Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Version 1.2 Is Out!

Phew! It has been a challenge, but we now have a solid version 1.2 of OnSong available on the app store!  It is currently reporting as version 1.11, but once you install or upgrade, it should report as version 1.2 on the loading screen.

This version has been tested by our dedicated beta testers for a few weeks now.  It seems to be a very stable build that fixes a number of issues, as well as adding some handy features!  Upgrade today!


This version fixes many stability and usability issues including:

  • Fixed crashing when picking songs
  • Fixed crashing when picking chords
  • Fixed an issue where users of version 1.0 had original song sets default "Display Chords" to off. It now defaults to "on".  This was causing chords to not be displayed.
  • Fixed the tap to scroll vertically feature so it scrolls down to the another screen instead of to the top or bottom.
  • Fixed an Issue when transposing, the key info doesn't change.
  • Fixed an issue when changing the orientation of the iPad the set list went back to the 1st song in the set list.
  • Fixed an issue during navigation that caused overscrolling.
  • Fixed an issue where the song disappears when there are no chords and you change the font size.


This version includes many enhancements including:

  • You can now add files to OnSong via file sharing in iTunes and view them in OnSong.
  • You can now convert files imported to text.
  • Rudimentary support for the ChordPro format.
  • Emailing the set sends PDF versions of each song in your set for printing.
  • Visualize the metronome as flashing in the navigation bar.
  • The ability to rename sets.
  • The ability to choose between different versions of songs to play from your iPod library.
  • When navigating to a new song, it always starts at the top of the song.
  • Added a left-hand guitar tabs option in settings.
  • Added a low light mode in settings.  This displays OnSong formatted songs with white text on a black background.
  • Added the ability to turn off lyrics.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Version 1.3 Roadmap

We have gotten so much great feedback on OnSong.  It is exciting to see how people are using OnSong and encourages us to improve the offering even more.  We are waiting for version 1.2 to be approved by Apple to begin the next version.

The following is what we intend to include in version 1.3.  In general it will focus on these main areas:

Navigation
We will focus on making OnSong easier to use. In particular, we have had many requests to just display songs without the need to make a set.  In addition, users want to be able to set display preferences and notes on songs so no matter what set they go into, those notes and formatting carries over as the default.  To do this, we are going to make song management the focal point of the navigation menu.  From there you can switch to "set mode" to create sets.

Performance
While version 1.2 fixes many crashes, there are still reports that the application crashes when too many songs are being displayed at once.  This is really because OnSong draws pretty inefficiently.  We are going to rewrite the drawing engine to address this issue and only draw songs that are visible.  This should make OnSong much more "snappy" feeling.

Live Features
OnSong is meant to be used live.  This puts extra pressure on us developers since we need to make it rock solid, and usable too.  Each musician is different and we are working hard to make sure we can make OnSong something you can use daily.  Version 1.3 will include features to reduce the amount of scrolling for a song, as well as auto-scroll.  We are also working on a feature that could eventually allow for a foot pedal to be used.  In all, we want to focus on you, the musician.

So tell us what you think.  I'd detail all of the features we are working on, but there are a lot.  This is shaping up to be a big project so it might not come immediately, but we are dedicated to making this software something you love.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Version 1.2 Coming Soon

I apologize for the delay in getting version 1.2 out to all of you.  It's been a few weeks since the initial build was ready and I am working with Apple to get it though as soon as possible.  The good news is, the longer it takes, the more solid the end product becomes, so I'm confident we will have success shortly.

Thanks again for all your patience!