Roadmap: what is new and what is coming
Every AbcMusicStudio feature, version by version: what you can use today and what is being built next for traditional musicians.
Roadmap
Recently improved
- NewFree accountLink a tune to a page of a PDF tune book, a photo or a web page, and open that page beside the drawn score or beside the video while it plays
- FixedFree accountIn the dark theme, scores are drawn in black on a light sheet, so staff lines, bar numbers and repeat endings are easy to read
- FixedFree accountThe first switch to Edit mode shows every button's icon straight away
- FixedFree accountIn a score with several tunes, picking another tune no longer stops the video you are watching
- EasierFree accountTransposing a tune can now keep the original: “Add as a new tune” puts the new key beside it in the same score
- EasierFree accountWhen a tune is playing and you switch to another tab of the score, a Playing · Stop pill lets you stop it from there
- FixedFree accountIn Edit mode the score's tabs are readable in the dark theme, follow the same order as View, and show how many attachments and recordings the score holds
- FixedFree accountThe YouTube panel searches only when you ask, and when the daily search allowance runs out it says so and offers a link to search on YouTube itself
- EasierFree accountTransposing a score while viewing it changes only what you see and hear; your saved tune stays as it is, and one click takes you back to the original key
- EasierFree accountRenaming a score: the name is ready to type, Enter saves it and Escape leaves it as it was
- FixedFree accountOn a phone, the ABC editor uses the whole width of the screen
- FixedFree accountA warning about your ABC now starts with the line and column it is on
- EasierFree accountInside a folder, a path line shows where you are, each folder in it one click away, and the back row says where it takes you
- EasierFree accountThe browser's Back and Forward buttons move between your folders, and a reload brings you back to the folder you were in
- EasierFree accountOpening a score closes the one already open, so a phone shows one score at a time, and folders end with an arrow that says you go into them
- FixedFree accountA tune picked from the search results opens on its folder's whole page, with every tune around it in view
- FixedFree accountThe repository list fits a phone screen, with no sideways scrolling, in View and in Edit mode
- FixedFree accountA warning about your ABC points to the line you actually typed, even below the score's header lines
- EasierFree accountWhen the View / Edit switch at the top of the repository has scrolled out of sight, an open score shows its own, so you no longer scroll back up to start editing it
- FixedThe tuner asks for the real pitch of the five-string banjo's short string in Open G, Double C, Open D, Modal G and Open A
- FixedThe tuner says why it cannot hear you when the microphone is blocked, shows whether sound arrives, lets you pick the input, and no longer flickers on room noise
- NewFree accountBars that hold too many or too few beats are highlighted on the score, and a short bar can be completed with a rest in one click
- FixedFree accountA tune with a pickup loops cleanly: from the second pass on, it starts again on the first full bar
- FixedFree accountThe melody plays every written sharp, flat, natural and octave mark as written
- FixedFree accountLearning mode cuts a tune into phrases that follow its parts and stop at the repeat bars
- NewFree accountWhen a tune has a bass staff written under the melody, the backing bass plays that bass line note for note instead of making one up from the chords
- FixedFree accountThe five-string banjo has its own bright, ringing voice, apart from the tenor banjo
- FixedQuébec and old-time hornpipes are accompanied as hornpipes, at a hornpipe's tempo and lilt
- NewQuébec reels and 6/8 tunes get their own backing: "boom-chick" guitar and bass, podorythmie foot-tapping and a straight drive, while Irish jigs and reels gain their lilt; jigs, polkas and waltzes now have a bass that follows their beat
- NewFree accountExport a tune as MusicXML, to open it straight in Sibelius, Finale, Dorico, MuseScore or any other notation software
- EasierFree accountWhile learning a phrase, the score shows only the lines that phrase is on, right under the title, instead of a page of empty staves
- FixedThe metronome and the backing play again after a Bluetooth speaker drops out and comes back
- FixedFree accountThe melody instruments shape each note by the tune's rhythm, with lighter off-beats and a jig's lilt
- EasierFree accountA Back up button at the top of your repository saves your whole repertoire in one file; in Edit mode it becomes Restore
