# Staffpad libraries not working after update



## NYC Chaz

I updated Staffpad yesterday to the latest update.Now i cannot access the libraries i purchased.They do not show up as choices when starting a new composition.Any idea how to get this to work again.Thanks and happy holidays to all.


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## servandus

It happens here also. Go to "Store", scroll down to the bottom and click on "Downloads and Updates". Then just give Staffpad some time to check out that all your libraries are updated. This partially fixed the problem on my device, although it's still buggy (now I'm able to acccess all my libraries when I open a new score or if I add some instruments later on, but they're all gone again when I try to insert instrument changes). Hope it (partially) helps.


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## NYC Chaz

servandus said:


> It happens here also. Go to "Store", scroll down to the bottom and click on "Downloads and Updates". Then just give Staffpad some time to check out that all your libraries are updated. This partially fixed the problem on my device, although it's still buggy (now I'm able to acccess all my libraries when I open a new score or if I add some instruments later on, but they're all gone again when I try to insert instrument changes). Hope it (partially) helps.


Thanks for trying to help.When i scroll down to Downloads and Updates it says My Libraries and none are listed there.Staffpad is a nice idea but i'm regretting buying the addon libraries. I'll contact support and see if they can fix this.


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## wcreed51

I had this happen, but then after a couple of days they all worked again


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## servandus

NYC Chaz said:


> Thanks for trying to help.When i scroll down to Downloads and Updates it says My Libraries and none are listed there.Staffpad is a nice idea but i'm regretting buying the addon libraries. I'll contact support and see if they can fix this.



Sorry to hear that. I also experienced a lot of problems downloading some addon libraries in the past (Berlin woods and brass mainly). I contacted them but they couldn't offer any solution right away, and then they just stopped answering my messages, so it was a nice surprise when all my issues were suddenly fixed in the october update. They might be a bit overwhelmed by bug reports and feature requests, but they're listening and trying to fix any issues.

I think you won't regret your purchases once you get all your issues fixed. Just contact them, and be a little patient. I'll alsoreport the bug, so that they know it's happening to more users.


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## servandus

wcreed51 said:


> I had this happen, but then after a couple of days they all worked again



No issues with instrument changes on your side?

When I start a new score I can see all my libraries, but then I get this when I try to add an instrument change.


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## NYC Chaz

servandus said:


> Sorry to hear that. I also experienced a lot of problems downloading some addon libraries in the past (Berlin woods and brass mainly). I contacted them but they couldn't offer any solution right away, and then they just stopped answering my messages, so it was a nice surprise when all my issues were suddenly fixed in the october update. They might be a bit overwhelmed by bug reports and feature requests, but they're listening and trying to fix any issues.
> 
> I think you won't regret your purchases once you get all your issues fixed. Just contact them, and be a little patient. I'll alsoreport the bug, so that they know it's happening to more users.


Thanks again for trying to help.If they are going to sell these addon libraries,it should not be this much of a hassle to use in my opinion.I was prepared to buy another library yesterday but i'm holding off until i can get this resolved.


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## NYC Chaz

servandus said:


> No issues with instrument changes on your side?
> 
> When I start a new score I can see all my libraries, but then I get this when I try to add an instrument change.


I can't see any of the libraries that i purchased.If i open an old score from before i updated,the library shows but there is not any sound forthcoming from the purchased addons,only sound from the stock library.It's ridiculous.


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## stevebarden

Make sure you’re online when you start the app.


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## NYC Chaz

stevebarden said:


> Make sure you’re online when you start the app.


Thanks but i was online the whole time.Everything was fine until i installed newest update.


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## Michael Antrum

Have you tried re-buying the library ?

It looks like you are going to pay for it again with the buy button, but after clicking buy it then states and you have already purchased this library, and it downloads again. Clunky I know.

(If it were really going to charge your card, it would warn you about no refunds after you download the library first.)

I had that a while back on my iPad.


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## dcoscina

NYC Chaz said:


> Thanks but i was online the whole time.Everything was fine until i installed newest update.


Did you reboot your iPad after updating? There is also a Refresh purchases option in the Staffpad store. Failing all that rebuying will trigger a msg “you have already purchased this library, so you wish to download again?”


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## NYC Chaz

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help.Went to purchase and was able to redownload the libraries and now all is working again.


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## dcoscina

NYC Chaz said:


> Just wanted to thank everyone for their help.Went to purchase and was able to redownload the libraries and now all is working again.


Enjoy brother!


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## jonnybutter

Hate to be a turd in the punchbowl. Some things are getting steadily better in Staffpad, BUT everytime I open it I have some kind of problem. Usually it’s small and fixable, but jotting down an idea is precisely the moment I don’t want to deal with some left-brain bullshit - a corrupted file, corrupted measure, playback not working until restart, etc. There’s always a workaround, but that’s not the time to be thinking about one!

I really want to like Staffpad, and I love the idea of it, but it has been quite frustrating for me the entire time I’ve had it (6 months or so).

Does anybody else try to do rough sketching on StaffPad? If I have something already mostly composed, or firmly stuck in my head, SP is OK. But for that so is Dorico! It’s a workflow chicken-egg thing, and I was hoping SP would be my egg. But I’m going back to paper for rough sketching, unfortunately.

BTW, I understand that iOS could be part of the problem - maybe a big part. It’s obviously half-baked in a lot of ways. But not much to be done about that.


