• Beta

  • Open Beta Version 3.3.0

Happy new year. Hopefully this year we will finally be able to get back on stage and have more use for Stage Traxx!

I was quite busy so far this winter and can say that version 3.3.0 is now feature complete. The biggest new feature is not so much a feature but support for new hardware:

Stage Traxx now also runs on MacOS Catalina and Big Sur

The app looks and behaves just like on iOS. I am not sure how many users will use Stage Traxx on MacOS so I considers this port a work in progress. If this platform will find enough users, I will start tweaking Stage Traxx to behave more like a normal MacOS app.

There are some limitations on MacOS:

  • No Audiobus support
  • No support for lyrics on external screens (new feature on iOS)
  • You can only import audio files and not songs from your music library
  • Multi select in edit modes works by holding down the shift key

Backup files are fully compatible between MacOS and iOS. So you can for example use MacOS to edit lyrics and then transfer your changes via backup file to iOS.

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 to participate:

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

The MacOS version can be downloaded here: https://stagetraxx.com/beta/stagetraxx-3.3.0-5920.zip

You can restore your iOS In App purchase to enable full functionality on MacOS.

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. Many of the new features need to be enabled in the settings. So please start testing by browsing through the settings menu.

Added

  • Ported Stage Traxx to MacOS 10.15 (Catalina) and later
  • Lyrics display on external monitor connected via HDMI or AirPlay
  • Songs can now be loaded by sending MIDI program changes or song select messages to Stage Traxx
  • Stage Traxx can send MIDI Timecode with 25 or 30 FPS or MIDI clock to sync external devices
  • Specify a BPM value for each song for MIDI clock
  • Network clients can now also send embedded MIDI messages
  • Individual transpose setting per song (Capo)
  • Chord transpose when changing song pitch can be disabled per song
  • Added keywords and keyword filtering to playlists
  • Playlists can be shared with other iPads (songs need to match on the destination device)
  • New option to allow manual trigger of crossfade to next song during playback
  • New option to delay start of playback after pressing play
  • New option to enable double tap mode for start of playback
  • New option to add song numbers in playlist view
  • Ability to add or remove keywords for multiple songs

Changed

  • Adding all songs from an album or playlist will always create a new playlist with the album / playlist name
  • Searchbar is now always visible in song tab
  • "Select all" button in song list edit mode can also deselect songs

Fixed

  • MIDI messages not sent during user interactions
  • Stability improvements in network code
  • Rare crash when generating waveform overview

First bit of feedback.

Pad 1 =iPad 128gb 6th gen iOS 14.2
Pad 2 = iPad 64gb Air1 iOS 12.4.9
Yamaha MT-BT01 Bluetooth midi interface
both running build 5920
Pad1 with full restore inc music
Pad2 no songs just a couple of manually created placeholders

Registration = ok
restore from full backup = ok
playback of tracks with local colours, local timing, local midi =ok
crossfade button on playback = ok
host mode = ok on Pad1
remote mode on Pad2 = ok
lyrics transmit with midi from Pad 1 = ok
local lyrics from placeholder track on Pad2 = ok
local midi from placeholder track on Pad 2 = ok
no apparent timing issues on remote machine compared to earlier versions

no problems encountered as yet. 1.5 hours use.

regards
brian


Happy new year to you.

Unfortunately I don’t have all the necessary equipment to do a thorough midi testing but will do what I can!

One little thing I’ve found so far is that if the “show lyrics on playback add” is selected in Settings and the red arrow button is pressed to load a playlist into the queue, the left hand side of the subsequent screen shows the list of playlists and not the list of songs.

Suggest that from a guitarist’s perspective a more intuitive implementation of the guitar capo transpose function could be as follows. Rename ‘semitones’ to ‘Guitar Capo Position’ and replace the ‘+/-6 semitones range’ with ‘fret positions 1 to 12’. The idea being that if (say) fret position 1 is selected all chords are transposed down one semitone, if fret position 2 is selected the chords transpose down by 2 semitones and so on. In other words if say a song is pitched in the key of A and the guitarist wants to play with a capo on the second fret, fret position 2 would be selected and all chords (but not the audio) would be transposed to reflect the key of G.
Note* - Although I suggest 1 to 12 fret positions, I myself only use a capo on frets 1 to 5 - placing a capo higher up the fret board makes the guitar more difficult to play! However this might not be the case for other players hence I’ve suggested 1 to 12 for good measure!

    DickyDutch One little thing I’ve found so far is that if the “show lyrics on playback add” is selected in Settings and the red arrow button is pressed to load a playlist into the queue, the left hand side of the subsequent screen shows the list of playlists and not the list of songs.

    I see where you are getting at, but this option works only with advanced queue mode activated. But why would you want to open the playlist contents? In my opinion it would make much more sense to switch to the queue tab so that you can manipulate the queue. I guess that would always make sense. If you replace the queue with a playlist, then switching to the queue tab seems like a good idea.

    Regarding capo: I agree, for guitar players capo makes more sense, but I don't target guitar players exclusively and everyone else is much more familiar with transposition by semitones. And for a guitar player it is trivial to know which transposition corresponds to which capo position.

        peter I realise that stagetraxx is used by a wide spectrum of musicians but as I remember it this new ‘capo function’ was requested by a guitarist user (Jaga777 jul 2020) specifically for using a capo. It’s a shame it cannot be implemented such?

          Yes it was requested by a guitar player but I chose to implement it in a general way. And besides, being able to transpose up and down is something I would not want to miss.

          Wow! Peter you’ve been busy indeed. THANK YOU for all the goodies. 🎉👍

          1Qs for me:

          1. Where is the lyrics projection via hdmi/airplay? How do I test that?

          Lyrics projection automatically starts when you connect an external screen to your iPad. You can set a font size modifier in the Stage Traxx settings to adapt lyrics display to the screen size.

          Thank you , any way to separate Audio from lyrics out? Currently my audio is Bluetooth out and I like the way it is set up. But all that changes if I use lyrics projection, no?

          No, external lyrics and audio output are completely independent. Audio is output as usual whether you have a external screen connected or not. You could even use a remote client to output lyrics to a screen.

          I have to correct myself. If the external screen indicates audio capabilities, iOS will route audio to the monitor. You can change the audio route again in the iOS control center. See here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210974

          Thank you! Works great with remote in 3.3!

          Is there a trick to getting it to work with Mac OS?

          Hm, I guess I made an error exporting the app. Mac builds are new to me. I will try some different options and upload a new build today.

          So, seems the process of distributing test versions for Mac is a bit more complicated than with Testflight on iOS. But I think I completed it successfully und I have replaced the faulty archive with new version that was notarized by Apple.

          Please download it again. You should now be able to start the app.

          https://stagetraxx.com/beta/stagetraxx-3.3.0-5920.zip