SongFollower

SongFollower is a follower of the SongLeader module. It is designed to be used by a member of a group/band who needs to keep in step with the leader. This can include musicians as well as singers. TheSongFollower gives the user control of how the song is displayed by the use of Display Profiles as well as local tranpose and capo controls. The follower will automatically keep in sync with the leader (unless automatic updates are switched off).

Overview

The initial screen you will see is shown below. It consists of a number of basic areas.

The software is designed to be touchscreen friendly using larger, simple buttons and easy touch areas for song lists and songs. However it works equally well with a mouse and keyboard.

Control Panel

The top row is the control panel for the software which allows easy control of the software. It is divided into 2 sections.

Transpose and Capo

This section allows keys to be changed up or down relative to the key set by the leader. This can be useful for a special guitar tuning or some other instrument that requires an offset key.

The capo position is independent of the leader and allows a guitarist to set a capo position according to their own requirements.

General Controls

This section allows easy access to other functions.

Select Profile
Selecting this shows a list of profiles which can be applied to the song display area. The actual profile list will vary according to the loaded profiles. A number of profiles are supplied by default.

Updates
This section consists of a single button which controls whether or not updates from a leader are displayed automatically or not. When green updates from the leader are displayed automatically for every change. Press this button to toggle the auto-updates status to manual. In manual mode you must press a key (normally the space bar) to sync with the leader.

Song List

The song list will have 1 button for each song loaded in the set. Click on a song button to display the song in the song display area. If automatic updates are on the song will be changed automatically when the leader changes their selection. In manual mode you must click on the song selected by the leader or press the space bar to display the leaders currently selected song. The songlist will always highlight the leaders current song.

Song Display

The song display shows one of the following:

No licence available - displayed when there are more followers than the leader is licenced for
Waiting for leader - the follower is waiting for a connection to the leader
The currently selected song - it will be displayed so that it fits entirely within the screen size if possible. This is acheived using a combination of font size reduction and the use of multiple display columns. The selected profile has an impact on the actual display
Blank - the leader or the user have blanked out the current song selection

If the leader clicks on a section of a song it will be highlighted on the screen in a fading colour. The purpose of this is to allow the leader to show where he/she is going next.