Make sure you disable Combine USB & Headphone Outputs. Bluetooth and Airplay don't work when this is engaged. That will be described in the manual.
Open Beta Version 3.4.0
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Hi Peter, reporting on Lyrics highlight when stopped,
Firstly thank you for trying to fix this, but it is not fixed in the correct way, it now disables the scrolling and highlighting when stopped which is a great way to work, it adds an extra button which i believe is unnecessary, all i was asking for was when a new song is loaded the first line not to be automatically highlighted unless i touch the screen to scroll which means that triggers the highlighting and scrolling, and if i touch Start which means i have started and first timecode activates highlight,
When i load a song it should not activate untill those two conditions are met first so what i am saying the switch in the on condition is only needed on song load and as soon as the other two conditions are met it switches off, this then eliminates the need for another switch and gives us all a very well designed method of operation.
I am not a programmer so i dont know how possible this is.
I like the highlight current line switch option, this is very useful for some singers who dont want to be distracted as they sing their words around the timeing.
Hi Peter, reporting the EQ reset in multitrack edit is still not working properly, it resets all to default visually but the sound does not change.
I have just noticed another little glitch in HIGH MID BAND Bandwith setting BW, if you double tap on its fader it defaults to 1 but if you use the reset button it defaults to 2 .
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Damir all i was asking for was when a new song is loaded the first line not to be automatically highlighted unless i touch the screen to scroll which means that triggers the highlighting and scrolling, and if i touch Start which means i have started and first timecode activates highlight,
The logic behind this request is very very special catered for your taste. Why would I want to disable highlighting only until I hit play and then highlighting should be active even if I stop? I really don't see the logic behind this. Either you want highlighting when playback is stopped or you don't want it. That might make a little bit of sense although not for me. If I want timecoded highlighting I always want to see it when playback is stopped. The only change I can offer is, I remove that (in my opinion unneccessary) option and highlighting will always be active.
You can achieve what you want by changing the first timecode from [00:00.00] to something like [00:00.10].
Damir reporting the EQ reset in multitrack edit is still not working properly,
You reported this already and as I wrote, it will be fixed in the next update. The bandwidth issue will also be fixed.
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After some more thinking, I decided to remove that new option again. Highlighting can be disabled with timestamped lyrics and if you want highlighting it makes sense to always highlight whether playback is running or stopped.
To achieve what you want you just need to change the timestamp to [00:00.01]. I already offered you to do this change for you in a database only backup.
That way you will get the behavior you expect, and I can get rid of a configuration option I don't want.
peter yes that works - many thanks
Hi Peter I’ve noticed that if ST3 beta is set to hide the Queue function (ie Advanced Queue Mode turned and Show Queue Tab turned off) when playing a song in the Songs mode (no play list selected) the Queue volume can still appear at bottom of lyrics view. In this case (ie when user doesn’t want to use the Queue function) to avoid confusion would be better to Grey this setting and default it to 0.0db?
peter i agree the new switch did nothing to improve things it just gave you a one way or the other option and thats not what is needed.
ST 2 had it perfect, the introduction of the new feature has corrupted the logic, i have made a work around but its time consuming and unnecessary, i can live with it because i understand how to work around it but many users wont be able to.
You have created the logic to stop the highlight cant it be just inserted on loading of new song and immediately after START or Scroll movement it getss reinstated to the new logic, this would apperar as normal ST2 and then the new feature would shine after it, is that not doable, i know it seems i am bashing a dead horse but i like things to work perfectly if possible. There is logic to my way of thinking, it does not make sense to be creating something good at a price of removing something good.
peter after reading your response i think you dont understand my issue with highlighting of first line, firstly i have nothing against highlighting,
i just dont want it to be active when it first loads a song.
The song has not started and i dont want to see highlighting of anything unless i Start the song or i start scrolling within the song,
it is as simple as that.
Reason i like to see a highlight when i start the song as it gives me visual reasurance the song has started
ST2 did this perfectly i could start the first line of programing of timecode [00.00.00] and no need to change anything for it to work correctly,
you have introduced a new feature that highlights lines as you scroll, this is also great, but it has upset the way the first line reacts to highlighting when a song is loaded surely there is something that can be reprogrammed to automatically retain the logic of ST2 loading of song logic yet give you this new wonderful feature immediately after Start or scroll has been activated.
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Hi Peter, i am sending you my thoughts of a simpler way of operating the multitrack it is only a vision to what i expect of todays software and the way things are going.
