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OnSong Manual

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Overview

As a musician, you know that every second on stage counts, so we have created an easy-to-use application for your iPad or iPhone for quick music access.  The OnSong app eliminates the need for messy and disorganized sheet music and allows you to quickly and easily access your music for performances. When you are on stage, the app can easily handle all aspects of performance. Use this manual to delve into the many unique features OnSong offers you as a musician.

We've heard from many of our users that OnSong is "deep". You may be accustom to basic apps that perform one or two functions. OnSong is a completely suite that manages your practice time as well as your on stage performance. It's used by hundreds of thousands of musicians around the world, every week.

What this means for you is... well, you have some learning to do! Besides this user manual, we've created a number of video tutorials to get you up and running quickly.

Beginner's Guide

This guide will take you through the most basic features of OnSong quickly so you get up to speed with common use cases and how to start playing immediately.

Features

It's hard to explain OnSong without sounding like an infomercial. Honestly, OnSong does so many great things that it's hard to coalesce into a single thing. This section of the user manual reviews core features of OnSong and links to the parts of the app that comprise the feature.

FAQ

Once you get going with OnSong, you may have some questions! This FAQ will help answer common questions you may have when using OnSong.

User Interface

For those who like to know what every part of an app is for, this guide you through every screen and function.

Settings

For every musician, there's a different way to do music. OnSong is built for customization. This section of our user manual will guide you through the various settings and what they do.

OnSong Console

OnSong Console is a web application that allows you to manage your OnSong library from any computer running a modern web browser. It works by starting up a web site hosted by your device that you connect to by typing in the local web address. Once loaded, you can easily import, create, and edit your songs as well as manage your books and sets.

Frequently Asked Questions

Get answers to questions you likely have.

Connecting

To use OnSong Console, you must enable it in your OnSong app and then enter the web address that displays.

Header

The top is the header which contains the OnSong logo. To the left of the logo is the name of the current song. If you have made changes to the save, a save button will appear to the right of the song title allowing you to save changes back to your OnSong library on the device. Finally, the help link is located on the far right and provides access to this web site.

Sidebar

The sidebar can be accessed by tapping on the icon in the upper left corner. It's where you can view and manage collections, books, and sets.

Song List

The song list is where you view songs in your collection, book, or set. You can add, import, search, and manage your songs from the list.

Song Editor

When you tap on the song, it appears in the song editor. Here you can type lyrics and chords, change metadata, and perform other functions.

Song Viewer

As you edit your songs in the song editor, the changes appear in realtime in the song viewer. You can use functions here to change how your song looks and behaves.

Lyrics Projection

OnSong Console also features lyrics projection allowing you to place a web browser window in full screen and control from Console or from the OnSong app.

OnSong Console is available through an OnSong Premium subscription or to OnSong Pro users who have previously purchased it as an add-on

Connecting

OnSong Console is available to OnSong Premium subscribers or if you've previously purchased it as an add-on. To purchase, open the Utilities Menu and choose Account to view your options.

Enabling

To enable Console, go into the Utilities Menu and choose Console. Next, tap on the Enable Console button to turn on the web site on your iPad. The area below will show an IP address such as http://192.168.0.123

Loading

Type this web address into the location bar in a web browser on a computer that is connected to the same computer network. For instance, if you connect your iPad or iPhone to Linksys 5G, connect your computer to the same WiFi network. You may also be able to have a wired connection to the same network.

Troubleshooting

If you have trouble connecting to OnSong Console with your web browser, it is most likely caused by network or computer security settings on. Please review our troubleshooting guide if you have trouble connecting.

Whitelisting

To protect access to your OnSong library, you'll be prompted on your device to permit access to the web browser you are using. Tap on the Accept button to view the full interface and begin using OnSong Console.

OnSong uses cookies to allow the browser to connect again without prompting in the future. However, if you use another computer or web browser, you will be prompted each time to ensure your OnSong library is being accessed properly.

Troubleshooting

OnSong Console works by setting up your iOS device as a web server on the local network. That means that OnSong is acting as a website that only you can access. This allows access to OnSong Console to be safe and fast since there is no information transmitted over the Internet. However, there are a few issues that you may experience. Below are some common issues and ways to resolve them.

Why can't I access OnSong Console on my device without a premium subscription?

OnSong Console has always been a premium feature that is made available in addition to the base package of OnSong. In 2018, OnSong Console was rolled into the OnSong Premium set of features and is now only available as a subscription unlock with many other new features. If you had purchased OnSong as an add-on, you can still unlock the feature if you have since reinstalled OnSong. To do this, go into the Utilities Menu by tapping on the gear icon in the Menubar and choose Account. Make sure you are not signed into an OnSong account and Sign Out at the bottom if you are. You can then see an Add-Ons row that you can tap to view add-ons. Tap on the Restore Past Purchases button to unlock OnSong Console.

Why doesn't the Console website appear in the web browser?

When you first enable OnSong Console from within OnSong, you are displayed a web address, usually in the form of http://nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn This is called an IP address which is like a phone number which other computers on the local network can use to call and communicate with your device running OnSong. This number is only accessible by devices that are connected to your personal computer network and not to any other remote computers unless your network is configured to do so which is very unlikely. Make sure that you type in this web address exactly as it appears on the OnSong Console screen. If you type in this web address and omit the "http://" portion, your computer may try to search for this number instead or append an "https://" in front of the web address, causing the website to load.

Keep in mind that the OnSong app is running the web server software that creates this website. That means if you shut down OnSong or the device is put to sleep or falls asleep, the Console will no longer be available. While OnSong and OnSong Console are designed to keep your device awake when in use, you will want to ensure that you have not inadvertently caused the device to go to sleep.

My Console acted up in the web browser or disconnected. What can I do?

Sometimes things may change while you already have the Console open in the web browser. If the website is typed correctly, you may want to try force-refreshing the web page. To do this, press the SHIFT key on your keyboard and then tap on the refresh button in the web browser next to the location/URL bar. This will reload the web page from the server and usually fixes many issues.

Why am I seeing a network error when access the Console from a web browser?

If you're still having trouble, the likely cause is that OnSong has to be set up on your specific network. For instance, when you change computer networks, OnSong needs to start up the web server to run OnSong Console on that specific set of IP addresses. To ensure this, try to disable and reenable the Console from within the OnSong Console screen within OnSong and use the displayed web address to access, ensuring you are typing it correctly. If you are still having trouble, it is likely caused by how the computer network security is configured. For instance, your network may not allow a web server to be started. Web servers run on port 80 which is a port with special privileges. If this is the case, you may need to contact a network administrator to allow the web server to be used on the network. Another method is to switch to use a port by importing a settings file. This setting will run the Console web site on port 5076. Higher port numbers are usually not restricted in the same way. You would just have to append that port number to the end of the web address like this: http://nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn:5076. If you'd like to do this, please contact support.

Is there a way I can save this web address and use it multiple times?

Yes and no. One quirk with local computer networks is that most are designed to automatically assign new devices IP addresses and not every network is the same. This means that you will likely have a different IP address on one network and then a completely different IP address on another network. While most network routers will attempt to give each device the same IP address they were assigned before, but there is no guarantee that will happen unless you configure your router to reserve IP addresses for specific devices. Of course that is a more advanced networking topic than we have time to delve into here and how to do that differs with each router. Look up DHCP Reservations in your network router user manual for more details.

If you are looking to save the web address for future use and are using a Mac computer, you can tap on the web address within the OnSong Console screen in OnSong to toggle to a local domain name. This will display like http://my-computers-name.local instead of the IP address. Computers that are compatible with multicast DNS such as Macs can use this web address instead to access OnSong Console. This web address stays consistent as long as you don't change the name of your device even if the underlying IP address changes.

Why do I get a security warning when accessing the console website?

OnSong Console operates by making your iOS/IPadOS device a web server on the local network. Because of this, it is not possible to use SSL or TLS encryption for communication. This is because certificates for encrypted communication are provided by an Internet authority to ensure that the information being transmitted is coming from the legitimate owner of a domain name. Since the OnSong Console is not running on the world-wide web with a registered domain name, this sort of certificate is not available. While we could possibly self-sign a generated certificate, that often causes issues with most web browsers. Besides, the information being transmitted is not sensitive in nature and is only transmitted over the local network and never over the Internet. If you would like to secure the connection between your OnSong device and the devices accessing the content, please use a private network and do not use on a public access point. Also, this OnSong Connect API built into OnSong features a basic whitelist permissions system that requires confirmation to access any information transmitted over the network.

Why can't I seem to get console to activate on my device?

In iOS/iPadOS 14, Apple has added additional safeguards to prevent apps from using the local network unknowingly to the user. OnSong has always used the local networking on the device to enable wireless sharing, but now you may need to agree to this access when prompted by iOS/iPadOS. If you have not agreed to this at the prompt, OnSong will not be able to start the web server that Console uses. You can enable this access by opening the Settings app from your device's Home Screen, choosing OnSong on the left under Applications, and then turn on the switch next to Local Network Access.

What's the difference between OnSong Console and OnSong Console for Mac?

OnSong Console is built into OnSong and is unlocked view a previously-purchased add-on, or through an OnSong Premium subscription. OnSong Console for Mac was a separate purchase that has since been deprecated and not longer functions on newer versions of MacOS. Because of that, you will need to use the web-based OnSong Console instead. Please contact support so we can help get you using the latest version of OnSong Console.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some questions that you may have before purchasing, or when using OnSong Console.

Does Console work on Windows or just Mac?
OnSong Console works on both Windows and Mac, and most likely Linux too. It just requires a modern web browser that supports the HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards.
Do I need to purchase Console for every device I own?
No. OnSong Console is purchased either as an in-app purchase, or is included in your OnSong Premium subscription. These are both available on multiple devices as long as you are signed in with your Apple ID or OnSong account.
My computer is wired to my network, but my iPad is wireless. Will Console still work?
Yes. As long as both devices are on the same computer network, a wired connection or wireless shouldn't matter. However, some routers set up different networks for each of these access methods. You will want to consult your network equipment user manual for more details on merging the networks if there are issues.
Both my devices are on the same network but I only get a blank screen in my web browser. Why?
OnSong Console works by turning your iPad or iPhone into a mini web server which may not be appreciated by some networks. Please try the following if you are having trouble connecting to Console:
  1. Ensure that your iPad or iPhone is on and OnSong is running. Console requires OnSong to be running in order to communicate.
  2. Disable and enable Console from the Console screen in the Utilities menu, or restart your iPad. In some cases, the web address that is shown may not be correct, especially when switching between networks.
  3. Make sure you are typing in the web address correctly. You must add the http:// before the four-part number called an IP address, and include the colon with the port number (5076).
  4. Some corporate networks do not permit other services to be running. Check with your IT staff to see if you are allowed to run console in that environment. OnSong Console operates on ports 80, 5076 and 5077. Some networks may block traffic on these ports. Log into your router and be sure to allow these ports to be active on the network. Some corporate networks do not permit other services to be running. Check with your IT staff to see if you are allowed to run console in that environment.
  5. If you are running a firewall on the computer, temporarily disable it to make sure that it is not inhibiting traffic.
  6. Try a different network to see if that helps resolved the issue.
Can I use my iPhone or iPad hotspot connection instead of a WiFi access point to use Console?
Yes. Turn on the hotspot in your device's Settings screen and use the WiFi option. Bluetooth or USB will not work. Connect your computer to the hotspot network, and connect your device if it is not already the hotspot. Keep in mind that some carrier may charge you for hotspot connectivity.
My Console screen is telling me to type in 127.0.0.1:5076 and it doesn't work. Any ideas?
127.0.0.1 is essentially the iPad or iPhone referring to itself and is caused by the network IP address not being able to be resolved. Go into the Console screen and disable and enable the console again to see if that refreshes to a different web address. You can also go into the Share menu » Connect » Servers and use the IP address found under your device's name.
My Console screen is telling me to type in an IP address that starts with 169...* and it doesn't work. Any ideas?
IP addresses in this range are often generated in the event that proper DHCP (the assignment of IP addresses on a network) has failed. You may need to go into your network settings and renew the lease to force the network to assign a different IP address, if one is available.
Why is the "Follow" button disabled in OnSong Console?
The follow button in Console requires the operation of Web Sockets. This is a special way for two devices to directly communicate over a network. The Follow button is disabled when the OnSong web socket server cannot be started. This may be caused by too many devices using the socket port on the network or due to a network security setting.
What web browsers does Console work with?
OnSong Console is an HTML 5, web-based application. This means that it works on modern web browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer. Different browsers have their quirks and we are continuing to refine around these. Older versions of Internet Explorer will definitely have some issues.
I'm getting just the opening screen with the OnSong logo and it gets stuck. Why?
OnSong Console requires Javascript to be enabled in order to communicate with your device. Make sure that Javascript is enabled in your web browser's preferences and that no additional security plugins are preventing Javascript from operating.

Header

The header portion of the console interface appears at the top of the browser window. This contains the following elements:

OnSong Logo

The OnSong logo appears on the left side of the header to visually reinforce the web app. In addition, this logo's glow will pulse subtly when network operations are occurring.

Song Title

The song title appears prominently and changes as you select a different song in the Song List.

Save Button

The save button will appear once you've made a change in the Song Editor or in one of the palettes.

Lyrics Projection Button

Tapping on the lyrics projection button will open a new window suitable for running lyrics projection from within a web browser on a remote machine.

Help Link

This will link to the Console help web page on the OnSong web site.

Lyrics Projection

Tapping on the lyrics projection button in the Console will open a new window that displays the configured background and lyrics. This allows you to display lyrics from a remote computer and operate it with OnSong running on an iOS device, or through the console if the leading is enabled.

Full Screen Mode

Drag the window to the external screen you'd like to target and click in the body of the window. This will cause the window to enter full screen mode. You can then press ESC on the keyboard to exit full screen mode. Keep in mind that full screen mode acts differently depending on your browser and platform.

Navigation

When the lyrics window is enabled, you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move between sections.

Background and Styles

Currently all changes to the look of the lyrics projection must be performed through the External Video Menu from inside the host device.

Palettes

OnSong Console uses palettes to let you select and specific information. Palettes are like floating menus that can be repositioned on the screen. You can open and close palettes by using the menubar or the x icon in the upper right corner of the palette.

You can learn about each palette below:

Add Book Palette

This palette allows you to add new books to your library and is accessed through the Add Menu in the Sidebar.

Add Set Palette

This palette allows you to add new sets to your library and is accessed through the Add Menu in Sidebar.

Chords Palette

Gives you options for transposing and capoing chords, as well as controlling how chords and diagrams appear on the screen. This is similar to the bottom of the Style Preferences Menu. This palette is accessed from the menubar in the Song Viewer.

Import Files Palette

This palette lets you import one or more files from your computer and is accessed both from the Add Menu in the Sidebar as well as the Add Button in the Song List.

Insert Palette

This palette allows you to insert chords and section labels into the song and is accessed from the menubar in the Song Editor.

