Just released a big update to strummachine.com and the mobile apps. Huge thanks to everyone who beta-tested the new features over the past few months and offered their feedback!
You can watch the video below for a quick overview of the new features, followed by an update about what’s coming next. Or just keep reading below the video for all the details.
The Three Big New Features
Medleys! Multiple songs can be combined into a set and Strum Machine will seamlessly play through them one after another. Songs can be in different keys and at different tempos if desired. Watch a video overview of how medleys work, or just load up a song and then go to “Medley” in the right-hand sidebar to get started.
New “playlist” features! Go to any song through a list and you’ll see a list navigation bar at the top of the screen, with Auto-Advance and shuffle features available. Learn more about the new navigation bar.
Ending brackets! These can be used to have a repeating section end differently on each repetition. Learn more.
Other Changes in This Release
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The song editor copy/paste functionality now works across browser windows/tabs, making it easier to copy part of one song into another.
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Changed behavior of the restart button (and Backspace key); it will now go to the beginning of the current section. You can press it twice to go back to the beginning of the song.
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Clicking Auto-Finish “rep markers” doesn’t start immediately anymore. I’m consdering making this the behavior of the section rep markers as well.
Audio Problems on Apple Devices
Apple introduced several “show-stopping” bugs in version 15 of Safari and iOS that affect the audio system that Strum Machine uses for a small but significant number of users. 
Some bugs (such as broken MP3 decoding) could be worked around, while others (like the bug that sometimes halts playback altogether) only Apple can fix. I’m still looking into what bugs are causing which problems, though. If you encounter any issues with audio playback, please write support@strummachine.com and describe the issue you’re facing – or better yet, send me a video!
What’s Coming Next
Strumming patterns! I’ve posted about this before, so I won’t repeat myself here, but this is still my top priority for Strum Machine. I got delayed by this new beta release (which was necessary to finish before programming the new strumming patterns, but took much longer than anticipated), the bugs that Apple introduced in v15 of Safari/iOS, and some life stuff. So it will probably be 2022 before the new strumming styles are ready for testing. But I will post an update before the year is over to show you all the progress I’ve made.
Cheers,
Luke
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Awesome stuff, thanks for this. The Medley feature is a brilliant addition. Looking forward to the new strumming patterns
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My play button keeps rotating, can’t press play , sense the update
@NormandLabonville, I just released a fix for this (I think) in v354.4 a few minutes ago… would you try it again, please?
Update: v354.4 didn’t fix it, but I’ve heard from several people that v354.6 did, so I believe the issue has been resolved. It was a very tricky bug to squash! 
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Thank you for your dedication to making Strum Machine the best app ever dreamed of! I’ve been a subscriber for 4-5 months. I’m using it to improve my flatpicking guitar speed so that I can hold my head high with pride at the local bluegrass jams. I started at 70 bpm and now I play fairly comfortably at 85. I can hold 95 while practicing but not yet during a jam. I’ll get there soon enough.
I like the set list idea. There is a list of songs that I go through about every time I sit down to practice.
Is there a way to share a song I’ve worked out to the public Strum Machine archive? Crafton’s Blues is one that I could share. It is an interesting fiddle tune that is not a common bluegrass jam tune.
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Glad you’ve found Strum Machine helpful, David!
There is not (yet?) a way to share songs publicly within the Strum Machine app itself, but you can post them to the Share Your Charts category of this forum! You just copy a link from the Share menu in Strum Machine, then paste it into a new “topic” in that category.
After the new strumming patterns, I think my next big focus will be expanding the public library in various ways.
Thank you Luke for doing such a remarkable job.
Your program is excellent and very easy to use.
When I think of all the time I struggled with the complexities of BIAB, and you have created the straightforward and intuitive program I was after all along.
Your sterling efforts are much appreciated.
Cheers.
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Welcome!!! Great stuff on this site
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Great stuff! Looking forward to the strum patterns being updated. Particularly the jig strumming and the “pretty waltz”. Thanks again. Nice work.
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So, should we not bother with the beta for now? I was using it exclusively on both my laptop and phone. But since the beta got folded into production, it doesn’t seem like I need to be using it for a while, till you start introducing maybe strumming patterns, etc.
You can certainly keep using the beta if you want. You’re right, though, there won’t be any difference between the beta and non-beta Strum Machine for awhile. Strumming patterns will probably be the next thing to go into beta testing, unless I sneak in a small improvement while I’m putting together the new strums.
Love the new features! Strum Machine makes the world a better place.
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