1 simplicity
2 everything in one place
3 things laid out in very simple order of whats needed
4 not doubling up on things you have to do
Meaning i should not have to name a multi track song as i create it, it should just be a blank canvis, when you decide to load a folder in which your files reside and you have already spent time naming it by the songs name this should automatically place that song name in to ST3 multitrack song name , it should also automatically point you to that folder if you are loading individual files and with a click of an Load all button it should automatically load the first 6 tracks in that folder, making it very efficient, you only have to name the folder once and if you place the first six files in order of prefference they auto load in to the appropriate multitracks.
Once everything is loaded and you want to clear the multitrack song you slide to the left to get delete and you can either leave all tracks alone and just change to another multitrach song folder to load or you can also choose Delete All this will empty everything to default, empty multitrack song without a name ready for a new load session. This then becomes a very quick way of loading and editing of multitrack songs,
If its left comlicated and slow to use people will try it and go back to the simpler method.
Creating multitracks is complicated as it is , transferring files made as easy as possible would ease the pain.
Also using it on stage would be a much more pleasant experiance, i have recently researched the up comming compatition and must say they have grand ideas but still not one has hit the spot like ST3, i am seeing looping introduced which i was very surprised to see, but they all have missed the mark no one really knows how to create something thats user friendly, checkout WORSHIP BACKING BAND and see what i mean.
Have a close look at all the buttons and labels.
Cheers Damir
Load All, when selected loads the first 6 files in the Song folder residing in ST3 Multitrac files folder to the 6 tracks in order of how they reside in the folder, and the ST3 multitrack that was created without a name is automatically named for you so there are no spelling differences and time is saved.
Once everything is loaded and auto named you have an option to swipe left to either rename or delete this procedure.
When Load All is NOT selected the Song files name is automatically entered in to the ST3 new multitrack song,No audio files are entered but this procedure has also created an automatic path to your folder where all the files reside, saving you time to search for the folder and giving you options to all the files to choose to place for that track, to load a track you simply tap the tracks and name it, an empty track would be named Load a File since it is empty and would be darker or lighter in colour whichever you think works better, and once the file is entered it is auto named to its file name and the area it resides changes colour to indicate it is loaded and active,
Muting a track does the same it changes the colour of the muted track using the same logic to make it stand out less as it is not in use.
Swipe to left to delete or rename this track once loaded.
EQ is self explanitory it should pop up to the same screen area give you all the EQ settings in one screen no need to scroll and have an exit button on it to get back to multitrack view, EQ to also have a compare button that acts like an undo redo function.
A tap on the outside of this screen area immediately exits all screens and gets you back in to performance mode.
If you are in i call it normal mode which is song list on left and lyrics window right, when you choose multitrack edit or even EQ settings in stereo mode the pop up window shoul be top to bottom view using all the screen realestate and it should automatically retract the song list column and shift it to the left so you can still see the lyrics.
STOP!!!
I just had a brain fart!
why are you dropping anything over the lyrics, this is totaly useless when performing, yet you have a song list area that is not useable and unimportant to you at that time while you are tweaking things, it would make more sense to have all popup windows go in to that area,
Why didnt we think of this in the first place, why hide the one thing we are still using when performing live and thats the lyrics screen, it makes no sense.So i would suggest all pop up windows fill the song list area and adjust themselves to the view ratio that a person has scosen, these pop up windows should all be top to bottom to maximise the realestate view.
Thats it for now.
DickyDutch In this case (ie when user doesn’t want to use the Queue function) to avoid confusion would be better to Grey this setting and default it to 0.0db?
I don't think so. Because if you load a song from a playlist, the queue volume will be set to that of the playlist. Let's say it is a background music playlist with low volume. Now when you load a song from the songs tab, the queue volume will stay at the previous setting. So when the volume slider would be disabled, you would have no way to change the volume expect changing song volume which will in turn mess up your loudness matching between songs.
Damir i just dont want it to be active when it first loads a song.
There is a simple solution for this: Change the timecode to [00:00.01]
Damir i am sending you my thoughts of a simpler way of operating the multitrack it is only a vision to what i expect of todays software and the way things are going.
Thanks, but as I already wrote a couple of times, I am not going to change UI or functionality at this point.
New build 6968
I think this is it, beta version #5 and the final release candidate for version 3.4.0. I am already working on the documentation and will submit the final version to Apple as soon as the documentation is finished.
Changed
- Removed support for opening Word documents on MacOS
- Removed setting to disable highlighting when playback is stopped
- Errors during audio engine startup will no longer be displayed in dialog but logged to the system log
Fixed
- Midi commands not sent after rewinding a song
- Crash when changing routing or soloing a track and no song is loaded into the player
- Fixed equalizer reset not affecting playback
- Fixed wrong value after double tap on mid high bandwidth equalizer slider
- Autplay button not updating setting in playlist
But if you saying that when a song is loaded from the songs tab that the queue volume is really the last playlist volume why don’t you call it playlist volume? In my opinion when a user chooses not to use the Queue function and eliminates it from view (via settings) the reference to ‘Queue’ should then never appear anywhere in the user Interface.
