I'm a long-time Rocksmith user who finally got fed up, so I started working on my own app for playing songs.

Features/goals:

• Open file format (with converter for RS songs)
• Fast startup, speedy UI
• Runs as a plugin inside a DAW
• Resampling of songs a fixed offset from standard tuning so you don't need to retune
• Note/Chord detection
• Song browser
• Open source

Current limitations:

• Windows only (although the core is being designed to be cross-platform)

ChartPlayer can be downloaded here:

https://github.com/mikeoliphant/ChartPlayer/releases/latest

ChartPlayer plays songs in the OpenSongChart format:

https://github.com/mikeoliphant/OpenSongChart

A conversion tool for PSARC files can be downloaded here:

https://github.com/mikeoliphant/PsarcConverter/releases/latest

5 hours ago, Shroud said:

Another small feedback: I think the lyrics would be more readable without the disappearing effect.

Good suggestion. I'd actually been planning on improving the vocal display to highlight the current vocal, and I'll make that change as well.

I've tried ChartPlayer with Audacity, Presonus Studio One 6 Pro, and Reaper 7.12 now.  The VST seems to install correctly with all three, but I cannot get it to recognize any songs/arrangements.  This is my first time using a real DAW, so I could be doing something stupid.

I converted a couple of song psarcs and they came out as a .ogg and a few .json in appropriately named folders in Share/JamSongs. 

I then opened a new project with Reaper and inserted media into the track, navigating to the converted folder in JamSongs and choosing the .ogg file.

Next I clicked the FX button on the control panel at the left side of the song track and chose ChartPlayer.  The ChartPlayer window opens up and I can see Songs/Options down at the bottom.  When I click on Songs, it changes to Lead/Rhythm/Bass/Keys/Close and column headers appear for Title/Artist, etc.  I clicked through all of the arrangement buttons but there are no songs listed for any of them.

What am I doing wrong?

 

 

5 hours ago, RoBarr said:

I clicked the FX button on the control panel at the left side of the song track and chose ChartPlayer.  The ChartPlayer window opens up and I can see Songs/Options down at the bottom.  When I click on Songs, it changes to Lead/Rhythm/Bass/Keys/Close and column headers appear for Title/Artist, etc.  I clicked through all of the arrangement buttons but there are no songs listed for any of them.

What am I doing wrong?

You need to click "Options" and specify the path to your converted song files. I should add an error message or something to make this more clear.

3 hours ago, ladron said:

You need to click "Options" and specify the path to your converted song files. I should add an error message or something to make this more clear.

That was it.  I played a couple songs in Reaper and it worked very well for a first release.  I'm taking notes and I'll post more when I have some useful feedback. 

I'll try it out in Audacity and Studio One as well. 

I do have one question/request, is there any way for me to edit the string and note colors?  I've been using a custom color scheme for a long time and now it's hard for me to sight read the default colors.  I got halfway through the first bass arrangement before I figured out why it sounded soo weird.

Also, I found a small issue with PsarcConverter.  When I first used it, there were a couple of folder presets with Rocksmith default locations.  I have RS installed somewhere else, so I added an additional location for a single psarc and pressed convert but nothing happened.  It looks like the converter gets hung up on anything it can't find and doesn't move to the next item.  Once I deleted the psarc folder locations that didn't apply to me it worked great. 

8 hours ago, RoBarr said:

I do have one question/request, is there any way for me to edit the string and note colors? 

Yeah - it might not end up in the user interface, but I can put it in a file you can edit.

8 hours ago, RoBarr said:

I found a small issue with PsarcConverter.  When I first used it, there were a couple of folder presets with Rocksmith default locations.  I have RS installed somewhere else, so I added an additional location for a single psarc and pressed convert but nothing happened.  It looks like the converter gets hung up on anything it can't find and doesn't move to the next item.  Once I deleted the psarc folder locations that didn't apply to me it worked great. 

I'll look into that. I probably just need to do a better job of catching errors.

Hi @ ladron ,

  I discovered your work this morning, and just tried it.

  Great work and ingenious idea to integrate it inside a DAW !  At least, you don't have to manage the Guitar audio amps and effects. This part of the work is a significant obstacle for my own project.

  After playing a few songs in D standard tuning, here are my first feedback :

• When I first tried to use the PSARC Converter, it was not possible for me to click on the buttons. I found that sensitive areas where not located on the same position as the buttons. Finally, I identified that this issue was relative to my Windows scale screen preference (125%). I changed it to 100% and the tool worked well.
• The camera movements are sometimes too abrupt (when notes pass from one end to the fretboard to the other)
• Frames for chords in high density status are difficult to see (maybe an issue with my laptop screen)
• Please add a progress bar to know the percentage of well played notes
• It is also necessary to add a small documentation for users that don't know how to use a DAW and integrate your plugin

  I will give you more feedbacks in the next days ...

Regards

1 hour ago, Chlipouni said:

• When I first tried to use the PSARC Converter, it was not possible for me to click on the buttons. I found that sensitive areas where not located on the same position as the buttons. Finally, I identified that this issue was relative to my Windows scale screen preference (125%). I changed it to 100% and the tool worked well.

Thanks for letting me know. I've fixed this sort of issue in other contexts before, so I should be able to sort it out here.

1 hour ago, Chlipouni said:

• The camera movements are sometimes too abrupt (when notes pass from one end to the fretboard to the other)
• Frames for chords in high density status are difficult to see (maybe an issue with my laptop screen)

Yeah, there is definitely tweaking that could be done. If you have specific examples where there are issues, can you let me know? Thanks!