- FixedFree accountA tune with a subtitle under its title shows its real key and mode, and plays every note in that key
- EasierFree accountMove a tune or a folder by dragging it onto another folder in the list, or onto the back row to bring it up one level
Coming Soon
Current
- Composer — write a brand-new tune in any tradition and dance form the app knows, from an Irish jig to a Breton andro or a Balkan 7/8, and add it to your score
- Music repository — browse, organise and manage your ABC scores in folders
- User accounts — sign in to save your work and access it from anywhere
- More backing styles and rhythm patterns
- AbcMusicStudio Cloud — a paid tier with permanent, cross-device server storage
- Score history — every save is versioned, with restore, compare and named snapshots
- Offline mode — keep viewing and practicing your scores without an internet connection
- Bands & Courses — shared spaces with a common repertoire for your band or students
- Public musician profile — a shareable page showcasing your bio and tunes
- In-app contextual help and a docked ABC notation quick reference
- Export folders and scores as print-ready PDF summaries
- Progressive tempo ramps in Learning Mode, based on each tune's traditional speed levels
- Attach audio, PDF and image files directly to your scores
- Print the tune you are viewing in one click, or pick tunes to print from any folder
- Rich text descriptions for your profile, instruments, bands and courses, with ready-made templates
- Search inside an attached PDF — every match highlighted on the page, and listed page by page
- Start a composition from a tune you already have — the score you are on, one from your repertoire, or one fetched from thesession.org
- Listen to a composed tune before you keep it, and discard it without touching your score
- Record the instruments you play and how you tune them, including old-time cross-tunings for fiddle, mandolin and tenor banjo
- Choose field by field what your public musician page shows, including whether to publish your contact details
- Introduce your bands and courses on your public page, each with its own full description — separate from what you write for your members
- Strip every chord from a tune in one click, straight from the chord grid, and start the harmony over
- Play a tune on a real tin whistle voice, in its own octave, with notes that breathe out instead of being cut off
- Backing tracks now recognise klezmer, Balkan, Latin-American and Nordic tunes from the rhythm you wrote, instead of treating them as Irish reels
- Read a tune in tablature while you learn it, switching between violin, guitar, DADGAD, mandolin and tenor banjo without leaving Learning Mode
- Put the name of every note under the staff while you practise, spelled for the key you are in
- See where a tune invites rolls, cuts and grace notes, highlighted on the score for the instrument you play
- A tune's history now records one entry per editing session, instead of one for every chord, tempo change or automatic tweak
- Find a tune by name anywhere in your repertoire, without remembering which folder you filed it in
- Take any past version of a tune and keep working on it as a separate arrangement, leaving the original untouched
- Keep every take of a recording you replace, and put an earlier one back, the same way you can with a tune
- Play your tunes over the sound of the sea, a background you can bring in and set to taste alongside the guitar and bass
- Play a tune on the oboe, the clarinet, a Celtic harp or a wire-strung Irish bardic harp
- Watch short demo videos of the features, in each page's help and on the welcome page, and browse the AbcMusicStudio YouTube channel where they are all gathered
- Turn a recording of a single instrument into a score, straight from the audio attached to a tune
- Turn a printed page (a PDF or a photo) into an editable score, read on your own computer
- Québec reels and 6/8 tunes get their own backing: "boom-chick" guitar and bass, podorythmie foot-tapping and a straight drive, while Irish jigs and reels gain their lilt; jigs, polkas and waltzes now have a bass that follows their beat
- Export a tune as MusicXML, to open it straight in Sibelius, Finale, Dorico, MuseScore or any other notation software
- When a tune has a bass staff written under the melody, the backing bass plays that bass line note for note instead of making one up from the chords
- Bars that hold too many or too few beats are highlighted on the score, and a short bar can be completed with a rest in one click
- Link a tune to a page of a PDF tune book, a photo or a web page, and open that page beside the drawn score or beside the video while it plays
Legacy