Flash and the future

I just came by without a lot of hope, to check if there was something new…

DAMN WAS I WRONG.

You delivered BIG TIME, according to the video : I just can’t wait to try this new version ! Key changing, exporting only some regions of midi, improving the repeat mode were only features I dreamt of. But you added even more features ( magic bass mode ?! That’s great ! ) …

I really want to thank you, this new version will help me so much. And I’m not the kind of guy who is over enthusiastic about everything, it is pretty much the contrary in fact.

Congrats, it definitely was a long wait, but it was worth it. I’m glad I believed in such brilliant human beings.

Now release the godamn thing !

Ok Everyone,
It’s time to start the beta! We’re going to start out with a small group, so that means people who care enough about Hookpad’s future to see this forum post :slight_smile: If you are interested in helping out, please send an email to support (at) hooktheory (dot) com with the subject “Hookpad 2 Beta”. When we’re ready I’ll send out instructions for where to go from there.

Thanks!
Dave

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Done!

I’m really excited for the beta test.

Sent here. Interested in how much faster it is.

So if I’m not mistaken Hookpad 2 will be able to be used on mobile devices?

A huge part of my music production workflow depends on producing on a mobile device, then putting it onto a DAW on my computer to be arranged. I kinda need something to sketch my ideas out quickly while I’m on the go… soooo…

SENTTT. I can’t wait!

@exante,

We’ve been trying to figure out a good way to include this feature for a long time now, but it is not in the current version of Hookpad 2 yet. There are a couple of issues that we need to work through to make sure that this feature is as useful as possible.

Currently Hookpad only supports 4 voices, and all voices need to have the same key changes, meter changes, etc. whereas MIDI files don’t place these restrictions. Also, Hookpad voices are monophonic whereas MIDI files are polyphonic. Chords and drums would also not be compatible with such an import.

However, if the likeliest use case is simply to import a single melodic line, then this is mostly straightforward.

Beta’s probably still getting finalized, but is there an ETA right now?

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Sent! :smile:

That message makes it the third email I sent to the support address within a few months. I’ve never received an answer to the other two.

I’m not saying they necessarily deserved a response: just in case it’s a spam filter getting in the way, please keep an eye out. :heart:

I can’t wait to get my hands/mouse/keyboard on HP2. I’ve been needing all the new features. Now I won’t have to make the choice between compromising my work and bouncing back and forth between programs to write what my mind’s ear hears.
The beta won’t come out a minute too soon.

Has anyone gotten into the beta? I’ve yet to receive any news…

Not yet. Very soon we promise. :slight_smile: Getting everything connected to the real web site infrastructure (and fixing a few last minute and very obvious bugs we didn’t want everyone to have to experience) took a little longer than expected.

This week for sure.

Dave

4 Likes

Good to see it’s being polished a bit.

Excellent new features, Ryan! I’m looking forward to the HTML5 too.

(Will this mean that Hookpad will be embeddable as a Onebox in Discourse? That’d rock for this forum, and for other Discourse forums elsewhere.)

https://i.imgur.com/0F1JSys.png
https://i.imgur.com/Xa9zGG4.jpg

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Well, I got in. It’s shaping up nicely, although palpably a beta. Some thoughts:

  • chords are nice
  • I still can’t make a minor-major seventh chord outside of tonic in harmonic minor?
  • Loop logic seems to think bar length is constant
  • Mouse selection is really unstable
  • Why does selecting everything with a do both the melody and chord sections?
  • Changing tempo in the middle of playing sounds terrible
  • chords are nice
  • I can barely use the UI without browser zoom
  • Tempo +/- in increments of 5 or 10 would be nice
  • How do I get rid of the empty second row that appears as soon as you fill one?
  • New selection is irritating, since I’m in the habit of selecting things based on both pitch and time – can we get an option for that?
  • chords are nice

EDIT: Oh, forgot to mention – browser is Vivaldi 1.15.1125.3, which is Electron something or other. I can’t find the Chromium/Electron version number.

I’m in too! Thanks a lot, everything is looking and working great for the most part. Here are some things I’ve noticed, though:

  • Is copy-paste disabled? I can’t seem to make it work using CTRL-C or
    CTRL-V. In fact, I can’t copy or paste at all. EDIT: it’s not
    disabled, but it’s just C and V, no CTRL.