1 hour ago, Chlipouni said:

• Please add a progress bar to know the percentage of well played notes

Implementing the more "gamey" parts (like scores, etc.) has been a low priority for me, but I can see how at least some of that would be useful. I also haven't spent a ton of time fine-tuning the note detection, so more work will likely be necessary there to make accuracy % really useful.

1 hour ago, Chlipouni said:

• It is also necessary to add a small documentation for users that don't know how to use a DAW and integrate your plugin

I recently put a little README in the VST plugin .zip file. It only talks about getting the plugin installed, though. Any specific information you are thinking of?

Thanks for the feedback!

I just released a new PsarcConverter that works properly on scaled screens.

Hello.  I am interested in trying ChartPlayer but have zero knowledge of the technicalities.  I started playing  guitar in 1964 so you can guess I'm pretty old but I do have the time to test things out as now retired.  I did not like the interface (or the songs) on Rocksmith+ much (tried it as a beta tester) so have continued with Rocksmith 2014.  I have managed to download 100's of songs from CustomsForge and  would like to try some on your player.  I have downloaded and activated Cakewalk as the host DAW and the demo tunes are working.   I have looked at your two download links for ChartPlayer and the PsarcConversion tool.  I also read the read me files you put in the folders.  Due to my aforementioned lack of expertise, I cannot get them to work.  These may seem dumb questions but grateful if you could answer them.

1)  There are 3 zip files for ChartPlayer - do I need to extract all three to C:/Program Files/Common Files/VST3 or if not what should I do?

2) Same question for PsarcConversion Tool. Also: Where should I put these files on my computer to make the tool work?  Finally Norton removed a large number of the files (esp dll's) contained in the folders saying they were unsafe - I obviously do not want to compromise the security of my computer if Norton is right.  Am I safe to ask Norton to allow these files to remain?

I am on Windows 11.

4 hours ago, ogb2341 said:

1)  There are 3 zip files for ChartPlayer - do I need to extract all three to C:/Program Files/Common Files/VST3 or if not what should I do?

You only need to download "ChartPlayerVST3Plugin.zip". Extract it, and follow the instructions in the included README.txt.

4 hours ago, ogb2341 said:

2) Same question for PsarcConversion Tool. Also: Where should I put these files on my computer to make the tool work?

Download the "PsarcConverter.zip" file and extract it anywhere you like. Then just run the program "PsarcConverter.exe".

4 hours ago, ogb2341 said:

Finally Norton removed a large number of the files (esp dll's) contained in the folders saying they were unsafe - I obviously do not want to compromise the security of my computer if Norton is right.  Am I safe to ask Norton to allow these files to remain?

Virus detection often relies on having a database of "known" files. Because of this, detectors will often incorrectly flag uncommon files. I have no reason to believe that any of the files I am distributing are dangerous.

Feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

No left-handed mode.... 😕

Can't even use it

Unless I'm not seeing some option

3 hours ago, qwertyuiopz said:

No left-handed mode.... 😕

Nope, I hadn't even thought to add a lefty mode. Shouldn't be too hard, though - just a left/right mirror?

9 hours ago, ladron said:

Nope, I hadn't even thought to add a lefty mode. Shouldn't be too hard, though - just a left/right mirror?

I mean, it's probably just that. But you can reference the Rocksmith left-handed mode to see if there's anything else. Otherwise, cool thing you made.

59 minutes ago, qwertyuiopz said:

I mean, it's probably just that. But you can reference the Rocksmith left-handed mode to see if there's anything else. Otherwise, cool thing you made.

I can easily mirror the display left to right, which basically works but the the text is then backwards 🙂  It will take a bit more work to fix the text, but definitely doable.

On 5/15/2024 at 10:47 AM, Chlipouni said:

• Please add a progress bar to know the percentage of well played notes

The latest version now has some basic support for keeping track of the number of detected notes. 

On 5/17/2024 at 3:46 AM, qwertyuiopz said:

No left-handed mode.... 😕

The latest version now has a left handed display mode.

On 5/15/2024 at 10:47 AM, Chlipouni said:

• Frames for chords in high density status are difficult to see (maybe an issue with my laptop screen)

The latest version has an option to set the length (in seconds) of the note display. If you lower it, it will make the notes come at you faster and space them out more.

The new version doesn't work for me; it doesn't scan in my Reaper. I also tried in Studio One

13 hours ago, qwertyuiopz said:

The new version doesn't work for me; it doesn't scan in my Reaper. I also tried in Studio One

Strange. Can you check if  there any log files in:

%appdata%\AudioPlugSharp

 

22 hours ago, qwertyuiopz said:

The new version doesn't work for me; it doesn't scan in my Reaper. I also tried in Studio One

It just occurred to me that the new version is using a later version of .NET - you may not have it installed.

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/8.0

Right, I'll try that.

It works now, thanks for that info. If you could add a simple visual offset slider in the options, for +- ms. visual delay, that would be great. The notes are a little ahead/behind of the song sometimes, and a slider would fix that.

Also, this chart I'm playing on your software tuned to Db on bass, sometimes the audio plays three steps above (as if in E) in an unpleasant chipmunk way. But if I change the buffer size back and forth on my audio interface (SSL 2), the audio goes back to the correct key.

11 hours ago, qwertyuiopz said:

Also, this chart I'm playing on your software tuned to Db on bass, sometimes the audio plays three steps above (as if in E) in an unpleasant chipmunk way. But if I change the buffer size back and forth on my audio interface (SSL 2), the audio goes back to the correct key.

Do you have "Re-tune to E Standard" enabled in options?

Right.. somehow I didn't catch that. But I figured the key change was a glitch, since the song went back to the original pitch when I changed the buffer size back and forth. Interesting.