Some thoughts/suggestions

Hi I have accumulated some thoughts and suggestions based on having used iRealB for quite a while. None of these are meant as criticisms as this tool has been fantastic for helping me with my guitar studies they are just things that, IMHO, would improve things.

1. There appears to be a bug somewhere that seems to set the "number of times" to a very large number, normally 333 or 999 times. It then takes ages to reset it to a reasonable number. Suggestion, apart from fixing the bug perhaps just entering a number directly or using a slider, like the tempo, would improve ease of use and interface consistency.

2. If you do allow a song to loop many times it seems that eventually the chords played get out of sync with the drums.

3. Having the practice function divided into two might help. That way you could switch the mode on or off separately from the settings. IE i often want to go up in fifths, with a separate on/off button I could just toggle it.

4. The Am7#5 doesn't seem to be recognised.

5. I agree with another post that the Title/Composer etc columns seem overbearing as even when resized the new size isn't saved for the next time iRealB is started. It always is far too big on restart. Perhaps using folders in the Library/Playlists for selecting a tune rather than a separate pane might be better.

6. The guitar chords often hides chord shapes unnecessarily ie. there is plenty of room in the window. Since there seem to be, in my experience, a max of 4 shapes per chord this could be more fixed.

Thanks for creating a great app regardless, I use it everyday at the moment,

Regards
Colin McGowan

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Originally Posted by Scoobyclub

1. There appears to be a bug somewhere that seems to set the "number of times" to a very large number, normally 333 or 999 times.

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Which version are you using? On mine (OSX v2.8 / 3951) the max. number of "Times" is 50.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scoobyclub

1. There appears to be a bug somewhere that seems to set the "number of times" to a very large number, normally 333 or 999 times.

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the bug should be fixed. Unfortunately for any song that might have been set to 999 in the previous version you would probably have to manually set it back down. After this, it should not be able to go past 50. This was a reasonably rare bug so hopefully not too many songs were set to this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scoobyclub

2. If you do allow a song to loop many times it seems that eventually the chords played get out of sync with the drums.

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This should have been fixed also. Make sure you have updated to the current version of iReal b v2.8 in the App store.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scoobyclub

4. The Am7#5 doesn't seem to be recognised.

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You could use Am#5.

Thanks for your support and thoughts Colin.

I am using v2.8 on Mountain Lion and experienced these problems recently. I think it has been at this version for a while.

1. I have never set the number of times to 999 ( 12 max ). I think one time I saw it change while changing the Metronome speed i.e. it is being set to this number by a glitch in the app not be using the up arrows.
2. Not a big issue as it takes a lot of times round for it to happen but I think it still does happen.
4. I am using the tool primarily for setting myself rhythm sight reading tests for my upcoming guitar exam so ideally Am7#5 ( which is one of the chords I am required to know ) could be represented.

Thanks
Colin McGowan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scoobyclub

I am using v2.8 on Mountain Lion and experienced these problems recently. I think it has been at this version for a while.
1. I have never set the number of times to 999 ( 12 max ). I think one time I saw it change while changing the Metronome speed i.e. it is being set to this number by a glitch in the app not be using the up arrows.

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I will see if I can replicate this in the current version with the metronome speed. Thanks for letting us know.
(You would not have been able to create this number under 'normal' circumstances, but the bug produced it in a previous version. If you have had iReal b for a while, some of the 999s might have been caused back then and stored with the song at that time.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scoobyclub

2. Not a big issue as it takes a lot of times round for it to happen but I think it still does happen.

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Is this when you do a loop or when you have a large chorus count do you know?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scoobyclub

4. I am using the tool primarily for setting myself rhythm sight reading tests for my upcoming guitar exam so ideally Am7#5 ( which is one of the chords I am required to know ) could be represented.

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This probably will not be useful, but you could add the Am7#5 as an alt chord above the Am#5, the lower will play as the player knows what it is, and you can glance at the alt one above.

Thanks for the reply.

Times
The 333 times, in the last case, was within the last month or two but I honestly cannot say what the versions/circumstances were. I will keep on eye on this.

Looping
I have noticed this when using the looping tool and have selected most, possibly all, of the song. Sometimes that is easier than messing about with "times" for my purposes.

Chords
The alternate chord option may help, not ideal, but it probably is good enough. I wasn't aware of the option until I looked it up.

[Re: #1] If your "Times" bug persists in just a few files, you might try copying the whole chart and pasting it into a new document created on your own system. Hopefully the glitch won't be transferred.

[Re: #2] I'm running Lion, not Mountain Lion. But I did some tests anyway and let my Player loop, with both an even and odd number of measures. The Player stops automatically after about 17 minutes. Since it ends on a sustained chord, should I assume this is normal? (I haven't used the looping function for practice before, so this is new territory for me.)

I never could get the instruments to play out-of-sync. Although, after a while, the Player Position Indicator does start going out ahead of the beat.