In this article you will learn about several ways to scroll your lyrics or lead sheets in Gig Performer.
[1] How to scroll the Song Lyrics/Chords window using a knob
The internal System Actions plugin includes the ChordPro Page Offset parameter that allows for easy scrolling of the Song Lyrics/Chords window using a knob widget.
Of course, you can also MIDI learn that widget and then scroll the lyrics using a knob on your MIDI controller.
You can further automate widget movement using:
a) Streaming Audio File Player
b) Timers
c) MIDI File Player
We’ll mention the first two methods below in the article, and for the third method, see this article. (This is not a convenient way to scroll lyrics, but we mention it for the completeness of the article)
[2] How to scroll the song lyrics when you switch to a song part
The Song Lyrics/Chords Editor supports automatic scrolling to specific song parts using the songpartname directives. You insert these directives in the Edit tab of the editor and since they are directives, they won’t appear in the View tab. For example, let’s assume that there are three song parts in a song: Intro, Verse, and Chorus. You need three directives:
– for the Intro song part: {songpartname: Intro}
– for the Verse song part: {songpartname: Verse}
– for the Chorus song part: {songpartname: Chorus}
When you click on the View tab and click on one of the song parts – you will notice that your lyrics file automatically scrolls to that part.
The Gig Performer PDF2GPChordPro utility application can automatically create a series of these directives for a given PDF file. That way you can easily scroll the lyrics by clicking on the corresponding song parts. Click here to learn more about this optional free app.
[3] How to scroll the song lyrics using the Streaming Audio File Player
The Streaming Audio File Player allows you to create markers and trigger specified actions when a marker is reached during playback. You can watch this video to learn more about these features. While you can create Set Widget Valueactions to move the knob shown in section [1] of this article and scroll the lyrics window that way, note that there is an explicit action called Go to ChordPro Marker.
This action assumes that you have already placed marker directives in your ChordPro file, e.g. {marker: “verse2”}, as indicated with the red rectangle in the screenshot below:
So in the Go to ChordPro Marker action you need to enter the marker name without quotes. When the playhead reaches this marker, it will execute this action and move the ChordPro file to the specified position (in this example, to show Verse 2).
For completeness, we’ll mention here the third-party Image Viewer extension, which can integrate with the Streaming Audio File Player and show images.
[4] Scrolling lyrics using a timer
Gig Performer power user Erik Schütz created an interesting gig file, where you can set the duration of your song and when you click on the “Go” button, it will slowly scroll the lyrics until the specified duration is reached.
Download the gig file here: EZ-Scroller
[5] Integrating a third-party application for managing lyrics
Gig Performer’s powerful MIDI and OSC implementations allow it to be easily integrated with other iOS, iPadOS, Android, macOS and Windows applications. In this community thread, we’ve compiled all the tutorials for apps such as OnSong, Mobile Sheets, and BandHelper (which you can see in the screenshot below), and Gig Performer.
For more information on ChordPro, make sure to read this blog article: How to use ChordPro files in Gig Performer.
If you have any questions or you want to share your feedback, please visit this Community thread.
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Own The Stage® with Gig Performer®
Nemanja Pudar
Related topics:
– How to use ChordPro files in Gig Performer
– List of how-to guides and tutorials for third-party applications and Gig Performer