Metadata Palette

This palette allows you to change the metadata information about the song and is accessed from the menubar in the Song Editor. This is similar in function to the Metadata Editor found in the Song Editor within the OnSong app.

New Song Palette

This palette lets you create a new song from scratch and is accessed both from the Add Menu in the Sidebar as well as the Add Button in the Song List.

Style Palette

This palette lets you change how your songs lyrics and chords appear and is accessed via the menubar in the Song Viewer.

Text Tools Palette

This palette lets search and replace and alter the chord format of the song being edited. This is accessed through the menubar in the Song Editor.

Add Book

This palette allows you to simply set the name of the book to create. Type a name and click Create Book. You can then select the book from the sidebar to view the Song List in order to add new or existing songs to the book.

If you do not specify a name for the book and create it, no book will be added to your library.

Add Set

Use this palette to create new sets in your library. Simply enter a date or an optional title.

To select a date, either type it in the field or tap on the calendar icon to open a date picker. If you do not select a date, the current date is used. If you do not type a title, the full date will appear as the title of the set in your library.

To create the set, click on Create Set.

Chords

The chords palette provides tools for changing how chords appear in the chord chart. This affects both transposition, appearance, and chord diagrams.

Style

Typically chord charts use alphabetic characters to define chords. OnSong can convert alphabetic chords into numeric ones to better suit musicians that play using a number system. The selected style is highlighted. Choose from one of the following chord styles:

  • Alphabet uses letters A-G with sharps and flats to indicate precisely what chord should be played. If using different chord localizations, this may also include an H. Default.
  • Nashville uses a decimal numbering system which indicates the chord number based on the root chord of the key. In addition, this method uses symbols for different chord variations.
  • Roman uses upper and lowercase Roman numerals for chords. Major chords are represented in uppercase while minor chords are lowercase. Symbols are also used to indicate different modes such as a minus symbol for minor.
  • Solfege uses do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do instead of numbers. Symbols are used to indicate different modes such as a minus for minor.

Transpose

Use this slider to transpose the song to any key. The key of C is placed on the far left and the key of Cb is on the far right. You can use the arrow keys to make fine-tune adjustments the key you would like to pick.

The power icon on the right turns transposition on and off. If turned off, and if no capo is applied, then no transposition is performed. This will display chords just as they appear in the Song Editor.

Capo

This slider allows you to apply a capo to the song. Slide from 0 to 11. This will modulate the chords of the song down to maintain the key of the song when a capo is applied. You can change the direction of this modulation in Settings » Display Settings » Song Formatting » Capo » Capo Modulates

You can turn the application of the capo on and off using the power icon on the right side. This allows you to maintain a capo and determine if you want to apply it or not depending on the instrument you are playing.

Diagrams

This section of the chords palette is used to toggle the chord diagram display on and off. Use the slider to adjust how many diagrams appear across the page. You can select a number between 4 and 10. Use the power icon on the right to toggle the visibility of chord diagrams on and off.

You can change how and where chord diagram appear in Settings » Display Settings » Song Formatting » Chord Diagrams.

Diagram Position

The diagram position chooser lets you determine where diagrams and drawn on the page. You can choose from:

  • None turns off chord diagrams. Default.
  • Below draws diagrams under the song content.
  • Above draws diagrams above the song content directly below the title and metadata.
  • Within draws chord diagrams in place of chords within the lyrics.

Instrument

This section allows you to select the instrument to use when displaying chords. The selected instrument is highlighted. Choose a different instrument to have the chord diagrams change to the selected instrument.

Transposing Instrument

If you are playing an instrument that does not play at concert pitch, you can adjust the chords that appear throughout the song to adjust for those instruments. Options include:

  • Off used for concert pitch and most stringed or percussion instruments like piano.
  • B-flat used for B-flat instruments such as trumpet, clarinet, bass clarinet, and soprano and tenor saxophones.
  • E-flat used for E-flat tuned instruments such as soprano clarinet, or alto and baritone saxophones.
  • F used for F tuned instruments such as French and English horns.
  • G used for alto flute.

Note: Making changes in this palette does not affect the song content but is applied in addition to the original song.

Import Files

This palette allows you to import one or more files at once into OnSong. Click on the Select files... button to open a file chooser window. Browse and select a file to import. Use the shift, command and control keys on your keyboard to select more than one file to import.

When you are all done, click on the Choose button in the window. Console will automatically upload and import those files into your library and show you the import status below the Select files... button. You can then close the palette to continue editing.

Please note that OnSong will only permit Supported File Formats to be imported into your OnSong library.

Insert

The insert palette is used to insert chords, line formatting, and section labels into a song. Position the text cursor where you would like to insert chords or on the line where you'd like to apply line formatting.

Chords

As you write new chords in the text editor, they will appear here. Position the text cursor where you would like to insert the chord and then click on a button to insert the chord in that location. Position of the cursor differs for each chord format:

  • Bracketed Chords requires the cursor to be placed within lyrics where you would like the chord to be played.
  • Chords Over Lyrics requires the cursor to be placed above lyrics and positioned above lyrics using spaces.

Font Style

Click on a color to insert color codes at the front of the line. You can also toggle the bold and italic buttons to insert those line formatting codes as well.

Highlighting

Click on a color to add highlighting line formatting code to the front of the line. The white option will remove the code.

Labels

Common section labels appear in this section. Tap on one to name the current section.

Metadata

The metadata palette automatically updates its fields as you select songs in the Song List. Change the contents of the fields to have OnSong update the metadata section of your song. This palette includes these fields:

Song Title

The title of the song.

Artist

The name of the artist or the byline to output under the song title.

Number

A number used to lookup the song in numbered music collections like hymnals.

Keywords

Keywords or topics to enter for the song. This is used in the By Topic tab in the Songs Menu.

Key

This sets the key of the song. If the key had been already set and there are chords in the song, this will also rewrite the chords of the song into that key.

You can also change the mode of the key to minor by clicking on the "m" button on the right side. The song contents are not rewritten when toggling between major and minor keys.

Capo

Sets the recommended capo level for the song.

Tempo

Set the tempo using this slider. Remember that you can click on the arrows to the left and right of the sliders to fine-tune adjust the values.

Time Signature

Click on a button that represents the time signature of the song to be written in the metadata section. If you do not want a time signature outputted, click on a selected time signature again to remove it. If the time signature you need is not in the list, congratulations on your rhythmic genius. Because of your skills, you'll just need to write the time signature yourself.

Duration

This is the time duration of the song. Set this to a default to enable autoscrolling with the approximate speed. This can be expressed as hh:mm:ss or numeric seconds.

Flow

This is the flow of the song used to arrange the parts of the song into a top-down fashion. Please see Flow for more details.

Copyright

This is the copyright line of the music. This will appear at the bottom of chord charts as well as in lyrics projection.

CCLI Song

This is the unique identifier for registering the song with CCLI SongSelect reporting. This will appear at the bottom of the chord chart on screen as well as at the bottom of lyrics projection.

Restrictions

These are a list of restrictions that are used to limit what recipients of the song can do with it. Please see Restrictions for a list of possible options.

New Song

This palette allows you to create a new song for editing in the Song Editor where you can type lyrics, chords and then save to your library on the device.

To create a song, type in an optional title and artist name and then select either Create OnSong or Create ChordPro from the buttons below. This will create the template song in the Song Editor and open the Metadata Palette for you to custom the song content.

Style

The style palette is used to change the way the chord chart looks in the Song Viewer. Use this to change the font, size, visibility, and color of different parts of the chord chart.

Font

This section contains toggle buttons that allow you to choose the typeface in which your chord chart should appear. Press the font button to make a change. The current font selection is highlighted.

Title

This slider allows you to the change the size and visibility of the title of the song. Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the font size. The point size of the font is displayed as you adjust. You can also click on the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount. Tap on the power icon on the right to toggle visibility of the title on and off.

Metadata

This slider allows you to the change the size and visibility of metadata of the song. This includes the artist name, key, capo, tempo, and time signature.

Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the font size. The point size of the font is displayed as you adjust. You can also click on the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount. Tap on the power icon on the right to toggle visibility of metadata on and off.

Section Labels

This slider allows you to change the size and visibility of section labels which are used to display a label for the upcoming lyrics and chords such as "Chorus" and "Verse".

Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the font size. The point size of the font is displayed as you adjust. You can also click on the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount. Tap on the power icon on the right to toggle visibility of section labels on and off.

Lyrics

This slider allows you to the change the size and visibility lyrics in the song. Lyrics comprise all content in the song other than chords such as musical instruction, section labels, etc.

Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the font size. The point size of the font is displayed as you adjust. You can also click on the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount. Tap on the power icon on the right to toggle visibility of lyrics on and off.

Chords

This slider allows you to the change the size and visibility of chords that appear above or within lyrics. Chords are detected in the song or have been surrounded with square brackets.

Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the font size. The point size of the font is displayed as you adjust. You can also click on the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount. Tap on the power icon on the right to toggle visibility of chords on and off.

Line Spacing

This slider is used to adjust the spacing between text in the chord chart. Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the line spacing. You can use the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount.

Chord Highlight

You can choose the highlight chords in your chord chart using this color picker. Click on the color of the highlight you desire. It will display under the chord in 50% opacity, just like a highlighter. Choosing the white color option removes the highlight.

Chord Color

This section allows you to change the color of the chords as well as their appearance. Click on a color in the color picker to change the color of the chord text. Choosing black uses the default text color which is black or white depending on the selected low light mode.

You can also toggle italic and bold appearance on and off for the chords as needed for extra visibility.

Text Tools

The text tools palette is used to perform operations on the text content of the song. This can help you change text quickly or switch and fix chord formatting.

Search and Replace

This section of the text tools palette is used to search and replace text in the Song Editor. This is useful for replacing words or chords when using bracketed chords. For instance, you can change all instances of [A4] to [Asus4].

To use, type the search value in the first field and the replace value in the second field. Then press the Perform Search/Replace button to perform the operation.

Chord Format

This section includes toggle buttons that allow you to switch between the two supported formats. If there are any square brackets located in the song content, the Bracketed Chords button is selected. Otherwise the Chords Over Lyrics button is selected. Press the opposite button to reformat the text content into the desired chord format.

It is useful to switch the bracketed chords when splitting or combining lines. This is because the chords will travel with the lyrics in this case. You can then switch to chords over lyrics if you would like to position chords in a more visual manner.

Fix Spaces

This section provides a single-use tool for correcting issues that may occur when converting text from a word processor. You may find that chords are pushed to the right and beyond the lyrics they used to reside over. This is due to variable-width fonts that require many more space characters to align chords above lyrics.

Press the Fix Alignment Spaces button to have chords detected and the space between the chords reduced by a specific amount. This usually will align the chords very close to their original positions when viewed in a word processor or printed. From there you can more easily adjust the chord positions.

Sidebar

The sidebar is where you can view and manage your collections, books, and sets in OnSong Console. To access the sidebar, tap on the icon in the upper left corner that appears as three horizontal lines. This will cause the sidebar to slide in from the left. Tapping on an option in the sidebar will collapse the sidebar and reveal the Song List contained in your selection.

The sidebar is organized in a hierarchy in these three categories:

Collections

This contains the All Songs and Unbound Songs collections that you're familiar with in OnSong. Tapping on All Songs will display all songs in your library in the Song List. Once you select an option here, the sidebar disappears to reveal the songs list. You can import songs in the song list, or by right-clicking to reveal the Add Menu.

Books

This contains all books that are used to organize songs in your library. You can tap on the arrow icon on the left to expand to reveal books. If you have no books in your library, no arrow icon appears. You can add a book by right-clicking on Books to reveal the Add Menu to add songs, books, and sets.

Sets

This contains the sets and folders that you use to play songs for a specific event. Tap on the arrow icon to reveal set folders. You can expand All Sets to view all sets in your library. To view a set, tap on the name. To add a set, right-click anywhere to open the Add Menu to add songs, books, or sets.

Add Menu

You can add songs, books, or sets by tapping on the + button in the lower-left corner. This will reveal a menu where you can choose what to add to your library.

Add Menu

You can use this menu to add songs, books, and sets to your library. In addition, if the menu appears when selecting an item in the sidebar, you can also delete that item. The following actions are available.

Add Song

The add song menu item reveals two ways in which you can add songs to your library.

  • Add New will open the New Song Palette where you can set a song title, artist, and create the OnSong or ChordPro format in the song editor.
  • Import Files will open the Import Files Palette where you can select one or more files to be imported into your library.

Add Book

Selecting this option will open the Add Book Palette to enter a name and create the book.

Add Set

Selecting this option will open the Add Set Palette to enter an optional set title and date for the set to create a new one.

Delete

Selecting the delete option (where available) will delete the selected book or set from the library after a prompt. This option is not available when selecting the + button at the bottom of the sidebar.

Song Editor

The song editor contains tools and a large text area used to change the text-based content of the song.

The text editor component of this pane allows you to type content using the full-sized keyboard of your computer. As you type, the changes you make are reflected in the Preview Pane on the right. This gives you feedback on what the song will look like to avoid trial and error.

In addition to typing content in the text editor, you can also use palettes accessible from the toolbar to get the song looking just right. The toolbar buttons include:

Metadata

This toolbar button toggles the Metadata Palette on and off. Use this to set information about the song without knowing OnSong or ChordPro tags.

Insert

This toolbar button toggles the Insert Palette on and off. Use this palette to insert chords, section labels, and line formatting into the text editor.

Text Tools

This toolbar button toggles the Text Tools Palette on and off. Use this to change the formatting of the song or perform search and replace functions.

Delete

Click on this toolbar button to delete the song from your library. When you choose this option, you will be prompted prior to the song being deleted.

Convert

When you've imported a convertible file such as PDF or Microsoft Word, this option becomes enabled. Click on this to begin the conversion process on the host device. Once completed, the text editor is updated with the newly converted text.

Song List

The song list appears in the left-most pane of the web app and is used for finding and selecting songs to view and edit. Use one of the following to add, import, or edit songs:

Adding

The + button in the upper left corner displays a menu of options for adding songs to the list. From here you can create new songs, import songs from your computer, or add existing songs to existing books or sets.

You can also drag and drop files from your computer onto the song list to import them into your library.

Searching

The search bar gives you an area to type keywords. Press enter on your computer keyboard to filter the list by those keywords. You can then clear the search field to view all songs again.

Browsing

The majority of this pane displays a table of songs. Three columns provide common information for browsing songs including:

  • Icon column displays an icon that was picked from the Organizer Menu. You can sort songs by this attribute by clicking the table header in the column.
  • Song Title displays the name of the song. You can sort the list by song title by clicking on the column header. The song list is sorted by the song title by default.
  • Key displays the key of the song if one is provided. Clicking on the table header above this column will sort the songs by key.

Click on a song to load it into Console. The song's contents will appear in the Song Editor and the song will be displayed in the Song Viewer.

Reordering

If you are viewing a set list, you can drag and drop songs in the list to reorder the set.