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## dcoscina

jonnybutter said:


> Hate to be a turd in the punchbowl. Some things are getting steadily better in Staffpad, BUT everytime I open it I have some kind of problem. Usually it’s small and fixable, but jotting down an idea is precisely the moment I don’t want to deal with some left-brain bullshit - a corrupted file, corrupted measure, playback not working until restart, etc. There’s always a workaround, but that’s not the time to be thinking about one!
> 
> I really want to like Staffpad, and I love the idea of it, but it has been quite frustrating for me the entire time I’ve had it (6 months or so).
> 
> Does anybody else try to do rough sketching on StaffPad? If I have something already mostly composed, or firmly stuck in my head, SP is OK. But for that so is Dorico! It’s a workflow chicken-egg thing, and I was hoping SP would be my egg. But I’m going back to paper for rough sketching, unfortunately.
> 
> BTW, I understand that iOS could be part of the problem - maybe a big part. It’s obviously half-baked in a lot of ways. But not much to be done about that.


I've written 4 concert works in SP since the summer. Most of that composing happened away from my studio which I appreciated especially since COVID lockdown where I work my music retail day job from the same room, so I wasn't keen on spending more time there after work.

I cannot say for anyone else but I've had more creativity and output since StaffPad came along, not to mention the ability to focus on the music and not the production aspect of dealing with samples in DAWs which takes valuable time. Perhaps SP is just a good fit for my writing style and work habits. Being constrained to keyboard entry has always bothered me about composing with samples as most orchestra instruments do not behave anywhere close to a keyboard. being free of that vice (and I've played piano for 40 years) is liberating and allows for greater expanse of ideas. But I'm writing concert music, not film scores, not pop, not jazz, and I'm writing in a mid 20th century idiom.

For whatever reason, Staffpad has worked exceedingly well for my purposes. And whatever hitches its had, I've been able to circumvent until such time that an update addresses those issues.


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## jonnybutter

dcoscina said:


> I've written 4 concert works in SP since the summer. Most of that composing happened away from my studio which I appreciated especially since COVID lockdown where I work my music retail day job from the same room, so I wasn't keen on spending more time there after work.
> 
> I cannot say for anyone else but I've had more creativity and output since StaffPad came along, not to mention the ability to focus on the music and not the production aspect of dealing with samples in DAWs which takes valuable time. Perhaps SP is just a good fit for my writing style and work habits. Being constrained to keyboard entry has always bothered me about composing with samples as most orchestra instruments do not behave anywhere close to a keyboard. being free of that vice (and I've played piano for 40 years) is liberating and allows for greater expanse of ideas. But I'm writing concert music, not film scores, not pop, not jazz, and I'm writing in a mid 20th century idiom.
> 
> For whatever reason, Staffpad has worked exceedingly well for my purposes. And whatever hitches its had, I've been able to circumvent until such time that an update addresses those issues.



I know you like it Dennis, and I know the workflow, er, works well for some people, and I am aware that people write full scores on it. My question was: do you *sketch* on it?

I also like to write away from the keyboard (because I can be too glib with a keyboard around), but for sketching, SP just doesn’t work for me, at least so far. I’ll try again one of these days.


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## dcoscina

jonnybutter said:


> I know you like it Dennis, and I know the workflow, er, works well for some people, and I am aware that people write full scores on it. My question was: do you *sketch* on it?
> 
> I also like to write away from the keyboard (because I can be too glib with a keyboard around), but for sketching, SP just doesn’t work for me, at least so far. I’ll try again one of these days.


Yup I've seen a lot of variety in responses to the app. I wish it would work as well for everyone else as it does for me but such is life. 

BTW- my name is David, not Dennis.


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## jonnybutter

I’m sorry David! Brain fart.

A big caveat: StaffPad is amazing at what it does well. It’s great for slinging ‘blocks’ of notes around. It’s often good for more macro composing chores. And it certainly sounds good, and I’m sure better with this update (some articulation playbacks fixed!). I am not telling anyone to not buy it.


But for sketching I find it touch and go at best, and it kind of points to a basic challenge for software in coming years: if you are mimicking/modeling something very human - like handwriting - your model has be very very good or the game might not be worth the candle. Humans having to modify what *they* do to fit the model of...themselves..is awkward and a little weird, and could even lead us astray sometimes, despite the payoffs for doing it.

I bring all this up because I think people shouldn’t expect bulletproof perfomance. I think there is a contingent of people who are frustrated by it because they want to sketch with it. If you aren’t in the heat of a moment, there are usually workarounds for almost any probl me. As I say it’s a great way to fly blocks of notes around a big ensemble in a hurry with your finger or stylus, and that is very cool (and is not handwriting recognition, really). In that light I’m also glad to hear that MIDI imports have been improved (haven’t tried that yet).


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## stevebarden

If you’re just looking for a solution that mimics writing on paper you can always use the markup pen and sketch that way. Of course, you won’t get any playback (just like paper). But if you want to have the playback ability you’ll have to learn how to write with StaffPad penmanship.


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## jonnybutter

stevebarden said:


> If you’re just looking for a solution that mimics writing on paper you can always use the markup pen and sketch that way. Of course, you won’t get any playback (just like paper). But if you want to have the playback ability you’ll have to learn how to write with StaffPad penmanship.



Hi Steve, 

I will explore the markup pen. But what I really want is a less buggy normal StaffPad for quick sketching. I do use it for other stages of work, and if MIDI import works better now, even better. But I'm not going to use it for sketching anymore b/c I don't find it to be reliable enough for that. These days it may not be so much handwriting recognition that fails as just buggy behavior - corrupted measures/files, playback issues, crashes, freezes. I just don't trust it for getting ideas down fast.


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## Montisquirrel

I am on Windows and I can't change instuments anymore, when I want to exchange an existing one.


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## servandus

Montisquirrel said:


> I am on Windows and I can't change instuments anymore, when I want to exchange an existing one.


I had the same issue, but it's been fixed in the last update (3.4.4.0 if you're on Windows). Give it a try and see if it's working for you also.


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