Version History

1.4.2 March 5, 2021

New option for teachers: show touches on screen. Useful for instructing via video. (Under advanced options.)
Additions to help features & FAQ
Several minor bug fixes

1.4.1 March 24, 2020

Just one change for this version…

New: option to have root re-strike periodically to prevent root sound from decaying down to nothing in rubato & stop-time modes. (Set in Advanced Settings. On by default, and does not apply to sounds such as Arco Bass that already sustain fully.)

1.4 February 13, 2020

New: metronome has over a dozen click sounds to choose from.
Settings screen lets you select two: for downbeat & non-downbeat.
The default click sounds are new. The former ones are still selectable as “Pip (Low)” and “Pip (High)”.
New: adjust volumes of cilck & root sounds independently.
New: hear samples of click sounds and root sounds as you choose them.
Improved: root sounds have more volume.
Improved: picker interfaces updated for clarity to highlight field being modified & show field name.
Fixed: the app would allow user to deselect all keys in the free mode. That’s just silly!
Fixed: crash when sharing PDF files in iPadOS 13.x.
Fixed: existing Favorites could be erroneously un-favorited when importing from an exercise library.
Replaced stop button in rubato mode with pause button for uniformity.

1.3.2 November 13, 2019

Simplified: eliminated play button during manual advance in auto mode (substituted with pause button and eliminated stop button)
Improved: in exercise log, key & tempo now show for all entries, but shown gray when unchanged from previous entry.
Improved: added swipe-left action for deleting exercise log rows
Improved: warmup mode setting no longer visible for exercises set for rubato mode.
Improved: alert that follows exercise completion is now dismissible by tapping outside area.
Improved: warmup duration for each exercise automatically limited to one third of the goal number of rounds
Improved: added options for as few as two rounds per exercise.
Improved: QuickTips more visible in dark mode
Fixed: dark mode bug in custom form screen
Fixed: attempt to move exercises out of favorites screen could cause malfunction.
Fixed: removed excess space under exercise title in Exercises view.
Fixed: metronome image now renders properly in dark mode.
Fixed: effective tempo display always updates now to reflect warmup state when round counter is reset.

1.3.1 October 1, 2019

New: Support for Dark Mode in iOS 13.
New: Support for card-style modal sheets in iOS 13
New: New: Red check mark indicates exercises that have been completed today. (Helpful for implementing a daily practice routine.)
Now supports iOS 11.0 and later. No longer supports iOS 10.x.
Fixed: Starting warmup factor for tempo could erroneously revert to 80%.
Numerous other small fixes, efficiencies and improvements.

1.3 September 24, 2019

New: Warmup Mode. Each exercise begins at a reduced tempo and increases to the full tempo during its first few rounds. Helpful for letting the user quickly re-acclimate to each exercise during a practice session. Fully adjustable in Settings.
Improved: Tempo Adjustment. More intuitive adjusting of tempo. Tapping tempo on main screen brings up a simple, new interface.
Improved: Weight Adjustment. More intuitive adjustment of the relative weights of keys. Long-pressing the key (center-screen) while practicing brings up a simple, new interface.
Improved: Key Selection & Weights Screen. Weights (-3…+3) are now visible for prioritized and deprioritized keys, and the colors of these keys match the colors of the MORE and LESS adjustment buttons.
Improved: Exercise Logs. Motivate yourself by seeing how far you’ve come. View a record of all your practice sessions for any exercise, including tempo, number of keys, and number of rounds.
Improved: Favorites List. New option to customize the display order of favorite exercises.
Numerous other small fixes, efficiencies and improvements.

1.2.2 September 6, 2019

New: Exercise Logs. View a record of all your practice sessions for any exercise, including tempo, number of keys, and number of rounds.
Fixed: a few iPad layout issues

1.2.1 June 27, 2019

New: more exercises added to the cloud Library for download. To explore, click Browse & Download Exercises in the app.
New: Built-in Simple Song Phrases and Jazz Song Phrases folders now have accompanying PDF files for easy reference on screen or on paper. (Existing users: to update, delete current folders and replace them by clicking Browse & Download Exercises.)
Improved: better layout and functionality for PDF and MORE INFO buttons.

