Setlist to bandhelper - database and importing songs help

[leadsinga]

Hey Arlo and team,

I have taken the plunge and am in the process of moving from SetList Maker to BandHelper ... phew daunting task but loving what I see in the program.

Have one major issue - which I need help with please.

I like everyone want to move all of my databases of songs, SetList, lyrics etc across to use 100% with BandHelper.

I do solo, duo, trio and full band work and thus I have separate databases for each project ... so different MP3 backing tracks and mixes for each database and thus SetList currently contains over 500+ mp3 files, 3 of each song, different mixes, same titles etc ... also my iTunes have a heap as well.

This is fine in SetList maker but I am stumped with BandHelper.

I have worked out how to export one database of songs, and imported that into BandHelper, but this only brings across the lyrics and imbedded chords etc ... I don't have anyway of playing the mp3 files live like in SetMaker.

I read that you import these separately(called recordings?), but can I do that from the app at all?

I am struggling as with so many songs how does BandHelper recognise them if I upload through website without going one at a time.

Then issue 2 - how do I recreate separate databases as I don't what to have a 500+ song list to work through one at a time, and assign them wrongly, or worse lose them in the process 

I hope I have explained things properly ... I'm just a bit scared to lose everything and starting again with uploading songs through iTunes and playlists without them imported correctly in BandHelper as they all contact lyrics and chords, notes that I will never be able to redo again ...

So help away please ... point me in the right direction.

Thanks Murray

[arlo]

I have worked out how to export one database of songs, and imported that into BandHelper, but this only brings across the lyrics and imbedded chords etc ... I don't have anyway of playing the mp3 files live like in SetMaker.

If you import from Set List Maker, all your songs will retain their links to the recordings, but you still need to import the recordings. This is because BandHelper keeps its own copy of recordings rather than relying on iTunes. The easiest way to import your recordings is to zip them together onto your computer and then upload them on the Repertoire > Recordings page of the web interface using the Batch Upload button. There are other ways to add recordings...

http://www.bandhelper.com/tutorials/attaching_recordings.html

...but the batch upload is the fastest when you're importing from Set List Maker.

Then issue 2 - how do I recreate separate databases as I don't what to have a 500+ song list to work through one at a time, and assign them wrongly, or worse lose them in the process 

Currently you would need to create one BandHelper account per database, but in the coming weeks I plan to add support for multiple databases within a BandHelper account:

http://forum.arlomedia.com/index.php/topic,863.0.html

When that's done, you can import each of your Set List Maker databases into the same BandHelper account.

[leadsinga]

Thanks Arlo,

Yeah all still a tad confusing, but I can understand what you mean.

The main issue I have really is that I have 4+ copies of the each song showing on my device, as have 4 databases, and when you view these songs inside itunes, or in the ipad I can not tell which song fits which ... so its really confusing, and hard to work out how just to get the correct recordings off... reason for so many songs is I have updated these song mixes several times and even though I delete them from the Set List they remain on the ipad so very hard to work out which is which.

Any easy way of finding them?

Guess I will have to wait till you update bandhelper before doing too much more as I do need multi databases ... I love the web layout of how you do things in bandhelper and can see it being a lot more user friendly setting everything up, but trying to get the info across is confusing for me and I am scared I will lose everything of stuff it up :-)

So what you are also saying is with bandhelpers way of handling recording it will tidy up the amount of songs you have on your device, that will be cool.

Please make a small batch file to extract the songs or tag the song in setmaker to make swapping programs easier :-)

Thanks again.

Murray

[arlo]

The main issue I have really is that I have 4+ copies of the each song showing on my device, as have 4 databases, and when you view these songs inside itunes, or in the ipad I can not tell which song fits which

When you say you have 4 copies of each song, are you referring to BandHelper, Set List Maker or iTunes? Also, do you mean recording instead of song, using the terminology of my apps?

http://www.bandhelper.com/support/glossary.html

... so its really confusing, and hard to work out how just to get the correct recordings off... reason for so many songs is I have updated these song mixes several times and even though I delete them from the Set List they remain on the ipad so very hard to work out which is which.
Any easy way of finding them?

If the title of each recording is distinct, and you have already imported your data into BandHelper, you can go to the Repertoire > Recordings page and see a list of all the recordings that you need to upload files for, and look for recordings that match those names.

If the titles are not distinct, or you have not yet imported your data into BandHelper, you can open the .plist file that you get when exporting data from Set List Maker, and look for the recordingNames, recordingArtists and recordingAlbums value for each song and use those to find the corresponding recording in iTunes.

Guess I will have to wait till you update bandhelper before doing too much more as I do need multi databases ... I love the web layout of how you do things in bandhelper and can see it being a lot more user friendly setting everything up, but trying to get the info across is confusing for me and I am scared I will lose everything of stuff it up :-)

There's really no way to lose your data, because when you use the Export to BandHelper button in Set List Maker, the data still remains in Set List Maker and you could always export it again if needed. (But don't import it again without asking me to reset your BandHelper account first, or else everything will be duplicated.)

So what you are also saying is with bandhelpers way of handling recording it will tidy up the amount of songs you have on your device, that will be cool.

Again, not sure what you mean with song/recording. Using multiple databases inside BandHelper could reduce the number of songs by eliminating the need to have a separate copy of a song in multiple databases. It won't change the number of recordings because those are already shared across databases in Set List Maker.

Please make a small batch file to extract the songs or tag the song in setmaker to make swapping programs easier

What do you mean?