Deleting

You can delete songs from your library or remove them from the selected book or set by selecting the song and then pressing the Delete key on your computer keyboard. You will be prompted to ensure you don't accidentally delete the song. The song will then be either removed from the selected book or set, or deleted from your library.

Add Menu

Add songs in the Song List can perform different actions. For instance, you may want to write a new song, or import files from your computer. Additionally you may want to add songs to a set that are already in your library.

New Song

This option will open the New Song Palette where you can set a song title, artist, and create the OnSong or ChordPro format in the song editor.

Existing Songs

If you are viewing a book or a set, this option is available. Selecting this option will open a slightly different interface depending on your current selection.

  • Books will open the Add Songs to Book interface for selecting songs to place in the book from your library.
  • Sets will open the Add Songs to Set interface for selection songs to place into your set from your library.

Import Files

This option will open the Import Files Palette where you can select one or more files to be imported into your library.

Song Viewer

The song viewer pane displays how the song will look inside of OnSong. You can scroll this pane to view the entire song. Use the toolbar to toggle features and palettes on and off.

Note: If you are viewing a file that is not text-based, it is up to the web browser if and how the file will be displayed. Most web browsers can view PDF files in a browser window, but other documents such as Microsoft Word will be downloaded to your computer for viewing in a separate application.

Low Light

Click on this button to toggle low light mode on and off. Not only does this show you how the chord chart will look in the preview, but when you save your changes the host device will also switch to low light mode too.

Pages

Click on this button to toggle viewing the chord chart on physical pages. This will divide your song based on the Page Layout options you've set in settings. This can give you an idea of how the chord chart will print.

Lead

When you turn on lead, action you make in Console like changing songs, scrolling and selecting sections also take place on the host device. This allows Console to remotely control another iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.

Follow

When you turn on follow, Console will load the currently viewed song on the host device. In addition, the screen will scroll along with any changes made on the host device. This is handy for knowing the song that is loaded on the device.

Note that follow may not be available if your network disallows web sockets from running. Please try disabling and enabling Console again and refreshing the browser window.

Style

This opens and closes the Style Palette, allowing you to style how the song should appear in the preview and on the device.

Chords

This opens and closes the Chords Palette so you can transpose, capo, and change the way chords and diagrams appear on the screen.

View As...

When viewing external files such as a PDF, this will display the PDF in the preview pane. You can switch between that and the text-based version of the song similar to the Use the imported file instead of OnSong switch in the Conversion Toolbar of the Song Editor.

Download

Click on the down arrow to choose a format to download the chord chart in. This will use the host device to create the file so be sure to save your changes first.

Print

Click on the print button to have the host device generate the print-ready PDF file and print it from your computer. This will prompt you to save your changes before printing.

Download Menu

When you click on the down arrow next to the download toolbar button, you can choose one of the following formats to download to your computer.

Note: This uses the host device to generate the content so you will be prompted to save any changes prior to the file being generated.

Console for Mac

OnSong Console for Mac is a Mac application that lets you connect to and manage your OnSong library.

Connecting

OnSong Console for Mac connects to iOS devices running OnSong. While choosing devices and switching between them are easy, there are a few steps that may help get you up and running quickly.

Overview

Once you've connected to your iOS device, you can start importing, editing and managing songs in your OnSong library. This overview will show you how to use the application.

Other Platforms

Console for Mac is limited to Apple desktop computers. If you're looking for console features on other devices that operate a modern web browser, use the Console Add-On.

OnSong Console for Mac requires OS X 10.9 and higher and an iOS device (iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch)

Connecting

OnSong Console for Mac connects to your iPad or iPhone device using web-based standards. To make the connecting between your Mac and iOS device, please watch our video tutorial.

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind:

Same Wireless or Wired Network

Make sure that both of your devices are connected to the same computer network. Most routers support both wired and wireless connections. While iOS devices typically are not connected to a network with an Ethernet cable, your Mac may be. Just make sure both are connected to the same network.

Share Your Library With Others

As a security precaution, you need to enable OnSong to share your library with other devices. To do this, open the Share Menu and then open the Connect Screen. On the Servers Tab there is a Share your library with others switch that must be enabled.

Network Security Settings

Keep in mind that network security settings can hamper a proper connection between the Mac app and the iOS device. This connection uses OnSong Connect technology. This works by setting up your iOS device as a web server and announces itself on the network using multicast DNS, sometimes referred to as Bonjour or mDNS. Some network routers may not support this protocol, or it may be limited due to other network restrictions like firewalls.

Check with your network administrator if you experience issues, or try another network to see if that resolves the connection problem.

Overview

Let's get familiar with the user interface:

Title Bar

The top of the screen provides basic window management as well as the Navigator which allows you to switch between devices, books and sets.

Songs List

On the left side of the screen is a list of songs that are retrieved according to what is selected in the Navigator. In addition, this area provides a search bar, sort bar and the add button for importing and creating new songs.

Song Editor

The center area provides a text box and palettes for modifying the underlying content and information about the song.

Song Viewer

The viewer is located on the right side of the screen and displays either the rendered text-based chord chart or the imported file associated with the song.

Title Bar

The title bar appears at the top of the screen and provides for basic window management and content navigation.

From right to left, it includes:

Window Management

On the left side are the standard three OS X buttons for closing, minimizing and maximizing the window. Closing the window does not close down the application. To close down the application, you need to close it from the Menubar. Minimizing the window will minimize into the OS X dock. Maximizing the window will take the application full screen in OS X. To make the window the size of the current display, press the OPTION key when clicking on this button.

Navigator

The navigator is used to switch between devices, books and sets.

Save Button

The save button highlights once changes are made to the selected song. Tapping on the save button will send changes to the selected device to save those changes.

Pane Controls

The three buttons on the right are used to toggle the visibility of each of the application's panes. The position of these buttons corresponds with the song list, song editor and song viewer accordingly. You can click on the button to hide the pane and then click again to show it.

Note: You can also adjust the size of each pane by dragging the divider between the panes.

Features

OnSong is designed to be the go-to app for musicians. Whether you're practicing, teaching, or performing live, OnSong has the tools and features to let you be free to play music.

The following is a dissection of OnSong as a series of features. Choose one to get an overview of the feature as well as links into the interface of the app that makes the feature work.

Add To OnSong

Add content to your OnSong library right from the Safari web browser.

Autoscroll

Scroll from the top of the chord chart to the bottom like a teleprompter.

Backing Tracks

Play backing tracks through your device while you play along with chord charts.

Backup

Save your entire OnSong library to a single file for easy restoration.

Books

Organize your songs into books to manage large music libraries.

Capo

Slap a capo on your guitar and let OnSong adjust what you need to play to stay in key.

Chords

Chords are detected in text-based documents letting you highlight, transpose, and even play them on a virtual instrument.

ChordVault

Access thousands of main stream songs and keep things legal.

Color

OnSong lets you use color to suit your music and mood through an intuitive color picker.

Connect

Wirelessly control your band's OnSong devices with music to meet their needs.

Console

Manage the library on your device from a web browser for fast edits.

Chromecast

Use an inexpensive dongle from Google to project lyrics without wires.

Developers

Create your website or app to integrate with OnSong through our URL scheme and OnSong Connect API.

Drawing

Draw on the chord chart with pens and highlighters.

Dropbox

Import, export, and sync with Dropbox to get content on and off your device.

External Video

Expand the OnSong experience beyond one device with lyrics projection and stage monitor mode.

File Formats

OnSong supports a number of text-based file formats, as well as the ability to view other types of files.

Files

Import and export to any app-based storage service that supports the Files app in iOS.

Flow

Write each section of your song once and let OnSong expand the content from top to bottom.

Foot Pedals

Your hands are busy on stage, so use your feet to control your music and perform other actions in the app.

Gears

Extend your control when using foot pedals to shift into different gears.

Hands-Free Operation

Your hands are busy when playing an instrument. OnSong can use foot pedals and more.

Low Light Mode

Increase readability and reduce light wash when in dimly lit environments.

Lyrics Projection

Project lyrics to a crowd, individuals, or to a congregation.

Messages

Send color-coded, custom messages to your team for hassle-free signaling.

Metronome

Play to a click track for practice or to start the song off right on stage.

MIDI Integration

Send MIDI to control the sound of instruments, or listen for song changes and more.

OnCue

Stream your set and songs to OnSong devices around you with Bluetooth or WiFi.

Output Options

OnSong features a number of ways to output your information to get the job done. Export, print, and open content into other apps.

Pitch Pipe

Play back tones to get acappella or vocal intros started without music.

Planning Center Integration

Download your songs or plans from Planning Center into OnSong for use on-stage.

Printing

Output your songs or sets to paper or PDF. Includes song lists and multipage printing.

Rockin' With The Cross

Access thousands of worship songs for a low monthly fee.

Scenes

Create dynamic stage lighting with coordinated lyrics projection backgrounds and control it all on stage.

Sets

Create sets for playing a venue or event. Flip through your songs with ease.

Stage Monitor

Connect one or more video screens and run your stage with one OnSong device.

SongSelect

Access PDF chord charts or text-based lyrics from this common service.

Sticky Notes

Stick notes on your chord chart to remind yourself of intros and more.

Synchronization

Maintain the same library on your personal devices.

Timeline

OnSong now features non-linear autoscrolling by recording navigation events onto a timeline for playback.

Transposition

Change the key of the song instantly without bringing up bad memories of music theory class.

Universal App

OnSong is an universal app so it works on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Install on your iPad and iPhone. Learn some differences in the user interface when using OnSong on a more mobile device.

WorshipReady.com

Get worship songs hand-crafted for use in OnSong with subscription tiers.

Clips

Use clips to import images and place them on your chord chart or sheet music. This could be anything such as an image of pedal settings or PDF score notation.

Adding

Tapping on the clip option in the annotations menu will open the clip edit and prompt you to import and image to begin.

Editing

Double tap on the clip to open the Clip Editor. You can also tap on a note to select it, and then tap on the edit button in the lower right to edit as well. On the lower right corner is a trash can icon. Tapping on this when the note is selected will delete the note from the page.

Placing

Once the clip is added to the page, you can tap to select the clip and then tap again to drag it. You can also use two fingers to tap and drag as well as rotate and scale.

Note: Clips are positioned relative to the size of the page. This means that if you add significant amounts of text to the song, or use Flow to arrange the song to be longer, the clip will likely shift position to accommodate for this change in height.

Audio Triggers

OnSong enables you to perform different actions within the app when triggered. Triggers can simply tapping on the screen or pressing a foot pedal. As a musician, you may have a need for OnSong to listen to audio input through the device's microphone or using an audio interface. For instance, you can set up an audio trigger that "hears" when you tap on the edge of your iPad. This could trigger the Tap Tempo action that can be used to set the tempo of the current song. Additionally, you could have this listen to a click track to do the same thing. Of course the possibilities are endless and OnSong can be configured to listen on multiple channels for different actionable inputs.

Configuring audio triggers happens in settings. To set up an audio trigger, go into the Utilities Menu by tapping on the gear icon in the Menubar and then choose Settings. Then navigate to the [Navigation Settings]](/docs/interface/menubar/utilities-menu/settings/navigation-settings/) and Audio Inputs. From here you can set an action for each channel as well as the sensitivity or level that must be reached before the action is triggered. You can also invert this so that OnSong listens for no sound instead.

MacOS App

This is so much more than just a feature of OnSong, it's a whole new app! You can now download OnSong 2022 on any Mac running Big Sur or newer. This includes both Intel-based and Apple Silicon M-series Macs. While we've worked hard to maintain the same familiar user experience, some things have been changed to make OnSong work its best on the desktop.

Menu

When you launch an application on a Mac, it appears in a window and has an associated menu that appears at the top of the screen. OnSong is no different. Learn about menu options as well as keyboard shortcuts.

Windowed Interface

The main OnSong window displays the familiar chord chart, but also maintains the familiar menubar at the top of the window. You can make this window nearly any size, or use the window controls to go full screen. In addition, Lyrics Projection and Stage Monitor are also handled with windows that can be opened and closed using the Window Menu. You can move these to external displays and enable fullscreen.

Gestures

Mac laptops and workstations don't have multitouch screens. However these touch gestures translate fluidly into scroll and swipe gestures available on the trackpad and mouse. For instance, use the scroll gesture or scroll wheel to navigate lists or two-finger swipe on the trackpad to swipe through songs. You can also click on the screen to navigate the song viewer just as easily.

Context Menus

We've added context menus throughout OnSong to let you perform actions on item. In iOS/iPadOS, you can view context menus by tapping and holding on an item. In macOS, you can right click or CTRL+click to show the context menu.

Keyboard Shortcuts

On the Mac, the keyboard and trackpad/mouse are the preferred user input device. We've worked to add intuitive keyboard shortcuts to OnSong to make using it with the Mac even faster.

Not Supported

The Mac version of OnSong uses Mac Catalyst to bring the power of our iOS/iPadOS app to the Mac for the first time. But that doesn't mean that everything available in the iOS/iPadOS app is available within the Mac version. This is usually because the Mac does not support the option, or because a framework that we use has not been updated to work on a Mac.

Menu

The Mac version of OnSong contains a menu at the top of the screen that gives you access to application wide actions. Let's take a look at each menu and what's available.

OnSong

This is the default application specific menu available to all Mac applications.

File

This menu provides common import/export features as well as print and a way to close the app.

Edit

The edit menu gives you actions that can perform on text.

Format

The format menu gives you tools for formatting text.

View

The view menu can be used to show and hide user interface components.

Window

The window menu lets you enabled and disabled windows such as Lyrics Projection and Stage Monitor mode as well as other typical window functions.

Share

The share menu lets you share the current set or collection in various ways.

App Menu

The application menu is named after the app and has the following options.

About OnSong

This shows the name of the app as well as the version.

Preferences...

Certain user preferences are available here but you can adjust full OnSong settings in the app.

Services

This displays a list of services installed on the operating system.

Hide OnSong

This is used to hide the application and place it in the dock.

Hide Others

This will hide all other applications except for OnSong.

Show All

This will show all application windows.

Quit OnSong

Use this to quit the application.

Edit Menu

The edit menu provides common features for editing text.

Edit Song

This option will open the song editor for the currently viewed song.

Undo/Redo

These options enable when you are editing a song allowing you to undo and redo changes you've made.

Cut

This option allows you to cut text, removing it from the text field and placing it into the pasteboard.

Copy

This option allows you to copy text, retaining it in the text field while placing it into the pasteboard.

Paste

This option will insert or replace the current selection with the formatted value in the pasteboard.

Paste and Match Style

This option will insert or replace the current selection with the value in the pasteboard, using any styles of the surrounding text.

Delete

This option will delete the selected text from the text field.

Select All

This option will select all text in the text field.

File Menu

The file menu gives you fast access to create and import new songs.

New Song

This option will either open the Template Chooser to pick a song template to create a new song, or open the Song Editor with a blank song if no templates are available.

Add Songs

This option will open the Add Songs screen where you can choose how you'd like to import songs.

Import...

This option will open the macOS file chooser where your an select one or more files to import.

