With multiple choruses and multiple part and style markers, its impossible to tell which chorus your on when viewing the progress bar. In the 2016 version of BIAB, there was an indication of which chorus you were on via a 1/3, 2/3, 3/3 display to the right of the Styles window...this has been removed and with it all indication of what chorus you on. Very hard now to do "play-alongs" or solos when you don't know where you are in the song.

Jeff

I like the concept of the progress bar, but it might be an improvement if the bar numbers and part numbers could be switched on/off or significantly faded to allow the song position marker to have better contrast.

Also, yes, the chorus number could still be displayed (e.g. 2/3)

I agree, with the new system it can be very difficult to see your exact position in the song, and that this could be improved.

Maybe this idea would work better - as well as the chorus number could still be displayed (e.g. 2/3):

+1 for the big pointer.
Seems quite easy to implement in a next patch.

Or maybe make progress indicated by a solid bar that grows from left to right. Those of use using BIAB live need a way to see how far along we are in the song with just a quick glance.

Thanks

Interesting. Perhaps if it were somewhat transparent, those who want to go back and select a part marker already passed would be able to.

In any case, the progress bar is really too small - in the new toolbar mode - to be used. Can't be used during a live performance.

There's another thread about this. I would like a progress bar in the new interface that is the same (larger) size as was added to the old interface. Even better, make it a window I could move and resize.

What people want is something like that : see attachement


In folded mode, a floating window could be added in a not used of the tool bar. It would be an user option.

There was a concept about that type or progress bar, here

A progress bar could work for the 'unfolded' mode, where the song plays from bar#1 until the end.
In 'folded' mode, we have to know, at every time, where we are in the song sequence, mainly when we have several chorus. If we have only two chorus, that is not very difficult to remember it. When you have 3,4,5 ... and more chorus, we need a visual mark of the chorus number being played not only a progress bar.

After considering different options and reading some of the ideas presented in this thread I thought I would mock something up to show some possibilities.

1) Added the # of the current chorus to the display similar to how it used to be.
2) Tried differentiating the blue chorus and part marker a's by adding a simplified repeat sign after the chorus marker and fading the part markers.
3) Added a translucent song position indicator bar overlaying the progress bar.
4) Stretched the progress bar out the full width of the display in the smaller toolbar mode and repositioned buttons on the left.


The dynamic translucent overlay is a cool idea but I think it might be better as an option. It would be great if starting the song at the beginning, but if you should start somewhere else in the song it might get a little weird.

Yes, agreed. The use of better contrasting colors could be improved and would be easy to implement.
+1

I like all of these in the mockup by Guitarist a lot. Very nice.

[quote=John-Luke]What people want is something like that : see attachement

Ooh yeah !!! And resizable if possible ... a very good thing to add, the sooner, the better.

I’d agree to anything that’s an improvement in this area. With people sitting-in at times and bumping-up the number of choruses, it’s easy to get lost in the present set up. Especially, if you want to come back in vocally on the last chorus-----that is, knowing where the last chorus starts.

That's a solid justification for some form of improvement here.

Guitarist,
Your proposal is nice, and would be OK when you are sitting in front of your computer, but it can't be used efficiently in live performance, where we need to know the chorus# at a glance.

Maybe, the two approaches could co-exist...

I like this floating window idea the best, especially if you can change the size of the window like the visible metronome.

I always use a large floating metronome (800 pixels - the max size available) set to 1--- for a live performance. I can see this metronome out of the corner of my eye in case I get out of step with the song.

Tony

Tony, You're right, the floating window has to be resizeable to fit all the needs, mainly in live performance situation.
See also the Duke04 post asking for a resizeable window.

There was a concept of a large progress bar to show Timeline of song progress in this video:


Yes the Timeline indicator could be certainly made into a floating sizeable window which would provide added benefits.

Yes, but only as a user option, because the actual question is to get an efficient display of the number of chorus being played.

Yes, but only as a user option, because the actual question is to get an efficient display of the number of chorus being played.[/quote]

+1 John Luke, efficient AND visible at first sight, maybe with a magnifying glass ...!

i just installed the last update of bb for Mac and I see no impovement concerning the countdown and its visibility . Hey guys read again this thread, it's not a wish, it's a need. URGENT !

Duke04, we understand your need, but we're users, just like you. We're sure that PG Music staff read these threads, but the delivery will be something that only they can provide.

Hi Matt

We do need a clearer/more prominent marker for chorus place when on live gigs - 1/5 - 2/5 etc.
The old one was ok but could have been improved
An instant look and visible marker on the screen when playing live is essential
Panicked a couple of times already with other things going on
jazzman

Would any of this work if you have 'one big chorus'

My songs are all done that way using 'repeats and endings'

Progress is just a bar number. Displaying in fake sheet mode shows me where I am but not which verse. On the other hand if you are working with real people, no one holds up a progress bar either.

Part of being a musician is to know where you are and where you go next. No GPS available

Great suggestions for improvements to the progress bar everyone!

To summarize:
1. Larger progress bar (option of floating, re-sizable window)
2. Visual chorus indicator (ie 1/3, 2/3, 3/3)
3. Better colour contrast for chorus and part markers
4. Allow bar numbers and part markers to be switched on/off or significantly faded so song position can have better contrast.
5. A solid (somewhat translucent) bar that grows from left to right as song plays

If you have any further feedback, please keep it coming!

Really nice summary Alyssa!

I appreciate reading the responses you, Callie, Andrew and the other PG Music associates post.

Hi everybody, I was very doubtful updating BiaB, but ... what a ( good) surprise when I saw the slash between the first and second number of the countdown square. Finally we're back to the old days because we needed this. We can now (re)see where we are in the song and the question is why did that feature disappeared ? Who decided of this, surely not a musician (I hope) but some "designer" who made his "ideas" prevail in some obscure reunion where musician were not. Please survey your awsome product ( I use it since the Atari era !) to keep it in the ears of musicians users and not in the eyes of merchants for whom only good looking is the principal... We musicians are your real customers. Thanks for the update and if you could make the little field of the countdown wider ... maybe gaining place in the unused place of the "bar" ?
Thanks again to make it .

As one who plays live, many thanks to PG Music for returning to the old way of showing the number of choruses for a song. Now, maybe make it a little larger, or color it, to see it better in dim light. It would be fine with me if the present progress bar were removed, allowing a little more space for the chord sheet.

I would like to re-emphasize that the functionality of the timeline / song progress bar could be significantly improved if the contrasts were more identifiable. As per many supported votes above.

For me, the choice between the two images below to identify song progress are obvious. Anyone agree?

I really like that second picture. Good solution.

to pg.
i would just like a clock that shows both no of bars elapsed , and real time elapsed and total time of song.
preferably unobtrusive eg bottom of chords view.

best
om

Good idea AT!

In that space, perhaps we could choose to have either the colored progress bar enhancement of the existing display as shown just above in AudioTrack’s post, or a clock function. I’m used to seeing a clock but there are many options:

Total elapsed time played
Remaining time of the song
NOW time, in minutes and seconds

Combinations are of course possible but maybe not in the small space of the existing progress bar.

As always, though, I would wish for a separate window that could be resized and dragged where I want to see it.