[Swiss1000]

Space bar not workin in audio player :

You suggested to place an action buton (pedal) to assign spacebar "Start or pause audio", I did, on 6th buton (not used)
It works partially : if audio player si close, no problems, but if audio Player is open, space bar works on the lase used command...
Looking at other audio players, it's really useful, if not essential, to be able to rely on the space bar to pause and restart. This is the whole point of using an audio player when learning.
Would you check and corect ?

Space bar is not only à Windows shortkey, and sometime tablets can have a keyboard.

[Swiss1000]

I really tryed to works with the player, but it is unusable. Tryed to convince my groups to use it but not succesfully : People have severals players really better in tems of shortcut.
Did ever tray to have a guitar in you hands ans drive your player ? Try it, or with anny instrument, keybords, tumpet Saxophone etc... No ways.

Youtube, witch is not the best one, is really more usefull.

The minimum is below in picture. Of course someone can pretend it use with succes, but only if you have a tablet and no system keyborad.

[Swiss1000]

Another solution would be to offer possibility to assign an external player ?
It could be the best way to have a professional solution with personals choices ?

[Zubersoft]

There is no concept of the audio player having "focus", as some users change the settings to have it up all the time while still turning pages, although it currently may get keyboard focus because Microsoft's framework is automatically assigning focus to the buttons when you click on them (I'm going to have to see if I can stop that from happening). It may be visible, but that doesn't mean users would suddenly want all their pedal actions to stop functioning because of it. The left/right arrows are commonly used keys for bluetooth pedals, so rerouting those to the player if it's visible would likely cause issues for some users that leave the audio player visible while performing. I'll have to add some actions at some point for skipping forward and backward in the audio track so that users that want to use the left/right arrow keys for that (instead of for turning pages) can assign that in the settings.

The purpose of the audio player is really to play a backing track while performing (meaning you aren't actively interacting with the audio player while performing). You can link a smart button to an audio file if you want it to launch that file in your default audio player application.

Mike

[Swiss1000]

There is no concept of the audio player having "focus", as some users change the settings to have it up all the time while still turning pages, although it currently may get keyboard focus because Microsoft's framework is automatically assigning focus to the buttons when you click on them (I'm going to have to see if I can stop that from happening). It may be visible, but that doesn't mean users would suddenly want all their pedal actions to stop functioning because of it. The left/right arrows are commonly used keys for bluetooth pedals, so rerouting those to the player if it's visible would likely cause issues for some users that leave the audio player visible while performing. I'll have to add some actions at some point for skipping forward and backward in the audio track so that users that want to use the left/right arrow keys for that (instead of for turning pages) can assign that in the settings.

The purpose of the audio player is really to play a backing track while performing (meaning you aren't actively interacting with the audio player while performing). You can link a smart button to an audio file if you want it to launch that file in your default audio player application.

Mike

Sorry, but it seems obvious that you're the one not playing; interactions are inherent in music...
The audio player is useless on a score unless it's a learning aid, even in backing tracks. And a learning aid requires interaction: Start, Pause, looping difficult passages, going back 5 or 10 seconds, or skipping ahead to a passage already learned... (ETC) 
In our opinion, this audio player has no use without possible interaction. We would prefer to have a "Use the system player by default" option.

[Zubersoft]

Everyone uses the app differently - your use case scenario does not represent every user. However, I'm not suggesting that you can't interact with the audio player - you can do that in many ways. You can use a touch action, pedal action, MIDI action, etc. I was mainly just saying that most users wouldn't be trying to adjust settings on the audio player, or going back and forth in the audio track, while actively performing. If you are using it as a learning aid - then sure, you are interacting with it more in that case, but that's not how every user uses the audio player. If you want to use an audio player outside the app, use a smart button as I suggested. Otherwise, I have already said that I can consider adding more pedal actions (i.e. keyboard shortcuts) and remove the focus issue so that you can do exactly what you are asking for - use space bar to start/stop and the arrow keys to fast forward or rewind. If you are saying you need something beyond that, then I'm willing to listen.

Mike

[Swiss1000]

OK, that's the main thing.

