SPSC Users Guide Chapter 9 - Play Lists And Audio

Play lists are the lists of songs to be played, along with their associated settings. Settings include song order, volume setting, tuning setting, lightshow associations, and "stop after" events. The play list is displayed on the left side of the screen as shown below.

When Solo Performer Show Controller is first launched, the play list will be empty. Songs may be added to the play list or a saved play list file may be opened.

Opening Play Lists

To open an existing play list, choose Open Play List in the File menu, or open one of the recently opened play lists by choosing its file name in the Open Recent Play List sub-menu in the File menu.

Note that when opening a play list, the default folder for opening a play list is the one that is chosen in the Preferences panel. See Chapter 16 for details about customizing Solo Performer Show Controller.

Saving Play Lists

Similarly, play lists may be saved for opening in the future by selecting Save Play List from the File menu. Saved play lists may be saved as a copy by choosing Save Play List As... from the File menu.

When saving, the default file location for the saved play list is the folder that is chosen in the Preferences panel. See Chapter 16 for details.

Supported Audio File Formats

Solo Performer Show Controller is capable of playing a variety of audio file formats in a play list. Essentially, the software supports any audio format supported by the installed version of QuickTime. Supported audio formats are shown in the following table:

File Type File Extension

MP3 .mp3

Audio Interchange File Format .aif, .aiff

Wave .wav

MIDI .mid, .midi

Note that the file extension may or may not be visible on the audio file, depending on whether or not your operating system is set up to show or hide file extensions. Also, on Macintosh systems, file extensions are not always necessary, so long as the embedded file type is set correctly. Setting the file type is not usually done by the user, but by the program that created the file. If the file was not made on a Macintosh, it might not be recognized as an audio file if it's file name does not end in the extension shown on the chart above. Therefore, using file name extensions is recommended.

Adding Audio to the Play List

Audio is added to a play list by choosing Add Audio File to Play List under the Audio menu or by clicking the button as shown below:

A dialog box will appear where the audio file may be selected for adding to the play list. The default directory that displays can be set in the preferences dialog box by choosing the Preferences... menu. See Chapter 16 for details about changing the program preferences.

After adding a song file to the play list, the play list will look something like this:

There are several things to note about a row in the play list. First, if there is no lyric file associated with the song in the row, the song title will appear in italic text.

Secondly, when a song is added to the list, you will notice a stop sign icon in the row. This is an indication that after the song is done being played, no more songs will play unless the play button is pressed again. This is a "Stop After" indicator. If the Stop After indicator is clicked on, it will turn into a green arrow. This signifies that after the song is done being played, the next item on the list will start immediately without any user intervention.

Thirdly, if a lightshow is associated with the song, a lightshow icon will appear in the row. Details of how lightshows are made and are set to a play list follow in Chapter 12.

The screen shot below illustrates these three points - italic text for songs without lyrics, the Stop After icon, and the lightshow icon:

Note that the first song, "Anarchy In The UK" has an arrow in the Stop column. When "Anarchy In The UK" is done playing, the next song on the list "X-Files" will begin automatically. Note that "X-Files" is listed in italic text and therefore will have no lyrics displayed. Further observe that there is a lightshow icon in the Lights column, indicating that a lightshow will be streamed along with the audio. The Stop After icon in the "X-Files" row indicates that the show will stop after "X-Files" is done playing, awaiting the play button to be pressed before resuming with the song "Paranoid".

Reordering Play List Items

More songs can be added to the play list by repeated use of the Add to Play List button or via the pull down menu. The order of play list items can be changed by clicking on an item and dragging it to a new position. When dragging a play list item, a black line will appear between the rows where the song will be inserted.

In the picture above, "Paranoid" is selected and is being dragged up the list between "Anarchy In The UK" and "X-Files". Note that the mouse button is still being held down in this picture.

After the mouse button has been released, "Paranoid" takes its new position, right after "Anarchy In The UK".

Removing Play List Items

Audio files may be removed from the play list by first selecting the file to be removed by clicking on it, then selecting the Remove Audio File From Play List item on the Audio menu. Alternatively, the Remove Song button may be used as shown below.

In this example, the song in the selected row, "Paranoid", will be removed from the play list.

Volume Adjustment

The playback volume of a play list item may be set by first selecting the item on the play list by clicking on it so that it is highlighted in blue, then move the volume slider to adjust the volume. The volume level is indicated on the play list row as a percentage.

In the above example, "Anarchy In The UK" is the selected row and the volume slider has been moved to 75%. Note that the play list column "Vol" indicates 75.

Audio File Tuning Setting

The tuning of an audio file on a play list may be adjusted by first selecting the item on the play list so that it is highlighted in blue, then move the tuning slider to adjust the tuning. What happens is that the audio will be played back slower or quicker, thus changing the pitch. Note that the synchronization of other play list events, such as light events and lyric text, are not affected by the difference in speed. All of these will happen at a slightly slower or quicker rate as well. The tuning setting is shown on the play list row. A setting of 0 indicates that there is no adjustment.

Note in the above example that the selected song, "Anarchy in the UK" has had its pitch dropped to -6. This song will play back at a lower pitch.

See Chapter 11 for more detailed information about how to use the tuning options available.

Audio File Tips

Audio files used for backing tracks can be obtained from a variety of sources. Here are a few examples of how backing audio may be obtained:

From a compact disc recording. Note that on Windows systems, compact disc audio must first be converted to another format such as .mp3 or .aiff to be used with Solo Performer Show Controller
From a multi-track recording with selected tracks muted
From MIDI files obtained on the internet (see Chapter 10 for a method to suppress selected tracks)
From MIDI files constructed with a computer program that sequences MIDI files
From a drum machine recording
From mail order houses and internet web sites that sell music with only rhythm tracks. This type of music is very commonly distributed for practicing musicians.