Nathaniel Labs
Product changelog

Prism release history

Latest version: v1.0.11.

1.0.11

  • Pick a line, not seven switches. The first screen — and the Files section of Settings — offers eight named sets: Everything, All media, Everything visual, All audio, All video, Only PDFs, Only web pages, Nothing. Tap one and Prism asks macOS for exactly those. The per-kind switches are still underneath for a different mix.
  • Local web pages are now one of the kinds. An HTML file on your Mac can open in Prism, with its pictures, styles and scripts, rather than in a browser. It is off unless you ask for it.
  • Give it back. Prism writes down which app held each type before it takes it, so one button hands them all back. macOS has no undo of its own for this, so Prism keeps the note itself.
  • Settings is three sections. Files — what opens in Prism, and what happens when you open another one. Memory — what Prism remembers. Prism — version, updates and the Finder space-bar preview. The details sit behind disclosures, so nothing is a wall of switches.
  • Remembering is one switch. It used to be possible for "keep history off" and "no kinds are checked" to disagree with each other. Now there is a single Remember what I had open. With it off, Prism's saved session is deleted, its Recent Items list is cleared, and macOS is told to keep none for Prism at all — so nothing can be added back between one clear and the next. Window sizes and positions stay. Your files are never touched.

1.0.10

  • Match Loudness. Prism measures how loud a file actually is — the same way broadcasters measure it — and lifts or lowers it to one target, so moving down the queue never means reaching for the volume again. Two targets: Study (−18) for a quiet practice room, Listening (−14) to match what streaming services serve. It never squashes a file's peaks to reach a target; where there isn't room, it gets as close as it safely can and stops.
  • Volume to 200%. Past 100% a look-ahead limiter holds the peaks a decibel below full scale, so a quiet phone recording of a class gets genuinely louder instead of distorting. The readout turns amber and shows the decibels you've added, so a boost is never a mystery. The slider still settles on 100% by feel on the way past it.
  • One gain stage for all four sound paths. Apple playback, VLC playback, the MIDI synth and the metronome now read the same settings and behave identically — the same number means the same loudness whichever engine a file needs.
  • Mono check and single-side listening. Fold both sides together to hear a phase problem straight away, or play the left or the right on its own.
  • Independent metronome level. The click has its own level and its own mute, separate from the file.
  • The release script now retries a nested signature that fails the first time.

1.0.9

  • Scrolling over a video no longer fights with the volume. A sideways swipe moves through the video, an up-and-down swipe changes the volume, and one swipe never does both.
  • The film strip and the preview pictures appear sooner and show many more frames, so scrubbing lands on the picture you expect.
  • When you stop scrolling, the exact frame under the pointer fills in.

1.0.8

  • New: when a newer Prism is ready, an "Update available" button appears at the top of the window. Click it to read what changed, then choose Install or Later.
  • Prism › Check for Updates… and Settings now show the version you have.
  • Prism still checks for updates when it opens and every hour. It never installs or restarts by itself, and the update waits while something is playing.

1.0.7

  • New: turn on Prism › Space-Bar Preview in Finder, then press Space on an audio or video file to preview it in Prism Peek: waveform (left and right combined, or split with S), film strip, listening notes, loops, spots, frame steps and scrubbing. Other files still open in Quick Look.
  • A single click on a video no longer pauses it. Double-click the picture, or press F, for full screen; Space plays and pauses there and Esc comes back.
  • The film strip and the scroll preview now show the picture under the pointer as you move, read once in the background so scrolling stays smooth.
  • Prism checks for updates every hour. Each download and installation still asks first.

1.0.5

  • Open and use local HTML study pages with sibling styles, scripts and images; interactive controls, file selection and downloads are supported with explicit native dialogs.
  • Keep score PDFs in a separate window beside audio, video or MIDI playback. Page changes do not interrupt the playback clock or loops.
  • View MIDI notes on a redesigned piano visualizer, or switch to notes and staff notation. Swing suggestions require repeated paired onsets; the source MIDI is unchanged.
  • Find compatible updates automatically. Prism asks before downloading and again before installing and relaunching.

1.0.4

  • Open MKV and other supported videos with the bundled VLC fallback, with corrected Finder video registration. Video shutdown and file replacement run off the main thread.
  • Smoother coalesced video scrolling, a brief percentage volume meter, hover stills and a pinch-adjustable filmstrip. Video skips audio waveform analysis.
  • Export copies locally: H.264 MP4/MOV/MKV, M4A/MP3/lossless FLAC, optimized PDFs and PDF-page JPEGs, JPEG/PNG/PDF images. Choose Smaller, Balanced or Higher quality. Originals are retained.
  • MIDI Piano, Notes and Staff modes, a following note/staff cursor, sculpted piano keys, offline Lipi/VexFlow staff engraving and adjustable quantization, key, hand split and meter. Quantization changes notation, not playback.
  • Per-user window placement by media type and Stage/main role, plus Remove history and persistent history-off mode for Prism’s session and macOS recent-document list.

1.0.3

  • Audio has one collapsible amplitude waveform. Signed peaks and RMS energy preserve stereo amplitude without separate left/right lanes or automatic display boosting.
  • Video keeps the picture clear. The seek bar spans the player, with decoded still previews on hover and no persistent audio waveform or filmstrip.
  • MIDI plays through a new three-dimensional piano with solid shaped keys, a tilted camera, falling notes, pressed-key animation and Ivory, Nocturne and Glass finishes. Its labelled velocity timeline follows the same playback clock. Suggested keys use file signatures or duration/velocity-weighted detection, with uncertainty shown.
  • Double-clicking the picture changes fullscreen without changing playback; single clicks toggle playback. Selected queue entries preserve their playback position, and drag reordering preserves loops and selection.
  • PDFs accumulate side by side with independent page positions and an explicit Replace option. Instagram carousel resolution preserves photo/video order, with an original-post fallback when a service denies access.

1.0.1

  • Finder defaults now cover all 16 video and 14 audio types, including M4V and MPG, with per-category confirmation.
  • Invalid and private online links show a plain-language message with Open original and Remove from queue.
  • Double-clicking a photo or video enters and leaves fullscreen.
  • Signed and notarized installer for Apple silicon Macs running macOS 15 or later.
  • Download and installation help: https://labs.nathanielschool.com/products/prism

1.0.0

  • Maintenance release.