I tested all media player I had, all use that convention
VLC
Audacity
Youtube
Ireal Pro (Android via Windows emulator)
Ableton
Spotify (no picture, max attachement limit)...

[Zubersoft]

Yes, all of those but iRealPro are apps that serve one purpose - playing audio or video. That is their primary function. You are comparing that to an app that includes audio playback support as a secondary function where those keys are set up to do something else by default. If I tapped to bring up the overlay, and the song happens to have an audio file associated with it, and I pressed the right arrow key to go to the next page and it instead skipped forward in the audio track, that is not what I would expect at all. Please load an external PDF viewer/editor (such as Adobe Acrobat) and press the left arrow/right arrow keys and it will turn the pages. That's what many users expect in MobileSheets. That's why I'm suggesting that I can let you override that behavior with some changes if you want it to work differently, but I have to set up the app to behave by default in a way that most users would expect. 

Mike

[Zubersoft]

Thinking about it some more, what I can do is, if left arrow/right arrow are not assigned to pedal actions at all, and the audio player is visible, I can redirect the input to the audio player. So you would just need to clear out any pedal actions for the arrow keys if you want to use them for this purpose. I'm okay with that approach as well. I can do the same with the space bar.

Mike

[Swiss1000]

You're saying that the majority wants to keep "left right" while playing??? I have to say I absolutely don't understand that. 
If the player is "ON" and 40% of the track is playing, pressing "Right Arrow" takes you to the next track??? 
If the player is OFF, the arrow goes to the next track; if the player is ON, it advances; that seems logical to me. 

So to go to the next track, just press "Bare Space" and "Right," which stops the track and advances to the next one. 

Also, which is the next track? The next audio track or the next track? I don't know any player that skips to the next track or song while playing. 

They all skip forward, and if they reach the end, they move on to the next track. 
They've all adopted the old logic of tape or cassette recorders, even on CDs... 

Don't make a big deal out of it, keep it simple. But if you don't want to, just choose a simple "Send audio to external" option when opening the audio

Best regards

[BRX]

@Swiss1000
Not to make a big thing of it either and ulimately it is Mike's decision if and how he implements user requests. And I won't deny I have wished for some Windows shortcuts/keys myself when I'm sitting in front of on one of my Windows devices PCs with MS (not spacebar for Audioplayer though) and have been confused by some audioplayer functions (in the rare instance I tried to use a loop in the playback for instance).

But IMHO you don't acknowledge that MS primarily is a sheet reading and database program which has been developed and is intended for tablets with touch screen (and yes most of my Windows devices have a touchscreen) and things like the audio player, metronome etc are bonus fetures. So a spacebar usually doesn't come in play for the intended touch screen devices. I feel it's a bit much to insist on changing this "bonus feature" for problems of your music group which most of the other MS users don't have when your group is (so I guess) not using a touchscreen device and/or is a bit inflexible to learn a slightly different usage of the audio player than they're used too. Keep in mind Mike has hundreds of requests for implementations and changes in the pipeline.

[Swiss1000]

@Swiss1000
Not to make a big thing of it either and ulimately it is Mike's decision if and how he implements user requests. And I won't deny I have wished for some Windows shortcuts/keys myself when I'm sitting in front of on one of my Windows devices PCs with MS (not spacebar for Audioplayer though) and have been confused by some audioplayer functions (in the rare instance I tried to use a loop in the playback for instance).

But IMHO you don't acknowledge that MS primarily is a sheet reading and database program which has been developed and is intended for tablets with touch screen (and yes most of my Windows devices have a touchscreen) and things like the audio player, metronome etc are bonus fetures. So a spacebar usually doesn't come in play for the intended touch screen devices. I feel it's a bit much to insist on changing this "bonus feature" for problems of your music group which most of the other MS users don't have when your group is (so I guess) not using a touchscreen device and/or is a bit inflexible to learn a slightly different usage of the audio player than they're used too. Keep in mind Mike has hundreds of requests for implementations and changes in the pipeline.

There are clearly two different uses: 
- reading sheet music (with a pedalboard if necessary) in concert or band rehearsal mode. 
- practicing in personal rehearsals, at home, which takes up the most time. And the space bar and arrow keys are certainly essential in all audio players, and for good reason, because they're instinctive and fast. 