1.2 June 20, 2019

New: metronome option to emphasize beats. Either off-beats (2 & 4 for swing feel) or on-beats (1 & 3 for straight feel) whenever tempo is above a user-determined value (default is 140 bpm).
New: support for associated PDF files.
When an exercise or folder of exercises comes with a pdf file (e.g. written music or an explanation), a “PDF” button will be visible. Tapping it lets you view, print or share the file. See, for instance, the new items in the download library.
New: support for associated web pages.
When and exercise or folder of exercises links to a web page (e.g. a blog post about the subject), a “More Info” button will be visible. Tapping the button displays the page. See, for instance, the new items in the download library.
Fixed: adjusting the meter of non-current exercise actually adjusted the current exercise instead.
Fixed: app could skip the first chord of multi-chord form in stop-time mode.
Improved: better support for dynamic type (auto-adjusting size depending on user accessibility settings).
Numerous other fixes, efficiencies and improvements.

1.1.2 May 1, 2019

New: visible countoff at the beginning of an exercise and between rounds, with a single, unified appearance.
New: indicator in Practice screen of number of keys enabled in the current exercise (tappable to change enabled keys or their weightings).
Improved: layout of Practice screen for diverse screen sizes and orientations.
Fixed: app is less likely to understand imprecise finger taps as adjustments.
Fixed: bug deleting certain segments of root progressions.
Several other fixes, efficiencies and improvements.

1.1.1 April 3, 2019

New: advanced global setting “Manually Advance by Chord?” When set, manually advancing (by screen tap or foot pedal) triggers each successive chord change in the exercise’s form before advancing to the next round.
Improved experience for people importing a library (via a QR-code) as their first action having never run the app before.
Fixed: adjusting keys and weightings always adjusted for the current exercise, even when it wasn’t supposed to.
Numerous other fixes, efficiencies and improvements

1.1 March 21, 2019

New: RandomPlus™ — a proprietary algorithm which ensures that you aren’t presented too many or too few of any key in any given time frame (unlike truly random presentation), while still preserving all the valuable properties of random ordering, and obeying any key weightings you have specified.
New: Additional exercises available for import from a central always-available server, with more on their way. (Tap the bottom row in the Exercises screen.)
New: Tapping an exercise library file (e.g. in Files or Mail or AirDrop) loads it into Random Roots for importing its contents.
Improved: Save & Import exercises in iCloud (via the new FILE MANAGEMENT section in the Settings tab)
New: Whenever the active exercise library is replaced, a backup of it is saved locally.
New: When browsing an online library, Pull-to-Refresh gesture now refreshes the display.
Fixed: Timer could count downward from goal even when goal was disabled.
Numerous other fixes, efficiencies and improvements

1.0.7 March 12, 2019

New: load & save exercises in iCloud (via the new FILE MANAGEMENT section in the Settings tab)
New: browse & import exercises from the online library
New: Random Roots now tracks when each exercise was last practiced
New: Favorites tab can now show exercises sorted so that the ones that haven’t been practiced for the longest time appear first
New: Option to pick new exercise from Favorites upon exercise completion
Fixed: timer was sometimes resetting after exercise completion when it shouldn’t have
Fixed: “Play Root” exercise setting was not being saved properly between sessions.
Fixed: bug involving cloning of favorite exercises
Fixed: attempt to edit an exercise from within Favorites tab could erroneously result in editing of the current exercise.
Changed: current exercise now designated with a green dot rather than a red check.
Numerous other fixes, efficiencies and improvements

