Connection to Bandhelper

Feature Requests
1

AbleSet is a tool that we use every weekend and it is fantastic!

For all our other managing things we use BandHelper.

In BandHelper you can create Playlists for all other BandMembers.
We have about 300 Files created with Ableton in MultiFileMode.

Is there a way or a chance to import the created playlists in AbleSet?
That would save a lot of time by creating only one Setlist instead of two with about 120 Songs.

2

Hey @Michael_Sommerer,

What formats can BandHelper export setlist in? Maybe you can upload a few examples so I can check how they could be imported into AbleSet :slight_smile:

3

Hey @leolabs thank you for your fast answer.

Bandhelper can export the Setlist in 3 ways (PDF, plain Text, HTML(only in the App))

I found that you can create in Banhelper custom fields for your songs. I created a field called AbleSet and put a number in it. Perhaps it would be possible to ad this number in the filename of the project ~001 and you can parse this together with AbleSet?

I created a lot of screenshots and example files. I will send it to you by mail to have a look at.

4

Hey @Michael_Sommerer,

Thank you for your files!

I think RTF files will be easiest to support. My approach would be to extract just the song title and search for that in your list of songs. So, a setlist like:

Set 1 (3 Songs, 12 Minuten)
--------------------
A night like this - Cm - 3:47 - 004
Acky breaky heart - A - 3:27 - 002
Angels - E - 4:37 - 003

Would be converted to this:

A night like this
Acky breaky heart
Angels

And each song title would be matched to a song in AbleSet to build the setlist. The matching will be fairly forgiving in the same way that search currently works, so the song titles donā€™t have to match exactly for them to be matched.

Would this work for your use case? :slight_smile:

5

That would be absolutly fantastic if it works this way!

That are 3 clicks and save a lot of time every or even twice a weekend!!!

6

Be aware that if you have more Sets in a Setlist, there will bitte more Headlinesā€¦

And so on.

7

Hey @Michael_Sommerer, thank you for the clarification, thatā€™s good to know!

Just to test this on a real-life use case, could you send me an RTF export of a setlist that contains multiple sets? Iā€™ll check if it works and will include this feature in the next beta version then :slight_smile:

8

Of course, I sent it to you by mail.

9

Perfect, thanks! Iā€™ve implemented support for this and will release it with the next beta version soon :slight_smile:

1 Like
10

I donā€™t use BandHelper, but I assume I could still use this export?

Are there any instructions posted?

11

Hey Maverick,

Just to clarify:

  • The RTF exports being referred to are exported from BandHelper.
  • AbleSet exports itself are JSON files.

For importing song lists into AbleSet, you donā€™t need BandHelper ā€” but the format is important:

  • A simple list of song names must be plain text (.txt).
  • RTF will work if they follow the BandHelper-style structure (sets, headers, separators).

Import options:

  • From a file: Setlist ā†’ Edit ā†’ drag in a simple .txt with a list of songs, or a BandHelper-style structured .rtf
  • Since beta 19: āŒ˜C copies the setlist as plain text, āŒ˜V imports a setlist from your clipboard
  • Since beta 22: you can paste a list of songs directly into the ā€œLoad Setlistā€ dialog
    (especially useful on iOS & Android, where āŒ˜V isnā€™t available)
12

Thatā€™s helpful information for sure, but what I was thinking about is the following:

When I build sets in Ableset for my band, I have to also type out a setlist for the ā€˜lo-techā€™ band members. Since they wonā€™t bring iPads or anything, I have to print paper lists for them.

It would be great to simply export a text list from Ableset (I can format in MS Word or whatever)

but not have to type everything from scratch and double-check for accuracy.

Right now, my only option is to make a copy of the JSON file, and do a lot of stripping down to just song titles.

13

You donā€™t need to touch the JSON at all :slightly_smiling_face:

Just go to Setlist ā†’ Edit Mode and press:
ā€¢ āŒ˜ C on macOS
ā€¢ Ctrl C on Windows

That copies the entire setlist as plain text to your clipboard.

From there, you can paste it straight into Word, Google Docs, WhatsApp, or anywhere else and format or print it however you like.

Hope that helps!

1 Like
14

Perfect! Very simple solution! Thanks!

15

On 3.0 Beta 25, after much testing, on Windows, it only works if you select ā€˜Copyā€™ from the edit menu in the AbleSet window. Although the keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+C, that only copies the metadata of the setlist, rather than the actual setlist. Iā€™m good for now, but thought Iā€™d point that outā€¦

16

Hey Maverick,

Could you please try updating to the latest official release and let me know if that resolves the issue?

Also, just to clarify, when youā€™re in Setlist Edit Mode, you donā€™t need to select anything with your mouse or trackpad. Simply pressing Ctrl + C should work.

Let me know if this helps.
Iā€™m looking forward to your reply!

17

Itā€™s also worth noting that starting with beta 28 ā€” and therefore in the official release as well ā€” the Bandhelper RTF import feature was removed.

Alternatively, you can simply copy your setlist in Bandhelper and paste it directly from your clipboard into AbleSet.

18

Still the same behavior in 3.0.5.
Ctrl + C in Setlist Edit Mode does nothing, but if I go to the actual menu (Top Left > Edit > Copy), it works.

19

Hey @Maverick, I just managed to find a fix for this issue and will release it with the next update. Thank you for reporting this :slight_smile:

20

Thank you sir!
I assumed the code block was missing for the keyboard shortcut, since the menu item works. :wink: