Situation: singer is outside smoking, or in the bathroom, etc.
I just want to skip them and come back to them in 4-8 minutes, but I do NOT want to move them in the rotation.
This is the number one reason why I handle the rotation with slips and search / play songs one at a time (singers names are NOT in the system). I keep their slips and hand them out next time. I would love to ditch this method, but kJams is not flexible enough yet in rotation. (briefly skip singer, handle Duets, Groups, singer discs, and two songs per singer when the rotation is short)
kJams is Excellent otherwise! Thank you for your consideration.
skip singer-smoking
excellent points all!
I hear ya, and i do have plans to address all of that.
skippy singer: a key to say "temp skip". this will do what you mean: leave the singer right where they are in the rotation, and go right into the NEXT singer. the skipped singer will come up AFTER them (at which point you can again say "skip singer" and the NEXT singer will go, then they'll come up AGAIN until they finally sing. if you skip more than one singer, they will que up
with duets you'll be able to drag one singer ON to another to pair them up, and pick if you want to "glom" them as one entity or keep them separate in the rotation (so the pair comes up as one, under the dropped-onto name, but the dragged singer still has her place in the rotation. Groups would be handled the same.
singer discs you'll be able to add a "on disc" fake track to a singer, which includes track number. when that singer is up, it will ask you to stick in the disc, and "just go"
-dave
skippy singer: a key to say "temp skip". this will do what you mean: leave the singer right where they are in the rotation, and go right into the NEXT singer. the skipped singer will come up AFTER them (at which point you can again say "skip singer" and the NEXT singer will go, then they'll come up AGAIN until they finally sing. if you skip more than one singer, they will que up
with duets you'll be able to drag one singer ON to another to pair them up, and pick if you want to "glom" them as one entity or keep them separate in the rotation (so the pair comes up as one, under the dropped-onto name, but the dragged singer still has her place in the rotation. Groups would be handled the same.
singer discs you'll be able to add a "on disc" fake track to a singer, which includes track number. when that singer is up, it will ask you to stick in the disc, and "just go"

-dave
YAY!
So, duets, skippy singer, fake disc - are these all currently operational in the latest release, or just in the soon-to-be-released cue?
Good stuff, Dave, good to see you're back on the horse.
Good stuff, Dave, good to see you're back on the horse.
:)
these are my plans, not coded yet.
sweet!
Excellent plans for an already great app!
One feature I didn't see mentioned: TWO-FER. When the rotation only has a few singers, I like to give the singers the option of doing 2 songs back-to-back. So far, nobody has turned me down.

One feature I didn't see mentioned: TWO-FER. When the rotation only has a few singers, I like to give the singers the option of doing 2 songs back-to-back. So far, nobody has turned me down.

:)
ah yes, this long-requested feature is most definitely planned for, will come at the same time.
rotation robustness request
thread bump, squeaky wheel, rotation robustness request (duets, groups, "song on disc", 2-fers, skippy singer) I'm still managing the rotation with slips -- it's more flexible, but I miss out on some Pro features.
A few singers hang out all night, but choose to sing approx. every-other rotation. It would be nice to have TWO SKIP BUTTONS... skip one song (smoking, bathroom, etc.) and skip one rotation (and leave the singer in the same spot in both cases)
Thanks for your consideration and all the hard work!
p.s. I like your thoughts on how to interface it while keeping the paradigm the same. Another possibility instead of dragging groups of singers together is for the host to use the "skip 1 rotation" feature (select singers 2, 7, 12, and click skip 1 rotation)
A few singers hang out all night, but choose to sing approx. every-other rotation. It would be nice to have TWO SKIP BUTTONS... skip one song (smoking, bathroom, etc.) and skip one rotation (and leave the singer in the same spot in both cases)
Thanks for your consideration and all the hard work!

