Finding the right gear is now significantly more flexible. Search in the Library Browser and My Gear no longer expects a perfect, exact match. If you mistype a model name, search still surfaces what you are looking for, so a small slip on the keyboard no longer means starting over.You can also combine everything you know about a piece of gear in one search. Type the manufacturer and the model together and the results narrow straight to the match. Searching disguise gx3, for example, takes you right to the Disguise GX 3. The terms can go in any order, so gx3 disguise works just as well, and you are free to mix and match the manufacturer, brand, and model however they come to mind. Spacing is flexible too, so gx3 and gx 3 both find the same gear.
Search also understands numbers and singular and plural forms. Whether you enter a model number exactly as it appears on the device or a slightly different variation, and whether you search a term in its singular or plural form, the gear you expect shows up. The result is less time hunting through the library and more time building your drawing.
New Port Options
New Connectors
IEC C13
IEC C14
IEC C19
IEC C20
har-link
Aviation 4-Pin
New Signal Types
Light Sensor
When you add one of the IECs to a gear item in the Library Editor, the port direction is set for you automatically, so a device's mains inlet and a distro's supply outlet come out correct without any extra steps. Matching IEC pairs (C13 with C14, and C19 with C20) are recognized as directly compatible, so those power connections work as expected when you draw them.
Signal Compatibility
USB-C Thunderbolt can now connect to HDMI ports, and vice versa.
Default Library Updates
Thank you to everyone who has submitted and requested library items! We have now passed over 2,700 verified gear items, thanks to you!
We've been hearing great things from you regarding the new Background Sync, so we are excited to announce that Background Sync is now available in the main app!
As a recap, Local Mode now syncs your work in the background while you keep drawing, without interrupting you with a fullscreen loading screen. Just like how apps such as Google Docs work offline and then sync to the cloud in the background, GearConnect follows a similar approach.
Background Sync is multi-threaded, meaning the app itself never slows down while the app is syncing, and because it's a snapshot based approach, you can now import projects and restore version histories in seconds instead of minutes. This makes it practical to jump around different version histories until you find the change you are looking for, and Background Sync keeps up in the background.
For full details on how Background Sync works, refer to our previous changelog or read up about it in our updated documentation.
New Port Options
New Connectors
Shure MXC 10-Pin
Binding Post
Bare Wire
New Signal Types
CobraNet
Signal Compatibility
AES67 is now compatible with the other networking signals (TCP/IP, Unicast, Multicast, and Broadcast), MADI and Thunderbolt are now compatible with USB, and Thunderbolt is now compatible with DisplayPort.
Connector Compatibility
USB-C can now be connected to DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort using an adapter. Mini XLR 3-Pin can also now be connected to 2.5mm, 3.5mm, and XLR Combo using an adapter.
Default Library Updates
Thank you to everyone who has submitted and requested library items! This update adds a set of generic stage plot gear, so you can sketch out stage and band setups quickly. They are all under the GearConnect manufacturer, which has also been re-organized to make it easier to find generic gear items moving forward.
New gear items include:
GearConnect
Acoustic Guitar
Acoustic Piano
Active Stage Wedge
Backing Vocal
Bass Amp
Bass Guitar
Condenser Mic
Desktop PC/Server
DI-Box
Drum Kit
Dynamic Mic
Electric Guitar Amp
Electric Guitar Modeler
Electric Piano
Horn
Laptop
Lead Vocal
Musical Instrument
Passive Stage Wedge
Power Socket 110V
Power Socket 230V
Sample Pad
Sequencer (Backing Tracks)
Stand-up Bass
Synthesizer
Thunderbolt Enclosure
TV
Wireless Microphone
Improvements
Promo codes can now be redeemed during active yearly promotions, with the discount shown on the Pro and Teams plans.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a black screen that could appear for read-only guests opening a shared team drawing from a direct link.
Fixed some lighting fixtures and amplifiers failing to save in the Library Editor depending on their DMX profile or power mode settings.
Fixed the drawing locking up when a pan was started by middle-clicking over a port, which previously required reloading the app to unlock.
Fixed the view jumping unexpectedly instead of a smooth transition after adding a new gear item.
Fixed the right-click menu for gear and connections being clipped or tucked behind the drawing toolbar.
Fixed the browser's own right-click menu sometimes appearing on top of the app's right click menu in the drawing.
Fixed panning not working for read-only users and read-only projects.
Fixed an autosave not being triggered in some situations.
Fixed the Library Editor not saving updates when you saved very quickly.
Fixed the validating-project notification disappearing while validation was still in progress.
Fixed a rare case where a duplicate VLAN or layer could be created after a sync.
Fixed being able to apply a promo code before entering anything in the code box, which showed an error message.
We've heard your feedback and we are excited to share a significant update that should go largely unnoticed moving forward: Local Mode now syncs in the background while you keep drawing (similar to how apps like Google Docs work).
Instead of pausing your workflow to run a sync like previous modes, your projects stay up to date automatically, with much more resilient error handling and automatic recovery if something goes wrong.
This means that every gear, port, connection, VLAN, layer, and every other part of your project is seamlessly saved back to the database that powers every project with you no longer needing to think about it.
The new Background Sync mode replaces the previous Sync Periodically and Sync Manually modes as we have overhauled how the syncing algorithm works in GearConnect. It is now multi-threaded, with project validation happening when you save the project on the main thread before your project is snapshotted and handed off to the sync engine.