Library

This option contains child menu options that let you backup and restore your library.

  • Backup Library will create a backup file of the current library and then open the Save File Dialog to choose where to save the backup file.
  • Restore Library will open the Open File Dialog so you can choose an OnSong backup file to restore to the current library.

Print

Opens the print preview screen where you can make adjustments to how OnSong prints the selected songs.

Close

Use this to close the app.

Open Dialog

On the Mac, you can open files using the built-in native file open dialog. This lets you choose common locations in the Favorite section on the left. You can then move around using the path selector at the top, view your files in different ways, and generally navigate to the folders and files you'd like to open.

When more than one file can be selected, you can hold down the SHIFT or CMD buttons on your keyboard to select multiple files. When you've selected the file, either click on the Open button or double-click on the single file to select. Tap Cancel to close the dialog.

Save Dialog

This screen appears when OnSong needs to save a file to a location on the Mac. You can click on the pull down to choose a different location, or expand the chooser by tapping on the down button next to the pulldown. Additionally, you can change the name of the file (but not the file extension) here as well. Click on the Save button to save the file, or click on the Cancel button to close the dialog.

Format Menu

The format menu provides tools for formatting text. Many of these options are not available currently in the app.

Bigger

This option will increase the size of the font in the song viewer.

Smaller

This option will decrease the size of the font in the song viewer.

Share Menu

The share menu gives you quick access to sharing options for the currently selected set or song.

Email

This option will open the Email screen with the currently selected song or set ready to be emailed with the default file format attachments.

Export

This option will open the Export screen with the currently selected song or set ready to be exported to the default location.

View Menu

The view menu provides options to view content in the active window. Some options are currently unavailable.

Find Song

This option will open the Quick Pick screen to search your library and load the song into the song viewer.

Enter Full Screen

This option is available to the active window and will automatically make the screen take up the whole screen and hide the window chrome and controls.

Window Menu

The window menu provides options for managing windows in the app.

Main Window

This is the main OnSong screen that contains the song viewer and the main user interface. You can tap to toggle this window on and off. You can drag and resize the window into the main screen or external screens. OnSong will retain the window size, position, screen, and fullscreen status.

Lyrics Projection

This option toggles the lyrics projection window. You can drag and resize the window into the main screen or external screens. OnSong will retain the window size, position, screen, and fullscreen status.

Stage Monitor

This option toggles the lyrics projection window. You can drag and resize the window into the main screen or external screens. OnSong will retain the window size, position, screen, and fullscreen status.

Minimize

This option will minimize the currently selected window into the dock.

Zoom

This option will cause the window to take up all available space on the current screen. You can choose this option again to go back to the original window size.

Tile Window to Left/Right Side of Screen

This option causes the window to be sized to fit in half of the screen and moved to the left or right side accordingly.

Move to Screen

This option will appear when more than one screen is available, allowing you to move the selected window to different screens without dragging and dropping it there.

Bring All to Front

This option will take all windows that have been placed under other applications to the foreground.

Typeahead Search

Finding what you're looking for quickly is paramount when you are performing live. OnSong's typeahead search feature helps get you to your content fast. Because your library is stored locally, there's no delay when browsing or search your library, even with thousands of songs! This method of search is found throughout OnSong too whether you are search sets, settings, etc.

The search bar appears in various places throughout the app and is prominently located at the top of the screen right below the main navigation bar. The search bar remains constant so you need need to scroll to find it. Tap into the field and start typing to begin searching. OnSong will start searching the title of songs for the text you type. Type up to three characters and OnSong will search for songs that begin with what you type. So if you want to find songs that start with "T", just type "T". If you want to find songs that start with "Th", you can type that too. If you type more than three characters, OnSong will locate songs where the title contains what you type. So if you type "Love", you'll see "Can You Feel The Love Tonight".

If no results are found using this method, or if you press the Search or Return keys on your keyboard, OnSong will perform a full-text search. This means that OnSong will find songs where the lyrics or metadata contain the search term.

The results are displayed with the search term underlined in the list.

Actions

One of the first steps to automating your stage presence is actions. Actions are the things that can be done in OnSong such as scrolling down through the song, or flipping to the next song. Actions are performed by triggers which are the events that take place that cause the action. For instance, pressing a foot pedal on the floor would trigger an action like turning the virtual page.

Of course, that's the tip of the iceberg. OnSong has over 150 actions you can assign to each trigger, giving you boundless opportunities. With OnSong Premium, you get features like Double Tap and Multiple Actions to perform more actions with less hardware. It's as simple as assigning an action to a trigger.

Here's a look at some of the triggers where you can assign actions:

Foot Pedals

OnSong supports many wireless foot pedals from companies like AirTurn, CODA and PageFlip. This means you can finally put your foot down and get some action.

Smart Buttons

If you have enough going on with your feet, you may want to use Flic, a smart button that works over Bluetooth. Featuring microsuction mounting, you can place this on your instrument and perform up to three actions per button.

Screen Taps

Even if you don't have the budget or desire for more hardware, you can assign actions to regions of your screen, giving you control with just a tap.

MIDI

The very mention of this acronym can make even the most seasoned musician tremble, but MIDI gives you the power to fully automate your instruments and audio devices. In the most simple form, you can listen for signals from your instrument and have OnSong do all the things.

Sticky Notes

Sticky notes give you the ability to keep notes like what pedal board or keyboard patches you need to change. But what if you could tap on the note and have OnSong automatically configure your instruments and equipment instead? You can map actions to a sticky note press to automate your stage.

Triggers

Many actions are performed by your input. But what if you want to perform an action when something else happens? You can do that too. For instance, you can start a backing track as soon as you flip to another song.

Double Tap

Many users choose to control OnSong using foot pedals. In most cases, that's two pedals on the floor to keep things simple. But what if you need to do more with less? Double Tap unlocks additional functions by simply pressing the same foot pedal twice.

Double Tap works with every type of trigger in OnSong including foot pedal presses, screen taps, MIDI input, and sticky notes. This means you can double your control.

To use Double Tap, you first need to be an OnSong Premium member. This gives you access to all the premium features. Next, assign an action to a trigger as you normally would. At the bottom of the Actions Menu, tap on the Double Tap tab to assign an different action. That's it! You can now tap once with the original action, and tap twice for another action.

When you assign a double tap action, the single tap action will incur a slight delay of a few milliseconds in order to determine if a single tap or a double tap was intended. Do not use Double Tap if you intend to use a time-sensitive action on the single tap.

Multiple Actions

Simply put, actions let you control OnSong from a physical or external trigger. For instance, pressing a foot pedal can perform a single action. While Double Tap lets you double the utility of a single pedal, you may still want even more control for more sophisticated setups.

The Multiple action is available in the Actions Menu and allows you program a single trigger (pedal, tap, MIDI input, etc) to perform different actions each time the same trigger is activated.

Multiple Actions is a premium feature and requires an OnSong Premium membership.

Moments

Moments let you add other events to your set list, turning it into a run sheet for event management. Moments can be added to an existing set by tapping on the compose button next to the + button in the lower right corner.

When you add a moment with a duration, you are prompted to set a start time for your set. This will result in scheduled times being displayed to the right of each item in the set. This time is calculated from the duration of the moment of the song.

Adding Moments

To add a moment, tap on the compose button in the lower right corner to choose from a list of preset moments.

Editing Moments

Once you select a present moment, or if you tap on a moment when in editing mode, you can change your moment including its title, icon, color, and duration.

AirDrop

AirDrop is an wireless file transfer protocol by Apple that works with newer iOS devices as well as Mac computers running OS X Yosemite that are from 2012 or later.

With AirDrop you can both import files from a computer or another iOS device as well as export just as easily. Use this to add songs to your library, create printouts when an AirPrint printer is not available, or to export your set list to a band member.

Broadcasting

Musicians today want to be able to reach their listeners both live and online. Live-streaming performances has become commonplace as a way to reach a global fan base. In addition, e-learning has become a necessity in today's global economy. OnSong lets you share your screen with popular video conferencing apps, all from a single device!

To get started, open the Share Menu from the Menubar and then choose the Social option. From there, choose Broadcast top open the system broadcast picker.

Be sure to watch the tutorial video to learn how to use broadcasting to reach your audience with your favorite apps!

Bumpers

OnSong enables you to scroll through yours songs and through your entire set with just a press of a foot pedal. Though this is convenient, it could mean accidentally navigating to the next or previous song in your set.

Bumpers give you protection from these accidents by notifying you that the next pedal press will navigate you to the next or previous song. In addition to showing you to the song title, it also provides key and capo information so you can prepare. When you reach the end of the set, it will let you know too so if you have any triggers assigned to the beginning or end of the set.

Bumpers appear in a semi-translucent box that is based off the app color. This looks good and is visible when running in and out of Low Light Mode.

While some users may appreciate this extra safety, others may want to disable it to avoid additional pedal presses. You can do this in Settings » Navigation Settings » Foot Pedals » Show Bumpers. You can also adjust this setting in the Foot Pedal Settings Menu.

Chromecast

Engaging your listeners is an important part of your musicianship. For houses of worship, this means having the ability to project lyrics for congregational singing. Most churches invest in separate computers, wiring and expensive software that requires a volunteer to operate. This means more time spent planning services and checking lyrics. But what if you can skip expensive software and hardware upgrades and display lyrics right from the stage inexpensively and wirelessly?

OnSong has a powerful lyrics projection feature with composite images and motion backgrounds. With the new scenes feature, you can even dynamically style lyrics projection and lighting for each song or section of a song. Simply connect your device to an HDTV or projector with a wired adapter, AppleTV, and now with Google Chromecast. So no matter where your projector or TV is located, you can run lyrics without any additional wiring.

Chromecast can only be used to project lyrics. It cannot be used to show chords and lyrics in stage monitor mode.

Document Scanner

The document scanner is an OnSong Premium feature that lets you use your device's camera to import songs into your OnSong library. You simply line up the camera with pages on a table or music stand. The document scanner finds rectangles that look like paper and snap the shot. It automatically perspective corrects your pages.

Prerequisites

The document scanner is available in OnSong 2020.0 and requires iOS/iPadOS 13 or higher because of the advanced computer vision that is being used. You'll also need to have OnSong Premium to use this feature.

If you don't see this in your Add Songs Menu, tap on the + button to add it to your customized import sources.

Scanning Pages

The document scanner takes over your enter screen to use your camera in augmented reality to capture pages.

Making Adjustments

You can make adjustments in the camera to handle changes in the environment. For instance, if you are on a dimly lit stage, turn on the flash button to enable the rear flashlight to illuminate the paper.

Reviewing Pages

Use the menubar that appears that the bottom of the screen with your scanned pages to make adjustments to each page, more bad scans, reorder pages, and finally import the document into your library.

Importing

Once you're satisfied with your scanned document, tap on the Save button in the right corner to import the document as a PDF file into your library.

Importing

Coming soon...

Making Adjustments

As you're getting started scanning pages, there are a few controls on the side or bottom of the screen you can use to make a great scan from the beginning.

Flash

The first option is to enable flash when taking the photograph for the scan. The default option is auto which determines if flash should be used by evaluating lighting conditions. You can also tap on this to turn flash on or off.

Color Mode

This option lets you choose the color mode to use when taking the scan. By the default, the scanner will take the picture using full color. You can choose from the following options:

  • Color is a full color scan and is useful for showing high-contrast text along with colors. This may sacrifice accurate color reproduction for better legibility of text.
  • Grayscale is used for documents that are printing with black, but may have various levels of shading.
  • Black & White is used for text-only documents and may result in higher contrast and become easier to convert into text-based documents using optical character recognition.
  • Photo is used for scanning photographs and will result in the use of more accurate color, but is not good for scanning textual documents.

Shutter Mode

The document scanner will automatically take a picture when it detects a rectangle and determines that a good scan can be made. You can enable Manual shutter mode which will require you to take the picture using the button on the screen instead.

Page Editor

Tapping on a thumbnail of a page displays the editing toolbar where you can access a number of tools including:

Crop

This tool loads the photo that was taken and displays the selection as a rectangle shape. You can use tap and drag on the four corners to better crop the page as well as make corrections for perspective distortion. During this process, you may also opt to try again by tapping on the Retake button. Keep in mind that the document scanner cannot adjust for curvature in the pages, only perspective correction.

Color Mode

Tap on the color mode button to choose from a different color mode including:

  • Color is a full color scan and is useful for showing high-contrast text along with colors. This may sacrifice accurate color reproduction for better legibility of text.
  • Grayscale is used for documents that are printing with black, but may have various levels of shading.
  • Black & White is used for text-only documents and may result in higher contrast and become easier to convert into text-based documents using optical character recognition.
  • Photo is used for scanning photographs and will result in the use of more accurate color, but is not good for scanning textual documents.

Rotate

Use this tool to rotate the scan into the proper orientation. Tapping on this tool shows you the cropped and perspective-corrected scan and lets you rotate it by 90 degrees.

Delete

If you've accidentally scanned a page you don't want, just tap on the trash can icon to delete the page.

Reviewing Pages

Once you've scanned your pages, they appear in the menubar at the bottom of the screen. Here you can go in and edit each page. Once you're happy with the document, tap on the Save button to create a PDF file and then import the file into your library.

Cancel

If you've changed your mind, just tap on the Cancel button to close the document scanner without adding the document to your library.

Editing Pages

Tap on the thumbnails in the menubar to open the Page Editor. In here you can make changes to the crop, rotation, and color mode as well as delete or retake the picture for that page.

Importing

Once you're happy the scan, just tap on the Save button to import the scanned document into your library as a song.

Scanning Pages

The document scanner takes over your enter screen to use your camera in an augmented reality interface to capture pages. Here are some steps to make sure you get the best results.

Best Practices

Here are some tips for getting the best quality scans.

  1. Make sure that your case or cover is not blocking the camera.
  2. Place your paper on a flat surface such as a table, the floor, or a music stand.
  3. Ensure the paper is as flat as possible to avoid warping as the system corrects for perspective.
  4. Use good lighting to ensure the highest contrast ratio between the paper and text.
  5. Use other controls on the left to adjust the image using flash, mode, and shutter.

Capturing the Page

As you move the camera, the computer vision system will identify rectangles in the scene. If the rectangle is determined to be a piece of paper, the scanner will automatically take a picture. You can also tap on the camera button on the bottom or side of the screen to initiate a photo.

Multiple Pages

As you capture pages, they will appear in the menubar at the bottom of the screen. You can flip through multiple pages for a single song. You can always go back and make adjustments.

Drag and Drop

iOS 11 has changed the way we interact with our iPads with drag and drop. You can now drag and drop items within and between apps using intuitive gestures. Drag and drop is integrated throughout OnSong so you can use it to:

Import Songs

You can drag files of supported formats into the OnSong songs menu to add them to your library. Drag them into Books to create a new book or simply into All Songs to add them to your library. You can even drag them into a Set.

Reordering Items

Wherever you can reorder items in a list in OnSong, you can use Drag and Drop instead. Just tap and hold and then drag your items to where you like.

