fear of glitches in audio playback.

Additionally I completely changed the audio routing. Instead of using output busses, you can just assign each track to a stereo or mono output. The mono option is no longer available (and needed). Instead just select a mono output and a stereo track will be summed on this output. This way you can use up to 9 different stereo outputs (1 dedicated to stereo songs and up to 8 for multitrack songs). Of course you can also route everything to a single stereo output or even a single mono output.

I have also improved track synchronization for songs using a different samplerate than the internal sample rate of ST3. I think you can now mix songs with different sample rates without any more issues. Although I will keep the warning about mismatched sample rates until I am sure that it really works for every user.

App settings syncing via iCloud

If you are using iCloud to sync multiple devices, most of the app settings are now also synced via iCloud. Only settings specific to a device (like for example the audio routing) are not synced.

Visual Metronome

For each track you can enable a visual metronome. It can be visible while ST3 is stopped, while it is playing, or always when you select a song. Each song can have a different metronome setting.

How to take part in testing

Anyone can participate in the beta. The beta version is installed as a separate app so that you can use the stable version in parallel. If you already participated in previous beta tests, you will get a notification about the new version in Testflight. New testers can use this link on an iOS device or a Mac to participate:

https://testflight.apple.com/join/pq4xbzSq

In app purchases will not bill your account. They are only test purchases, so don't be shy activating the full version.

The user manual is not adapted to the new version yet, so please feel free to ask here if you have any questions regarding the new features. I will explain some of the most important ones in this posting.

Complete Changelog

Added

Added a visual metronome option that can be configured song specific
Stage Traxx is now able to play up to 8 stereo tracks in multitrack songs
Each track in a multitrack song can be routed to a seperate output
It is now possible to change speed and pitch of multitrack songs
User preferences are now synchronized through iCloud if you have iCloud sync enabled
Stage Traxx can read Logic audio markers within AIF and WAV files and set audio regions automatically
Lyrics can be highlighted using brightness instead of colors to keep the original lyrics coloring
It is possible to share lyrics as rendered PDF files
Audio region start and stop times can now be edited as text
New option to keep playing until the end of an audio region when you press the stop button
Added a setting that allows you to change track mutes during playback without them being stored
The history can be exported as text file
New color option "white" added to pdf editor
New option to define how many seconds to skip with the seek remote command and assignable buttons
New remote commands to only scroll the external screen
Added tipping options to in app purchases

Changed

Player will show the lyrics of the next song at the start of a crossfade
Adding an audio region when cursor is within another region will add the new region after the current region
When import stsa files, Stage Traxx will ask what to do with existing songs (keep, overwrite, overwrite only audio files)
Searching in the song list will ignore the current filter selections
The regular lyrics color can be selected in Settings > User Interface > Colors
Replaygain tags will be used to set track volume when importing multitrack files
Importing an audio file with the bpm tag set, will set the tempo of the song to that value
Improved multitrack synchonisation so that even playing back files with different sample rates should work (this is still experimental so the warning about mismatched sample rates is still displayed)
Unusual chords like E# or B# can now be transposed
NC and N.C. are now recognized as chords

Fixed

Fixed a crash on macOS Catalina when unlocking full version purchase
Fixed scrolling override not applied when scrolling via remote actions
Fixed remote commands selection up/down not working after song details have been opened

Damir

peter Wow! You’ve been a busy Bee Peter, everything sounds fantastic hopefully it all works well , can’t wait to try it out.
Cheers Damir

NeilC

peter awesome Peter the best Application by far
I truly appreciate all your hard work creating this brilliant tool for all us entertainers
Thank you Peter, Genius 🎸👍

Lishy

This all looks amazing Peter, especially the ability to change the number of seconds to seek forward or back. Thanks so much.
Will the visual metronome be available to those who join a network session or just to the host?

peter

The beta is now approved and you can get it in Testflight.

Lishy Will the visual metronome be available to those who join a network session or just to the host?

No, due to the network latency that is not known to either guest and host, I can not get the click to flash in sync on multiple devices. So it is only visible on the host.

Sharonzaz For some reason the AUv3 plugin doesn’t work, it loads but does something funny and then doesn’t seem like the audio is actually running through it?

The plugin is only patched into the stereo song output path. But I will take a look at it.

