Suggestion for MTU, or advice for me.

[ginamon]

Hey there, I have just purchased and started using Hoster and I love it... One thing I would like to see (and if this is already there, please let me know, I read the manual, but learn by doing).

At my shows I have several singers that give me 10 or more songs (even if they don't get to sing them all) at the start of the night, currently I have two plastic containers (in and out boxes, basically)... I pile the sheets in order of rotation. I get about 14-20 singers in my rotation per show, which means that I have a ton of little slips to keep organized. I would love an area to enter all these songs AND Keep my rotation in order... I find it hard to stay organized if I enter them all into the rotation list as I get them, and it screws up my rotation when other singers don't pick their songs until their turn (have a few that do that too)... I would like something like the singers database, but that only lasts one show... that way I can enter slips as they come in and keep my rotation in order...

Also, any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated...

[Roy Dennis]

This is just an idea, may suit you may not. When someone gives you say 6 songs enter them all in the play list but after the first song click skip, then enter the next singers say 4 songs but after his 1st song click skip, do this for all the singers with multiple songs. Now it will jump to the next singer and not the next song. After all have had their 1st song either go back to the top of the list and un skip all their next songs and play again from the top or drag them down one at a time to below the last singer.

There is someone Else's idea in this forum if you search that uses a blackboard and chalk. As a singer signs up he enters his own name on the chalkboard for all to see and the next singer signs in after him, at the end of the list it starts again from the top. Doesn't show his song just rotation. Seems very fair way until someone wants to sing with someone else as well.
I myself prefer to just show the next 3 singers on my next singers list which gives me a chance to juggle them as I see fit.

Roy.

[stublack]

Hey there - This is my suggestion I hope I can make this simple.

1. First of all I don't use slips at all, I've even taken Book ID numbers out
of my song books.

2. I open up a blank Note Pad Or Word Pad and there I keep my rotation.

3. I've imported a song (It doesn't matter what song) and I titled it
PLEASE SELECT A SONG. IE: reinstall the song HELP by the Beatles only
give it the above title.

4. For every singer in the rotation who has not put in a song yet I add the
above track so it shows on the monitor that they need to select a
song.

5. I will take more than 2 requests at a time but always suggest to the
singer 1 or 2 is enough. Once the singers realize that your paperless
(no more little papers to blow around or keep organized) they
know they don't have to even look up the song if they know you
have it and will get the idea.

I hope this helps, I feel the whole idea of becoming computerized is to also to become paperless. I know there are many ways to do this but this works for me.

[ginamon]

Wow, that was quick, thanks for the great suggestions, I think I will combine the two, use the skip button with the "please choose a song" idea... if it gets too messy, I will use a word doc, as suggested...

How did you get rid of slips? I hate the things... Does everyone just come up to you? or do you go table to table? I was thinking of putting a pad of paper up at the front and letting people just write down what they want there, but was unsure how it would work...

Thanks so much for your quick and helpful suggestions.

[Roy Dennis]

What I do myself is ask the singers to only give me one song at a time, then when they come up to sing their song give me their next selection. This way the rotation almost looks after itself.

Roy.

[billyo]

i do same thing as Roy, i only take 1 song slip at a time, when i call their name, that is the time they give me the next song they wanted to sing, and i have 2 separate pile, one for the songs thats been sang and one for the next rotation, and i put them in order as they come.

[ddouglass]

We changed from using slips to using full pages that we print up their songs that sing all the time from the Singer's Database. When they come in they pick up their sheet and mark it with what they want to sing and in what order.
To make sure we stick to the rotation we use the Notepad idea to list it.

Now there is an idea that MTU put forward a while back to add a Rotation Control within Hoster. I am sure it is still in the specs to be done sometime in the future. The reason it hasn't been done is because other things needed to be done before this could happen plus some items that had to be address because of priority.

I moved this thread to New Feature Requests as this is where it should be.

[admin]

Read in the Manual about the Singers Database (Singers button). When you select a Singer name (or add a new one) in the Main Play screen, then select the song they request, click the "S" button to the right of the Add Track button. This adds that song under that Singer in the Singers DB.