p.s. I like your thoughts on how to interface it while keeping the paradigm the same. Another possibility instead of dragging groups of singers together is for the host to use the "skip 1 rotation" feature (select singers 2, 7, 12, and click skip 1 rotation)
Last edited by randyj on Thu Nov 27, 2008 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
:)
very excellent ideas all. yes i plan to add all these features.
you've probly guessed i'm rather taking a long break right now.
i'm only fixing bugs and occasionally adding minor features, but i'm not making a big push on new features.
this is NOT to say i'm not doing kJams any more, as the frequency of releases will still attest to. i'm just kindof on sabbatical.
-dave
you've probly guessed i'm rather taking a long break right now.
i'm only fixing bugs and occasionally adding minor features, but i'm not making a big push on new features.
this is NOT to say i'm not doing kJams any more, as the frequency of releases will still attest to. i'm just kindof on sabbatical.
-dave
Re: skip singer-smoking
When I want to skip a singer till the next rotation I put a fake song at the top of their tonight list and click forward after the preceding song. That way kJams retains it's stats and the singer is still on the rotation with their choice of song. If the singer then wants to sing earlier I can move them to position in KJ rotation.
When it comes to two songs back to back I have a Utilities disk that plays messages on the screens, and I make sure that a suitable message will be played (or you could create a fake singer and put a song in it) I then make sure that the next track is the Utilities message in KJ rotation and when the 1st track is finished I click forward, the Utilities message plays, double click the singers next song in the rotation screen and when the song is over I'm back to the normal rotation.
Admittedly this is a bit fiddly but I could be working with a program thats nowhere near as good as kJams other features.
Hope this helps someone
Len
When it comes to two songs back to back I have a Utilities disk that plays messages on the screens, and I make sure that a suitable message will be played (or you could create a fake singer and put a song in it) I then make sure that the next track is the Utilities message in KJ rotation and when the 1st track is finished I click forward, the Utilities message plays, double click the singers next song in the rotation screen and when the song is over I'm back to the normal rotation.
Admittedly this is a bit fiddly but I could be working with a program thats nowhere near as good as kJams other features.
Hope this helps someone
Len
Re: skip singer-smoking
eventually i'll get to these things, for sure.
Re: skip singer-smoking
I know it's on Dave's list but until he's done it heres a quick way to bypass a singer whose gone the leper colony (out for a cigarette) or to the loo.
I now use automator and it take no time to set up
With kjams open and with automator open choose custom and hit record
Click on the kJams window
Click the forward button (on the keyboard not on kjams window)
press cmd. (stop)
Hit the down button
Hit space bar
stop recording
Increase the playback speed to x10
Save as a workflow called something like Skip a track
When your ready to use this, before you run it click the track you want to skip in rotation then run the workflow (note this workflow will only skip track number two in the rotation)
The track you've skipped goes to the bottom of the of the singers rotation, for example if you have 10 singers with 2 songs each it would go to song number 10, and you would need to move the singer up in KJ rotation when they come back
To clean it up a little if you click on the line "Bring the window kjams to the front" and delete it and then drag the action Launch Application above the watch me do window and in the drop down bit navigate to kjams it will work even faster.
The reason I use automator to do stuff like this is because it's faster than me doing it manually and once the workflow is done it's less likely that mistakes will happen.
I now use automator and it take no time to set up
With kjams open and with automator open choose custom and hit record
Click on the kJams window
Click the forward button (on the keyboard not on kjams window)
press cmd. (stop)
Hit the down button
Hit space bar
stop recording
Increase the playback speed to x10
Save as a workflow called something like Skip a track
When your ready to use this, before you run it click the track you want to skip in rotation then run the workflow (note this workflow will only skip track number two in the rotation)
The track you've skipped goes to the bottom of the of the singers rotation, for example if you have 10 singers with 2 songs each it would go to song number 10, and you would need to move the singer up in KJ rotation when they come back
To clean it up a little if you click on the line "Bring the window kjams to the front" and delete it and then drag the action Launch Application above the watch me do window and in the drop down bit navigate to kjams it will work even faster.
The reason I use automator to do stuff like this is because it's faster than me doing it manually and once the workflow is done it's less likely that mistakes will happen.