8.5 Preview r2279 - Release Candidate

Post by **Nicholas** » 02-22-13 3:06 pm

PREVIEW r2279
Download from the pink box above.

Changes in r2279 since r2263:

NEW: Learning Pack unlock "short" codes. 5 or 6 digit codes that can unlock things without using the clipboard.
Device range not set is now treated as having all 88 keys (instead of zero keys). Now Melody Practice won't skip all notes.
Fixed obscure MIDI loading bug that impacted meta events when key lights were set to channel 1.
Double clicking/tapping a simple part should no longer start the song paused.
Adjusting the rating or difficulty for a song in the song library no longer incorrectly adjusts the song above it.
(Desktop) The "All songs (grouped by folder)" meta-group now always appears.
(iPad) Documents path is re-detected every startup.
Keyboards that send "All Notes Off" instead of "Note Off" messages should work even better than the last preview.
Prevented more filesystem crashes on the Mac.
Resizing notation via shortcut key should no longer crash when no sheet music is shown.

The new short codes should solve this weird clipboard problem that some users seem to be having. It's also kind of a nice new convenience. Today there isn't any way to look up your own short code without asking me. Once 8.5 goes live, the usual key retrieval email will contain both short and long codes.

I think that's most of the really bad stuff. I don't want to wait any longer so I can push this out to iPad users to solve the purchase validation problem as soon as I can. Hopefully you guys can put this through its paces for a day or two and then I'll submit it to Apple.

jimhenry · Post by **jimhenry** » 02-22-13 3:23 pm

Is the clearing of finger hints by hitting the Previous Bookmark button to rewind the song to the beginning fixed?

Is this preview available for testing by the iPad test group?

Post by **Nicholas** » 02-22-13 3:37 pm

jimhenry wrote:Is the clearing of finger hints by hitting the Previous Bookmark button to rewind the song to the beginning fixed?

That was fixed back in the first 8.5 preview (r2257).

jimhenry wrote:Is this preview available for testing by the iPad test group?

I'm going to try and get a build out to TestFlight. I'm not sure how many people will be interested (especially since there aren't any new features), but having a few pair of eyes on it before submitting is never a bad idea.

EDIT: I just posted an "8.5 RC1" iPad build in TestFlight.

davel · Post by **davel** » 02-23-13 2:00 pm

I deleted the previous Testflight app. Do you know how I can download.it again?
Dave

Post by **Nicholas** » 02-23-13 3:12 pm

Isn't TestFlight available in the App Store? That's how I got it.

Then just log in with your TestFlight account and Synthesia should show up in your list of available apps.

jimhenry · Post by **jimhenry** » 02-24-13 3:53 am

It doesn't seem like the TestFlight preview completely picks up the purchase. It did allow me to open a MIDI file from the internet. It does not show the library of MIDI files I have uploaded and in Settings... Songs it report iTunes File-Sharing Folder missing! I verified that the files are still on the iPad in iTunes. Also, the "Get More Songs" button is present.

I didn't see any easy way to roll back to the released version. I assume I could just remove the Preview and reload the Release. However, I suspect that might delete all the loaded files, or, worse yet, not delete them but not make them available to the reloaded Release.

Post by **Nicholas** » 02-24-13 10:09 am

jimhenry wrote:... it report iTunes File-Sharing Folder missing!

I caught this at the last second. That's one of those things that's hard to reproduce. I made a change that I thought fixed it (but actually didn't) for the TestFlight build. Then, I went to submit it to Apple to get the review process rolling, when I tested *that* version, I saw the "Folder missing!" problem. Blind luck, I suppose. Now having the problem in front of me I was able to confirm a fix once and for all and that's the version that got (re)submitted to Apple.

jimhenry wrote:However, I suspect that might delete all the loaded files...

Yeah, deleting the app wipes the documents folder. And even though the iPad seems to do some shimmying/renaming of that documents folder under certain circumstances, I think it's pretty good about maintaining only one per app. That is versus one for the TestFlight Synthesia and one for the "real" Synthesia.

