1.8.0 closing down

[Danielku15]

This will definitely be the fastest release of alphaTab so far. Starting in December 2025, within this ~1month I implemented 17 new features/improvements and fixed 7 bugs. 2 more to go until the release.

Most features might be just smaller changes, but there are also some features with bigger impact like custom beaming, displaced note heads, system hiding or inline chord diagrams. Until the release notes and updated docs are out, you might just check the issues listed in the milestone to get an idea what's coming up.

Overall the release contains mainly requests coming from the community. Its great to see how the activity around alphaTab is slightly increasing and its not just me improving what I think is a good addition.

The plan is to close down the release these weeks, latest at the end of the month. In February my normal work life will start again and this will mean the development around alphaTab will likely reduce again.

Due to that, my plan for alphaTab 1.x is likely to shift to a smaller feature-release cycle and instantly release things once implemented. This means a bit more organizational overhead for me, but prevents unreleased features which people wait for.

In parallel I want to start on a fresh alphaTab 2.x with a wider range of breaking changes. It is long overdue to do some house-keeping and cleanup+consolidate all the features that have been added over the years. I don't expect huge new features in 2.0. I mainly hope for a performance improvement thanks to the overhaul (memory, cpu and speed wise).

Some key goals of 2.0 will be:

• technology upgrade (ESM only, shipping more lightweight ESM modules beside the big bundle, upgraded runtime requirements)
• modular usage (more pluggable system adding in file formats and features as needed)
• drop some legacy support (jQuery, DOM events)
• simplified data model allowing easier extension and laying the foundation for a score editing API.
• cleanup of the settings shifting most notation and display related aspects to the stylesheet.
• introducing API stability layers to make clear which parts can change in major/minor releases.
• PoC: evaluate the possibility of using a JS core for the cross platform versions of alphaTab (allowing us to expand the platform matrix without major additional testing and documentation efforts).

With 2.0 in place we will be ready for the next major feature expansions like:

• additional file formats (mnx, mei, musescore, lilypond, capella, midi,..)
• extended synthesizer (full SF2 support, other soundfont formats, synth+backing track mixing)
• extended notation support (optimized effect spacing, multivoice/-note jianpu, in-bar attribute changes, improved ties/slurs, display customizations,..)
• extended platform support (python, avalonia, go,..)
• idea: building an alphaTab "app" shipping viewing and editing capabilities to end-users. also being the foundation for a non-developer component as drop-in solution for non-devs.