Playing live without a setlist?!

[omygind]

A typical night playing in my band might start with a very small basic playlist, but instantly we start selecting new songs on the fly. (that is while playing one song we might find/change the next upsomming song (and maybe the next and next)).
Maybe I'm missing something here, but I find it very difficult to manage this easyli and quickly?

- You can't change song sequence without leaving the list.
- You can't search the list - you can search adding new song (but that search doesn't include songs already in the list)
- when adding a song it brings that song up right away - and I'n not done with the current song, but now the lyrics have shiftet to the new song :-(
- Smartlist cannot be added to Set List
- You can't show lyrics from Song list (only way is from Set list or Smart list)


I really need som help (or maybe suggestions on a new feature for playing songs on the fly)?

[arlo]

Please see "HOW CAN I ADD SONGS OR REARRANGE MY SET LIST WHILE PERFORMING" in the FAQ:

https://www.bandhelper.com/support/FAQ.html

[omygind]

Thanks Arlo,

Yes I read the FAQ (of course before creating a new topic here ;-)
These suggestions are helpful - but I believe they also state the limitations of the current version :-/

Example: (playing live)
I have a setlist of a few basic songs.
- If I want to play some of the songs in another order then I'll have to leave the list and go back to edit the setlist. I can't doing this while I'm still singing the current song and need the lyrics on the screen. How do I solve this?
- If I want to add a song to the list I can press the 'add song' button, when when the song is selected it will jump imediatly to that song. Again I can't doing this while I'm still singing the current song and need the lyrics on the screen. How do I solve this?
- I could create a smartlist ordered by Artist and quckly shift to this smart list from the top dropdown (shortcut) menu, but again that will leave th current set list and the lyrics of the current song - and when shifting back it starts from the top again (I loose track of where we are) (yes I coulæd use the numbering tip, but that is far to complex in a live situation).

Optimal solution would be a way to use search features or smartlist directly from a selected setlist without having to leave the current song/lyric. And be able to select the next (and maybe next 2-3 song) to be played again without leaving the curent song/lyrics.

When a new song is selected, then both lyrics but also setup of keyboards, drums and light (and whatever you are controlling from BH) is changed emideatly. So adding a new song (or selecting the next 2-3 songs to play) cannot be done before the current song is finnish - and that is a problem as we have to know the next song or two before finishing the current song!

Do you see the problem?

And btw thanks a lot for your effort with this otherwise impressiv app - and your fast repons on this forum ;-)

[omygind]

When you are managing/editing setlists before shows (at home etc) thecurrent features for this are great.

But when you are live (performing a show) you need to be able to manage the setlist in the fastest easiest way with the fewest click possible - Without loosing the current song playing (with the info like lyrics and buttons (midi and sounds etc) and next title+1 and +2 on the screen at all time)!

[arlo]

The problem is that you want to queue up the next song without leaving the current song. That's on my wish list and I'll add a vote for you. Meanwhile, you would have to wait to select the next song until the current song is finished.

[omygind]

Looking very much forward to that feature   - Will you be sharing your vision on that (maybe the architecture) (for the record I was an software architect at IBM).

In the meantime maybe some small adjustments would really be of hugh help for the type of bands that work the way I do:

1. In setlist view: When adding a new song then the popup list of songs to select from is placed in the middle of the screen. If it was placed on the far right instead then it would still be possible to see (most of) the lyrics.

2 In this list (add new song) it would be great to have the same search and sorting options as we have in 'editing setlist'
2.a maybe even be able to select from smartlists as we can from other setlists?!
2.b is there a way to convert a smattlist to a setlist?

3. Search could include songs already in the setlist (I don't mind if the song is added twice or moved in the setlist)

4. Focus should always stay on current song instead of chaging to the new selected song.

Are any of these possible with little effort?
A priority would be no 2. implementing the search and sorting options from 'edit setlist' into 'view setlist' - that would really make my day ;-)

Thansk a lot.

[arlo]

1. I can put that on my wish list. The problem is that on iOS, popovers are supposed to appear anchored to the button that triggered them, and the button is in the middle of the top toolbar. And on Android, there are no popovers, only modal popups.

2. I think including all the search and sort options would be unwieldy and unnecessary. The idea here is to get to a specific song as quickly as possible, so using the first letter shortcuts or entering some search text are the best options.

2a. Again including an option to select from a set list or smart list would be unwieldy. It sounds like you don't know what song you want to select and want to browse your song list in various ways. The Quick Add function is really meant for selecting the specific song you have in mind, not browsing for songs that meet a general criteria.

2b. No, but that is on my road map for the coming months.

3. The Quick Add function does access songs that are already in the set list. Whether the app adds those songs again or just jumps to them depends on Settings > General > Insert Duplicate Quick Added Songs.

4. Some way to queue up a song without changing to it is on my wish list. I have not begun to figure out how that would work.

If you're picking all or most of your songs on the fly, you could try using a smart list sorted by Tags. Then add tags to your songs and that smart list will have sections with clickable shortcuts for each tag. For example, you could jump to sections named "Ballad," "Singalong," etc. depending on what type of song you're looking for. You could scroll around in the song list to find the next song but not actually click to select it until you're finished with the current song. Depending on your layout, you can hide and show the song list, and position it where you want to relative to the lyrics.

[omygind]

Hi Arlo,

We decided to move forward with BH :-)
A month ago 2 bandmembers bought Setlist Maker in order to check out whether this woould work for us. Setlist Maker does not have a trial (right?), so now that we want to move on with BandHelper is there a way to replace/change/update to BandHelper without having to pay full price once more?

[arlo]

What app store did they buy Set List Maker from?

[omygind]

Both are form Apple Store

[arlo]

Then they can contact Apple and request a refund of the Set List Maker purchases. However, it might be too late after a month; I don't know how Apple evaluates refund requests.

[Insider0203]

4. Some way to queue up a song without changing to it is on my wish list. I have not begun to figure out how that would work.

Hi Arlo, this is a feature that I also requested. It's the only thing missing from Bandhelper IMO that would make it perfect for me. It would also make Bandhelper much more competitive with an app like Stage Trax, which does allow you to queue a song while still continuing any automation running in a current song.

If I can make a suggestion, I think a simple way to implement this would be to add a hold function on the song list in a layout.

So when viewing the song list in a layout, you can tap a song to select it as usual but you can also tap and hold to queue it. Once queued, it will become the next song and will be loaded after all automations finish in the current song or if the user manual advances to the next song with either an external switch or a "next song button" in the layout. If there is a "title +1" field present in the user's layout, it should ideally display the queued song. Maybe the text can be highlighted a different color to indicate that a new song has been queued.

I am not a programmer so I'm sure that's probably easier said than done but I hope that maybe gives you some idea on how to implement this feature.

Thanks again for your support as always.

[arlo]

I'll add those suggestions to my wish list.

[arlo]

In the new BandHelper version 2024-08-23 released today, you can edit a set list, click Add Songs, click Lists and select a smart list. Then you can select individual songs from that smart list or click All to add them all.