Serento: The audiophile UPnP controller app for iOS/macOS

[serento]

Hello everyone,

Version 1.1.4 brings a Recycle Bin, Pick for Me, a Release Type filter, and volume control in the Apple TV app.

BEFORE YOU SYNC: TWO NEW TAGS FOR MINIMSERVER

If your server is MinimServer, add two tags to its itemTags, so that Serento can read them:

releasetype is the album’s type (Album, EP, Live, Compilation and so on). It now decides whether an album is Live or Studio, and it feeds the new Release Type filter.

Band is the BAND tag. Bands are now listed with orchestras, choirs and ensembles, each under its role.

This is the full value, as the setup guide shows it now, in the app and on the website (releasetype sits after releasecountry, Band at the end):

catalognumber, releasecountry, releasetype, lyricist, musicbrainz_albumartistid, musicbrainz_albumid, musicbrainz_artistid, musicbrainz_discid, musicbrainz_originalalbumid, musicbrainz_originalartistid, musicbrainz_recordingid, musicbrainz_releasegroupid, musicbrainz_trackid, Engineer, DISCSUBTITLE, Style, Period, Instrument, Lyrics, Producer, Label, Movement, MovementNumber, MovementTotal, MovementName, InvolvedPeople, Work, Work--Name, RecordingDate, RecordingLocation, OriginalDate, OriginalYear, Band

Then apply it in MinimServer: in the Properties tab, press Restart, then in the Status tab, press Rescan.

Whatever your server, sync each of your devices once after updating, so that what is read from your tags reaches Serento: Settings › your server › Sync Data › Sync now.

NEW

Recycle Bin. Playlists, tags, bookmarks and the radio stations you added are no longer gone when you delete them: they wait, whole, in Settings › Manage › Recycle Bin. A playlist comes back with its tracks in their order, a tag with its sub-tags and everything that wore it, a bookmark in its old place in the list. Restore brings back the very same item on all your devices, and you can empty the bin when you are sure. Nothing in the bin expires on its own, and the bin itself syncs across your devices.

Pick for Me, as suggested here on the forum. Pick for Me is the last row of the Play menu in Albums, a genre and Listen Later, and a dice beside the sort on lists of artists and tracks and throughout Classical. It chooses one item from the list you see, filters and search included, and shows it on its own: the cover, the format, how long it runs, when you last played it, and the artists on it with their portraits and biographies. Play it, or press Pick Another: nothing comes back until every item in the list has had its turn.

Release Type. The album filters have a new section with the types your albums carry: Album, EP, Single, Compilation, Live, Studio, Soundtrack, Remix, DJ Mix and the rest of MusicBrainz’s list, showing only the types your library has. Tick several to see any of them, or tap a chip again to exclude it. It is in Albums, Classical and Listen Later, and a bookmark keeps it. A type comes from your files’ RELEASETYPE tag, or from MusicBrainz when the tag names none.

Listen Later now has the album list’s tools: a filter field, sorting by name, artist or date added, favorites, downloads, the advanced filters, a grid or compact layout, and a Play menu that plays what is on screen.

APPLE TV

Volume. A new button at the bottom of Now Playing, beside the output button, opens your streamer’s volume. Press up or down on the clickpad to change it one step at a time, and press its center to mute or unmute. The level shows in large figures, with decibels on streamers that report them. It needs Serento 1.1.4 on the iPhone, iPad or Mac that plays, with volume control available for your streamer.

A DSD track playing on your streamer is now marked bit-perfect too.

IMPROVED

Live or Studio, as reported here on the forum, now comes from the album’s RELEASETYPE tag first, then from MusicBrainz, then from its title, where “live” as a verb, as in “I Want to Live”, no longer counts.

Classical works, from your reports here. A ballet whose acts are tagged as separate works, such as Romeo and Juliet, keeps one work per act. The same work recorded twice on one album shows as two recordings. A second composer on one movement no longer splits a work. Works follow MOVEMENTNUMBER, and works with many movements are numbered right. “The Planets”, “The Planets, op. 32” and “The Planets Suite” by one composer are one work, and work lists show the catalogue number beside the name instead of inside it.

Classical takes in what the genre says: Film Score stays out, and so does French Chanson, while an album whose tracks are mostly classical stays in, as the Gershwin album reported here now does. Orchestras, choirs, ensembles and bands are each listed under their role, and a composer named as album artist is never taken for an orchestra.

Credits. The album page names every composer on the album. A track row shows its artist only when it differs from the album artist. Long credits are cut at a whole name, never in the middle of one, and the … sheet lists every artist the credit names. An artist link opens the classical profile only from a classical album; anywhere else it opens the artist page.

Playback. Next, Previous, Play and moving within a Hi-Res or DSD track no longer pause the streamer first, and you can move within a DSD track on every streamer.

Silent Network, in Settings › Playback, now sets how long Serento sends nothing optional to your streamer after a start, a skip or a seek on Hi-Res or DSD. It is off by default.

A USB DAC gets each track at the track’s own rate. Play always plays after the DAC drops out, and opening the app no longer stops a track. On iPhone and iPad, DSD that reaches a USB DAC at a lower rate than the file’s shows that rate, such as DSD128 OVER PCM, without the bit-perfect glow.

Genres: Bristol Sound is new, under Downtempo.

On iPhone, the buttons next to Play are round. On Mac, sheets open centred above the mini player, without a scroll bar.

FIXED

Favorites belong to the server you marked them on: an album favorited on one server no longer lights up on another, and Home no longer changes its count when a device reconnects.

On non-classical albums, tracks that share only a WORK tag, such as remixes of one song, are no longer grouped as a work. On classical albums, a track without a movement tag leaves a work whose other tracks have one.

The server of a portable music player app, whose search stops at 500 tracks, is now read in full by browsing it instead of searching it. A sync there takes longer than a search did, and brings the whole library.

An album no longer shows the description of something else with a similar name, such as the film behind its soundtrack.

On iPhone Duo, the welcome screens fill the whole display and no longer show the next page at the edge.

Many bug fixes and other small improvements.