Ray9s

This is so awesome!! What an amazing update. Thank you so much for all your efforts in making StageTraxx 3 absolutely the best Lyrics/Backing Track player available anywhere!

ginacc

These are incredible improvements!!! Especially the added tracks and the brightness option for lyrics! GENIUS!

jaytrax

Looking forward to this
Thanks @peter your efforts are appreciated

Hookey

Awesome - thank you Peter

Sharonzaz

Looks great 🤗

For some reason the AUv3 plugin doesn’t work, it loads but does something funny and then doesn’t seem like the audio is actually running through it?

Great job Pete 🙏

peter

Sharonzaz For some reason the AUv3 plugin doesn’t work, it loads but does something funny and then doesn’t seem like the audio is actually running through it?

Can confirm the routing is somehow broken when you enable a plugin. At least I also get a bit weird behaviour and need to investigate in detail.

Damir Where in the software do you load .stsa files?

You are right, I should add a load option for stsa files. For example in the menu that pops up with the + button in the song list.

Lishy hi Peter, the how many seconds to seek seems to be stuck on 10 seconds no matter what you change it to in settings.

It only works for the remote actions. I forgot to add this setting to the assignable buttons. Will fix that in the next update.

Damir if it was in SONG PROPERTIES then you could control it on the run

Good idea, will add the metronome setting to that popup.

Damir With fast tempo songs its very hard to trigger it on the beat ,

A general problem I talked about multiple times. As long as ST3 is not aware of a beat grid and there is latency when pressing start, it is impossible to get the metronome in sync. That's why the focus for this feature are lyrics only songs. With audio songs, just select the mode to display the metronome only when stopped so that you can get a feel for the tempo before the track starts.

Sharonzaz If i set any of the multitracks output to the same bus as the main output its set, still no audio is routed
through the Auv3.

That's a consequence of the new much more flexible routing. I got rid of the bus system. Each audio source is routed directly to an output. So I can only patch plugins between a source and the output. So in this case the source is the stereo song player. Even if you route a track in a multitrack song to the same output as the stereo player, the route through the audio engine is different.

This also applies to the master equalizer. I guess I should rename both from master to something like stereo song equalizer and fx.

Sharonzaz well done on the pitch\time of multitrack! perhaps if theres an option to
exclude certain multitracks from pitch, such as drums and percussion, those dont need to change (only speed)

I had this already implemented but had to realize that the pitch changes introduce latency. So by disabling this setting on certain tracks they no longer played in sync. I even tried to keep the plugin running with very small pitch shifts but it seems that the latency depends on the amount you change pitch and the tracks still have been out of sync.

So maybe in version 4 I can add a full dynamic latency compensation but that's not possible in the current audio engine implementation.

DickyDutch However I’ve noticed that when the metronome is playing you no longer have the ability to jump to the next or previous pdf page by tapping the screen. When the metronome is stopped you can. Suspect this is a small bug.

I will take a look at it.

DickyDutch Also I’ve noticed that pdf annotations/ markups don’t appear to be included in a full back up.

Annotations are stored in the pdf file directly. So they should automatically be included in the backup. But I will take a look at it.

Damir It would be great to have a master metronome on off switch on the interface so you can turn it on or off without effecting each song metronome setting.

I could add a master switch somewhere in settings.

Lishy

peter hi Peter, the how many seconds to seek seems to be stuck on 10 seconds no matter what you change it to in settings.

Sharonzaz

peter
Ok Peter I figured it out:

Only stereo songs are playing through the Auv3, no matter what output i set it to, the stereo songs
are running through the AUv3.

no multitrack are running through it, so if for example i set main output to 1/2 and play
a stereo song i can hear and see its running through the AU
If i changes the output to 5/6 or anything else, stereo songs are still playing though it.

If i set any of the multitracks output to the same bus as the main output its set, still no audio is routed
through the Auv3.

just need to pls enable that multitrack outputs set to same as main also run through the plugin

thx 🙂

The app seems to work great and as much as i am happy i am also grumpy because
now i need to go a rebounce all my tracks that need more than 6 tracks. 🫣
(its a happy grumpy)

well done on the pitch\time of multitrack! perhaps if theres an option to
exclude certain multitracks from pitch, such as drums and percussion, those dont need to change (only speed)?

Damir

Hi Peter, i have loaded in my beta 3.8.0 and tried to transfer one playlist from my ST3 to the beta, i opened my ST3 playlist i wanted , i then exported it as an .stsa file which i saved in my downloads folder it was about 4.4gb , then i long pressed on this file to bring up the share option so i could select the beta st3 but all i got was a quick flash note that i could not read that popped up and disappeared in the beta st3 , with no loaded playlist.
What am i doing wrong, and how do i load this .stsa file in to the beta st3 3.8.0?

