Open Beta Version 3.3.0

peter

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

Beejaywh

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

DickyDutch

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!

peter

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.

DickyDutch

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?

Jega777

peter Hi thanks for the updates and hard work you’ve put in, although I do agree with DickyDutch that the added transpose would definitely be easier for guitarists with capo positions as a reference rather than semi tones. I will be able to work out the capo placing and do what is required by using the semi tone model you have created, so firstly thank you, but for a more user friendly version, especially for any amateur guitarists or to be able to use it on stage “on the fly" for any of us, a capo position would definitely be more useful as this is the way most guitarists would use this and I completely understand that you want the option to be open for all musicians and not just for guitarists, but maybe a possibility for the future is that in that same section below the transpose you’ve now added, you could add the capo position model as well, so you could use one or the other, allowing the ease of use for guitarists and still leaving the semi tones feature above it for all other musicians?
obviously you may have reasons for not doing this, but your app is the most user friendly and feature filled app I’ve come across that ticks all the boxes for performance and adding in capo positions would tick another.
Many thanks for the updates and for running the beta versions to allow us to have our say, your customer service and inclusion of your users is so good of you.
Many thanks and best wishes Jeff

peter

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.

jzavaletta

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

1Qs for me:

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

peter

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.

jzavaletta

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?

peter

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.

peter

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

jzavaletta

Thank you! Works great with remote in 3.3!

jzavaletta

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

peter

Getting what to work?

jzavaletta

peter getting the beta ST3 to work with Mac? Am I missing something?

jzavaletta

jzavaletta never mind. I see the link above. Cheers

jzavaletta

peter

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.

peter

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