I just pushed a new TestFlight build (r2280) without sending out the notification email. You should be able to update there to get the "Folder missing!" fix without having to worry about deleting the app and losing your files.

jimhenry · Post by **jimhenry** » 02-24-13 10:22 am

Confirming that the iTunes library is restored by r2280. Thanks for the quick fix.

Korados · Post by **Korados** » 02-24-13 12:59 pm

The folder sorting works flawlessly again! Thank you very much for this, Nicholas!

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » 02-25-13 4:50 pm

no more problems for the ratings thx Nicholas

anb · Post by **anb** » 02-27-13 7:10 am

If i unplug USB cable during song play, synthesia isn't showing error message. Also, if you try to plug it back again, device is not being recognized by synthesia until program restart.

Tested with Casio PX-150, r2263 and windows8

Post by **Nicholas** » 02-28-13 2:18 pm

Hmm. I'm able to reproduce it over here too. Strange. Thanks for the report! I'll try to figure out what's going on.

Post by **Nicholas** » 02-28-13 2:35 pm

This appears to be new behavior in Windows 8.

I observed some quirkiness too: when you start Synthesia with your device unplugged, the detection seems to work (even repeatedly). If you start Synthesia with your device plugged in already, Windows doesn't appear to ever report it being unplugged to Synthesia.

Though upon further testing, that first sentence only seems to apply sometimes.

I just tried it going all the way back to 0.8.2 (Nov-2011) when device unplug detection was first added to Synthesia. Windows 7 behaves normally with all versions. Windows 8 behaves strangely with all versions.

In older versions (before I sorted the device lists alphabetically) you can even see that the list is updating (some devices swap positions) but that the unplugged device remains.

What a nice new "feature" for Microsoft to introduce.

(The good news is that while I was investigating this, I discovered and fixed a rare crash that can happen when you plug an input device back in that was previously in use. That will make it into the desktop version of 8.5.)

davel · Post by **davel** » 03-12-13 10:15 am

Nick I have Brent using the test release and it has been very stable. I have added quite a few midis and I find it cumbersome to use. Lack of folders , no sorting alphabetically and most annoying not returning to where you left off playin last to goto the next song. A file management system with folders I hope is a high priority.

Post by **Nicholas** » 03-12-13 12:16 pm

davel wrote:Lack of folders...

Is the "All Songs (grouped by folder)" top-level group not showing up for you?

davel wrote:... no sorting alphabetically

Clicking the "Title" button at the bottom of the library doesn't sort the way you'd like?

davel wrote:... and most annoying not returning to where you left off

This is a known issue. Sorry! I'm hoping to have it return the correct way in the next release.

davel · Post by **davel** » 03-12-13 1:39 pm

Don,t have a clue where to find folders. Clicking title does organize them but now my tutorial stuff is mixed with songs.

Thanks
Dave

jimhenry · Post by **jimhenry** » 03-12-13 1:45 pm

Dave, are you using the desktop version or the iPad version?

davel · Post by **davel** » 03-12-13 4:41 pm

Ipad test

Post by **Nicholas** » 03-12-13 9:32 pm

Ah ha. On the iPad the "grouped by folder" meta-group is disabled. Not only is talking about files and folder structures discouraged by Apple (with rare exceptions like the Dropbox app) but using the "normal" methods to get songs in there (iTunes File Sharing and opening a MIDI file in another app), there aren't any easy ways to manage folders anyway. In iTunes you can drop a folder in (I think) but after it's there all you can do is delete it. They don't allow any other management, do they?

With no good ways to get/organize folders on the iPad and with Apple's discouragement, it seemed like a good idea to prevent that meta-group from showing up.

jimhenry · Post by **jimhenry** » 03-12-13 9:56 pm

Could you allow "tagging" of files and sorting and displaying according to the tags as an alternative to a folder structure?