The Background Sync will now dynamically talk to the main thread to coordinate project snapshots, syncing cadence, server updates, and error handling which means the app will no longer lock editing with the full page loading screen, allowing you to keep working without any app slowness while the sync runs.
This means any edits you make while a sync is in progress will now simply be queued up for the next sync. Syncs run shortly after you stop editing the project and you can monitor progress in the Main Menu Bar, complete with a more helpful progress percent to let you know how close the syncing is to completion.
Background Syncs run at a slower, more relaxed pace however you can still manually trigger a sync just like before in a variety of ways such as clicking on the last synced time, which will trigger a fast sync.
You can try this new Background Sync mode in the Beta app today; it will be activated automatically for you if you previously had Local Mode enabled.
Offline Mode Handoff
Background Syncing works in tandem with Offline Mode - because GearConnect installs as an app automatically, you can install and run the app completely offline. When you are in poor internet connections like on site, Offline Mode automatically kicks in and syncing continues to store your project changes in a local database.
Once you come back online, Background Sync will take your most recent changes and start syncing them back up to the server, making the handoff seamless for you.
And now, if you lose internet half way through a sync, the all new syncing resilience improvements seamlessly recover for when you are back online.
Improved Syncing Resilience
Interrupting a sync is no longer an issue, never leaving your project in a mid-synced state as syncing is now far more resilient thanks to snapshot based syncing. If something goes wrong partway through a sync, the app has more recovery paths to seamlessly recover using various methods before alerting you. If it can't recover, it simply abandons the snapshot and takes a new one on the next sync, picking up where it left off.
It will only update your project with the sync results if the snapshot was fully 100% syncable, ensuring project integrity. We have also extended this improved resilience across more parts of the project, including VLANs, cable inventories, and layers, not just the core gear, ports, and connections.
In the event that several snapshots fail to sync repeatedly, you will be presented with an option to perform a full project validation as before, complete with the new smarter repair options we added in recent releases.
Instant Version History Reverts and Project Imports
But it's not just editing that gets a major performance boost. Importing projects and reverting Version Histories now take seconds instead of minutes as the snapshot based syncing simply will queue up your latest changes. This means the admittedly long and drawn out process of reverting Version Histories is now compressed to a matter of seconds as you no longer need to wait for a full re-sync and project validation.
This makes quickly swapping between different versions much more feasible now, for those times you can't remember the exact older version you were looking for and need to hop around a few different versions until you find it. Just revert as many as you need, and let background sync clean up gracefully when you are done.
Local Mode Changes
We've also made some changes to how Local Mode works in general. Previously, deleting a project in one browser would still leave your local copy on other browsers and devices. The intention was to allow you an extra backup method in the event of accidental mistakes, but this ended up just causing confusion for most people.
Instead, it now removes deleted projects from your other browser sessions instead of leaving previous copies behind, matching how shared team projects already behaved. This does mean delete is now more permanent though!
Another important change to be mindful of - your local projects are now treated as the source of truth. If you are syncing the same project across multiple browsers or devices at the same time, the most recently synced one will now always take precedence, regardless of if the server's version is newer.
This keeps syncing clear, consistent, and predictable, and you can always recover previous versions from Version History in the event of a mistake.
Improvements
Some self-healing steps, such as correcting layer ordering and port colours, now run as part of the normal project load rather than requiring a full project validation.
Thanks to the improved error handling with Background Sync, the old import-with-errors workflow and checkbox is no longer needed and has been removed.
Local Mode is now no longer bypassed during project syncs, preventing rare cases where you may be told Local Mode needs to be enabled when using Local Mode specific features such as undo shortly after a sync completes. Local Mode is still required to be bypassed during full project validations.
During syncs, project data is now synced in chunks for faster syncing instead of one-at-a-time for all project data, not just ports and connections.
Manual syncs will now always run if requested, even if there are no changes to the project.
Several notifications that should never have been dis-missable can no longer be dismissed by mistake.
Bug Fixes
Fixed panning not working for read-only users and read-only projects.
Fixed an auto save not being triggered in some situations after changing non-drawing items like layers or cable inventories.
Fixed the Library Editor not saving updates when you saved very quickly after making a change.
Fixed the validating-project notification disappearing while validation was still in progress.
Fixed a rare case where a duplicate VLAN or layer could be created after a sync.
Thanks to everyone for your feedback, we've heard great things about Connection Tags from the Beta, and we're excited to now release them fully in the Main app!
As a recap, when two pieces of gear are far apart, the connection between them can now be shown as two short stubs, one at each end, with a label that tells you what each stub links to. The result is a drawing that stays readable no matter how big your system gets.
You stay in control of how tags behave. Connections can switch to tags automatically based on distance, always show as tags, or always show the full line, so you can tune the look of each drawing to suit the way you work. You also choose what the tag labels display, whether that is the gear name on its own, the gear and port together, or just the port.
Tags double as a fast way to move around a big drawing too. Click a tag label to jump straight to the other end of the connection, and hover a stub to highlight the matching stub at the far end. Tagged connections also eliminate the need for Smart Connection Routing, drastically speeding up performance on larger drawings as the app no longer needs to calculate the best path for each connection.
Connection Tags are a Pro feature, and we are running a special promotion until the end of the month to get your first month of Pro free to try them out!
