The major goal with Helium 13.6 is SQLite optimizations. Since the release of Helium 13.5 we have noticed that SQLite can act slow on:

• Larger add operations
• Larger update library operations
• Importing of databases
• Larger tag updating operations
• Calculating of various statistics

We have therefore focused on optimizing the above functions which has resulted in huge speed improvements when working with SQLite. The most of the optimizations also applies to other database types.

Because of the above improvements for SQLite we recommend all users which have performance issues with Helium 13.5 to try this release.

If you work with SQLite and find a specific workflow that still seems to run slow, click here to contact us so that we can analyse that further.

Other major changes in this release

• Support for word replacements in the Find duplicates tool. It is possible to define a list of words that should be replaced when the tool is executed. For example feat. shall always be replaced with ft. so that “The Prodigy feat. Other artist” shall be treated as a 100% match with “The Prodigy ft. Other artist”. This setting is accessed from the Settings button the the Find duplicates tool.
• It is possible to remap picture paths stored in the database if the source folder is moved. The tool can be accessed from Tools > Options > Pictures and by clicking the Remap button for the picture type that shall be remapped.
• Support for new fields in subtracks:
  • Lyricist
  • Language
  • All custom fields
  • Lyrics
• Possibility to optimize SQLite databases (index de-fragmentation and compressing)
• Column sorting in track lists are preserved during sessions. This also applies on sortings made with multiple columns by pressing shift whilst clicking the column.
• Corrections to picture handling when updating pictures (SQLite)
• The Action manager can now remove attached pictures.
• Optimizations when parsing multiple artists. During reading and writing of tracks.
• Corrections to displaying of item type for albums with subtracks.

Apart from the above improvements and corrections we have as always included several minor fixes and improvements.

Working with this beta version

Please note all functions in this beta version is not fully completed. Functions might not have passed all QA testing and translation texts can be missing.

This beta version cannot be installed parallel to the official Helium 13 version.

If you find any bugs or if you have feedback, please let us know by clicking here.

Click here to download Helium 13.6 beta http://dl.imploded.com/neon/helium_13.6.15156.0-BETA.exe

After two beta versions we are now confident that Helium Streamer 3.4 is a stable release.

You can read about the news in the two blog posts below:

Helium 13.5 beta and Streamer 3.4 beta now available

Helium Streamer 3.4 beta 2 now available

Click here to download Helium Streamer 3.4.

Welcome to a new Helium 13 release!

This version comes with the following major changes:

• SQLite replaces SQL Compact as the default database type
• Integrated F1 help for the most tools and views and many new help topics
• Playlist node for quick browsing and managing of playlists in the Music Explorer
• Drag and drop support in the Music Explorer
• Possibility to update selected tracks in the database via the context menu in track lists
• Playlist drop-zone allowing dropping of albums and tracks for any view to quickly be able to add items to a specific playlist from any view
• Real time tempo change during playback (-30% to +30%)
• Automatic calculating of BPM during playback
• Create harmonic mixed playlists using tonality and BPM
• New fields related to artists in filters, Advanced searches and Smart playlists
• Various user interface improvements

Click on the links below to read about the details of the improvements

• Helium 13.5 beta 1 news
• Helium 13.5 beta 2 news

We recommend all users to update to this version as soon as possible.

Click here to download the new version

Helium Streamer 3.4 beta 2 is now released.

News in the beta 2 version (apart from the ones listed for the first beta release) is that we have enabled support for multi-selection in the play queue to allow for easier cleanup of the play queue:

There are a couple of ways to select or deselect tracks from the play queue:

1. Manually select tracks you want to remove by using the checkboxes.
2. Clicking the Select all (or Select none) button to select all tracks. You can then deselect any tracks you don’t want to remove by using the checkboxes.

Click on the Remove selected button or use the context menu by right clicking in the play queue and clicking on the Remove action.

Click here to download Helium Streamer 3.4 beta 2.

Welcome to a new beta version of Helium 13.5.

This version comes with several improvements and fixes, the most important are listed below.

Drag and drop

It is now possible to use drag and drop for files in the Music Explorer. From the tracklist, start a drag operation of one or more selected files and drop them directly into a folder under the Library node to copy the files into the destination folder. Files can also be moved if shift is pressed whilst performing the operation.

From the Music Explorer you can also drag one or more tracks into a playlist.

In the Playlists view it is also possible to drag one or more files from the track list directly into a playlist.

Sometimes there might be situations when you find tracks or albums you would like to add to a specific playlist without having direct access to playlists as in the Music Explorer or the Playlists view. One way to add tracks to a specific playlist for these situations are of course via the context-menu in the tracks view, but with this Helium version we introduce a new way of handling this – the playlist drop-zone.
The playlist drop-zone is located in the player to the bottom right, just below the rating control.

Click the button to select a specific playlist you would like to work with and then from any track view or album view, drag and drop items to the drop-zone to add them to the selected playlist. Just click the button again to change to another playlist.

Player and playlists

Whilst writing about the player there are some more new things related to that:

• Tempo control is now available directly from the player
• When a song is playing, BPM can automatically be calculated, if empty and stored to library and tags. This option is available from Tools > Options > Player

For playlists, there are some options available when creating harmonic mixes, selecting starting key for example.

Advanced searches & Smart Playlists

Artist/group country, born/formed year, died/disbanded year and volume is now possible to use in advanced searches and smart playlists.

Other changes

Some other changes and corrections are also included in this release:

• All genres from an artists tracks are used in the header of the artist details page. The genres are clickable.
  
