NOTE: We are no longer adding new features to Set List Maker. We recommend our newer product, BandHelper, for the latest design and functionality.
Importing songs and MIDI presets
Importing songs from a batch of documents or recordings
If you plan to attach documents or recordings to your songs, and you already have the document or recording files, the easiest way to add songs is to add them from these files.
- Copy one or more documents or recordings into the app's data folder, as shown in steps 5-6 of the Attaching Documents tutorial.
- Navigate to the Songs list in your database and tap the Import button at the top of the list, then choose Documents or Recordings.
- Set List Maker will show you a preview of the songs it will add. This consists of a song for every document or recording that is not already attached to a song.
- Tap Continue to add the new songs. For ChordPro and OnSong documents, the new song will contain the contents of the document (lyrics and metadata). For other documents or recordings, the new song will contain only the song title and a link to the document or recording.
Importing songs from ChordPro or OnSong files
If you have songs saved as ChordPro or OnSong files, you can create a new song using the name, lyrics and other data from each file. The file extension must be .chordpro, .chopro, .cho or .pro for ChordPro or .onsong for OnSong.
- Navigate to the Songs list, tap the Import button, tap ChordPro or OnSong, then select files saved in a compatible app, local folder or cloud storage service. On iOS, you can also use the Open In function in another app to send a file to Set List Maker.
- Rather than adding the file itself to your database, Set List Maker will create a new song using the data from that file. You can then edit the song directly in Set List Maker and add data not supported in the original file.
Importing songs from a playlist
You can also enter songs by importing them from a playlist that you set up in the Apple Music app or an Android app that saves to the Android media store. Read on for more details:
- Navigate to the Songs list in your database and tap the Import button at the top of the list, then choose Playlist.
- Select the desired playlist. If Android says that no playlists are available, your music app does not use the shared media store.
- Set List Maker will show you a preview of the data it's importing. If a song title in the playlist matches an existing song in your database, Set List Maker will not import that song. Duplicate songs will appear in gray text in the import preview window.
- Set List Maker will import the Title and Artist for each song, and link the song to the recording.
- On iOS/macOS, Set List Maker will import additional song fields as follows: Genre to Tags, if Genre matches an existing tag; Beats Per Minute to Tempo; Lyrics to Lyrics; and Comments to Notes.
- On Android, Set List Maker will import the tag (genre), tempo, duration, lyrics and comments, if they are defined in your music player and Set List Maker can identify them.
- After importing the songs, Set List Maker will create a new show using the playlist name, and will add all the playlist's songs to that show. (If a show with this name already exists, it will add any songs that aren't already in that show.) This allows you to review the songs you just imported and add more data manually if needed. If you don't need to keep this show, you can delete it without affecting the imported songs.
Importing songs from a data file
You can add songs with additional data by importing them from a song list that you set up on your computer. You can watch a tutorial video, or read on for more details:
- Your list must be saved in a tab-delimited text format. You can create this format directly using Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac), or set up a spreadsheet in Excel or Numbers and save your file in this format when you're done. You can use this sample file as a starting point (right-click and select the Download or Save File option).
- The file should contain the following columns:
Column 1: Title
Column 2: Artist
Column 3: Tags
Column 4: Key
Column 5: Time signature
Column 6: Tempo
Column 7: Duration
Column 8: Starting pitch
Column 9: Document filenames
Column 10: Recording filenames
Column 11: Lyrics
Column 12: Chords
Column 13: Notes
Column 14: MIDI song number
Column 15: MIDI program changes (incoming)
Columns 16+: Custom fields - Here are some special notes about some of the fields:
- Tags: You can enter a list of words or phrases here, separated by commas. If the tags are not already in your database, they will be added when you import the file.
- Duration: You can enter durations as minutes and seconds separated by a colon (e.g., 3:15).
- Document filenames: If you've copied documents to your device, you can specify their file names (including the file extensions) and Set List Maker will attach the documents to the songs upon import. To attach multiple documents to a song, you can include their names separated by pipe characters. For example, "Freebird lyrics.doc|Freebird chart.pdf".
