CHARTBLAZER:DRUMS chart · mark up · gig

Release notes

What’s new in ChartBlazer

Every release since launch, newest first.

v2.11.1

Slow songs convert at the right tempo

  • A slow song converted together with its chart could come back at double the tempo, with every bar count doubled. When the chart states its tempo, the conversion now uses it to get this right, with or without AI.
v2.11.0

AI drafts leave out grooves they don’t know

  • When the AI doesn’t know how a song’s drums go, it leaves that section’s groove out and says so in a note, rather than writing a plain beat in its place.
v2.10.0

Faster AI drafts, and tempo on the metronome

  • The Best and Quick AI tiers now run on newer models, so drafts arrive much faster. Each tier costs the same credits as before.
  • While you edit, the metronome has − and + buttons that nudge the chart’s tempo by one. The click follows the new tempo straight away.
v2.9.0

Set breaks in a gig

  • Split a gig into sets with a set break on the gig bar, and name each one, like "Set 2" or "Encore". Songs are numbered within their set, and the last song of a set says "End of set" on stage.
v2.8.0

Resize the cues column in two columns

  • The cues column can now be resized in the two-column layout, from a grip above either column. It keeps its own width, separate from the one-column layout.
v2.7.0

32nd notes in the groove editor

  • Added a 32nd-note grid to the drum groove editor.
v2.6.0

Every button on the chart page, explained

  • Help now opens a reference to every button on the chart page: what each one does, whether it works in View, in Edit or both, and its keyboard shortcut if it has one. The tips sheet links to it too.
v2.5.0

Bring a chart from another app, and the lyrics as cues

  • Upload a chart PDF from any app and it comes back as a chart: the section names and order, the playing directions and the first words of each section, with a groove drafted for you to check.
  • When your sheet’s sections can be read, bar counts follow it: a count it states, else one bar per printed line of a sung section, else blank. Check them as you play the chart through, or add the recording and we’ll count them for you.
  • Paste the lyrics or a chart from any app beside your AI request, or upload a PDF or a photo of one, and each sung section’s cue comes back as its first three words, in teal. With nothing pasted the cues stay landmarks.
  • The upload box accepts a recording, a chart PDF, a photo of a chart, or any combination, and identifies each one. Reading a photo or scan costs one credit.
  • AI credits are yours until you use them. Every payment adds more, and whatever you have left carries over instead of resetting each month.
  • Subscribe while your trial is running and we top you up to a full month straight away. On the annual plan your credits arrive a month at a time.
  • The AI chart page keeps a list of the charts it has made for you. A draft you closed is one click away, instead of somewhere down your chart list.
  • Grooves sit closer together on the page, so a section with a groove or two takes less room. Nothing is cut off.
  • When the AI doesn’t know how a song’s drums go, it writes a plain beat and says in the note that it’s a stand-in, rather than inventing one.
  • A chart made from a recording now shows each section’s energy level.
v2.4.1

Better sections and names on AI charts

  • Songs you convert are cut into sections more accurately: boundaries land where the music changes, and back-to-back repeats of the same part are split apart instead of running together as one long section.
  • Whether you type a song name or upload the recording, sections come back with standard names and short, glanceable cues. A chorus that comes back the same is just "Chorus" now, instead of being numbered every time.
  • Your AI usage page no longer shows a draft as failed while it is still being written.
v2.4.0

Better AI labels on converted songs

  • Songs you convert get more consistent section labels: repeats of the same part share one name (Chorus 1, Chorus 2), drawn from the same names the section picker offers.
  • When a section boundary looks off, the AI says so in a note on that section. Check it against the song, and fix the bars if it is right.
  • If your connection drops while a draft is running, the page now waits and opens your chart as soon as it lands. Pressing again never starts a second draft.
v2.3.0

Draft a chart by naming the song

  • ✨ AI draft (Pro): name a song and get a starting chart to fine-tune in the editor. It drafts from what the model knows, so give it a listen against the record.
  • Choose how much draft you want: four levels, from a quick outline to the finest full pass, each priced in credits from the same monthly allowance.
  • 🎧 Or upload the recording itself (Pro): ChartBlazer measures the tempo, sections and bar counts from your audio. Add the song’s title and the AI labels the sections it measured.
  • Your 30-day trial now includes AI credits, so you can try both on your own songs before you pay. They last the whole trial, and Pro renews a full allowance every month.
v2.2.0

Easier to read, on the page and in the grid

  • Every chart now uses a clearer, stronger typeface, and cues print in solid black alongside bolder section names. It reads the same on your laptop, your tablet and paper.
  • Each section starts under a tinted heading band, so the form of the song reads at a glance before any color is set. Auto-color now marks the landmarks: choruses blue, bridges gold. It leaves every other section clean.
  • The Standard / Expanded switch in the groove editor now covers the sticking, ensemble figure and time-slash rows as well as the instruments, so the grid opens with only what you use.
  • Choose which of them you want by default under Settings. Anything you have already written stays on screen either way.
v2.1.0

Write what the band plays

  • Flow charts can now carry ensemble figures: the kicks the band hits, drawn above the staff. Tap a step in the new Figure row in the bar editor, tap again for an accent.
  • Slash part of a bar rather than the whole thing, on either kind of chart. Tap the beats you want in the new / time row, so the figure lands on beat 1 and the rest of the bar keeps time.
v2.0.0

