Ferrous Lineup v0.4.1

Released by Claude.

New in the app

• A user manual, in English and Spanish, written for people who play rather than program. Help > User manual opens it in the app's language, and Help > About links it and its PDF.
  • English: https://naelolaiz.github.io/ferrous-lineup/manual/
  • Spanish: https://naelolaiz.github.io/ferrous-lineup/es/manual/
• Real instrument sounds from the start. The app offers to download the GeneralUser GS SoundFont as it opens, and the instruments play from it once it is there. The sound settings now survive updates.
• New defaults. The Library is in front, the channel rack no longer opens by itself, and until you pick a note naming, notes are named in solfège when the interface is in Spanish.
• The chord sheet fits more bars to a line, its zoom keys zoom it, and % repeats the whole bar before, as musicians read it.
• Recordings dropped on the window are imported, play from wherever playback starts, and get the key of their longest stretch, which is right more often.
• The band: the walking bass leads into the next chord by a semitone, and styles that hold chords, as a choir does, move without parallel fifths or octaves.
• macOS: .lineup files open from Finder.

Fixes

• The recovery copy of unsaved work is written within half a minute, even when the window is left alone.
• Edit style copies the whole band the song plays, not only the drums.
• The piano roll spells a chord's notes as the chord does (C, Eb, Gb for C diminished), and a twelve-tone row's groups keep the row's note names.
• Lead sheets keep chord symbols in letters, as printed lead sheets do in every language.
• Key names on the bar numbers no longer run under the next bars.
• The row window reads notes typed in solfège.
• In Spanish: the toolbar fits on one row, sections and copies of styles get Spanish names, and the Sets window finds sets by their Spanish nicknames.

The books

The book about how the app is built is reorganized into six parts, in English and Spanish, and every old page address still leads to its page:
https://naelolaiz.github.io/ferrous-lineup/ and https://naelolaiz.github.io/ferrous-lineup/es/

Downloads

Linux AppImage, .tar.gz and .deb; Windows installer and .zip; macOS for Apple silicon and Intel. Check them against SHA256SUMS.txt.

What's Changed

• New defaults: the Library in front, solfège in Spanish, a SoundFont on the first Play by @naelolaiz in #231
• Book: the new defaults, in both books by @naelolaiz in #232
• User manual in English and Spanish by @naelolaiz in #234
• User manual in the Help menu, and the fixes found while writing the manual by @naelolaiz in #235
• Manuals and books: the User manual in the Help menu, and the app's fixes by @naelolaiz in #236
• Chord sheet: more bars to a line, and the zoom keys zoom it by @naelolaiz in #237
• Books and manuals: more bars to a line on the chord sheet by @naelolaiz in #238
• Book: one chapter per part of the program, without its history by @naelolaiz in #240
• Offer the SoundFont on Play until it is answered, and keep its settings across updates by @naelolaiz in #241
• Walking bass lead-ins, "%" repeats a whole bar, recordings play from anywhere, and other fixes by @naelolaiz in #242
• Books and manuals: the SoundFont offer on Play, and settings kept by name by @naelolaiz in #244
• Books and manuals: walking bass lead-ins, "%", recordings from anywhere, and five new screenshots by @naelolaiz in #246
• Ask for real instrument sounds as the app opens, without the rack over it by @naelolaiz in #245
• Books and manuals: the sounds are offered as the app opens, with no rack over it by @naelolaiz in #247
• Version 0.4.1 by @naelolaiz in #248

Full Changelog: v0.4.0...v0.4.1

v0.4.0

Ferrous Lineup v0.4.0: Spanish and solfège

Ferrous Lineup now speaks Spanish, and can name notes the way Spanish, Italian and French musicians do.

New in the app

• Spanish interface. Pick it in Edit > Settings > Appearance > Language. Every menu, window, setting, hint and message is in Spanish, and so are styles, instruments, channels and the demos known by a Spanish title. Only error texts that come from the operating system or a library stay as they come.
• Letters or solfège. Edit > Settings > Harmony > Note naming names notes, keys and chords as C, Bb major, Am7 or as Do, Sib major, Lam7, in either language. Chords can be typed either way, and files always keep letters, so a song opens the same for everyone.
• Help > About Ferrous Lineup shows the version and the license, with links to the book, the source code and a page to report an issue.

The book

• Now in Spanish too, with the app's Spanish labels throughout: https://naelolaiz.github.io/ferrous-lineup/es/ (PDF: https://naelolaiz.github.io/ferrous-lineup/es/ferrous-lineup-book-es.pdf)
• The PDF has contents, page numbers, an index and bookmarks: https://naelolaiz.github.io/ferrous-lineup/ferrous-lineup-book.pdf

Downloads

Linux AppImage, .tar.gz and .deb; Windows installer and .zip; macOS for Apple silicon and Intel. Check them against SHA256SUMS.txt.