  • Right now, when mouse-dragging notes, you can only perform one of two
    operations: either drag it up and down it’s pitch, or ahead and
    backwards in the arrangement. I think it would be far, far, far more
    natural to be able to do both at the same time when dragging.

  • How do you resize whole sections at once, like you used to on the old
    Hookpad? I mean selecting a section, and resizing it to be half it’s
    original duration, for example. Used to be selecting all the
    notes/chords and dragging to resize with the ALT key pressed.

  • The magic bass feature is working very nicely. However, I would add
    another option besides “quick preview” and “full chords and melody”:
    no preview at all, just leave the caret where it was or where the
    user sets it and let him/her control the “play” button. Right now if
    you move the caret anywhere to listen from some other point the magic
    bass window interface is closed unexpectedly. For reference, you used
    to be able to do this with magic chords on the old Hookpad. Most importantly
    about this new feature: it doesn’t display all available chords, just the
    amount that can fit inside the Magic Bass window.

  • Right now, if you select an out-of-key note with the mouse (without
    moving the mouse a single pixel, just clicking a note), nine times out
    of ten Hookpad will think that you’ve “dragged” the note into its
    nearest on-key neighbour. In general, mouse operations related to
    notes and chords (picking, dragging, etc.) are very, very
    finicky. Even picking a huge UI element like a chord can be a pain
    sometimes. You click it, it’s highlighted for a split second, but
    it’s not selected, you click it again, same thing happens, you do it
    again, and then it does get selected, but you try to drag it and with
    the new click it’s become unselected again…I can record a video
    with many examples of this. For reference, these problems existed on
    the original Hookpad also, and happen on every browser.

  • Also related to mouse operations: the mouse sometimes gets stuck on
    its pressed-down state, meaning that you can select a note, let go of
    the button, and the pitch will keep going up and down as you move the
    mouse as if you were dragging it, even though the primary mouse button isn’t pressed anymore.
    You have to press somewhere else so that the state-change is noticed
    and then it stops, but it happens a lot.

Info: I’m using Chrome 65 on Windows 7.

Some general comments:

  • It feels very awkward to do 12/8 songs:
  • Converting existing Theorytabs to the new modulation system is usually a nightmare, mainly because relative key changes are gone, secondly because the editor doesn’t grab the keyboard focus properly, thirdly because of the implicit conversions between modes.
  • It is not possible to sustain a note or chord across a key change, so some constructions still need supermodal chords:
  • If I weren’t converting existing Theorytabs I would have needed to copy an entire circle-of-fifths tab every time I need to access supermodal chords. Not all supermodal chords represent modulations.
  • I don’t really like the new voicing algorithm, it places some notes in root-position chords higher than they should, and some more notes in inverted chords lower than they should.
  • I am particularly glad that I can do maj7(b9) chords and that thirteenth chords get to stay.

Some notes about extended chords:

  • maj7(♯9)(no3) is equivalent to mM7, except the latter is available in only 2 out of 12 pitches for a given key.
  • Similarly, the Dorian m(add6)(♭5) is equivalent to dim7, which Hookpad displays as dim6. The other minor triads will still show the (add6) in the chord symbol.
  • 13(♭9) won’t work, but 7(add6)(♭9) will. Same goes for (♯9) (but not (♭5) or (♯5), these require an additional (no3)). They work now after an update.
  • 13sus4 is no longer allowed (Hookpad 1 could actually do this), but 7(add6)sus4 does the same thing. There is no equivalent for 9sus4 though.
  • In general extended chords are always (no5) even if the in-key chord contains an alteration (♭III+9 in Harmonic Minor for example). 7sus2 or 9(no3) will bring back the fifth for ninth chords; eleventh and thirteenth chords so far cannot have fifths at all.
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mp3 export doesn’t seem to be working in beta. Otherwise I’ve found it very useful.

If the center of a chord is near a bar change, the symbol is clumsily covered by the line, rather than the line being cut to make room as in old Hookpad.

When the key changes, the melody space is rotated so that the new tonic aligns vertically with where it was in the old key, even though that’s not right. It’s hard to explain in words, so here’s a picture:

This is a key change from C major to B-flat major. It looks like a small downwards motion, but it’s actually going up almost an octave, because Hookpad considers all keys to “start” in the same octave.