Dear HarmonySite administrator,
A couple of nice additions to the HarmonySite App to announce today, thanks to the genius of our App developer, Chris...
- Playlist sharing (via QR code)
- Open multiple song files simultaneously (including sheet music)
PLAYLIST SHARING
Any playlist you create can now be shared with any other member of your group. Say you have a new show coming up, and there's a list of new songs to learn. Someone (perhaps on the Music Team) can create a playlist of the required songs, in the required order (or perhaps one playlist for each voice part). The playlist owner can then SHARE that playlist, by making a QR code available on their phone for other members to scan.
It's very easy: Open the "Playlists" part of the App, then next to any existing playlist you'll see a new "share" icon...
Tap that, and you'll see the playlist's QR code appear at the bottom of the screen.
Any member can then open the "Playlists" area of their own App, then tap the "Open shared playlist" button and scan that QR code, linking that playlist onto their own device.
If the original owner of the playlist updates their playlist, their changes appear automatically on everyone else's devices. You can use this feature to have one single "CURRENT SONGS TO LEARN" playlist for the whole group. The music director would be the original creator of this playlist, and can add new songs and remove old songs as appropriate. Every member in the chorus would have a linked/shared copy, and that one playlist could be in use for years (with the actual songs changing all the time).
If the original owner of the playlist REMOVES their playlist, it is silently removed from the device of anyone who received a shared copy.
OPEN MULTIPLE SONG FILES SIMULTANEOUSLY
When listening to a learning track on our phone, we've all wanted to be able to view the sheet music at the same time, right?
And sometimes it's desirable to listen to the Bass track and the Tenor track together (or any other combination).
Now you can.
On each song's screen, there's a new button called "Open multiple files together"...
Tap on that button, and then tap up to FIVE separate files to open, including the sheet music. A "tick" will appear next to each file you select...
Once you have selected all the files you want to open simultaneously, tap the "Open N files(s)" button. You'll see a screen like this...
Note the 3 files at the top, each with a volume slider - meaning that you can adjust the relative volume of each track.
There's also a simple "play/pause" button just below them (on the right), next to the progress slider.
Below that is the sheet music (if you selected that). You can pan around with your finger, pinch to zoom, etc.
Notes
- The audio playback controls are very simple: Just a "play/pause" button, a relative volume slider for each track, and a progress slider - no "Repeat", "A-B looping", speed controls or left/right balance/panning.
- If you select multiple audio files, it will sound awful if the files are not "synchronisable" - meaning that they should all be the same length (in seconds), and when you play them together, the audio should "line up". Hard to explain, but I think you know what I mean.
- When playing multiple tracks, the files need to be fully downloaded to your device FIRST, before any of them can play. So there may be small delay before playback is available.
Chris has also fixed a bug with LOOPING playback on iPhones.
To use these new features, please make sure you've updated your App to the latest version (1.93.1).
If you have any issues, please report them directly to Chris: chris@harmonysite.com
In harmony,
Mark Virtue
HarmonySite
Australia
+61 2 8005 4277 (Australian number)
In North America, call: 1-415-651-7009 (San Francisco number)
Skype name: mvirtue