Ferrous Lineup v0.3.0

What's Changed

• Book: the tutorial on its own branch, published on Pages and as a PDF by @naelolaiz in #128
• Book: a tour of the app, the manual that was the README by @naelolaiz in #129
• Book: hearing chords over time, two at once, and as sets by @naelolaiz in #134
• Book: one harmony, four names on the chord sheet by @naelolaiz in #142
• Book: the orchestra comes in with its voices alone, and plays along with the score by @naelolaiz in #147
• Book: styles keep the song's tempo by @naelolaiz in #149
• Book: the Misa Criolla demos by @naelolaiz in #161
• Book: tangos and folk songs from MIDI files by @naelolaiz in #170
• Book: quicker workflow, numerals in minor, the mixer, MIDI, Library ticks, the sheet's layout and bar edits by @naelolaiz in #171
• Book: four demos from their scores by @naelolaiz in #173
• Book: checking the MIDI songs' chords against lead sheets, and spelling notes by their chord by @naelolaiz in #177
• Collect the .deb in the release job by @naelolaiz in #185
• Book fixes 2026 10 25 by @naelolaiz in #186
• Fix a held drag's sound, the unsaved star, recovery with two windows, MIDI order by @naelolaiz in #187
• Book: inversion table, recovery with two windows, held drags and the unsaved star by @naelolaiz in #188
• Move the book into book/ on main by @naelolaiz in #199
• Book: the book now lives in book/ on main by @naelolaiz in #200
• Restart audio stops external notes and keeps the trace going by @naelolaiz in #189
• Damaged files never crash the app, and a test keeps it so by @naelolaiz in #190
• Write keys the other way round: G♭ major, E♭ minor, C♭ major by @naelolaiz in #191
• Book: keys with two names, notes that stop on Restart audio, damaged files by @naelolaiz in #201
• Lead sheets for Bb, Eb and F instruments by @naelolaiz in #192
• Book: lead sheets for Bb, Eb and F instruments by @naelolaiz in #202
• Add a speed trainer: start slow and get faster each time round by @naelolaiz in #195
• Book: the speed trainer by @naelolaiz in #203
• Check the voice leading of written parts in the piano roll by @naelolaiz in #198
• Book: checking the voice leading of written parts by @naelolaiz in #204
• Version 0.3.0 by @naelolaiz in #206
• Check the rules of twelve-tone writing where the key is a row by @naelolaiz in #207
• Book: checking the rules of twelve-tone writing by @naelolaiz in #208
• Borrowed and pivot chords on the chord sheet, each part's moves, a horn section for any style, and channel effects by @naelolaiz in #209
• Book: borrowed and pivot chords, each part's moves, a horn section and channel effects by @naelolaiz in #210
• Release notes for 0.3.0: name what joined it after the bump by @naelolaiz in #212