Organizing Your Library

You can also use drag and drop to organize your library. Drag songs into a book or set to find a new way to manage your repertoire.

Exporting Files

You can then drag and drop songs, sets, books and even your library into other apps such as the iOS 11 Files app as a faster, more intuitive way to export your content.

You can disable Drag and Drop within OnSong in Settings » Menu Settings » Use Drag and Drop Interface.

Drag and Drop is only available on iOS 11 or higher running on an iPad.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a popular cloud-based storage service that works great with OnSong. You can use Dropbox to move files between all of your devices no matter where you are. Save your PDF, Word, or text-based chord charts to a Dropbox folder on your computer. In a few moments you can import those files using OnSong. You can also export files to Dropbox to have them instantly available on your computer and in the cloud.

It's free to sign up for Dropbox and receive a free 2 gigabytes of data storage. There are also subscription plans to expand your storage as your needs grow. In typical usage, 2 gigabytes of storage is plenty of space for using with OnSong.

Sign Up

To sign up for Dropbox, visit the Dropbox website, sign up, and then install software on your computer. OnSong does not require that you install the app on your device.

Import

You can easily import files from Dropbox using the Dropbox import source. Sign in, browse your Dropbox and choose songs to import. It's that easy!

Export

Use the Share Menu to Export your songs and sets to different file formats. Just use the Location Picker to upload your files to Dropbox.

Sync

You can even synchronize your OnSong library to Dropbox, allowing you to use the same songs and sets on another device.

External Video

OnSong is designed to make full use of a connected video device to extend OnSong beyond mobile devices.

Adapters and Devices

Learn how to connect your device to a video device with a wired video adapter or wireless with AirPlay.

Lyrics Projection

Display lyrics to the chord chart you are playing, all controlled from your device on-stage.

Stage Monitor

Keep your entire team on the same page by turning video monitors into a virtual music stand run from a single device.

Screen Mirroring

If you are creating video tutorials, or want to see the full interface of OnSong on an external device, turn on screen mirroring to use the operating system's built in mirroring mode.

Screen Mirroring

When you connect an external video device to an iOS device, it mirrors the content of your screen directly onto the other video device. This is great for sharing what you see on the screen with others. Use this for giving presentations, or with video capture software to create tutorials.

OnSong takes control of any connected video device for projecting lyrics or displaying music charts on stage. This allows OnSong to use the entire screen, as well as control resolution and orientation. User interface components don't get in the way either.

If you want to prevent OnSong from taking over the display and use the built-in screen mirroring found in iOS, go into Settings » Live Settings » External Video » Screen Mirroring and turn this on and tap Done. When you are done with your presentation or recording a video tutorial, you can turn this back on.

Note: You may need to restart OnSong for this to take effect.

Video Devices

Connecting your device to a projector or HDTV requires some extra equipment. This depends on the device that you have and the application. Pick one of the options below:

AirPlay

Stream video content from your iOS device to an HDTV or projector wirelessly using AirPlay. This requires an AppleTV connected to an HDTV and a reliable WiFi connection. No Internet connection is required.

Digital A/V Adapter

You can hard-wire you device to a video device that supports HDMI connectors. Purchase the adapter from Apple for the device you have.

VGA Adapter

If you have an older monitor system or projector, you may need to resort to an analog VGA connection. Purchase the appropriate adapter for your device.

Note: Devices older than the first generation iPad do not support external video devices. The first generation iPad does not support video over AirPlay.

AirPlay

AirPlay is an Apple technology that can stream audio and video content wirelessly to another device using WiFi. This requires a reliable WiFi network as well as a receiver device. Here's what you'll need:

Apple TV

The preferred method for receiving video content in OnSong is an Apple TV. This puck-sized device connects to a video device using HDMI and requires external AC power. Set it up on your WiFi network and connect it to your TV for high definition video playback.

Enabling AirPlay

Connecting to AirPlay requires an additional step that is as easy as plugging in an adapter. Follow these directions to enable AirPlay on your device and start streaming video.

Enabling AirPlay

Enabling AirPlay is slightly different on devices depending on their iOS version. Follow the instructions below to enable AirPlay video.

iOS 7 and later

Swipe up from the bottom of your screen to access the control center. Tap on the AirPlay button that appears when connected to a WiFi network with an AirPlay device. Next, tap on the device that you would like to connect to. For video-enabled devices like Apple TV, you must then turn on the Mirroring switch that appears. This will send the video of the device to the Apple TV.

iOS 6 and earlier

In iOS 6 and earlier versions, double press on the home button to open the multitasking tray. Swipe to the left to reveal playback controls as well as an AirPlay button. Repeat the steps above to select the device and enable mirroring.

Audio Only

You can also connect in the same way to audio devices. For instance, you can use an AirPort Express as a WiFi access point and to stream audio wirelessly.

Digital A/V Adapter

The digital A/V adapter allows you to connect your device to an HDMI cable and then to a video device like an HDMI splitter, projector, or HDTV.

Lightning Port

Modern iOS devices feature the smaller and reversible Lightning port. Be sure to get the Apple Lightning to Digital A/V Adapter.

30-pin Dock Connector

If you have an older device with a 30-pin adapter, you'll need the Apple Dock Connector Digital A/V Adapter.

Note: Both devices also include an additional port to charge the device while in use. Only the 30-pin model allows you to also synchronize to the device through the USB cable.

VGA Adapter

A VGA adapter allows you to connect your device to a VGA cable and then to a video device such as an analog VGA splitter, projector, or computer monitor.

Lightning Port

Modern iOS devices feature the smaller and reversible Lightning port. Be sure to get the Apple Lightning to VGA Adapter.

30-pin Dock Connector

If you have an older device with a 30-pin adapter, you'll need the Apple Dock Connector VGA Adapter.

Note: Only the Lightning VGA Adapter features an additional port to charge the device while in use.

Extract Text

OnSong can import and view a wide variety of file formats, but works best with text-based chord charts, allowing for chord transposition, text formatting, and lyrics projection. Converting existing files can be a challenge. OnSong provides tools to make converting these file formats easier.

Adobe PDF

Many users have PDF files available that they have used in their paper binders for years. The Adobe PDF file format is great for accurately representing the printed page and is portable between different computer platforms.

Images

You can import photos and other files using the JPEG, PNG, and TIFF file formats. These are images that are displayed "as-is" but may be able to be converted into text if they are from a scanned document.

Word Processing Files

OnSong can view many popular word processing files such as Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, and the Rich Text Format (RTF). These are viewed "as-is" but can usually be converted to text-based chord charts.

Adobe PDF

PDF files are a popular option for storing and printing chord charts and lyrics sheets. You may have been using PDF files for years to catalog your digital library. The Adobe PDF file format is great for accurately representing the printed page and is portable between different computer platforms. Let's take a look at some challenges with this file format and ways we can extract text for best results.

Adobe PDF files are displayed "as-is" in OnSong and can't be edited, formatted, or participate in low light mode. While these files may contain text, it is placed on the the virtual page in a way that enables it to be printed, and not easily understood or modified by other apps. In addition, PDF files can also be comprised of graphics or scanned images, or any combination of these. They can also be encrypted, protecting their contents from being extracted. Because of this, every PDF file is different so there's no way to handle perfect conversion into a text-based document.

You can extract the text of a PDF file within OnSong using the Song Editor and tapping on the Extract Text button in the Conversion Toolbar that appears before the on-screen keyboard is revealed. OnSong will attempt to extract the text from the PDF file first, and if no text is available, it will process the file using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). The result will most likely end with text, but you will need to review and tweak the text into a file format that OnSong understands. In addition, if the file was encrypted, the result of the extraction may result in garbled characters. These files are not able to be extracted due to the protection applied to them by the authoring software.

Here are some issues you may have with extracted PDF files:

Bad Spacing

You may find that some text is placed out of order, or with poor spacing. This is because PDF files may text shortcuts to align text using multiple text fragments. OnSong works to place these text fragments in proximity to each other using frame proximity calculations, but there may still be issues that require you to manually correct this.

Chords with Extra Spaces

Every chord chart is created differently depending on the author and the software used. For instance, the original file may have had multiple space characters used to align chords above lyrics. If a variable-width font is used, this may result in many more spaces being used then the lyrics below. Use Fix Alignment Spaces found in the Text Tools Menu found in the Menubar of the Song Editor to bring those chords back closer to their position and then manually adjust as needed.

Compressed Chords

Another problem may be chords that are too close together on a line above the chords. This can happen if chords were originally placed into text boxes and then aligned above chords. You will need to manually align those chords over the corresponding lyrics in the Song Editor.

Garbled Characters

If you attempt to extract text from an encrypted PDF document, it may result in a screen full of characters. You will need to revert the extraction process or cancel out of the Song Editor and find a different way to extract text.

Unrecognized Characters

If OnSong cannot extract the text from the document directly, it may need to submit the document to optical character recognition (OCR). This means that a computer will attempt to "read" the document visually. Depending on the quality of the PDF, this may result in the improper character being used. For instance, if your document had a flat symbol, it may be interpreted as a lowercase letter "b", or if the PDF was scanned, faded text may result in other characters. Review the document and make these manual changes as needed in the Song Editor.

Images

Images are viewed using the web-based image viewer in OnSong and are very limited due to the file format. They are displayed "as-is" in OnSong and can't be edited, formatted, or participate in low light mode.

You can extract the text of an image file within OnSong using the Song Editor and tapping on the Extract Text button in the Conversion Toolbar that appears before the on-screen keyboard is revealed. OnSong will process the file using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and the result will most likely end with text. You will then need to to review and tweak the text into a file format that OnSong understands.

You will likely find issues with the resulting text depending on the quality of the image. For instance, if you attempt to extract text from a photo of a beautiful sunset, you will be sorely disappointed. But if you extract text from a good image of a text document from a scanner, you will have decent results. You will want to check the spacing of chords since that may be lost during the OCR process. You can make changes to the text-based document after extraction using the Song Editor.

Word Processing Files

If you've written your chord charts or lyrics sheets in programs like Microsoft Word, you can view those "as-is" in OnSong. However, these file types cannot be edited, formatted, or participate in low light mode. Because of the subtleties of each word processor and the author of the document, there's no way to handle perfect conversion of these into a plain-text document.

You can extract the text of word processing files within OnSong using the Song Editor and tapping on the Extract Text button in the Conversion Toolbar that appears before the on-screen keyboard is revealed. OnSong will attempt to extract the text from the file, but you will need to review and tweak the text into a file format that OnSong understands.

Here are some issues you may have with the extracted file:

Chord Spacing

A common issue with word processing documents is chord spacing. This is because most chord charts are written with chords over the lyrics with spaces used to align the chords above the correct words and phrases. When a variable-width font is used, many more space characters must be used to align chords above as compared to the lyrics below. When this is covered to plain text and viewed in a fixed-width font, you'll notice chords are pushed out to the right of the document and no longer align.

Use Fix Alignment Spaces found in the Text Tools Menu found in the Menubar of the Song Editor to bring those chords back closer to their position and then manually adjust as needed.

Unrecognized Characters

One issue with any imported file is how it handles special characters. In particular, you may find that quotation marks are replaced with strange international characters. This happens because Microsoft Word uses international characters as placeholders for these smart quote characters.

To solve this, we recommend either disabling smart quotes in the word processing application, or to export the text from your word processing document as a plain text (*.txt) document and then importing into OnSong. Alternately, you can copy and paste from the word processing application into OnSong Console and tweak the song in real time.

Fast Track

OnSong takes customer support seriously. But with nearly a million users around the world, it may take some time to get back to you with personalized support. If you're an OnSong Premium member, go straight to the head of the line with Fast Track.

For the fastest support, open the Utilities Menu by tapping on the gear icon in the Menubar and then choose Communicate » Get Support. Fill out your email address and name as well as a brief explanation of the issue. Be sure to provide steps our support staff can use to replicate the issue. Include what you expect to happen versus what is happening.

At the bottom of the screen is a switch which allows you to turn on Fast Track. When you send your request, OnSong support staff will be notified directly to review your case and provide near immediate response times.

Flow

Flow is a feature that allows the basic components of a song (verses, choruses, bridges and more) to be arranged in a particular order. OnSong then displays those parts of the song to create one continuous page. This allows the song to be experienced in a linear fashion by scrolling from the top down.

The system is very flexible and requires you only to label the sections of your song. You can then use an abbreviated version of the flow, or a more verbose version to allow even more options like displaying musical instructions at just the right time in the song.

Flow can be defined either as metadata in the song content, or in the Song Flow field in the Playback Menu. Please see information on the Flow Tag for details on how to express flow.

Gears

What are Gears?

As a musician, you already have enough keys, pedals, buttons, knobs, and strings to worry about. Gears turn one set of foot pedals into many more without all the on-stage clutter. Press one pedal to "shift" into another gear and access more options.

Configuring Gears

Configuring gears can be done in the Foot Pedals Setup screen by tapping on the Gears Icon in the bottom right corner.

Google Drive

Google Drive is a popular cloud-based service for storing and editing your files and documents online. You can use Google Drive to transfer files between all of your devices no matter where you are. Save your PDF, Word, or text-based chord charts to a Google Drive folder and then import those files using OnSong. You can also export files to Dropbox to access from other devices like your computer.

When you sign up for a free Google Drive account you receive 15 gigabytes of storage. There are also subscription plans to expand your storage as your needs grow. In typical usage, 15 gigabytes of storage is plenty of space for using with OnSong.

Sign Up

To sign up for Google Drive, visit the Google Drive website.

Import

You can easily import files from Google Drive using the Google Drive import source. Sign in, browse your Google Drive and choose songs to import. It's that easy!

Export

Use the Share Menu to Export your songs and sets to different file formats. Just use the Location Picker to upload your files to Google Drive.

Sync

You can even synchronize your OnSong library to Google Drive, allowing you to use the same songs and sets on another device.

Libraries

When you first start using OnSong, you import and manage your songs in a library. The library comprises all of your songs, sets, books, settings... everything! For most, this is all you will ever need.

Libraries allow you to create completely separate instances of OnSong that are isolated from each other. This may be useful if you are using one device for multiple users, or never want to mix songs or sets from multiple bands.

You can access your libraries and manage them by opening the Songs Menu and selecting the Songs tab. Next, tap on Books button to view a list of your collections and books. You can then tap Back to see the Libraries Menu.

Live Video

More than ever, musicians are reaching their audiences through live-streaming. OnSong has features that let you make an impact with engaging still or motion graphics, lyrics, and live video that doesn't break the bank.

Enable Live Video

Live video is an OnSong Premium feature that lets you use your camera as a motion background. You can enable live video by tapping the Live button in the External Video Menu to turn it on. You can configure your live video by tapping and holding on the Live button, or by tapping on the arrow button to open the Live Video Configuration Editor.

Broadcasting

With OnSong, you can broadcast your OnSong screen to video conferencing apps, right on your device! You can use the Lyrics Preview Widget full screen to show your audience your live video with effects and lyrics. Reduce the opacity of your Lyrics Preview Widget to show your chord chart underneath.

