Is it possible to automatically name the song part the same as the variation part? I often use song parts not in the traditional “verse, chorus” etc way, but more in an improvisational way, based on sounds I might use in that “song”. I created many variations to produce certain sounds and the name of the variations describe what is going on there. I want to be able to add those as song parts, but I often change my mind and use another variation and I have to rename the song part every time. Would be nice if the song part name could be updated to be the same as the variation associated with it. Is this possible?
Nothing I’m aware of would allow you to do this. I think it would need a dedicated/specialised menu option. Might be too much of an edge case to be implemented though… but who knows?
Why do I always find the “edge cases”? Story of my life. LOL Would probably a welcome option for those who are using the setlist view in more of an improv setting.
For what is worth, there is only a legacy feature to create a setlist from rackspaces.
While in the Setlist view, hold the Shift key and click on the Edit menu.
Notice that the Advanced submenu appeared on the bottom of the menu; expand it and click on Create Setlist from Rackspaces.
Thanks, I’m aware of that. It’s a great feature, but it isn’t what I’m looking for in this case.
A song part is a combination of a rackspace and a variation – so what does it mean to just make the songpart be the name of the variation?
Conceptually, song parts are intended to represent “intent” — i.e, “Intro”, “Verse”, “Bridge” and so forth and they’re not designed to be changed on the fly during performance.
To change this kind of behavior would require us to understand how beneficial it would be to the entire (or at least 90%) of the userbase
It would definitely NOT be changed during performance on the fly and as I mentioned, in this particular case I am not using it in the traditional verse, chorus, bridge way. I think many people use the setlist view as a way to access different variations from different rackspaces, just not for the purpose of “verse, chorus”. In this case, my “songs” are collection of sounds. For example, one song might be “funky” another “jazz”, another “rock” and so on. The song parts are a collection of variations that I want quick access to when playing music in those particular genres or feel. For each song part, I have to rename the song part to be the same as the variation, so I know which variation is there. Every time I make a change, I have to retype the song part name. So I thought wouldn’t it be cool if this could be automated.
From what I’ve read in the forum, there are many who use the setlist view for improvised playing similarly. When you play improvised music, you don’t think in terms of “verse, chorus”, you might think I want a clean warm sound now, a crunchy sound here, or a soaring lead there.
The name change would only take place when changing the associated variation with the song part. That never happens live on the fly, just like it does not when traditionally setting it up for verse, chorus etc.
I think this would be a worthwhile feature.
I’ve created 120 rackspaces that have a 1-1 relationship with songs. I imported the songs from the rackspaces based on @npudar legacy feature above. Worked brilliantly!!
Now I’m playing with a different band and adding 40 songs but realize that many of my rackspaces (Clean, Crunch, Solo etc) would be perfect for the songs as is. But the creation of the new song defaults to the song default parts in the options menu.
Perhaps a wildcard option in the “Default parts” section of that options menu which when used would pull the rackspace name
The more I get into this, the more I realize that 1-1 rackspaces may not be the best (with the exception of when an audio file player is built into the rackspace to play the song for practicing purposes as an example)
Somewhat related would be the audiophile and midi file player components. Im trying to think of an example where they would be related to a rackspace versus a song. If using the 1-1 rackspace/song it doesn’t really matter but if getting away from that (which makes a lot of sense and is more memory efficient) would there be an option to include those in the setlist section to play the necessary song parts or is that a massive change?
For now my best option is to run the gig in rackspace mode and have Bandhelper trigger the program changes by song with the setlist from Bandhelper. This works very well, but does not give as much visibility to the various rackspace variations.
Perhaps an option to show each variation name , (similar to how the setlist view shows song part properties) in a readable font/widget that could be inserted into the rackspace.
Food for thought…
MM
I do about 100 gigs a year where my “songs” are collections or categories of sounds that are grouped together. The song part names are the rackspace variation names from various rack spaces (that meet the criteria of the “song” grouping). I’m constantly renaming the song parts to match the variation name so for me, certainly having this process automated would be extremely handy.
I guess the question is how important would this be to the user population at large – I’m concerned that your use case is a real outlier, which makes it hard to prioritize such a request.
I realize that this won’t be 100% the case but in general the intent is that song parts are intended to represent “semantics” of a song, i.e. “Intro”, “Verse 1”, “Bridge”, “Chorus” “Verse3”, “Ending” rather than mirroring the variation names. For example, you may have a “Verse 1” that uses a Rhodes but you later change it to a Wurly or maybe an Acoustic but it’s still “Verse 1”
4 Likes
Right. I get it. When using it traditionally, meaning for actual songs with song parts, it is not useful. I’d guess improvisational musicians would find r variation name based very handy.
1 Like
And for Guitar Players whose variations probably take more of the form of clean, crunch, solo etc.
@dhj Going to rehearsal and using GP for the first time in a band situation. Excited!
What do you think of the other suggestions.
a wildcard option in the “Default parts” section of that options menu which when used would pull the rackspace name (probably more limited audience as you suggest depending on programming effort)
audio file and midi file player components in the global rackspace that could pull files from the setlist. (Im trying to think of an example where they would be related to a rackspace versus a song) If using the 1-1 rackspace/song it doesn’t really matter but if getting away from that (which makes a lot of sense and is more memory efficient) would there be an option to include those in the setlist section to play the necessary song parts or is that a massive change?
an option to show each variation name , (similar to how the setlist view shows song part properties) in a readable font/widget that could be inserted into the rackspace.
MM
You can do this using system actions: System Actions
Add a text label, make it any size you want and attach the corresponding parameter.
3 Likes
I use two gp instances:
- Drumparts, so songs have the usual parts: Intro, verse, chorus, bridge. This one I control with a touchscreen.
- Guitar: Several rackspaces with the effects-chains I use. I do not have any songs there, but maybe one day I will, but they will probably have also the same usual songparts
This one I control with a footpedal
1 Like
FWIW, I would definitely use this.
My rackspaces are usually created for certain song parts (although sometimes I do have the opportunity to reuse a rackspace variation).
Since I usually only have one variation, I usually copy and past the rackspace name for the variation and copy and paste it again for a song part name.
I often have many song parts (sometimes moving back and forth between two rackspace variations, but sometimes with other parts as well). The song part usually consists of the song name (reminder) and the sounds.
I want to be comfortable I have the right sound, so verse, chorus, etc. does not cut it.
So, to the OP, in the meantime copying and pasting names works ok for me.
1 Like
@npudar Thanks for the feedback as always. I’m aware of showing the CURRENT variation name but does what you describe enamel you to show all the variation names in a rackspace? (Similar to how you can see all the Song Parts at the top of Setlist view)
Reason for this is if Im gigging with rackspaces versus setlist, its very hard to see the rest of the variations. (I already have the current variation in large text) but I have to remember what I’m switching to.
Hope that makes sense and thanks as always.
MM
Hm… In that case I’d use the Rackspace Selector extension.
See here: Gig Performer | What are extensions in Gig Performer and how to use them
Nice and big and touch friendly.
3 Likes
This is a very good and useful tool!
2 Likes
I’ll check it out!! Thanks
MM
2 Likes
@npudar Two quick ones on Mac OSX
Assume shared folder versus my User folder and create a directory called extensions (which I did)
When I did that, it wouldn’t open as it said from an unidentified developer. Usually there is an “Open Anyway” option but not this time. Is there a terminal command to get around this?
Thanks
MM