- Recording filenames: If you've copied recordings to your device, you can specify their file names (including the file extensions) and Set List Maker will attach the recordings to the songs upon import. To attach multiple recordings to a song, you can include their names separated by pipe characters. For example, "Freebird full.mp3|Freebird no drums.mp3". Attaching recordings while importing only works on Android or with local recordings on iOS, not recordings stored in iTunes.
- Lyrics, chords and notes: To include line breaks in these fields, insert the character sequence \n where the line breaks should appear.
- MIDI program change (incoming): This is a program change that you can assign to a song to select the song from another MIDI device. This field should include an MSB, LSB and patch number written as decimals and separated by pipe characters. For example, "10|11|12" would respond to MSB 10, LSB 11 and patch 12. If you want to send program changes for a song, you must create a MIDI preset with those program changes and attach the preset to the song.
- Custom fields: If you'd like to populate your custom fields for your songs, you can include this text in any number of additional columns in your import file. Set List Maker will map the additional columns to your defined custom fields in the sort order you've defined for them, so you must enter your custom field names into Set List Maker before performing the import.
- When the file is ready, you can copy it to any local or cloud storage location that Set List Maker can access.
- In Set List Maker, navigate to the Songs list in your database
and tap the Import button at the top of the list,
choose "Text File (batch)" and use the file browser to select your file. Then Set List Maker will
show you a preview of the data it's importing. You can
review this to make sure your file is set up correctly before
finishing the import.
- If Set List Maker shows an error about characters that cannot be imported, your file contains high-ASCII or "special" characters. The most common special characters are "smart quotes" that software like Excel adds by default when you type quotation marks or apostrophes. You can open your file in a plain text editor like Notepad or TextEdit and re-type these characters to replace them with their low-ASCII equivalents. Alternatively, you can save your file as a UTF text file and then Set List Maker will be able to import it.
Importing MIDI presets from a data file
Importing MIDI presets from a file is similar to importing songs from a file, with these differences:
- You can import your file from the Import button at the top of the MIDI Presets list instead of the Songs list.
- The file should contain the following columns:
Column 1: MIDI preset name
Column 2: MIDI program changes
Column 3: MIDI control changes
Column 4: MIDI raw data device
Column 5: MIDI raw data hex code
Column 6: Song title - You can enter the program changes as a comma-separated list with one item per device. Each item should include a device name, MSB, LSB and program number separated by pipe characters. For example, "My Keyboard|10|11|12,Guitar Processor|13|14|15" would send MSB 10, LSB 11 and program 12 to the port and channel set for the My Keyboard device, and MSB 13, LSB 14 and program 15 to the port and channel set for the Guitar Processor device. The device name must exactly match a MIDI device that is already in your database. The MSB, LSB and program values should be written as decimals (not hex code) and counted up from 0 or 1, depending on the Numbering setting in each MIDI device.
- You can enter the control changes as a comma-separated list with one item per device. Each item should include a device name, controller number and value separated by pipe characters. For example, "My Keyboard|20|25,Guitar Processor|30|35" would send controller 20 with a value of 25 to the port and channel set for the My Keyboard device, and controller 30 with a value of 35 to the port and channel set for the Guitar Processor device. The device name must exactly match a MIDI device that is already in your database. The controller and value should be written as decimals (not hex code) and counted up from 0 or 1, depending on the Numbering setting in each MIDI device.
- If you specify a device in column 4, any raw data you enter will only be sent to the specified device. Otherwise, it will be sent to all devices.
- If you specify a song title, the MIDI preset will be attached to that song after importing. The title must exactly match a song that is already in your database. If the title does not match any existing songs, or you don't specify any song title, the MIDI preset will still be imported, but will not be attached to any songs.
- You can specify the same song title for multiple presets. They will be attached to the song in the order in which they appear in the file.
You can use this sample file as a starting point (right-click and select the Download or Save File option).