Flow charts — the same song, on a staff

  • A flow chart is a second way to write a song down: every bar on a staff, wrapping across the page like sheet music, instead of a table of sections. It uses the same step grid, markup and library as a chart. Pick whichever you read better.
  • Blank bars are fine. Write out only the bars you need, and use cues or pen marks for the rest.
  • Any bar can be drawn as time slashes: the "keep time" bar a big-band part is made of, one slash per beat. Your notes stay underneath and come back when you toggle it off.
  • Flow charts share your 25 and can be published, shared and cloned exactly like a chart.
  • Duplicate a chart from your list: a second arrangement of the same song without starting over.
  • Adding a groove now offers two ways in: a blank one, or pick from the grooves already in this chart and your saved library, each shown on a real staff. Either way you land straight in the step editor, ready to play with it.
v1.4.2

Bold text, and a tap on the groove itself

  • Bold any text you have written: select it and press B on the markup bar. It sits beside the colour swatches and works the same way. Use it on your section notes, wherever you are writing them.
  • Tap a groove’s notation instead of hunting for a button: in Edit it opens the groove editor, in View it plays the groove. The small ✎ and ▶ beside every groove are gone, and the bars box goes with them when you leave it blank.
  • The ▶-with-a-slash in the chart tools now stops a tap from playing a groove, for a stage where a stray touch must not start a loop.
v1.4.0

Sticking, rolls, flams — and two more instruments

  • Write the sticking under a groove: mark each step R or L and the letters read under the notes, the way a method book prints them.
  • Rolls and doubles: add one, two or three slashes to a note. They engrave on the stem and play as repeated strokes.
  • Flam joins normal, accent and ghost in the groove editor. It engraves as a grace note and plays as two strikes.
  • Two more instruments: china and foot hi-hat. Both sit in the expanded kit, alongside cowbell, open hat, ride bell and cross-stick.
  • Size the cues, the text, the titles and the grooves apart, for the whole chart or one section. A− / A+ still sizes everything at once; tap the percentage for the four on their own.
  • Fixed: the cross-stick sounded like a quiet snare.
  • The date on a gig opens its calendar wherever you tap in the field.
v1.3.0

Color your chart in one press — and refer a drummer

  • Color a whole chart in one press. Every section named Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge and the rest takes its own color, so the song’s structure is easy to see at a glance.
  • The scheme is yours: pick a color for each kind of section once, in Settings. A color you set on a section yourself is never painted over.
  • Sections can be colored automatically as you name them, if you want that.
  • Charts fit to one page in print and PDF. It only ever shrinks a chart, and a checkbox turns it off.
  • Each song in a setlist keeps its own size: on the stage, in print and in the PDF. Print and PDF share one button on the gig bar now.
  • Every account has a referral link. A drummer you send who buys the annual plan earns you three free months of Pro, with no cap.
  • Your referrals have a page of their own: your link, clicks, signups and the months you have earned. An email lands with each reward.
  • A short welcome email when you confirm your account.
  • The gig-stage pull-tab clears more of the page: the chart description and reference track now fold away with the rest.
  • Fixed: printed charts cutting off the end of a cue.
v1.2.0

Sized for the tablet — the gig stage, and the type on it

  • Put your setlist above the chart, down the left, or away altogether. The choice is remembered on each device, and above the chart leaves the chart the most room.
  • A gig fits a phone screen now.
  • The setlist scrolls by arrows rather than a scrollbar. Swiping or ← / → brings the song you are on into view.
  • Bigger touch targets on the gig bar and in the setlist.
  • Less chrome above the chart, and the pull-tab still folds away what is left of it.
  • Section titles and note text size separately. Tap the % between A− and A+. Those two still size the whole chart in one tap.
  • Print margins are half what they were, and the space goes to the notation.
  • Print and PDF come out at the size you set, instead of always at 100%.
  • The energy meter is five levels instead of ten. Charts you have already marked keep the level they read as.
  • Move, insert, duplicate and delete sit on the section header whenever there is room for them.
  • Fixed: a section’s ⋯ button and its menu escaping their column in the two-column layout.
v1.1.0

Room to work, and controls that stay put

  • Cut time is real. Set a chart to 2/2 and it counts, beams and engraves the way cut time reads.
  • One meter list on the chart header and in the groove editor, and the click divides the bar exactly in every meter.
  • Beat lines down the groove editor grid, so you can find beat 3 without counting pads.
  • Page width: Normal, Wide or Full, remembered on each device.
  • The title bar and its controls stay with you as you scroll a long chart.
  • Colour lives on the markup bar. With the pen it inks your strokes; with Select on it colours a title, a cue, or a few words.
  • More of the gig stage goes to the chart, and one tap on the pull-tab folds the rest away.
  • Editing and reading now use the same layout, so a pen mark stays exactly where you drew it.
  • Two columns while you edit, not just while you read.
  • Sections are numbered down the chart.
  • Every section’s controls live in one ⋯ menu beside its name.
  • Pen marks and highlights no longer print, which keeps the chart on paper as large as it can be.
  • Fixed: the Description box mangling ampersands and angle brackets.
v1.0.0

ChartBlazer is released

  • ChartBlazer:Drums is live at chartblazer.com, with your charts, your setlists, and a community library of over two hundred charts to browse, clone and make your own.