Sync conflicts

A Stab Cloud song edited in two places before either saw the other’s edits (a laptop offline on a train, a phone in a rehearsal room) has two lines of edits to bring together. Stab merges them when it can. When both sides changed the same thing, it keeps both versions and tells you: nothing is lost, and one of them is in the song’s history. How versions work is in Versions and conflicts.

A conflict version appeared

Available on every platform.

What Stab said

““Riff” was edited on iPad as well: both sets of edits are in it now.” The edits touched different things and were merged. There’s nothing to do; check the song if you like.
““Riff” was edited on iPad as well. Both are kept: yours is in its history.” Both devices changed the same things. The song is now the other device’s version, and yours is in the history as Edited on two devices at once: kept beside it.
“Riff” changed on your iPad, with Reload first, Keep Mine and Compare Them Side by SideA newer version of “Riff” from iPad is waiting, with Reload and Keep Mine: the song is open here with edits not saved yet, and another device saved first. Reload opens the other version and keeps yours in the history; Keep Mine saves yours over it and keeps the other in the history. Compare Them Side by Side opens the song’s history, the other version in it, and leaves the choice for later, as Esc does: the song’s status says a newer version is waiting until you choose.
““Riff” is the version from iPad now. Your edits are kept in its history.” You chose Reload.

Getting your edits back

Open the song’s history: Version History… (the File menuthe File menu or the home › cloud songthe Session menu or the home › song ⋯).
Find the version marked Edited on two devices at once: kept beside it, from this device, at the time you were editing.
Pick it to see its overview, and choose Restore.

Restoring makes it the current version. The other device’s version stays in the history, so you can switch back the same way. If you want parts of both, restore yours, then write in the other device’s changes by hand while you look at its version in the history.

What can’t be merged

Stab merges edits to different tracks, clips, markers, tempo and meter changes, mixer settings and notes. It keeps the two versions apart when:

both devices changed the same thing, such as one track’s name, the same clip, or the tempo at the same bar;
one device changed or deleted a note the other deleted;
both wrote a note in the same place;
a recording, an impulse response or a sampled kit was changed on this device.

Keeping it from happening

Let edits go up before you switch devices. While they haven’t, the song’s status says so, such as “Edits going up in a few seconds”; wait until it says the song is up to date.
Open the song on both at once. When a song is open on two of your devices, Stab offers to edit it live between them, and then nothing has to be merged: see Live editing between your devices.
Offline edits merge when they come back, as long as the other device changed other things meanwhile.
In a shared song, everyone with it open edits it live, so conflicts come only from edits made apart: see Shared songs.

Conflict versions aren’t thinned out of the history with the others: like named versions, they stay.