Video Capture and IMAG

You can also use the output of live video to output to an HDMI video capture card or video switcher to use the camera on your device for live-streaming and recording. You can even use it as a view for live video editing for IMAG (image multiplication) use cases.

Lyrics Projection

Doing more with less is one of the core tenants of OnSong. It keeps you organized on a sleek and mobile device, and provides all the tools you need right when you need them at an incredibly low price. It should come as no surprise that OnSong features lyrics projection too.

Many Uses

While larger churches already have expensive lyrics projection software and equipment, smaller and mobile churches can benefit from lyrics projection in OnSong. For instance, your small group or house church may use OnSong to lead worship and display lyrics on an HDTV.

Music therapists have been using lyrics projection to help their clients sing again. Whether it's to bring people into worship, or to help people heal from disease, lyrics projection is a powerful tool that lets you control lyrics while playing live.

Configuration

You can configure lyrics projection using the External Video Menu. From there you can set up different modes, as well as background colors, images, or even motion videos. There are also other options and settings located in Settings » Live Settings » External Video » Lyrics Projection.

Hands-Free Operation

Once you've connected a video device (HDTV, projector, etc.) to the device running OnSong, you can tap on the sections of lyrics you want to display on the external video device. Another method is to use the hands-free features of OnSong to control lyrics as well.

Arrange your songs from the top down using Flow and then use Autoscroll to have the song scroll from the top to the bottom over a certain amount of time. This will also select the sections as they come into view and display lyrics!

For even more control, use foot pedals. If you are using foot pedals in addition to lyrics projection, OnSong will scroll the song by jumping from section to section. If you are using other pedal models, you can set up OnSong to scroll by section in the Foot Pedal Settings Menu found in the Foot Pedal Setup Screen.

Motion Graphics

You have the option to configure colors, gradients, custom images, and even motion graphics as your background. Images can be imported from your photo library, and motion graphics can be added or even purchased via the Image Media Picker.

MainStage

OnSong is a powerful MIDI controller that lets you control your rig in a manner that's contextual to each song. This means that you can have your patches and effects ready to play just by going to the next song in your set list. Apple's MainStage is a Mac app you can use to add sonic depth to your music. With pre-designed templates like those from Sunday Sounds, you can use OnSong in a very intuitive way.

Connecting to a Mac Laptop

There are many ways to connect your iPad or iPhone for controlling MainStage on a Mac, but none are as simple as IDAM. IDAM stands for Inter-Device Audio and MIDI mode which uses the sync/charge cable that came with your iOS device. To use this, simple connect your iOS device to your laptop using the USB charging cable. Next, go into your Applications folder and open the Utilities folder to find the Audio MIDI Setup app. Once open, view the Audio Devices window and locate your iOS device. Tap on the Enable button adjacent to the device on the list. This will allow audio to flow from your iPad to your computer and also allow MIDI to be sent to and from your iOS device to your laptop.

IDAM allows for a simple connection without additional hardware. If your needs are more advanced or you need to use the Lighting or USB-C port on your device for other functions, you can choose other ways to integrate with MIDI devices.

Changing Patches

You can easily change patches in MainStage using MIDI program changes. Program changes are used to communicate changes to how your instrument sounds. MIDI combines this with bank selects, permitting selection of thousands of options. Setting this up is a simple two-step process.

In MainStage, select a patch in from the Patch List while in Edit mode. Locate the Patch Settings panel in the lower center of the screen and choose the Attributes tab. Find the Program Change option and checkmark it. You can then use the controls on the right to set a number between 1 and 128. You can optionally choose a bank select using the field above program change.

In OnSong, you need to set the program change to the song. You can do this in text-based chord charts by tapping and holding on the title of the song to open the Section Mapping Menu. You can then tap on the + button in the lower right corner to add a MIDI event to be sent. Choose Program Change and then set the number to match when you typed in MainStage. Tap Done to save your changes and add the MIDI to the list. Now when you swipe to that song, the MIDI information is sent and MainStage will change to that patch.

Synchronizing Tempo

Patches can use tempo to change drum beats, arpeggios, and delay effects. When you're using a product like Sunday Sounds, you want to be able to dynamically adjust the tempo to keep with the band. OnSongs lets you easily keep track of your song's tempo which can be sent using MIDI Clock. It's just a two step process to set this up.

In MainStage, click on your concert at the top of the Patch List while in Edit mode. Next, locate the Concert Settings panel in the lower center of the screen. Click on the Timing tab and place a checkmark next to the Get Tempo from MIDI Input option. This will tell MainStage to listen to the MIDI clock to acquire tempo.

In OnSong, tap on the gear icon in the Menubar to open the Utilities Menu and then tap on Settings. Tap on MIDI Settings on the left and then locate the Sync section on the right. Turn on the MIDI clock option. Now when you switch songs, OnSong will adjust the MIDI clock to set the tempo in MainStage.

*Note: Use MIDI clock only on wired MIDI connection as wireless connections like Bluetooth and WiFi introduce latency that will cause the MIDI clock and tempo to shift.

Multitasking

OnSong lets you make the most of an iPhone or iPad on stage. Watch these tutorial videos to learn more about ways you can use more than one app at a time to enhance your performance.

Run In Background

OnSong prevents the screen from sleeping while running so you can use your hands for playing music instead of trying to keep the iPad awake.

Typically apps shut down when you leave the app. OnSong is efficient on your battery, but will continue to play music even if you leave the app. You can also set OnSong to run in the background for more advanced tasks.

Multitasking

Newer iOS 9 devices like the iPad Pro can run more than one app at a time in split screen mode. Fully supports slide over and split screen multitasking simply by swiping your finger from the right side of the screen to the center.

OnSong also supports playing video tutorials with picture-in-picture so you can watch the video while you are using OnSong or other apps on your device.

OnCue

OnCue is the name given to wireless sharing in OnSong. This is different than OnSong Connect, in that it uses Apple's wireless sharing frameworks to allow for sharing over Bluetooth. This provides the ability to beam and stream content to devices running OnSong without the use of WiFi.

About

Since OnCue is built on top of Apple's frameworks for wireless, peer-to-peer connectivity, there are a few things to consider as well as some limitations.

Beam

Beaming is the process of sharing the currently viewed song or set with nearby users. Once received, those users will need to navigate and scroll through the song on their own.

Stream

Streaming allows the user who sets up the streaming session to control the connected devices. This will send song content and navigation signals to the connected devices.

Beam

The wireless sharing screen displays nearby devices that are running OnSong. While all devices are checked by default, you can check or uncheck devices to receive the currently loaded song or set.

Tap on the Share button in the upper right. You will be prompted before the set is sent. Recipients will receive a prompt inside of OnSong asking if they would like to receive the set. They can accept or decline the song or set. Transferred songs and sets will appear the same as they do on the source device with styles, transposition, annotations, etc.

You can also set up an OnCue streaming session by toggling the "Enable OnCue wireless streaming" switch on the bottom. This will invite the selected devices to join the wireless streaming session for you to control the display on their devices.

Lastly, the refresh button in the lower right corner will refresh the list of devices by disconnecting you from the ad-hoc network and then reestablish that connection after a brief delay.

When you are all done, tap on the Close button in the upper right corner.

About OnCue

OnCue is built on top of Apple's frameworks to allow wireless, peer-to-peer connectivity over Bluetooth. The following are some tips to get things running for your team as well as a history and future outlook for the technology.

Because these frameworks are limited to iOS devices, and due to the inherit limitations of the technology, OnSong has a technology called OnSong Connect which requires a network connection. OnSong Connect allows for more robust communication as well as support for many more devices.

OnCue Version

Newer versions of OnSong can use newer and more reliable protocols to send OnCue information. If you are using an iOS 7 or higher device, a new version of OnCue is enabled by default. If you are running iOS 6 or earlier, the older version of OnSong is enabled. Be sure to use the version that meets the needs of every device that you need to connect. For instance, if you have an original iPad that runs iOS 5.1.1, you will need to switch all devices to the older OnCue version for interoperability. This can be done in Settings » Menu Settings » Sharing.

Tips

Wireless technology changes at a rapid rate, and iOS has followed and led many of these trends. When the original iPad launched in 2010, only Bluetooth was capable of setting up an ad-hoc network of devices. With each iOS release, Apple began transforming the wireless sharing landscape. Today Apple uses Bluetooth to configure direct WiFi, peer-to-peer functions. WiFi features much higher bandwidth than Bluetooth.

Number of Devices: One major limitation to Apple's frameworks are the number of concurrent devices. While not documented in the original Game Kit Framework, the generally accepted number of peer-to-peer devices is around five maximum. The newer frameworks support a maximum of six devices.

Frequencies: However, some networks are not friendly with these WiFi requests and different versions of iOS handle this connection differently. We recommend that you turn off WiFi and turn on Bluetooth when performing. This is because WiFi frequencies can become overloaded in crowded environments such as a concert. Bluetooth is generally limited to 30 feet and is not as connected to the otherwise crowded WiFi space.

RF Noise: Another consideration is radio frequency noise. Since nearly all consumer electronics (including microwave ovens) operate in the 2.4 Ghz and 5.0 Ghz range, there is the possibility of too many wireless signals being present. This noise makes it difficult for transmissions to complete and reduces overall bandwidth.

Network Engineering: If you are using WiFi or Bluetooth at a performance level, work with a wireless communications engineer to ensure that you don't have competing frequencies. This applies to not just networking equipment, but to wireless microphones and audio reinforcement hardware as well. Many problems can be alleviated with more professional-grade equipment that can seamlessly switch to less cluttered channels.

History

When OnSong launched with the first generation iPad, this was the only way to accomplish wireless networking. Over time, Apple has changed the way this networking works and, as such, effected performance on newer versions of iOS.

The following provides a history of wireless connectivity is these iOS versions.

  • iOS 3.2 was the original operating system for the first iPad. This featured Bluetooth wireless networking using Apple's Game Kit Framework. This framework only used Bluetooth 2.1 EDR for communication.
  • iOS 4.x did not change the underlying Bluetooth communication system and only appeared to make the Game Kit Frameworks and Bluetooth connectivity more stable.
  • iOS 5.x added the ability for iOS to send wireless data over WiFi if Bluetooth is not enabled. The default protocol remained Bluetooth.
  • iOS 6.x switched the priority of wireless protocols, opting to send data over WiFi if available. The issue is that some networks are not capable of relaying this information, and there is no provision for selecting Bluetooth over WiFi connections. This release made wireless communication less reliable, but overall faster for supported networks. Turning off WiFi and turning on Bluetooth resolves the reliability problem.
  • iOS 7.x is when Apple rebuilt wireless sharing with a new protocol and deprecated the original frameworks. This new protocol is not supported on devices running iOS 6 or older. It uses Bluetooth to configure a direct WiFi connection for peer-to-peer communication.
  • iOS 8.x continues the new model of wireless communication using Bluetooth LE to maintain connections with devices.

Stream

OnCue streaming allows one device running OnSong to control multiple devices. This is performed by each device creating and maintaining a peer-to-peer, ad-hoc network using iOS wirelessly sharing protocols.

You can start an OnCue streaming session by either opening the Wireless Sharing Screen and turning on the OnCue switch at the bottom, or by choosing the Start OnCue option in the Share Menu. This will invite users on other devices through a prompt to join the session.

Once enabled, the songs you view and any other actions such as navigation, autoscroll, and song style changes will be sent to the other devices automatically. Depending on your network speed and reliability, this may take a second or two to send. If a follower views a different song in their library, the navigational commands will not take place.

OnCue will send the content as it appears on the leader's device. Followers in the OnCue stream can opt to turn on a setting to allow their version of a song to be used instead. This can be found in Settings » Live Settings » Live Bar » Network Settings.

Both streaming and beaming content in OnSong may experience connection issues due to how wireless sharing is implemented in iOS. Please review the About section to find ways to accomplish a reliable connection.

Output Options

OnSong is built for flexibility. True to that goal is the ability for OnSong to output your songs and sets in the formats you need. By doing this, OnSong can make your life easier by giving you the flexibility to send your songs, sets, or song list in whatever format your team might need.

The Share Menu provides access to a number of methods for outputting your files (such as Exporting or Emailing). These screens have common elements for picking songs, configuring output options, and information about file formats that can be utilized.

File Formats

OnSong supports a number of file formats with which to export songs and sets. The following is a list of supported formats:

Adobe PDF

PDF is a standard file format that is used as a means to create digital paper output. OnSong can export a song or songs in the PDF format. When the "As a single file" option is turned on, a single multipage document is outputted.

OnSong uses the page size, orientation, and margins as provided in Page Layout Settings when exporting PDF files. Only text-based chord charts and other PDF files can be exported the PDF file format. If you have another file type in your set, that will be outputted as just the song title. Songs that use the PDF format will be appended to the document in the page size, orientation, and margins used in the original file. These files do not include annotations or sticky notes.

PDF files include a .pdf file extension.

OnSong

The OnSong file format is usually just the content as it is written in the Song Editor. This is useful for importing into another version of OnSong, or to save in order to make future changes. These files are plain text and have the .onsong file extension.

ChordPro

Choosing this format will export the song content using the ChordPro syntax. This can be used to edit and view the file ChordPro-compatible apps. This file format is text-based and has the .chopro file extension.

OpenSong

Choosing this format will export the song or set in the OpenSong XML file format. This can be used in other OpenSong-compatible applications for lyrics projection or library management. This file format is XML-based and has a .xml file extension.

HTML File

HTML files can be exported to view in web browsers on any platform. OnSong exports the HTML file to closely resemble the chord chart as rendered in OnSong. This does not include annotations. HTML files have a .html file extension.

Text File

This outputs the song content as a plain text file, placing chords on a line above the lyrics. Text files are plain text and include the .txt file extension.

Song List

The song list is different from other file formats in that it does not export the actual chord chart, but rather a list of every song in the set or which has been selected using the Song Picker. This list is in the HTML file format and contains a table with the song title, artist, key, and capo.

The song list is exported as an HTML file that contains a table of the following song attributes: song title, artist, current key, and capo.

OnSong Archive

The OnSong Archive is one the best-kept secrets in OnSong. This file format is binary and can only be read by other versions of OnSong. However, these files contain all the information necessary to display a song or set in another version of OnSong (including styles, settings, annotations, and external files).

The OnSong Archive file format includes the .onsongarchive file extension and can only be opened by the OnSong app.

OnSong Backup

Exporting an OnSong Backup is a must for any user who has spent significant time organizing and curating their song library in OnSong. The OnSong Backup format always stores a single file and always contains everything needed to restore your OnSong library to its original state. This includes user preferences and settings, songs, sets, styles, books, etc.

The OnSong Backup file format includes the .backup file extension.

Output Options Menu

This menu provides options to change how files are outputted from OnSong. It contains the following options:

Lyrics only

When exporting chord charts in various formats, you can turn chords off and only display lyrics. This is useful for printing song books for congregational singing or to send to vocalists.

