Mnemosyne Tune Library Release Notes

Release 1.0.3, April 2022

This version improves filters and search to ensure users always know whether a Tune Library list is filtered or not.

New Features in this Version

1. Sticky "Filter On" indicators

   Fixed an issue where an active filter showed as inactive when switching back and forth between search and filtering

2. Clear Filters Bar A new status bar indicates whether filters, search or both are active and allows clearing all filters and search with a click.
3. Formatting for newer phones Improved formatting for newer phones with a "home bar" at bottom

Release History

Release 1.0.3, Late March 2022

This version focuses on improving filters based on user requests. Filters are now easier to clear, and it's obvious whether a list of tunes is filtered or limited by search.

New Features in this Version

1. Search and Filter clearing

   The Tune Library view now shows a new status bar beneath the filters or search that shows whether search, filters or both are active and affecting the current display. A single click on the bar will clear all filters and searches and reveal the full set of tunes

2. Sticky Filter Indicators Filter indicators (the dark bolding when a filter is active) are now stable when switching between searching and filtering Issue A.3
3. iPhone Home Bar Improvements Home bar on newer (after iPhone X) iPhones no longer partly obscured by the application tab bar.
4. Remove unneeded messages Unneeded messages (which were not visible to user) are removed when an optional field is missing Issue A.2

Release 1.0.0

This version is the initial 1.0.0 release.

New Features in this Version

1. Support and Feature Requests The App Information Screen now contains a "Support & Feature Requests (EMail)" item that will create an initially blank email to Mnemosyne Tune Library support on devices that have configured an EMail client.
2. Support URL A support page has been added to the website to guide users in submitting support and new feature requests

Release Candidate 1.0.0-rc1

This version is a candidate for release The main focus for testing is the new source (Traditional Tune Archive) in this version and any defects or problems with existing features.

New Features in this Version

1. New Tune Source -- Traditional Tune Archive This site was suggested by one of our beta tester, and expands our growing collection of Old Time Tunes. The site itself is built on a semantic web and has interesting capabilities in researching and showing references to tunes
2. Improved tune handling from thesession.org thesession.org was our original import site capability, and was done in a very different way than other sites, because it can be directly queried and imported from. While retaining those special abilities, this release handles thesession in a similar way to other sites for consistency.
3. Better Display for Backups When you request a restore of your data that you previously backed up, the display used to mix backups the system automatically makes for you when you upgrade a version with the backups you actually asked to perform. The new display displays the two lists of backups separately, yours first.
4. Saving Original ABC This version saves both the original ABC and the ABC that is used to retrieve a tune. Even now the two are different, because thesession.org keeps its tune information (headers) separately from the actual notes in ABC. This is the beginning of possibilities for editing or entering tunes on your device in some future release
5. Better Quality Import Some sites, like TTA list multiple renditions or versions for a tune; thesession.org has a whole section devoted to different settings. We're just importing the first rendition we find, but now have the initial infrastructure for importing a specific rendition in a future release. The greatest challenge for supporting renditions/settings is how to visually present them in a way that doesn't create confusion. The main requirement to meet that challenge is a user or two with a great imagination that can test out ideas in a future release.

Release 1.0.0-b.1, August 2021

Initial Beta Version!

This version includes all features planned for the initial release of Tune Library. The main focus for testing is the new features in this version and any defects or problems with existing features.

