Playhead Control

Scripting with Gig Performer
1

It looks like there are no APIs for setting the Playhead position, correct?

Here are some use cases, where it would be helpful…

In a group rehearsal, we might want to start from a given bar, the bridge, a chorus, etc. I don’t want to say, “Sorry, I’m using a MIDI track that only plays from the beginning.” I can use Logic to playback the MIDI files, so I have a workaround, but it would be cool to go to a Song Part, hit play, and start from there.

Another use case is a vamp. I could be playing a song with MIDI, and then it goes into an extended section with little variation. After the vamp is over, I hit a pedal, and the playhead advances to the next section of the song.

In a more free-flowing performance, I might do some loop based music, but have some MIDI sections with different dynamics. Pedal buttons would advance the playhead to those sections. For instance, you’re playing some blues, hit a pedal, and we get a big hit or riff, followed by a full stop and a quiet part that slowly builds. Hit the button again, and it jumps to the crescendo part. Hit it again (like the leader raising his hand), and you go to the outro.

I could do some of this by going to different songs, but I’d use up my MIDI File Player slots pretty quickly.

2

Hello,
first post, so first off: GP is awesome.

Secondly, just wanted to bump this topic and add my +1 (this post is most mathemagical).

I’m using multiple instances to control multiple instruments, vocals and loops, and using Jamstix to provide semi interactive drum backing tracks. Almost everything is controlled with onTimeline callbacks in each song script in the main instance.

If the global play-head position was settable, I could have jamstix move around a song non-linearly with quantized jumps, and also still have my effects and rackspaces switching correctly. (I’ll just put the loopers out of their misery in such a scenario). I’d love to say I’m big into extended impromptu jams, but it’s mostly just to allow more graceful recovery on screw-ups.

Jamstix has its own liveloop function, but it doesn’t work great, and that still leaves problems with the rackspace switching. Any workaround I’ve considered gets complicated fast.

Gigging’s only an occasional treat for me these days and never for anything fancier for than a handful of drunkards, but that just makes getting lost in a track even more likely, so I’d appreciate the capability.

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