As a single file

When a set or more than one song is selected to be outputted, OnSong defaults to sending multiple files, one for each song. Enabling this setting will combine the individual files into one, aggregate file. For instance, if the PDF file format is selected and the single file option is selected, one PDF file is generated with multiple pages which contain all outputted songs.

Different file formats handle exporting as a single file differently; outputting in this manner does not make sense for all formats.

Original key

OnSong uses a transposition engine which allows you to set the key of the song independently from the underlying song content. This key is outputted by default. If this option is turned on, the original key in the underlying song content is used instead.

As a ZIP file

When exporting multiple files, it may make sense to export as a ZIP file. This places all individually outputted songs into one file which can be extracted. When emailing multiple songs it is beneficial to turn on this setting since most email servers will block or omit attachments it does not recognize or that could be construed as a security threat. Sending ZIP files will typically work around this limitation.

Song Picker

The song picker menu displays which songs are to be outputted, as well as allowing for you to select more songs if desired.

Most of the picker menu is comprised of your song list. Here you can search and browse for songs. Tap on a song to place or remove a checkmark. Check marked songs will be added to the export list. You can also tap on the Select All or Deselect All buttons at the bottom to do just that.

When you are finished, tap on the Done button to change the songs to be outputted. Tap on the Cancel button to close the picker without changing the song selected for output.

Performance Pack

It's the little things that make a big difference when you're on stage. OnSong is more than a document reader for musicians. It has the features you need and the performance required for live music. Check out some of the features below that together make for a great experience.

Autoscroll

Once your music is digital, you no longer have to worry about turning pages! Autoscroll turns your device into a teleprompter-like experience to scroll down your song and even through your entire set. You just set a duration for the song and let it roll. Of course if you need finer control you can always use Timeline.

Flow

Once your song is autoscrolling, you may find that you want to repeat certain sections of the song. Instead of changing the song by copying and pasting, flow lets you dictate the arrangement or layout of the song. Just add a flow tag to repeat sections of your song and turn it on and off as needed.

Heads-Up Display

When you switch songs in OnSong, the menubar shows you the name of the song. While that's handy, it can do so much more. Just swipe to the left or right over the name of the song for different views of information you care about like sets, timers, or audio playback control.

Quick Pick

While many musicians pull their sets before stepping on the stage, you may want to take requests. The Quick Pick feature of OnSong lets you tap the name of the song in the menubar and immediately prompts you to start typing. Type a few letters of the song title or artist name and tap to add the song to your set list.

Messages

Communicating with the band can always be tricky and you make have developed hand signals or vocal inflections to try to guide your fellow musicians. OnSong lets you flash messages on each participant's screen with color and text to communicate effectively on stage. Combine with foot pedals or Timeline and never lift a finger.

Moments

Organizing your event is more than just songs. Moments lets you insert additional items on your set list to turn it into a run sheet for your event. You can even specify the amount of time for each song and moment to help you organize your event and keep everyone on track.

Pitch Pipe

If you're singing an a cappella piece, you may need a reminder of the pitches to sing. OnSong lets you assign an action to play the pitch. By default, this plays the notes of the song key, but you can customize the notes and octave of those notes for more advanced songs.

Timeline

With OnSong you can automate the entire song. Scroll the page, select sections for lyrics projection, trigger actions, or coordinate MIDI devices all in one timed sequence that's saved with the song.

Viewport

You may want to view a specific section of the song sheet. Zoom and position your song and then use the viewport feature to save the initial view for the song to be recalled when the song loads.

Pitch Pipe

Not all of us have perfect pitch. So what do you do if you need to start a song vocally or perform a song a capella? For that, OnSong features a pitch pipe to play notes that get you started.

Setup

OnSong will play the notes of the key of a song without requiring any setup. For instance, if your song is in Am, the notes A, C, and E are played back in a middle octave.

You can also set notes to play back using the pitch tag in Metadata of the OnSong or ChordPro file formats.

Playing the Pitch

To play the pitch, you need to set a Hot Corner, Navigation Zone or Foot Pedal to initiate the pitch playback.

Using Pitch

While it's common to hear a pitch played from a pitch pipe before an a capella performance, you can also send the output of your device to the mixing channel of your in-ear monitoring system, or send it as a mono channel to a source board. This setup, like the metronome feature, allows you and your team to hear the pitch without the audience hearing it.

Printing

OnSong is designed to reduce or eliminate the use of paper on stage. Not only is this a more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly option, but it also helps to keep you more organized.

However, sometimes it's just easier to print your songs or set list to a sheet of paper for sharing. OnSong has powerful print capabilities that help you stay organized and save paper, too.

To print, select a song or set. Use the Share Menu to open the Print Screen. From there you can print chord charts, song lists, and even multiple pages on a physical piece of paper. OnSong also allows you to send the printout as a PDF.

Quick Pick

Even the best laid plans can go awry. Maybe you get a song requested that's not in your set list, or perhaps you show up to the gig late and need to pull songs as you go. No matter what the event, OnSong has you covered with the new Quick Pick feature.

Using Quick Pick

To access the Quick Pick screen, tap on the song title in the menubar when a song title is displayed. The search bar is then automatically selected and you can begin searching. Tap on the song to display it or add it as the next song.

Sets

OnSong is great for keeping your entire chord chart library organized and accessible no matter where you go. But when it comes to playing live, you need to be able to quickly and easily move between songs in your set list. OnSong lets you create sets to be played at specific times and venues.

Creating Sets

You access your sets in the My Sets tab in the Songs Menu. From there you can create folders for organizing sets by band or venue, as well as create new sets. Once the set is created, you can quickly pull songs from your library or books.

Navigating Sets

Simply tap on a set from your list of sets to load it into the song viewer. You can swipe, tap, or use other hands-free methods like foot pedals to move between songs in your set, or to scroll your songs up and down.

Sharing Sets

Sets allow you to organize some songs in your library for use with the band. Once you have the set selected, use the Share Menu to share it with your team using a variety of methods.

Tracking Songs

Sets are created for playing in the moment, but they also form the basis of song tracking in OnSong. Using the date you specify when creating your set, OnSong can determine when you play songs. This can be used to let you know if you've overplayed a song, or use to send song reports to licensing agencies like CCLI.

Archiving Sets

Because you may want to look up and see what you did last week or last month, it's a good idea to archive your sets. You can then access old sets using the archived sets list.

OnSong can also be configured to auto-archive sets so you don't have to worry about doing that manually. This keeps your active sets list nice and organized.

Song Reporting

OnSong can keep track of what you're performed, printed, and projected which can be useful for understanding your habits, as well as reporting to content licensing organizations.

OnSong keeps track of what you play in two different ways. By default, OnSong will keep track of what you play in sets. Because sets in OnSong automatically have a date and time associated with them, it means OnSong knows when you've last played those songs. You can also configure OnSong to report song by usage. This means if you view a song for more than a certain amount of time, it gets reported. You can change this preference in Song Reporting Settings.

To access this feature, go into the Utilities Menu by tapping on the gear icon in the Menubar and choose Editors and then choose Song Reporting. From there you can choose a timeframe to begin viewing your song usage in new ways.

Support

OnSong is a powerful app that is unlike anything else you may have used on a mobile device. Many musicians only use a fraction of its functionality. As you begin to invest time into OnSong, you'll likely want to get some extra help. Check out ways that you can find the help you need to make the most out of OnSong.

Knowledge Base

Get instant help with our vast knowledge base that has answers for nearly any question you may have.

User Manual

Browse the current user manual and learn how to do more with OnSong. Search for keywords and get answers.

Tutorial Videos

Access our comprehensive collection of tutorial videos to learn new tricks, or brush up your skills.

Technical Support

If you're just stuck and need OnSong to review your issue, you can submit your question directly in the app. Not only does this send your request directly to our support team, it also includes details about your library so we can pinpoint our advice to better serve you. You can access this by opening the Utilities Menu by tapping on the gear icon, and then choose Communicate and Get Support. If you are a Premium member, you get Premium Support that gives you immediately response times from when you fast track your request.

Premium

If you're serious about your stage performance, becoming a Premium members gets you direct access to OnSong staff and experts. Here are some ways that becoming an OnSong Premium member has its benefits.

Fast Track

Fast Track is just what it sounds like. You can take any support request and escalate it to receive the fastest possible response time from our technical support staff with automatic escalation. Your request gets bumped ahead of any other request in the queue and OnSong staff work together to resolve your concern.

OnSong Insiders

Being a paid OnSong Premium member also means you can join our private, exclusive Facebook group where OnSong experts, staff, and developers hang out. Join in the discussion!

Synchronization

OnSong is designed to store your library on your device. This allows you to access your songs anywhere you go without the need for an Internet connection. This means if you have multiple devices like an iPad and an iPhone, they both will have separate libraries.

OnSong provides the ability to synchronize your library between devices using a cloud-based storage service like Dropbox. For more details, open the Songs Menu and tap on the + button on the bottom right to view the Add Songs screen. Choose a storage method under the Synchronize section in the list.

Timeline

Timeline enables you to record navigation events and then play them back to give you flexible, hands-free control of your music.

All you need to do is either set a duration of your song for linear autoscrolling, or choose timeline to start recording and scroll through the song just as you want it to in a live scenario. Even tap on sections to project lyrics, send MIDI commands or switch scenes for automated control over your performance.

To configure timeline for autoscroll, see Live Bar » Autoscroll.

Autoscroll now can automates your performance!

Tint Colors

There are a lot of benefits to reducing paper on stage. You can play in the dark or outside on a breezy day. Even if it starts to rain you can keep jamming if you have a waterproof case. Once you move away from paper you can even use OnSong to customize the look of your music in a way that works for you. Tint colors can reduce visual stress when reading your music on stage.

You can configure tint colors on individual songs using the mode chooser in the Document tab of the Style Preferences Menu. You can also set the tint colors globally for the app in Settings » Display Settings » Song Formatting » Tint.

Vertical Menubar

The menubar in OnSong is where you access all the functions of the app. Tapping icons in the menubar open popover menus which provide transient access for picking songs or changing the appearance of your charts. While this is good for most functions, it does result in those menus disappearing after each use.

The vertical menubar in OnSong lets you place the menubar down the left or right side of the screen. Tapping on options allows menus to appear from the screen edge. By pinning the menus, they can appear in a split-screen orientation, allowing the menu to remain visible while you interact with the song viewer.

You can turn on the Vertical Menubar mode for OnSong in Settings » Menu Settings » Menubar » Vertical Menubar.

WorshipReady.com

WorshipReady.com provides handcrafted chord charts for use on a number of platforms including Planning Center, PDF and OnSong. Access to content is through subscription only and limits the number of chord charts you can download per month based on your subscription level.

For more details about this service, or to sign up, please visit http://worshipready.com.

Using WorshipReady.com

You can access WorshipReady.com chord charts by importing them right inside of OnSong. Just sign in, find a chart, and download it right into your OnSong library.

Flic

Many musicians have already discovered the flexibility of hands-free control of their iPads during practice and performance. OnSong now supports Flic – Bluetooth smart buttons Bluetooth that you can stick anywhere. Place Flic on the ends of your keyboard, or on the body of your guitar... anywhere you want to reach to trigger one of the may actions in OnSong.

Flic is configurable in the Foot Pedal Setup screen. You can assign one of more than 50 actions. Since Flic supports single click, double click and press and hold gestures, you can assign up to three different actions.

Add To OnSong

As a musician, you use a variety of sources to find and organize your chord charts. OnSong provides a number of ways to import your music into your digital library that you can use without an Internet connection.

If you are running iOS 8, you can import chord charts from your favorite websites using the new Add To OnSong extension in Safari. When you find a song you like, tap on the action menu in the toolbar and choose the Add To OnSong option. The next time you open OnSong, the song will be added to your library.

Not only does the Add To OnSong extension let you import chord charts on common websites, but also lyrics and even files such as a PDF, Microsoft Word or audio tracks. This makes the Add To OnSong extension the most powerful tool in the OnSong toolkit.

Note: Be sure to read the Terms of Service of each website that you use to ensure that you are complying with the rules for using that content. OnSong will prompt you before each import to insure that you are aware of any agreement you've made between you and the content provider.

Autoscroll

As a musician, you put all of yourself into your music. Now let the music carry you with the hands-free operation of autoscroll. Autoscroll displays your chord chart from top to bottom like a teleprompter. All you need to do is to get the song started and autoscroll will take care of the rest.

Setup

The setup for autoscroll is really easy. Tap on the autoscroll button in the live bar to set a duration for the song for linear autoscrolling from the top to the bottom of the page. You can even configure non-linear autoscrolling using Timeline.

Once configured, tap to start autoscroll. OnSong scrolls the song from the top to the bottom in the amount of time you set or plays back recorded timeline events. Tap and hold the autoscroll button to set a different duration or timeline events for the song. See Live Bar » Autoscroll for details.

Flow

OnSong scrolls through your song vertically like a scroll. Songs are typically arranged based on different sections like verses and choruses. You can use Flow to arrange your song in the order that you will perform it. Add instrumentals, intros, verses, choruses, and bridges. When OnSong scrolls from the top to the bottom, it will display the entirety of your song.

You can configure the flow of the song in the Playback Menu or in the Metadata Editor found in the Song Editor.

Triggers

Start autoscroll by tapping on the screen, or with a supported foot pedal for completely touch-free operation. Since autoscroll is the action you normally take to start a song, you can even set up additional actions to occur at the same time autoscroll starts. Configure this in Settings » Navigation Settings » Triggers » Autoscroll Trigger.

Backing Tracks

OnSong is not only great at displaying chord charts and music, but it can also be used in place of heavy and expensive stage equipment. This can make moving from one gig to another much easier, as well as making shows run smoother than they ever have before.

Backing tracks can be linked to each of your chord charts allowing you to play a song in an instant. Just tap or tap and hold on the Audio Live Bar Button to link or toggle audio playback. Use the Playback Menu to perform more advanced functions. You can even configure audio playback to crossfade between two playing tracks in Settings » Live Settings » Live Bar » Audio.

OnSong links to tracks that are available in the Music app of your iOS device or you can manage audio tracks inside of OnSong.

iTunes Music Library

You can use iTunes technologies to transfer music and media to your device. That advantage to this is you get the full playback abilities of the built-in Music player and tracks are shared between apps. You can also playback tracks that are stored in the cloud. Learn more about linking to tracks your iTunes Music Library

Here are a few methods you can use to get music into your iTunes music library:

  • iTunes Sync is the standard way to move music files from your computer to device.
  • iTunes in the Cloud accesses iTunes tracks you have purchased on your device and allows you to play them from the cloud or download them to the device.
  • iTunes Music Match is similar to iTunes in the Cloud but allows you to submit your entire music library to iCloud for a low yearly fee. This allows all your content to be transferred to your iOS device without connecting to a computer.

Note: It's a common misconception that only music tracks that are purchased through the iTunes Music Store can be played on an iOS device. Learn more on Adding Music Tracks to iTunes.

