PerfectGuitarSongBook 1.5

I’m glad to announce the release of a new update for PerfectGuitarSongBook!

PGSongBook 1.5 comes with a few bug fixes and one big new feature:

Recording

Ready for the release of IK Multimedia’s iRig Mic Studio, PGSongBook finally gets recording capabilities. Multiple recordings can be saved for every song stored in PerfectGuitarSongBook.

As shown on the screenshot to the left, there now is a dedicated recording tool bar on the song screen that can be toggled via a new microphone button in the main tool bar. The new bar allows to easily start and stop recording, start playback of a recording and skim within a recording. With a button of the toolbar, a list containing all previous recordings of the same song can be brought up.

PerfectGuitarSongBook stores recordings as m4a files that can be easily exported to other applications for further processing, shared via email or copied to a PC or Mac via iTunes file sharing for import into desktop audio editing software.

Recordings can now also be set as backing tracks of songs, which means it’s now possible to create your own backing tracks you can use to practise a song directly within PGSongBook.

Recording was tested to work with a variety of Microphones, including the iRig Mic Cast, iRig Mic Field and iRig Mic Studio. For best recording quality, the latter is recommended.

Please note there currently is a problem with the new version on iOS 5 and 6. If you are running one of these versions, please don’t update yet. A small bug fix update is coming soon.

The update is available now on the App Store!

PGSongBook and the iRig BlueBoard

I recently realized that I had promised to write a post describing how IK Multimedia’s iRig Blueboard works together with PerfectGuitarSongBook way back when version 1.47 was newly released.
As I somehow forgot to actually publish this post, I figured I’d post it now.

PGSongBook supported bluetooth and USB foot pedals almost since its very beginning. PGSongBook has a main focus on providing maximum control over the content without having to interrupt playing your music, and supporting foot pedals are a part of that experience.
However, PGSongBook’s foot pedal support never actually felt 100% complete until the iRig BlueBoard was released. As previous pedals only came with two buttons, control was limited and merely reduced to being able to scroll up and down within a song.

iRig BlueBoard

With the iRig BlueBoard, this has changed radically:
Using the board’s four buttons, you can actually navigate throughout the whole application only with the BlueBoard, without having to touch the screen. In order to achieve this full control, PGSongBook dynamically maps the board’s buttons to match the current screen:

(All mappings below assume you are using the BlueBoard in Program Change Mode from Bank 001 to Bank 004 on Channel 01)

In the songs, artists, playlists or playlists songs list, the following mapping is used:
A: Up
B: Down
C: Back / Switches to next tab
D: Enter

In the song screen the mapping is as follows:
A: Up
B: Down
C: Back / Back in playlist
D: Forth in playlist

If an additional volume pedal is connected to the BlueBoard, it can be used to control the absolute position in a list.

You can get more information on the iRig BlueBoard here

Please feel free to write in the comments below or send me an email if you have questions regarding PGSongBook or the iRig BlueBoard integration.