You're right, the LOOP system is complicated and not very intuitive. And the arrow keys will then be extremely useful: Click on position or pause, right arrow +5 or +10 seconds, and click on end of loop and you have your excerpt... Consider the excellent VLC Media Player that we use and that I recommend to musicians. 

Currently, it's Mike's choice that makes this function almost impossible to understand. Whether it's a pad or keyboard shortcuts, it requires a certain logic.

At home, everyone I know uses a PC (Windows or Mac) to practice their pieces, or adding pad, keyboard. Sitting at a desk, a tablet only isn't the most practical thing, even if some people get along with it...
An important think : it is not a Windows shortcut, it works in Android wit additional keyboard by exemple.

[samibe]

Part of me wanted to point out, as others have, that Swiss1000 isn't understanding the point of mobilesheets (it's a sheet music viewer first and the audio player is an added bonus) but I have run into similar issues working on a duet. I have an audio track of the other part so I can work on mine and get familiar with how it's supposed to sound together. The audio player is great for playing all the way through and for being able to practice slowly, but trying to work on a section somewhere in the middle can be difficult.

What might help clear things up is to have a list of hotkeys (defaults and user set) somewhere in the settings. Something like the pedal actions but for keyboard input. This would make it more explicit that the arrow keys are used to turn pages and therefore aren't available to affect audio playback. This might also allow the space bar to be assigned to play/pause for the audio player. I have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to my tablet that I mainly use for searches and entering data. I don't use it for turning pages but I would use it for controlling audio or adjusting the metronome.

It also appears that while the audio player has the ability to skip forwards or backwards by 5sec, there isn't a way to do that with a keyboard, pedal, or smart button .

One final thing, I would find it very helpful to be able to have a smart button start audio at a specific timestamp. That would make it possible to put smart buttons next to rehearsal marks (or at the top of each page) and have the music queued up for practicing that section/page. It would also eliminate trying to get the slider set to the right position, hitting play and quickly minimizing the player to see the music to start practicing.

[McAroni]

One final thing, I would find it very helpful to be able to have a smart button start audio at a specific timestamp. That would make it possible to put smart buttons next to rehearsal marks (or at the top of each page) and have the music queued up for practicing that section/page. It would also eliminate trying to get the slider set to the right position, hitting play and quickly minimizing the player to see the music to start practicing.

You could already do that. Create a Smart Button -> load and play audio track -> Assign the current audio position or your own time from where the audio should start.
If you press the smart button the audio will start from that point
I also assigned a touch action to top center to start and stop the audio track. so there is no need to bring up the audio player.

[Swiss1000]

Part of me wanted to point out, as others have, that Swiss1000 isn't understanding the point of mobilesheets (it's a sheet music viewer first and the audio player is an added bonus) but I have run into similar issues working on a duet. I have an audio track of the other part so I can work on mine and get familiar with how it's supposed to sound together. The audio player is great for playing all the way through and for being able to practice slowly, but trying to work on a section somewhere in the middle can be difficult.

What might help clear things up is to have a list of hotkeys (defaults and user set) somewhere in the settings. Something like the pedal actions but for keyboard input. This would make it more explicit that the arrow keys are used to turn pages and therefore aren't available to affect audio playback. This might also allow the space bar to be assigned to play/pause for the audio player. I have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to my tablet that I mainly use for searches and entering data. I don't use it for turning pages but I would use it for controlling audio or adjusting the metronome.

It also appears that while the audio player has the ability to skip forwards or backwards by 5sec, there isn't a way to do that with a keyboard, pedal, or smart button .

One final thing, I would find it very helpful to be able to have a smart button start audio at a specific timestamp. That would make it possible to put smart buttons next to rehearsal marks (or at the top of each page) and have the music queued up for practicing that section/page. It would also eliminate trying to get the slider set to the right position, hitting play and quickly minimizing the player to see the music to start practicing.

  I agree, my "understanding" was late 

Another interst and needs is having possibility to move the Audio player outside of the curent window.
Now the player is captive, and blind a lot of the sheet, creating difficulty to read AND work.

Sortkey, space bar and arrow can help, with a small player (Nr 1)...