Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

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MarcoB
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri May 01, 2020 5:42 am

Re: Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

Post by MarcoB » Fri May 01, 2020 6:11 am

...and we are in 2020 and still not supported on Android :lol:
But there is any multi platform (with the same quality as PGS) available out there?

FlatPanda
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2020 11:56 am

Re: Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

Post by FlatPanda » Sat May 02, 2020 4:12 am

pavel wrote:
Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:12 am
I don't want to flog a dead horse
but here is what I see (as a customer for over a year)...
Although I'm only level 40 yet (whatever it means), I see your dead horse and raise you a "somebody is wrong on the internet".
Image

Let's see.
  • co-created by Quincy Jones ⇒ I always understood it in a way, that he was part of the creative process and marketing. This is based on the fact, that on the very landing page it's mentioned nowhere, that he would be part of the curriculum. However, Harry Connick, Jr.'s videos are linked on the same page. Et voilà, success.
  • over 1000 songs ⇒ yes, this is an exaggeration, because it's over 1000 music sheets (I don't think there are over 1000 distinct songs in the store, but I may be mistaken). There is a valid criticism, that some classical pieces are simplified even in the "Advanced Hard" sheets, but when you are at that level, you may just google the original sheet and play it outside the software. I give this a soft pass.
  • 0 songs ⇒ that's just spite from you. The songs are arranged for the piano. If you want to play only the piano track of a songs, that's not what Playground Sessions is for. I leave this link here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrangement "It may differ from the original work by means of reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or development of the formal structure." Should they discuss this fact? They do, on the Youtube channel, in almost every Q&A. This is a hard success. (Additionally, if you look at Musescore for example, you will find the exact same thing happening with music, which is not originally written only for piano, here one of my favorites, Arrietty's Song: https://musescore.com/user/8583531/scores/2555926)
  • Fun and easy-to-follow lessons ⇒ your comment is pure spite. In which another software do you find such quality instruction for the piano? Yousician is a joke for beginners (no music theory, just "push these buttons"), Flowkey is almost OK, but nowhere the level of the PGS introduction. Hard success.
  • Software ⇒ OK, you got a point there. The software has its issues. But: it is usable, and one can learn to live with the quirks. Nothing's perfect. soft pass (D-, if you are very harsh, but definitely no F).
  • Bootcamp/courses ⇒ why on Earth would it be confusing? Bootcamp is a bootcamp for that level. Courses are courses for that level. What could be done: list all the existing courses, just grey them out, if they are not yet accessible for you.
  • 5 free songs / mo ⇒ You've got a point there, the song store is UX-wise not the best, they could invest there. But hey, if it ain't broke...
  • No software update since 2017 ⇒ this is something, which for me (as a software engineer) strikes home. The software works, there are some minor issues (apart from the missing features, mentioned throughout this forum), but if there is no need for upgrade, why do upgrade just for upgrade's sake? Continuous software updates are a plague of the "modern" IT.
  • Bugs not fixed 2016 ⇒ Yes, you've got a point there. But no breaking bugs, so one can live with them.
  • phpBB is used at many places, it's by no means a sign for amateurness. Don't judge the world based on your bubble.
Cheers

FlatPanda
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2020 11:56 am

Re: Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

Post by FlatPanda » Sat May 02, 2020 4:14 am

MarcoB wrote:
Fri May 01, 2020 6:11 am
...and we are in 2020 and still not supported on Android :lol:
But there is any multi platform (with the same quality as PGS) available out there?
Depends on what you mean by "quality". There are some alternatives for learning the Piano, nothing as comprehensive as PGS though - curriculum wise. Software, you may find "better", depending on your definition of "better".

MarcoB
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri May 01, 2020 5:42 am

Re: Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

Post by MarcoB » Sat May 02, 2020 6:19 am

Same learning functionalities and guidance.

FlatPanda
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2020 11:56 am

Re: Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

Post by FlatPanda » Sat May 02, 2020 7:26 am

The only comparable offering (in my non-expert opinion) is Flowkey, with its own set of pros and cons.

williamt
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2020 3:18 am

Re: Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

Post by williamt » Sun May 03, 2020 3:32 pm

I've only been on for a few weeks or so and have only noticed a few annoying things so far that I have worked through.
The software crashes if you have another program open that is using the midi. There should be an error message that states another program is using it. Not a big deal once you discover whats causing it but definitely caused me some grief and time to figure out. I had a browser tab open using it. :(

I didn't realize you were supposed to click the RH or LH and THEN click play for the demonstration. I eventually figured it out with google. A few tool tips would be helpful or a better explanation somewhere.

However my biggest gripe is the sound quality of the video lessons. Mainly with Harry Connick, Jr.'s videos. There is a terrible echo that drives me nuts. You would think a professional like that would have a few bass traps or something to kill the echo. Or they would fix the echo during video processing. Just seems really unprofessional.

Oh also I use the feature that allows you to hear the piano through your headphones. There seems to be a weird buzz when you hold down the keys. Also the sound is a little weird. Doesn't sound a lot like a piano but something else. I don't exactly know but it doesn't bother me too much.

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sw1tch73ch
Posts: 539
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2016 1:23 pm

Re: Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

Post by sw1tch73ch » Sun May 03, 2020 9:46 pm

williamt wrote:
Sun May 03, 2020 3:32 pm
I've only been on for a few weeks or so and have only noticed a few annoying things so far that I have worked through.
The software crashes if you have another program open that is using the midi. There should be an error message that states another program is using it. Not a big deal once you discover whats causing it but definitely caused me some grief and time to figure out. I had a browser tab open using it. :(
Of course many Windows MIDI programs will have similar issues if something else unexpected takes over the MIDI.
I didn't realize you were supposed to click the RH or LH and THEN click play for the demonstration. I eventually figured it out with google. A few tool tips would be helpful or a better explanation somewhere.
From the Help Center - they have a FAQ page in the support section that also links to the Help Center for more information:

https://support.playgroundsessions.com/ ... iano-Demo-
However my biggest gripe is the sound quality of the video lessons. Mainly with Harry Connick, Jr.'s videos. There is a terrible echo that drives me nuts. You would think a professional like that would have a few bass traps or something to kill the echo. Or they would fix the echo during video processing. Just seems really unprofessional.
The challenge here is not everyone has the sound issues, making it very difficult to troubleshoot if the developers can't replicate the issue themselves. I haven't gotten to Harry's Videos yet, so I don't know about that issue. I'll have to look for one, download it and play it to see what I think there.
Oh also I use the feature that allows you to hear the piano through your headphones. There seems to be a weird buzz when you hold down the keys. Also the sound is a little weird. Doesn't sound a lot like a piano but something else. I don't exactly know but it doesn't bother me too much.
I haven't noticed the buzz in my headphones, but I have a full on sound setup with a mixer and studio monitor headphones, so I might have bypassed this issue with that. It might be something with the piano sample library they use, because I have the piano in PGS muted and listen to my own digital piano sounds.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

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sw1tch73ch
Posts: 539
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2016 1:23 pm

Re: Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

Post by sw1tch73ch » Sun May 03, 2020 10:32 pm

I'd forgotten they added some Harry Connick, Jr. videos in the early Rookie. They do have some glitch noises that sound a lot like bit rate conversion artifacts. This might be something you can report to the support team (support@playgroundsessions.com) for them to look at. They might want to remaster those videos. They sound like very low bit rate MP3 files to me. Very Lossy and noisy. That might not be what caused the noise, but you are correct on how annoying the noise is.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

williamt
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2020 3:18 am

Re: Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

Post by williamt » Sun May 03, 2020 11:13 pm

sw1tch73ch wrote:
Sun May 03, 2020 9:46 pm
Of course many Windows MIDI programs will have similar issues if something else unexpected takes over the MIDI.
It's a crash/exit. They will only have similar issues if they don't check if the device is in use or handle the exception that is thrown by trying to open the device while its in use. This is just common error/exception handling. They don't have anything in place. Unless what they have in place is something like pseudo code:
try{ openMidiDevice()} catch { exit; }
when it should be something like:
try{ openMidiDevice()} catch { displayErrorDialog(); }
sw1tch73ch wrote:
Sun May 03, 2020 9:46 pm
From the Help Center - they have a FAQ page in the support section that also links to the Help Center for more information:
https://support.playgroundsessions.com/ ... iano-Demo-
Sure but it should be clearer in the program itself. If I saw a tool tip as soon as I went to click a hand telling me to press play I wouldn't have wondered whats going on.
sw1tch73ch wrote:
Sun May 03, 2020 9:46 pm
The challenge here is not everyone has the sound issues, making it very difficult to troubleshoot if the developers can't replicate the issue themselves. I haven't gotten to Harry's Videos yet, so I don't know about that issue. I'll have to look for one, download it and play it to see what I think there.
I'm mainly talking about the echo. Nothing to replicate just hit play. They could probably clean that up pretty easy with a filter. Just seems unprofessional. Not really a huge deal though.

MarcoB
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri May 01, 2020 5:42 am

Re: Extremely disappointed with the Song Library interface

Post by MarcoB » Mon May 04, 2020 2:38 pm

FlatPanda wrote:
Sat May 02, 2020 4:12 am
  • No software update since 2017 ⇒ this is something, which for me (as a software engineer) strikes home. The software works, there are some minor issues (apart from the missing features, mentioned throughout this forum), but if there is no need for upgrade, why do upgrade just for upgrade's sake? Continuous software updates are a plague of the "modern" IT.
  • Bugs not fixed 2016 ⇒ Yes, you've got a point there. But no breaking bugs, so one can live with them.
Are you still using Microsoft Dos? Or you are using a modern OS like windows 10.
I'm just asking because MS Dos can still work, in your words i find that updating and upgrading is not necessary, instead it's a plague.
Are you by any chance a cobol developer?
Since you brought up IT word, I remind you that this software has a maintenance contract, which implies that the software is properly maintained, as in the rest of the IT world.

Oh, take a look @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DevOps, welcome in 2020.

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