Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

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david
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 4:38 pm

Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

Post by david » Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:54 pm

Like the title says - is there a new desktop version of the app coming or are you fully moving to iOS? I think after 5 years of promises to fix the BROKEN desktop app, it's not too much to ask to get a status update.

Ive spent hundreds and hundreds with you guys over the last 6 or 7 years, but I'm not going to spend a penny more if the platform is dead on its back.

rickm
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:56 pm

Re: Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

Post by rickm » Wed Dec 29, 2021 11:28 am

There's no question that releases of the new version for Windows and Mac desktops will follow the iPad and iPhone releases now available. That's been the plan all along.

There's no timelime for these releases though. Since the new development is a multiplatform code base, most of the work is done. My _guess_ which is worth nothing is that it's a few months away. Nobody has said what the next platform release might be.

rickm
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:56 pm

Re: Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

Post by rickm » Wed Dec 29, 2021 12:44 pm

Yesterday, David Sides said publicly:

"We're planning to release the new version of the Mac and PC versions early next year."

jgtmd
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2020 2:59 pm

Re: Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

Post by jgtmd » Fri Jan 07, 2022 2:23 pm

David... I'm curious as to the desktop issues you are seeing. I've been pretty active on the PGS Windows app (on Win10 & now Win11platforms, and Yamaha keyboards) for about a year and I've not had any issues. Maybe one or two lockups over that time, and I suspect they were Windows related. Sure, there are tweaks I'd make with the design of the user interface, but its better than many apps I've used. More importantly the app has been rock solid for me.

rickm
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:56 pm

Re: Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

Post by rickm » Fri Jan 07, 2022 4:50 pm

We've also been running PGS for for about 16 months without problems. This includes a 2014 Surface Pro 3, a 2010 desktop, a 2015 laptop, and even under Wine on Linux on a fairly old desktop.

I'm very active on the Facebook group where there are many Windows users, and nobody there reports it being "broken". Everyone wants an update, sure, but don't consider it broken. Before the new iPad version was released, Windows users encouraged complaining iPad users to switch to Windows until the new iPad version was available. The old iPad version was seriously lacking features.

A problem that does appear, and we had it too, is where garbage note(s) would get splattered on the first beat of a piece when you click on PLAY mode causing a bunch of red notes. Exiting and restarting the app would clear it out for awhile. Occasionally red notes appear elsewhere when the user was sure they were playing correctly. Sometimes a new USB cable would fix that. I was never sure, but for us it was likely caused by our 30-year-old Roland keyboard and/or the M-Audio USB UNO MIDI interface cable.

David, as jgtmd posted, it would be interesting to hear about your issues. Maybe it can be improved while we're waiting for the new Windows version to be released.

MarcVanMeer
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:01 am

Re: Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

Post by MarcVanMeer » Tue Jan 11, 2022 8:46 pm

I don’t have many problems with the app, but I do have to agree with David that there’ve been promises of updates for a couple of years now, and nothing is coming. The promise of a new platform version “coming early next year” has been used several times now, actually.. so where is it?

Nowadays, it’s pretty standard to be open and upfront about upcoming updates, when they will be released, what problems these updates fix, or what features will be added, improved or removed, etc. So why doesn’t Playground Sessions do that?

Some improvements I would like to see:
- Create an Updates page, where customers
are informed about upcoming updates.
- Fix the chord symbols with a flat symbol in them already. This has been a problem for years. How hard can it be to fix it??
- Please, please, please remove the bootcamp progress overview from the main page. It takes way too long to load. It’s really annoying to have to wait so long every time you start the app.
- Make the Course page (where you can find Octaves, Hanon, challenges etc) customisable, so you can check off the things you’ve completed, or hide the courses you’re not interested in.
- Also, make the progress of courses visible
- Show the progress of Songs in the list view too

Cheers!

Moreless
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2017 12:45 am

Re: Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

Post by Moreless » Sun Jan 23, 2022 1:13 pm

I wouldn't call the app broken per se. However, there are some workflow bugs that are easy to workaround once you know them.
Some are:
  • Highlighting a section to play, if you click a note your highlight section expands.. but only on some songs
  • Some songs backing tracks are out of sync with music score when you highlight a section to play or start in the middle of the track.. but only on some songs
  • Some songs report a wrong note hit even if you play it correctly. Even the computer "AI" can't hit the note if you tell it to play the left hand and right hand.. but only some songs
  • Sometimes turning on the metronome doesn't actually turn it on when in Full Song. You can just click a different section you're working on, turn it on, hit play wait for count it in, then go back to the Full Song.
These are the big ones off the top of my head. Do they break the app, no. Are they easy to workaround once you understand the problem, yes.

Oh, also this forum app logs you out after like 1 minute. So you have to type your comment in Word/Notepad or here but make sure to Copy it so it's not lost when you hit Submit or Preview.

rickm
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:56 pm

Re: Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

Post by rickm » Sun Feb 27, 2022 10:53 am

On Facebook, David Sides recently invited members to sign up to participate in testing the beta releases of the Mac and Windows desktop versions. Elsewhere he said an Android version will follow the desktop versions, but no time frame was given.

rickm
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:56 pm

Re: Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

Post by rickm » Sun Feb 27, 2022 11:05 am

The following was from David Sides on Facebook 2 days ago. I think you need a Facebook account to participate.

Playground Family!

We'll soon be releasing the beta version of our new Mac desktop / laptop app, and our new Windows desktop / laptop app.

If you'd like to help us test the new apps, please join our official Beta Tester group and fill in the form on the pinned post:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Playgro ... etaTesters

Thanks!

rickm
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:56 pm

Re: Just be up front with us - is there a new desktop version coming?

Post by rickm » Wed Mar 02, 2022 10:47 am

The Mac desktop beta was released yesterday. Windows to follow "soon".

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