Can GP send 2 different views to 2 different displays?

[razberri]

For live performance, I like having the WIRED view open on my MacBook screen.
In addition to that, I would like to use some aspect of GP like the Lyrics/Chords editor to type in a Song Name / Artist / Album / Year for every song and then have that information display off to the side at gigs on an external monitor for interested audience members.
Does anyone know if this is possible on GP ?
If it is, how ? If it’s not, any experience / alternative solutions would be appreciated.
There’s this thread from ~3 years ago but it’s not conclusive as to whether Mac can/can’t: GP 4 Song Lyrics/Chords Window.
Thanks in advance.

[pianopaul]

Lyrics/Chords Extension

This extension provides an alternate Lyrics/Chords viewer and editor for Gig Performer (requires GP5). You must still use the inbuilt Lyrics/Chords editor to initially create/link the ChordPro file to the song, but after this, you can just use the extension. A few of the features include: Uses a proper window, which can be set to fullscreen, and position/size will be restored the next time it’s opened; ability to pin the window to the top of all displayed windows. Dark mode for both ChordPro …

[rank13]

The HUD extension is another option. It will require you to figure out the exact position/size of the external display, and will require use of GP Script to set the text. Fields such as song name and artist can be automatically obtained from GP’s Song Properties (if you have added them), but other fields will require some creative thinking e.g. if you had all of the details in a csv file, the script could read that.

The potential issue with the Lyrics/Chords extension is that the text will be left aligned, and it has a limit on how large the font size can get. Apart from this, if the Lyrics/Chords extension seems like it will work for you, I can think about adding some other formatting options.

Head-Up Display (HUD) Extension

This extension adds GPScript functions to display a head-up display (HUD) window. You can display whatever text you want, and have control over where it’s positioned, whether it displays for a set period of time, or needs to be manually closed. A basic knowledge of Gig Performer’s scripting language (GPScript) will be required in order to use this extension. [173226307-dc64fd7b-d12c-48b2-bdff-eda20a4986a9] Further details on how to install and use it are available on GitHub:

As an example of the script for the HUD extension, I connected an external display to my laptop, which is positioned above the laptop. This script can be added once as a Global Rackspace script, and will automatically display the song name and artist on separate lines.

// Called automatically after script is loaded
Initialization
    GPHUD_SetFontSize(150)
    GPHUD_SetPositionAndSize(-5,-1085,1930,1085) // Setting position and size of the external display
    GPHUD_SetDuration(-1) // HUD window remains permanently displayed
End

// Called when you switch to another song. Displays the song name and artist on separate lines
On Song(oldSongIndex : integer, newSongIndex : integer)
    GPHUD_DisplayText(GetCurrentSongName()+<<<
    >>>+GetSongArtistName(GetCurrentSongIndex()))
End

[rank13]

I’ve been working on adding support for custom width/scale settings for images (via the “Image” directive), so you can have more control over the image sizing displayed in the Lyrics/Chords extension (not released yet).

@razberri is something like this getting close to what you had in mind? I will even consider adding a preference option for hiding the top toolbar, if necessary.

[razberri]

Wow, that’s awesome. Also, allowing a dark background is key. I’m new to GP as of 2 months ago (was on Cantabile on a PC before) so a lot of basic GP stuff is still a work in progress for me, and I do have some problems to work through (my rack-space calls don’t always link to the correct Song or chord/lyric doc … might have to start from scratch). I do have my audio plugins in a good place now. But looking forward to trying this & other options out. The 2 extra features you mentioned (resizing image, hiding toolbar) would be great but definitely not must-haves if you’re wondering about my opinion. Thanks for the work/effort.

[dhj]

@razberri

was on Cantabile on a PC before

What made you change?

[razberri]

Windows custom laptop (for music) audio deteriorated and I couldn’t solve. I loved Cantabile.
The story: for a live band I’m running QSC TouchMix-30 digital mixer with laptop running vocal plugins (5 mics) and 3 Kontakt instances. Started getting incrementally worse cracks/pops late last year. Couldn’t fix nor trace if it was updates, Windows, QSC-driver, Kontakt, Waves plugins, etc… Everyone told me that QSC drivers suck and to get a new interface, so I went all out to give this a best shot and got the RME Fireface UFX III. It worked great with the vocal plugins & Cantabile, but my Kontakt always crashed. So I returned the RME and borrowed an M2 64GB MacBook to test on, used the trial version of GP, QSC drivers, etc. and things worked. Bought a M3 64GB Max ~2 months ago and have had no issues with any parts of my environment.

[dhj]

Ok. Glad GP is working out for you. Configuring it must have been an interesting challenge given how different is its paradigm

[razberri]

I finally got a better handle on GP (and the MacBook) in general, and the options you suggested for the external display. My linkage between racks/songs works now so I was able to go through songs and see the options work (modified the script-code). I like the Lyrics/Chord extension better than the HUD. It’s just sharper looking and obviously I can add any text easily (more fields). I don’t care much for the menu-items staying visible on top, but that’s a very minor issue for what I want to do. Also, I can get the text/sizing good by changing the monitor’s resolution along with the font-size from the top menu.
All in all this is great and I appreciate your & other’s contributions. The Lyrics/Chord extension will definitely work very well.
Thanks.
Thanks.