You can also grab a singer while someone else sings and use the Singers button and dialog to add ALL songs they currently sing. Then, when they arrive at your show, you can select and add ALL their songs into the Playlist (appends at the bottom). As mentioned above, cick each below their topmost and click the Skip button. If they don't like their "first" song, they can tell you which one they want, and you simply Skip the first and unskip the requested one.

NEW FEATURE CONSIDERATION: We could add a checkbox in the Singer's Dialog that when clicked, automatically sets the SKIP flag on ALL the added songs when more than one is selected and added. Click it off and all songs add as un-skipped.

[ginamon]

You guys seriously rock, even if the program was mediocre, I would continue to buy it for this forum, which I have been reading all day (bloody brilliant way to spend a day). Thanks so much . And I promise to give the manual another read... but I can't promise my brain won't just seep out my ears like it does whenever I have to read a manual...

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by admin;100127
[B

NEW FEATURE CONSIDERATION:[/b] We could add a checkbox in the Singer's Dialog that when clicked, automatically sets the SKIP flag on ALL the added songs when more than one is selected and added. Click it off and all songs add as un-skipped.

I have always thought that It would be a good idea if when the play list loads all the list was highlighted as skip. Perhaps a tick box from the tools tab to allow this feature for those of us that would prefer this.

Roy.

[EmilioM]

The skip idea is a good one. I too have slips and songbooks by title and by artist, but where I play, the books are used very little and the slips I only see when it's a new person that's never sang with me before. I have a pad where I write everyones name as they walk in. They walk in the door and I ask them if they want to sing. If they do, I put them on my pad. All my normal customers know to give me the song when they come up and if they give it to me beforehand, I put it on the singers list and just skip them until it's their turn. What's great about Hoster is when someone comes up on their turn and gives you a song, you can access it very quickly, instead of trying to find a disc. Of course with the singers list, I know who is coming next, so i normally have the singers songlist up before they come up to me, so it's just a matter of scanning down the list and adding the song. Also, when the pad gets full, I keep it for posterity.

JR

[stublack]

Give paperless a try, you would not believe what a relief it is, it's like not having to load cd's but have hoster run your computer show.

I'm sure everybody has different ways to do their rotation, but if you do that on wordpad, no stinking pencils, papers or cd's!!!!

[Roy Dennis]

Haven't used it myself but my new Widows 7 comes with a handy little program named Sticky Notes. Could be quite handy for rotation as it has a very small footprint without all the menu features.

Roy.

[EmilioM]

I too have that sticky note program, and it is pretty cool. You can enlarge it to fit more singers names. And I may use it some, but my pad has come in handy at times when you don't remember a singers name. I have alot of singers that walk in and expect their names to be put in the rotation automatically. And that's fine, but a few come in only once in a while. Those are the ones that I forget their names. So instead of me going to ask what their name is, (because you always get "you don't remember my name"), I look back on my pad, and usually it reminds me. In fact that happened just last night with this one girl I had not seen in a while. So even though I'm pretty much paperless, like I said in a previous post, the few slips I have in my songbooks don't get used unless it's a new person that doesn't know any better. It's probably been at least 5 or 6 months since someone handed me a song slip. But I still think I'll keep my pad.

JR

[no vocals]

ginamon,

we take lots of songs at a time like you, but we don't have slips. what we do is add the first song with the bookid and in the name area put "rotation" or "top". we do this several times and place that song at the beginning of every rotation. also all of the regular singers at my show have their list in the singers database as well. they pretty much tell me "put whatever you feel like hearing in for me". the great thing about that is i choose what they sing out of their list and don't have to have 6-10 for each of them in the que.

oh, for the top suggestion to work, you'll need to have your "keep songs after play" clicked so your rotation doesnt disappear

[2shadow]

I don't use slips anymore either. We started using a clip board that has a full sheet for them ti sign up on. They can only sign up for one at a time and when new singers sign up they spot is right where they fall on the list, the rotation take care of itself. We ask only for there name and and the song/artist name.