Slopsmith Desktop v0.2.9-alpha.7

Seventh alpha in the 0.2.9 cycle. Headlines: guitar lessons are now built in, VST3 sandbox-by-default (plus a wave of audio-stability fixes), Guitar Pro 6 (.gpx) import, and a big 3D highway upgrade. Also the first build after the project's repos moved to the slopsmith org.

🎓 Guitar lessons, built in

Slopsmith now ships a Tutorials hub — structured lesson packs that pair a video with a graded play-along drill you actually perform on the highway, with pass / mastery scoring and XP. Two packs ship in the box:

• Intro to Bends — half-step, full-step, and bend + vibrato.
• Reading the Highway — 10 lessons covering notes & sustains, chords, bends, slides, hammer-ons/pull-offs, harmonics, palm mutes, dead notes, tremolo/taps, and a combined arrangement.

It's a top-level Tutorials destination (alongside Library / Minigames), and it's a plugin-shaped framework — authors can ship their own lesson packs (video + drill sloppaks + thumbnails). This is the foundation for turning Slopsmith into a place you learn, not just play.

• Bundled in the build (desktop#253); plugin: slopsmith-plugin-tutorials.

🔌 VST sandboxing + audio stability

A misbehaving VST3 should never take the whole app down. This alpha makes the out-of-process sandbox the default and hardens the audio engine against bad plugins and bad signal.

• Sandbox-by-default for every VST3 (desktop#247) — plugins load in a child process; a crash is isolated.
• Catch plugin crashes at runtime (#244) so the app stays up.
• Reaper-style top-level editor window in the child process (#250), AmpliTube pre-seeded into the sandbox list (#246), jthread load heartbeat + distinct timeout reason (#245), and a 5-minute ready timeout for slow-loading plugins (#251).
• Contain non-finite / runaway signal-chain output (#261) — fixes the audio engine dying on a NaN/blowup.
• Restore VST preset state on a mid-song tone change (#255).

🎸 Guitar Pro 6 (.gpx) import

Guitar Pro 6 .gpx files now import — previously the backend errored because PyGuitarPro doesn't support GPX. A pure-Python parser handles the BCFZ/BCFS container and converts tracks (guitar/bass/keys/drums/vocals) to arrangement XML.

• GPX import (slopsmith#418) by @zagatozee — container parsing, multi-tempo map, all 17 GP6 drum kit elements, tuning detection, vocal arrangements.
• Tone markers, piano LH/RH merge, and vocal pitch sidecar (slopsmith#616) by @zagatozee — the GPX follow-ups landed too.

🛣️ Highway

• 3D highway: tone HUD, fret dividers, chord-diagram toggle, FPS counter (slopsmith#607) by @rodsakuramoto.
• Left-handed fret ordering pinned on the 3D highway (slopsmith#603) by @bhill777; fret-hand mute "X" no longer shows on non-muted chord gems (slopsmith#613); shortcut help fixed on the 3D player (slopsmith#602) by @bhill777.
• Drum Highway 3D: kick now renders as a flat floor strip for readability (drum-highway-3d#8).
• Performance: prebuilt Tailwind stylesheet replaces the Play CDN (#411), per-frame allocations cut in the 2D highway chord/lyric paths (#412), and 3D highway object pools are pre-warmed at board init + a reproducible bench harness (#413) — smoother on dense 7/8-string charts.

✏️ Editor

• In-app modals replace window.prompt() (editor#42) — Add/Rename Section and fret/bend/slide/anchor edits now work on desktop (Electron has no prompt).
• PSARC xml_files aligned to arrangement order (editor#41) — fixes "Invalid arrangement index" + lost edits.
• Marquee select in the drum editor (editor#40); editor-added notes now show on the highway by repopulating phrase levels (editor#39).

🌐 Networking

• Opt-in LAN access (desktop#259) — let other devices on your network reach the backend (phone/tablet as a second screen).

🎛️ Other

• Native slowdown timing fix (desktop#252) — playhead coherence + transparent 1× bypass on the JUCE backing path.
• Port reclaim fix (desktop#258) so localStorage settings persist.
• Player default-arrangement pin (slopsmith#289) by @bhill777.
• Plugin-bundled assets served via /api/plugins/{id}/assets/{path} (slopsmith#620).
• Library scan no longer lists tutorial drill sloppaks (slopsmith#600).
• NAM Rig Builder 1.3.0/1.3.1 (nam-rig-builder #16–#18) by @Jafz2001 — pedals/mod/EQ/comp VST overhaul, bass-aware audio, cab self-heal, VST primary auto-assign.
• Curated plugin list adds Song Preview (#608) and Mobile Note Highway (#617).
• Infra: the project repos moved to the slopsmith GitHub org; build/clone URLs updated (desktop#260).

🙏 Contributors

@bhill777, @byrongamatos, @DeathlySin, @Jafz2001, @rodsakuramoto, @saleemk, @zagatozee

Full changelog: v0.2.9-alpha.6...v0.2.9-alpha.7