1.0.6 February 12, 2019

Added: long press on timer resets timer to zero.
Added: long press on counter resets counter to zero.
Changed: tapping any exercise in the Exercise tab (not just the current exercise) opens that exercise in the Practice tab.
Improved: long press no longer necessary for adjusting tempo or weights in the Practice tab. Simply swipe up/down.
Fixed: tab bar could be left “floating” above bottom of screen after an editing session in the Exercises tab.
Fixed: After editing an exercise name or description, the revised information was sometimes not displayed immediately.
Fixed: Occasional strange display behavior (items appearing/disappearing) in the Settings tab, primarily in iOS 10.x
Added: long press on center screen (on “READY” or note name) takes user to the key selection & weight adjustment screen.
Numerous other fixes, efficiencies and improvements

1.0.5 February 6, 2019

Improved: Reduced app size by streamlining resource files
Improved: left (up) foot pedal now performs stop in Rubato and Stop Time modes
Added: swiping up/down on the note being presented in Practice Tab now increases/decreases its weight by 1
Improved: changed range variation options to “None, Small, Medium, Large” from “Low, Medium, High” to eliminate potential confusion
Improved: acoustic bass sound (pizzicato) now has more sustain
Numerous other fixes, efficiencies and improvements

1.0.4 January 16, 2019

Fixed: could crash when tempo/weighting modified while metronome running
Added: toggle switch to reveal/hide advanced options

1.0.3 December 30, 2018

Added: setting (advanced) for more/less random variation in range of root.
Added: new quicktips for Custom Form & Key Selection rows in Settings screen
Added: help page buttons that have never been tapped “announce” themselves to user
Added direct upgrade link to Info screen (free mode only)
Added version number to Info screen
Fixed: exiting Custom Form screen in the middle of editing left screen with tab bar hidden
Fixed: current exercise was not properly reset on “factory reset”
Fixed: bug in bookkeeping of which help pages had been viewed.
Fixed: advanced settings section header no longer displayed when section is empty

1.0.2 December 8, 2018

Added: ability to edit name/description in Exercise tab of currently shown folder.
Fixed: page-up foot pedal disabled in rubato mode
Fixed: foot taps disabled whenever tab bar is not visible
Fixed: tempo/weight fadeout caused problems with quick consecutive tempo taps & weight adjustments
Fixed: potential crash in rubato mode.
Onboarding: eliminated some pages, reduced some text

1.0 December 6, 2018

Disabled idle timer (auto display sleep) in all non-idle modes. Previously only in auto-advancing mode.
Added folder descriptions to default folders.
Fixed: Stochastic octave choice shouldn’t change for consecutive notes that are the same.
Several other bug fixes

Beta 1.0.1(27) November 25, 2018

Added a “clone” command to the options when you swipe right on an exercise in Exercise Tab.
Added a slight stochastic element to note range selection
Added advanced settings section
Added folder description under folder name at top in Exercise tab.
Subscription checking for beta users is now disabled by default

Beta 1.0.1(26) November 13, 2018

Improved interface for moving exercises & folders.
Improved horizontal layout of Key Selection screen
Improved transposition pickers to highlight common transpositions
Improved: Added disclosure indicators (chevrons) to exercise folders for clarity.
Fixed: possible loop if pause pressed at exactly the wrong time during countoff.
Fixed: tapping metronome-start in stop time mode could have the wrong effect.
Other minor fixes and improvements.

Beta 1.0.1(25) November 5, 2018

Improved: When a root is being presented, the rounds counter (upper right) now indicates which round you’re performing (e.g. “6” means the 6th round) rather than the number you’ve already completed (e.g. 5 rounds completed).
Fixed: 2 bar countoffs could loop indefinitely
Fixed: Audio could occur during countoffs when user settings specified it shouldn’t.
Improved: Compacted the design of Exercise Name & Description fields in editing exercise.

Beta 1.0.1(23) November 1, 2018

For tempo 120 BMP & higher, root sounds during countoffs are now legato rather than short.
Fixed the behavior when the toolbar replaces the tab bar in Edit mode of viewing exercises, and while moving exercises & folders.
Fixed bug where incoming calls or invocation of Siri can cause app to crash.
numerous other bug fixes and cosmetic & functional improvements.