New Features in this Version

1. New Tune Source -- Tune DB
Tune DB is now available as a tune source for both Old Timey and Irish/Scottish/Isles traditional music. The available tune scores seem to be of very good quality. We're still looking for more and better old timey sites -- especially sites that cover tunes currently making the rounds in Old Time Sessions. More on possible solutions later in these notes.
2. New Import Behaviour
Based on your reports (you know who you are!) I've reworked the way the "Import Tunes" screen works to make it easier to import several tunes and to return to a predictable Tune List afterwards:
• You can now remain on the Tune Import screen as long as you want, importing tune after tune. When you're done importing, whether after one tune or a dozen, just use the bottom tabs to return to the Tune List screen
• If you have a search on one site and want to carry out the same search on another site, just switch sites and the search will be repeated on the new selected site.
• You'll still receive a notification at the bottom of the import screen telling you whether the import succeeded or failed. Failed imports are usually caused by missing 'ABC' elements needed to show the score or play the tune.
• You can dismiss the latest import message at any time, or the message automatically disappear in a few seconds
3. Tune titles that begin with 'The'
Lots of tunes start with the word "The'. Tune Library now creates a formatted title for each tune, so that a tune called 'The Anteater' gets a formatted title of 'Anteater, The' and appears with the other tunes that start with the letter 'A' so it's easy to find.
4. Easy navigation to the original tune
The tune info screen (click the letter "i" to the right of the tune title) now has a clickable URL that will take you to the original tune source to see the tune in its original setting. This is especially valuable for sites like "The Session" where you might want to use the site's collaborative features, see alternate settings, etc. Of course if the tune has been removed from the original site some time after you imported it, the link will fail to retrieve the tune.
5. Geekery
Lots of security improvements, code cleaning and things developers love to do.

In Search of Old Timey

The Irish and other Celtic world is fortunate to have the meticulously curated site called thesession.org as well as a decent Irish and Celtic collection on the new tunedb site. The internet universe of old time music is much more sparse, both in terms of available sites and the quality of the 'ABC' formatted tunes available. If any of our community knows of a great quality site containing Old Timey Tunes in 'ABC' format, it can be a candidate for our next release. The things that make a site great for import are:
• Great Tunes (especially the newer compositions in the Old Time Tradition that many of us love)
• Great renditions, by which I mean that the 'ABC' of the tune is clean and correct, and all the important tune information, like title, key and rhythm are present
• A great site format or programming interface. These are things that make it easy for machines like the Tune Library importer to talk to the site and gather tune information for your tune list. If you aren't familiar with them, don't worry about them.

If we never find a really great source for Old Timey music, we just might try to become one in a future release. But for now Tune Library's focus is on gathering up tunes in an easy to find format for use in live sessions and the like. Reach us at tune-library dash at dash dorsetwest.com with your ideas and thoughts, and thanks to all the testers, present past and future. Robin

Release 0.9.3, July 2021

TuneFinder as our initial Old Time music site!

Tune Library imports tunes from other sites on the web. Our initial site for import was thesession.org, an extremely well organized and curated site focusing on Irish Traditional music. There are a few old time tunes present, but not many.

We've now added the general ability to add new import sites to the app in each release, beginning with Tune Finder which has a reasonable collection of old time tunes. Tunes on this site are not as carefully curated and we'll be working on filters for problem imports in future. Import sites need to have tunes in ABC format and a search capability. Please let us know your recommendations for new sites through the test feedback mechanism.

A new and better (accordion) playback sound

The original 'piano' sound was difficult to hear and didn't have a traditional feel to it. We're now using an 'accordion' sound that seems much better. Future releases will add a default sound selector if there's interest

Different playback speeds

The original playback speed was fixed, but the tunes from our new import site seem to vary widely in tempo, some clearly incorrect. We've added the ability to select a default "normal" speed in our new Settings section, with a per-tune option to play faster or slower. Let us know if you want more fine-grained speed control, or if that will just clutter up the playback interface

Detailed Settings

We have a new Settings section available from the top left icon on the Tune Library screen. In settings you can continue to set your screen color, and now can select personal defaults for the default playback speed, and the default site you'd like to import tunes from, as well as an improved backup and restore interface.

Release 0.8.1, May 2021

• Styling improvements
• Swipe left to delete tunes from library
• Swipe left to delete tunes from library
• Add search to tune list, toggle between search and filter
• Splash screen
• Change color theme
• SnackBar based error messages
• Framework upgrades (Nav 5)