Sync across platforms

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mrReband
Posts: 1

Post by mrReband »

I spent some time going through and assigning finger metadata on the PC and would like to import that into the iOS version. I found this thread about synchronizing settings across multiple windows devices --

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9456&p=45899&hilit=sync#p45899

Is there a way to do the same for iPad? Apologies if this has already been asked.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

There isn't an automatic way of syncing, but there is a manual solution: the Synthesia Metadata Editor utility will let you extract that information into a "sidecar" .synthesia file. Just copy that alongside the MIDI file on your iPad and the finger hints should show up in the app.

It's not an automatic sync, but it is a mostly-convenient portable way to move the extra information around.
mister_v_
Posts: 2

Post by mister_v_ »

Cool!

How does that work with the link generator? I would like to have my students access the songs I create through a link, how does this work with the sidecar .synthesia file?

Also, and this might be for another topic, I'm having a heck of a time getting my Wix site to allow me to upload .mid files. Is there a way to create a link by dropping it on Google Drive? I took away the http:// and it looked like it might work (my browser asked to open Synthesia) but then the song didn't load.

Thanks in advance. This truly is a wonderful app you have created to learn/teach piano.
mister_v_
Posts: 2

Post by mister_v_ »

Whelp, it looks like sharing an iCloud file works with the link generator. If that's the case, would they download both the .mid and the .synthesia sidecar file to get the fingering?
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

I've considered adding a "also try to download an identically-named file from the same URL but with a .synthesia extension instead" to also get metadata. It's not a perfect solution for enough reasons that it has stayed my hand.

I've wondered if something closer to a zip file (that can even contain many songs along with the metadata) might not be a better answer.

In an interesting twist, Synthesia 10.8 technically supports opening zipped archives: by adding MusicXML "MTX" file support. An MTX file is just a renamed zip with a specified internal structure. (There must be a "manifest" in a very particular location, etc.) All Synthesia does today is check the manifest for the first/primary .musicxml file in the archive and jump right there. But it shouldn't take much effort to keep scanning the contents for .synthesia files and load those, too.
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