Beta 1.0.1(18) October 18, 2018

Various cosmetic improvements
Reinstated subscription purchases. Note that in beta mode all purchases are free but of shortened duration. Yearlong purchases only last one hour, and they auto-renew a total of six times. So you’ll have to “repurchase” daily. (Apple mandates that – sorry.)

Beta 1.0.1(17) October 15, 2018

New: Tapping tempo in settings now allows direct keyboard input of tempo.
New: Shortcut in Practice screen for selecting keys & key weights: swipe right in middle of the screen (“READY” or a key name)
New app icon.
Improved glyphs for exercises and for adding exercises & adding folders.

Beta 1.0.1(16) October 6, 2018 (MAJOR UPDATE)

New: Sequences of roots. Now you to have audio with exercises that follow chord progressions. Fully customizable.
New: Built-in sample exercises now include ii-V’s, tritone subs, Coltrane changes, etc. For now, you’ll need to do Info > Reset to load these.
Implemented: moving exercises and exercise folders from one folder to another.
Numerous bug fixes.

Beta 1.0.1(15) September 24, 2018

Improvement: Context-sensitive settings now appear/disappear in settings list with animation, for clarity.
Improvement: Root sounds are staccato during countoffs.
Fixed: Title of the first settings section (“Exercise Name”) now displays properly.

Beta 1.0.1(14) September 20, 2018

Major restructuring of settings interface for clarity & ease:
- Clearly distinguish between global settings and exercise-specific settings.
- All settings of all exercises may be edited now from the Exercise list.
- Settings are now unified in one page with multiple sections.
- Shortcuts on Practice page (e.g. tap timer, tap counter, tap tempo) now bring up individual sections of the settings page.

Beta 1.0.1(13) September 2, 2018

Addressed an issue where sometimes “Resume Tour” buttons did not appear during the guided tour.

Beta 1.0.1(12) August 30, 2018

Implemented workaround for Apple’s shortening of free beta subscriptions, so that beta users don’t need to re-subscribe every few hours.

Beta 1.0.1(11) August 30, 2018 (MAJOR UPDATE)

Implemented favorite exercises (for quick access to ones you’re currently working on)
New visual indicator for exercises with multiple measures indicates the current measure as it progresses.
Exercise/Favorites list: tapping on the current exercise brings you to practice mode (so tapping an exercise twice selects it and then brings you right to where you can practice it.)
Exercises/Favorites list: Swiping left on an exercise/folder gives options to favorite & edit & delete.
Exercises/Favorites list: Edit mode allows batch-selection of exercises & folders for favoriting & deleting.
Implemented monthly/annual premium subscriptions (free to beta users).
User now allowed to delete current exercise
Pressing settings tab takes you to main settings page, not page last settings page visited
Refined the design of exercise list view
Added version number and subscription status to the About screen
Numerous other fixes and improvements

Beta 1.0.1(8) August 2, 2018

new interface for creation of exercises/folders
reduced size of main tappable area on Practice screen area to separate it from other buttons
relocated the mute/pause button that appears during manual advance
fixed bug: new exercises could be created with same id as existing ones, resulting in multiple checkmarks indicating current exercise.
expanded main listing of exercises & folders to make entire descriptions visible.

Beta 1.0.1(7) August 1, 2018

Implemented QuickTip buttons, added them next to various UI items throughout
redesigned onboarding backend, improved functionality
fixed assorted bugs

Beta 1.0.1(5)

enlarged notes for iPad
adjusted top line of display for small screens
enhanced appearance of exercises/folders in list (gray count, red ✓)
fixed assorted bugs

Beta 1.0.1(4) July 19, 2018

addressed issues related to exercise management, introduced in previous version
changed default sound to piano
added ability to customize range of root sound
made all menu type sizes dynamic

Beta 1.0.1(3)

layout changes to accommodate iPhone SE / 5 / 5s
Improved onboarding

Beta 1.0

added pitch range offset
made pickers & alerts dismissable by tapping outside
four bass sounds now available
added UI for choosing between bass sounds