Full Changelog: v0.2.0...v0.3.0

Ferrous Lineup v0.2.0

What's Changed

• More odd-meter songs: Greek, Romanian, Turkish and a zwiefacher by @naelolaiz in #98
• Add Tchaikovsky's waltz in five (Pathétique Symphony, Allegro con grazia) by @naelolaiz in #99
• More tangos and Latin American songs, and violins for the tango orchestra by @naelolaiz in #100
• Fix regressions from the latest UI and workflow changes by @naelolaiz in #103
• Play the rack's pattern over the playing song by @naelolaiz in #104
• Add Brazilian songs, Garota de Ipanema, Desarma y sangra and more tangos by @naelolaiz in #101
• Song parts: instruments per part, dynamics, written-out drums by @naelolaiz in #102
• The Library says where each part of the song comes from by @naelolaiz in #105
• Score dynamics and band breaks in demos; sung Desarma y sangra; La marcha peronista by @naelolaiz in #106
• Show the mixer's channels in score order, with the drums together by @naelolaiz in #107
• Score markings in today's songs; Himno Nacional Argentino by @naelolaiz in #108
• Export video: the song with the chord sheet or other views playing along by @naelolaiz in #109
• Fix clippy on main: video canvas takes triangles with as_chunks by @naelolaiz in #110
• Plain accents keep the song's chords by @naelolaiz in #111
• Export video: place, size and zoom each view on a preview by @naelolaiz in #113
• Add a playback trace: every note the player plays, as a table to read by @naelolaiz in #114
• Lock a track so styles keep its notes and instrument by @naelolaiz in #115
• Channel rack: light up the step that is sounding, like a sequencer by @naelolaiz in #117
• Candombe para Gardel at the recording's tempo and in full by @naelolaiz in #116
• Play a part of the song in another style by @naelolaiz in #118
• Locked parts: keep following the sheet, and don't double the bass by @naelolaiz in #119
• Candombe para Gardel from the lead sheet by @naelolaiz in #120
• Classical: Boléro complete, two dances from The Rite of Spring, the opening of La Mer by @naelolaiz in #112
• Two dances from The Rite of Spring; key-finding test green again by @naelolaiz in #121
• Add The Big Bang Theory theme, and end songs on their written stop by @naelolaiz in #122
• Petrushka: all four tableaux as Classical demos by @naelolaiz in #123
• After the tonic six-four, the hint suggests V by @naelolaiz in #124
• Describe the app as a backing band in the README and comments by @naelolaiz in #125
• Fix slow opening of long songs, pattern selection, follow playhead and chord names by @naelolaiz in #126
• An Orchestra style for music that changes meter by @naelolaiz in #127
• Keep the README short and point at the book by @naelolaiz in #130
• Hear chords over time, two at once, and as sets by @naelolaiz in #133
• Keyboard shortcuts window (F1) in a new Help menu by @naelolaiz in #131
• Open songs on the chord sheet and beats on the channel rack by @naelolaiz in #132
• Setting for Roman numerals in minor keys (bIII bVI bVII or III VI VII) by @naelolaiz in #135
• One helper for playing what the library writes in a pattern by @naelolaiz in #136
• Fit the channel rack to its rows when the app starts by @naelolaiz in #137
• Toolbar back on one row at 1280 points, with painted picture buttons by @naelolaiz in #138
• Fix the icon test that turned main red by @naelolaiz in #140
• Chord sheet: show the harmony as chords, sets or micromodes by @naelolaiz in #139
• Orchestra: come in with the voices alone, and play along with the score by @naelolaiz in #141
• Chord sheet: no notes under a name cut to an ellipsis by @naelolaiz in #143
• Open every window at its own size, not one remembered from before by @naelolaiz in #144
• Orchestra: follow only where there is a score by @naelolaiz in #145
• Change a channel's instrument from the mixer by @naelolaiz in #146
• Keep the song's tempo when switching styles by @naelolaiz in #148
• Boléro: chords from what the accompaniment plays, not C throughout by @naelolaiz in #151
• Library: tick boxes to keep presets like the song by @naelolaiz in #150
• Boléro: the tune's dominant under the flute and the clarinet too by @naelolaiz in #153
• Mixer: pan, reverb send and level meters for each channel by @naelolaiz in #152
• Song parts with written-out instrument lines, each on its own channel by @naelolaiz in #154
• Send a channel over MIDI from the instrument menus by @naelolaiz in #155
• Misa Criolla: Kyrie and Gloria by @naelolaiz in #156
• Chord hearing fixes, Alberti thirds, Rachmaninoff prelude's chords by @naelolaiz in #157
• Six songs written out from MIDI arrangements: three tangos, two León Gieco songs, El Noi de la Mare by @naelolaiz in #158
• Misa Criolla: Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei by @naelolaiz in #159
• Fix the MIDI menu test on machines with MIDI outputs by @naelolaiz in #160
• Send the drums over MIDI too by @naelolaiz in #162
• Alfonsina y el mar, sung by a choir in four parts by @naelolaiz in #163
• Chord sheet: fill the main window, and lines that fit the names by @naelolaiz in #165
• Insert and delete bars by @naelolaiz in #167
• Comments: bring module docs up to date by @naelolaiz in #168
• Twenty-two songs from MIDI: piano tangos, a vals, Malena, three zambas, a polca and Que nadie sepa mi sufrir by @naelolaiz in #164
• Die Forelle, Schubert's song with its piano part by @naelolaiz in #166
• Sheep May Safely Graze, Bach's aria with recorders and continuo by @naelolaiz in #169
• For unto us a child is born, Handel's chorus from Messiah by @naelolaiz in #172
• Fix a menu opening a hidden submenu, and the side panel growing wide by @naelolaiz in #178
• Tangos and folk songs from MIDI: chords from lead sheets, keys by section, spelling by chord by @naelolaiz in #174
• Split the five longest functions into named pieces by @naelolaiz in #175
• Chord sheet: Bars per line shows every number without scrolling by @naelolaiz in #176
• Save, import and quit keep the project you opened by @naelolaiz in #179
• Audio commands, MIDI note-offs and long recordings no longer get lost by @naelolaiz in #180
• Recover unsaved work, remember recent projects, and restart audio by @naelolaiz in #181
• Drags no longer copy the whole project every frame by @naelolaiz in #183
• Fix the Windows installer build by @naelolaiz in #184

Full Changelog: v0.1.2...v0.2.0

0.1.2: bugfixing & UI/workflows cleanup

Include possible regressions. But workflows more usable. And many demos. Still alpha, approaching beta.

0.1.1: first release (beta)

WIP, with many bugs, but usable already.