• It is possible to expand and collapse headers in the album details and artist details pages
• Quickly hide or show the advanced filters via the View menu
• Various fixes related to loading and saving of action manager fields
• Various fixes related to SQLite tagging
• Various user interface fixes

Apart from the above new features and improvements, this version comes with several bug fixes and minor improvements.

Working with the beta version

Please note all functions in this beta version is not fully completed. Functions might not have passed all QA testing and translation texts can be missing.

This beta version cannot be installed parallel to the official Helium 13 version.

If you find any bugs or if you have feedback, please let us know by clicking here.

Click here to download Helium 13.5 beta 2

A new beta version of Helium 13 is now available for testing together with an update of Helium Streamer.

This biggest change in this version is the deprecation of the Sql Server Compact default database type which is replaced with SQLite.

SQLite is a more platform independent database type and it also can be quicker than Sql Server Compact for certain operations.

If you have a Sql Server Compact database active whilst starting Helium 13.5 it will automatically be migrated to SQLite.

Starting with this version you will no longer be able to create new Sql Server Compact databases, instead you will be able to create SQLite databases.

It will still be possible to import Sql Server Compact databases into SQLite, Sql Server and MySql databases with this release.

The prior beta version was cancelled due to issues with SQLite but it shall hopefully work now. A few other new new things has also been added since the first release.

Other major changes in this release

• Icons in the Music Explorer for various node types which allows a quicker overview of which actual data type a specific node is of.
• Preview: Support for Playlists in the Music Explorer
• Preview: Drag and drop from the track list to Playlists in the Music Explorer.
  Note: The mouse cursor does change when dragging over nodes yet.
• Country filter in the Artists view
• Artist/group filter in the Artists view
• Possibility to save and load columns for each view with track lists
• Synchronizing content data (data shown in tag editor drop-downs) from the database
• New tracklist columns: Media and Procuced
• Improvements to generated playlist when using the File synchronizing tool for better compatibility with Rekordbox and Traktor
• Possibility to change tempo (-30% to +30%) for the song currently being played. If the song has BPM set, the new BPM will be shown. The function is available from the context menu on the player.
• Order a playlist using tonality keys and related algorithms to create harmonic mixed playlists
• Improved error reporting when copying and moving tracks to external folders
• Improved error handling when unhandled exception occurs including persisting of settings to minimize lost data
• Improvements to playlist summary data when adding tracks to playlists
• Improvements for add to default playlist (minimized refreshes)
• Improvements to fetching of data in the artist view
• Better handling of MySql databases whose connections has been lost

Apart from the above new features and improvements, this version comes with several bug fixes and minor improvements.

Working with the beta version

Please note all functions in this beta version is not fully completed. Functions might not have passed all QA testing and translation texts can be missing.

This beta version cannot be installed parallel to the official Helium 13 version.

If you find any bugs or if you have feedback, please let us know by clicking here.

Click here to download Helium 13.5 beta

Helium Streamer 3.4 beta

Together with the beta version of Helium we also present a compatible version of Helium Streamer. This beta version comes with a few new features as well:

• New transcoding engine. There have been some problems with the old transcoding engine which caused some tracks to not transcode correctly, or at all. Some users had big problems with this while some did not experience it at all. This release comes with a preview of a new transcoder which uses FFmpeg behind the scenes.
• Artist relations. If you have set up artist relations in Helium these will now show up on the artist page just like in Helium.
• SQLite support. This version of Helium Streamer also has support for the new database engine which will be the default database in upcoming releases of Helium and Helium Streamer.

Click here to download Helium Streamer 3.4 beta.

Helium Streamer 3.3.5 is now released.

The only news in this version is in the web service that is being used by the Helium Streamer app for iOS and Android.

After installing Helium Streamer 3.3.5 and using the latest version of the iOS or Android app you will get a new menu entry in the mobile apps: Volumes.

Volumes in Helium Streamer maps directly to the Volumes you have created in Helium.

Click here to download Helium Streamer 3.3.5.

A hotfix for Helium 13.4 is now available.

This version corrects some functions in the duplicate finder plus that the Add to default playlist command is available via track list context menues.

We recommend all users to update to this release.

Click here to download the new version 

Helium 13.4 is now officially released!

This version comes with the following major changes:

• Volume control is optionally isolated to Helium, thus not neccesarily affecting the Windows master volume
• Quick add to default playlist. Set a playlist to be default and items to that specific playlist without the need to selecting it
• Extra small font and UI optimizations to be able to show more data on screen
• Album details tracklist now has its own sorting
• Short cut improvements
• Improvements to reading of Windows ratings on tags
• Possibility to hide the search/toolbar pane
• Possibility to hide the player pane
• Paste a clipboard value into multiple selected cells in the Tag editor
• Multi-select toggling available as a toolbar button
• Stability and performance improvements
• Component upgrades

We recommend all users to update to this version as soon as possible.

Click here to download the new version

New iOS applications

 

Our iOS applications has been updated with a new user-interface and workflow for smoother and better usage.

They also comes with some new features:

• Add track to playlist
• Add album to playlist
• Volume control (Helium remote only)
• Better filtering
• Support for collections/volumes
• Improved loading indicators
• Stability and performance improvements

The applications can be downloaded from AppStore.

The Android applications are also being redesigned and improved and will hopefully be released soon also.

A new hotfix with mainly MySql8 related issues is now available.

Even if you are not using MySql8 we recommend you to update to this version.

Click here to download the new version.