DickyDutch But if you saying that when a song is loaded from the songs tab that the queue volume is really the last playlist volume why don’t you call it playlist volume?
Because it would not change the volume of any playlist. Even though you do not see the queue tab, it is still working in the background. And the volume you change is really that of the queue. It would wrong naming it playlist volume.
peter I feel the same way but i understand Peters problem, all he has done is hidden the Queu, but he is still using it in the background, this fools you to think its out of the picture but its not.
The proper way to do it is once you hide queu is make the software act like ST2 use to be, and queue is gone completely and reduces any confusion , this is probably a much harder job to do.
I am not a fan of queu but i can work with it the way it is hidden specially now the faders automatically change to what you are doing.
I prsonally think there is a good compromise where the two systems can take the best of both and have only one method of operation to avoid any confusion i will write my thoughts in a nother post.
Hi Peter, sorry to keep interrupting you efforts to bug test but perhaps have a quick think of what i am pointing out and see if you can bennefit to improve ST3 further.
Here is my latest thought,
It actually makes me wonder why didnt we do this in the first place as operationally it makes much more sense than the current system, and its to do with drop down windows when editing SONG EQ, MULTITRACK SETUP, SONG PROPERTIES, all these windows when enabled block the lyrics WHY?
Since you cant do anything with the rest of the interface while in these windows and your performance is running why block the lyrics it makes more sense to use the left SONG list area leaving the lyrics still visible so once you have tweaked your settings touch the lyrics screen and you are back to normal with minimal interference to you.
It makes so much sense i cant believe it wasnt like that already.
Here is my latest layout of what im talking about, with the other two windows doing the same thing.
One more remark about queue volume. In version 2 all songs had to be in a playlist in order to be played. So it makes sense that there is always a playlist volume present. In version 3 you can play songs from the song list which is not a playlist. If I rename the queue volume to playlist volume when the queue tab is disabled I know I will get support requests asking why playlist volume changes don't affect the playlist. For example if you load a song from the song list but navigate to a playlist where this song is also added to, it will be marked blue. Now if the volume slider was named playlist volume you would most likely expect this playlist volume to be changed which is not the case. That's more confusing than keeping the slider named queue volume.
Damir This is actually a very good observation. The popup windows always open near the button you press. So to do what you propose, I would need to move the song details and eq buttons to the left. I need to think about it but this might be worth adding to 3.4 as the benefit is big and the effort to do that is small.
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peter heres another EQ VIEW to get an idea i like the SOLO and the fact the name of the instrument is there to remind you what you are tweaking , a Track no is not that important as different instruments might be in different track numbers, this way the important thing is what am i tweaking.
A simple track number and an EXIT BUTTON speaks for itself on the uniform looking space while on the otherside a compare button offsets it nicely.
Logic of undo redo should be flip back and fourth between your last settings and default meaning if i change anything those settings are remembered and you can go back and forth but whatever settings you leave it on and exit those settings remain.
When you come back to the EQ the two settings are still remembered if you compare untill you make a change this way if you go to default and start tweaking those settings become the new flip option.
The window sizeing is the same as the multitrack and normal SONG column mode keeping everything nice and uniform, lyrics in view at all times and something a joy to use.
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peter unless there is a technical reason i would not be touching the buttons that activate the windows as they are only needed temporarily and are sitting in a conveniant spot, once the pop up windows appear those buttons arent needed anymore a simple touch on the lyrics screen exits the pop down window its as easy as you need.
In actual fact i just noticed a dark arow pointing to the appropriate bytton, this is absolutely uselless as it is unnoticable , i always read the heading of the folder which is not great now you have two options.
Best solution if you can do it is, make sure that the button thats active is dominantly highlighted so you can at a glance and from distance distinguish it.
Where the actual window is has no relevance from then on, those two buttons are a very temporary thing the Auto cue button is the one that will be on and off all over the place depending on reguirement and i would have that stand out more by choosing a stand out colour and matching the Arrows so they stand out more as it is important you can see the auto play condition from a distance.
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Damir unless there is a technical reason i would not be touching the buttons that activate the windows as they are only needed temporarily and are sitting in a conveniant spot
Apples UI guidelines state that popup windows need to be displayed near the button that is used to open them. And frankly, I would not want a button on the right hand side open up a window on the left hand side. ST3 is also available on MacOS and that would mean you need to move the pointer a far distance. That's bad design!
OK, I will keep everything as it is.
I will hire a professional ui designer to work on a good concept once all features related to playback (like looping) are implemented. Until then, I will keep everything as it is.