Is there an easier or more logical process?
Where in the software do you load .stsa files?
Cheers Damir

royandreno

First impression of the brightness highlighting function for timed lyrics: It's awesome!!
I colour verses, choruses, bridges, tags etc with different colours and match the colour with the audio regions. This way I have a situational awareness that is just fantastic, and this brightness function makes the lyric scrolling so calm and less disturbing than the colour change option.
Thank you Peter, you are a f... genius! Excuse my French.

Olivier

royandreno
Hi
I can't find this feature in the Beta version (brightness highlighting function). How to access it please?

Damir

METRONOME FEEDBACK
The concept is great, it just needs tweaking.
I like the look and feel, the tap to find button is great to get you in the good ballpark of the tempo, and the numeric capability to change it to perfection is good.
BUT a number of things i don't like , once you enable the feature you cant change it while a song is playing , if it was in SONG PROPERTIES then you could control it on the run if you need to turn it off or perhaps change it in any way, so it becomes an on stage user friendly tool instead of just a pre production tool.

With fast tempo songs its very hard to trigger it on the beat , it needs to resync itself as you hit start or when you select a loop , it also needs to keep resyncing as it plays through loops so it stays in perfect sync at all times , example is if its always on you hit stop and the crowd gets you out of sync once you start the new loop it gets in to sync by using the loops start timecode, this way you will rarely run out of visual sync with the click which is locked on to the beat you chose.

Having volume and pan in song properties is a bit of a waste as you have volume on the control bar and pan is something that is normally used in pre production and its available in song details, the visual click control is something that would be better off in this area as its something you can control on the run.

Having a visual display of the numeric tempo setting at all times would be really handy instead of it being buried in the inaccessible song details when a song is playing.

Great work Peter non backing track users will love it as is.

Riff

Sharonzaz perhaps if theres an option to
exclude certain multitracks from pitch, such as drums and percussion, those dont need to change (only speed)?

This is a great idea. Click or cues don't need to change pitch either.

DickyDutch

Metronome feedback - loving this feature for lyrics only songs. However I’ve noticed that when the metronome is playing you no longer have the ability to jump to the next or previous pdf page by tapping the screen. When the metronome is stopped you can. Suspect this is a small bug. Also I’ve noticed that pdf annotations/ markups don’t appear to be included in a full back up. I made a back up of the live system and restored to beta. Pdf annotations did not appear in beta

DickyDutch

I’ve checked again and I think I’m wro

DickyDutch I now think I’m wrong about the pdf annotations - they do appear to be included in a backup Sorry!

Damir

More Metronome feedback.
It would be great to have a master metronome on off switch on the interface so you can turn it on or off without effecting each song metronome setting.

DickyDutch

Damir yes Damir I think you’re right that would be useful. I think some users might at some point want to give their eyes a rest from the continual flashing light and be able to switch it off easily without having to edit each song.

Damir

peter It would be great to have a master metronome on off switch on the interface so you can turn it on or off without effecting each song metronome setting.

I could add a master switch somewhere in settings.

In settings is ok but not really perfect as you want this master switch on the main page for quick on stage enable disable so when you choose to have a long interaction with the audience you can easily enable it to keep you in visual time so when you choose your next loop you are returning to you will be still in time to join in , as I said earlier as the loop is started again it’s timecode should retrigger the visual click from start , this then eliminates the sync problem as every new loop would restart the visual click on the start this would be good enough to keep the visual click in sync with the 3 to 6 minute songs as it would have multiple retrigger points using loops .
If you use one loop only that would be good enough as it would sync up at beginning of song and as long as your backing does not fluctuate in time too much it would be good enough, if you have a fluctuating time song just put in more loops to keep it in sync.
I don’t know how possible this is but that’s what I would try if I was building the software.
The visual click is fantastic in some situations but it can be a distraction in others that’s why a quick on off button visible in the main screen is needed.
Cheers Damir

Sharonzaz

peter

So are you saying there’s not going to be a way
To have the AU plugin on multi track songs?

If that’s the case I will sadly have to stay on the last update before 3.8.

It’s a must for me to have the plug-in working for my particular needs

As much as I admire and appreciate your work I simply don’t understand why you make such great features and then take them away later
Sorry Pete I’m not trying to knock your work down, but we (or I) am relying on your app and certain things in it.