OnSong Audio Media Library

If you don't prefer to use iTunes to manage your music, you can import backing tracks directly into your OnSong media library and manage them inside of the app. This is a great option if you don't have access to a laptop for synchronizing content.

You can learn more about importing, managing and linking to tracks in your OnSong Media Library

Importing into iTunes

iTunes is a powerful media management program that is available for free from Apple. It is also used to manage your iOS device as well. You can use iTunes to browse and purchase music and other media from the iTunes Store, or simply use it as a media management device.

If you have tracks that you want to add as Backing Tracks in OnSong, you'll need to make sure they are in your computer's iTunes library before synchronizing them to your device, using iTunes in the Cloud, or iTunes Music Match.

To add tracks to iTunes, locate them on your computer, select in the Finder (Mac OS X) or File Explorer (Windows) and drag and drop them in the library area of iTunes. You can also do the same thing by opening the File option in the menubar and choosing Add To Library.... From here you can browse your files and select those that you want to add to iTunes.

iTunes will typically copy these files into its own library and organize the files based on the information available in the audio track file. You can change these settings by opening iTunes Preferences and selecting the Advanced tab.

iTunes Sync

While millions of people own iPads or iPhones, not everyone knows how to get their music on their device. Follow these steps to get music synced to the device using the USB cable.

  1. Connect the device to a computer using the USB sync/charge cable that came to the device. Ensure that the computer has iTunes 12 installed and running.
  2. In iTunes, click on the Device Icon in the bar just below the volume slider and choose your device if more than one is listed.
  3. Tap on the Music option under settings. This is where you tell iTunes what music you would like to sync to the device.
  4. You will need to turn on music syncing by clicking to checkmark Sync Music.
  5. Use the other checkmarks below to determine what music to send to the device. For instance, you can sync Entire music library or only Selected playlists, artists, albums and genres.
  6. If you picked the latter, place a checkmark next to what you would like to sync to the device.
  7. When you are finished, click on the Apply button in the lower left to start copying the music over.
  8. Check that the music is on the device by launching the Music app from the home screen.

iTunes in the Cloud

If you only have to access music tracks that you've purchased from the iTunes music store, you can access those files on your device without synchronizing with a computer.

To do this, open the Settings app from your device's home screen. Select the iTunes & App Store section on the left. On the right side, turn on the Music switch under the Show All section. This will display songs in your Music library that are not actually stored on your device.

These songs are streamed from iCloud when they are played. This requires an Internet connection for playback and is not recommended for live use. To download songs to your device, find them in the Music app on your device and then tap on the cloud download icon.

Note: iTunes in the Cloud can only display music that was purchased through the iTunes Music Store. To access any music track on your computer in the same manner, you will need to use iTunes Music Match. This will allow any track in your iTunes library to be synchronized with all of your devices.

iTunes Music Match

If you need to access any track on your computer and do not want to manually synchronize with iTunes, you can opt to use iTunes Music Match.

iTunes Music Match is an optional service that costs $24.99 USD per year. When enabled in iTunes on your computer, all your audio tracks are uploaded to iCloud in a way that makes them available on any device you own. This allows you to access all tracks such as those:

  • Purchased on iTunes
  • Downloaded from other online services
  • Ripped from CD
  • Created by you

You can learn more about setting up and enabling this service on the iTunes Music Match web site.

To enable Music Match on your device, open the Settings app from your device's home screen. Select the iTunes & App Store section on the left. On the right side, turn on the Music switch under the Show All section as well as the iTunes Match switch. This will display all the songs on your computer in your device's Music library.

These songs are streamed from iCloud when they are played. This requires an Internet connection for playback and is not recommended for live use. To download songs to your device, find them in the Music app on your device and then tap on the cloud download icon.

Backup

One great advantage with OnSong is that your OnSong library is stored directly on your device. This means you never need to worry if you have an Internet connection to access your music. Whether you are playing in a pub on the outskirts of town, a busy concert hall with lots of wireless interference, or as a missionary in the jungles of the Philippines, OnSong will continue to work non-stop.

Why Backup?

While having everything stored on the device itself a great feature, it does have some downsides. We hear all too often of users who have had their iPads stolen or lost. Sometimes they just forgot their device on the roof of the tour van and picked up the pieces on the highway. Yet others find their app missing when deleted by children or when wiping their iPad for a new operating system. The crucial step you need to take is to make a backup!

How To Backup

Creating a backup in OnSong is really easy. First, we recommend backing up your library to Dropbox to make sure your content is stored safely off your device. In addition, if anything happens to your device, you can easily restore your library from your Dropbox with an Internet connection and your Dropbox credentials. Go to the Dropbox section to learn how to sign up for Dropbox and use it in OnSong.

Next, go into the Share Menu from the Menubar in OnSong. Tap on the Export option. In this screen, place a checkmark next to the OnSong Backup format. Tap on the folder icon in the lower right to open the Location Picker and choose Dropbox. From there you can select a location where the backup file should be stored. Once you choose a location, tap on the Export button at the top of the export screen to create the backup file and upload the file to your Dropbox location.

What's In a Backup?

The backup file that is created has a .backup file extension and the file name is the current date and time in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format. This allows no two backup files to have the same name.

The backup file is actual a ZIP archive that contains the entire contents of your OnSong library folder. In addition to containing the OnSong database called OnSong.sqlite3 and imported files, this also contains your imported media files (music and images), help files, and a special preferences file that contains all the settings you had made in the app.

How To Restore

So now that you have the file in a safe place, let's learn how we can restore the backup file. It's as easy as importing a file into OnSong.

Go into the Songs Menu and select the All Songs tab. Tap on the + button on the bottom right to view the Add Songs screen. Tap on the Dropbox option. From here you can browse for your backup file and import it.

When you select the backup file to restore, you will be prompted that importing it will completely overwrite any other songs or settings you have in the current library. If you agree, the file will be downloaded and restored, returning your OnSong library to it's original state.

Note: Backup files are the ZIP-compressed contents of the OnSong library directory. OnSong can create backup files of approximately 4 GB in size.

Capo

If you're a guitarist, you know the advantages to using a capo. You can increase the pitch of your guitar to provide dynamics between other instruments, or simply transpose out of difficult to play keys like D-flat. Whatever your reason, OnSong can adapt the chord chart to meet your needs. Let's take a look at how OnSong handles capo in regard to transposition.

Difficult Keys

OnSong is designed to maintain the designated key of a song at all costs. This is important to know because changing the capo of the song will not transpose the song. Instead, it combines the transposition with the capo itself. Let's take a song written in D-flat as an example.

  1. You have a song that is written in D-flat because your pianist is fancy like that.
  2. You want to be able to play the song, but sadly you don't have fingers like E.T.
  3. Figuring you can play the song with C chord forms instead, you apply a capo to your guitar on the first fret.
  4. In OnSong, you simply slide the capo slider in the Style Preferences Menu to the first fret so it knows where you put your capo.
  5. OnSong now maintains the key of D-flat, but displays chords in the key of C so you can play along with everyone else.

In this case, we didn't transpose the song at all, but just wanted to be able to play the song in the key that it is written. OnSong modulates the chords in the song down to maintain the key - essentially reversing the transposition that the capo applies.

Transposing With Capo

What if we want to use the capo slider to transpose the slider? What you'll need to do is adjust the key and the capo. Lets say that you have a song in the key of C and want to transpose to D. With a capo, you'd place the capo on the second fret. In OnSong, adjust the capo from zero to the 2 position and then drag the transpose slider to the D key.

This underscores that transposition in OnSong is one step, and then capo is applied on top of that transposition. The order of operations are:

  1. The song is written and declared in a specific key.
  2. If the song's key is not declared, the key is determined using another detection method
  3. Tranposition is then applied to the original key. If the original key was the key of A and we want to play the song in the key of D, OnSong would transpose up by five (5) half steps to bring the song to the key of D.
  4. Now when we want to play with a capo so we can play in the key of C. Set the capo to 2. OnSong then modulates the chords that are rendered down two (2) half steps to the key of C.

Toggling Capo

You can also toggle the capo on and off in the Style Preferences Menu using the power button. This is useful for playing with or without a capo as your needs arise.

Learning to Share

Since OnSong changes the chords that appear on the screen when capo is applied, sharing with others may be more difficult. What if you both need to use the same chord chart? In this case, you can display both chords.

To enable dual capo chord mode, go into Settings » Display Settings » Song Formatting » Capo » Display Dual Chords. This can be configured to display either the capoed or non-capoed chord first with the other chord being displayed in parenthesis.

Chords

Chords are the lifeblood of music. It's no wonder that most of OnSong revolves around what you can do with chords.

Writing Music

You can write and edit music right inside of OnSong. OnSong understands both the OnSong and ChordPro formats, and even works with most text files too. You can also use different ways to display chords and lyrics in your song.

Styling Chords

Once chords are detected in OnSong, you can use the style preferences menu found in the menubar to change how chords appear. Highlight, color, bold, and italicize them to make them pop from the page.

Instrument Diagrams

Tap on a chord in the song viewer to view different ways to play the chord on a variety of instruments. You can even make your own variations in the chord diagram library.

Playing Chords

Tap on the speaker icon in the upper left corner to toggle chord playback on and off. Playback does require a sound bank to be installed. You can purchase sound banks in the Add-Ons Screen. You can alter the way chords are played under the Utilities Menu » Settings » Live Settings » Chord Playback.

Color Picker

Color is used throughout OnSong to quickly communicate musical information. In each of these places, OnSong uses a color picker component that lets you pick from a palette of colors by tapping on a swatch. You can also create your own color swatches and arrange them in the palette.

Picking Colors

To pick a color you tap on it. OnSong surrounds the swatch with a border to indicate it has been selected. Since the size of the color picker may be limited, you can scroll to additional colors. Swipe to the left or right to access additional color swatches.

Adding Colors

At the end of the color picker palette is a button you can tap to add new colors. This will open the color builder screen that lets you choose the hue, brightness, saturation and opacity of the new color.

Editing Colors

You can also edit existing colors in your palette by double tapping on them. This will open the color builder screen which you can use to make adjustments to the color.

Arranging Colors

The color picker is designed to provide quick access to more commonly used colors. You will want to place these towards the left in your palette for faster access. To do this, tap and hold on a color swatch for about one second and then drag the color to a new location in the color picker.

Deleting Colors

To remove a color from the palette, tap and hold on the swatch as if you were going to place it elsewhere in the palette. Drag the color off of the palette to remove it.

Color Builder

The color builder is used for creating new colors as well as editing existing ones. In addition, smaller form factor devices like the iPhone or iPod touch may use the color builder directly to create or pick colors from the palette.

*When you're done picking or building a color, tap on the Done button in the upper right corner to save your changes.

The color builder is divided into these five functional areas.

Saturation/Brightness Picker

The main area of the color builder is comprised for the saturation/brightness picker. The values displayed in this two-dimensional space vary the saturation of the color horizontally and the brightness of the color vertically. Tap or drag your finger in this space to adjust these attributes based on the selected hue.

Hue Picker

The hue picker appears under the saturation/brightness picker and allows you to choose a hue. This appears as a one-dimensional slider that moves from 0-360º from red, through the rainbow and back to red.

Opacity Picker

The color picker can also specify opacity in a color. AN example of where this is used is for chord highlighting. In this case, all colors run about 50% opacity. Using the opacity picker, you can vary the transparency of the of the final color.

Tap or drag your finger up and down to move between 0-100% opacity. All of these changes effect the add swatch button in the lower right corner.

Add Swatch Button

As you make changes to the hue, saturation, brightness and opacity, the color changes appear within the builder. Most notably, it appears in an add color button in the lower right corner. You can tap this button to add the selected color to the palette.

Color Picker

The color picker for the edited palette appears below all other controls. This lets you quickly choose a preset color from the palette to edit, or you can add and arrange your palette from the builder.

Console

OnSong Console is a powerful in-app purchase that lets you edit your library on any computer using a standard, modern web browser. You get a real-time preview of your chord chart along with palettes that help you make your chord charts just right. When you're all done, one click saves the chord chart back to your library.

Most people agree that laptops or desktops are great at creating content. OnSong Console lets you use your computer to quickly make changes to your OnSong library. What's more, you can even make changes to an iPad while it's being used on the stage, or use it in the back-of-house to determine lyrics for a song.

FAQ

While OnSong Console is easy to use, you may have questions about connecting to it on your network or how it effects your OnSong library as well.

Requirements

Find out the components and services you need to make console work.

Setup

Learn how to get OnSong Console up and running so it's ready to be put to good use.

User Interface

Learn the user interface components of Console and how they can be combined to make music creation and management easy.

Requirements

One advantage to how Console works is that no connection to the public Internet is required. OnSong Console runs directly on your device and uses WiFi to wirelessly connect to your computer. Though this is a great advantage, there are times where you still may run into some issues. Here are some requirements for using OnSong Console.

Any iOS device running OnSong 1.989
OnSong Console was first added to OnSong in version 1.989. This means that you will need to be running the latest version of OnSong to have the ability to run Console. Because Console turns your device into a web site, you will need to have your device turned on and OnSong running in order to connect.
Desktop or laptop computer
The idea with OnSong Console is to allow you to connect to the library on your device from a full size computer such as a desktop-class workstation or laptop. While these machines don't need to be overly powerful, we do recommend a modern operating system capable of running the latest web browsers. Your computer can run Windows, Mac OS X or Linux as long as it's running a supported web browser.
Connection to a local area network
You typically connect your iPad or iPhone to a WiFi network to access the Internet, or to access other resources at your location such as network printers or Smart TVs. OnSong Console is no different. The connection between your device and your computer is created because both devices are attached to the same network. Your computer can be connected to this network with a wire, or wirelessly. The requirement is that they are on the network with the same name. Your iPad or iPhone connect to the network and are assigned a unique IP Address. Think of this as a phone number that other devices use to call your device.
Network use of custom ports
This one is a little more technical but pretty easy to explain. Each device on your network can be contacted through different ports. Ports are like extensions for a phone number. You may call the main business's phone number and then can choose who your want to speak with. OnSong uses ports 5076 and 5077 to communicate with your computer. If you have trouble connecting to Console, this requirement is the most likely cause. Some network security measures like firewalls and routers with policies may block these ports or make it difficult to get through. Kind of like a cranky receptionist meets Rambo. Please refer to the Troubleshooting Guide for help.
HTML5-compatible web browser
OnSong Connect should work with most web browsers that are in use today. Inevitably there are some who may have older versions of web browsers that do not support the web standard required to use OnSong Console. We recommend that you use a current version of one of these browsers, in order of best experience:
  • Apple Safari v7.x
  • Google Chrome v37.x
  • Mozilla Firefox v31.x
  • Internet Explorer v11.x
Javascript-enabled browsing
OnSong Console is an advanced web application that requires Javascript to operate. Make sure that you do not have Javascript disabled as that will cause Console to not start up.

Setup

OnSong Console is a web-based application that runs in a web browser. It is powered by OnSong running on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. This section will cover running Console and what you need to know to get up and running.

Preparing the Network

To get started, make sure both your iPad or iPhone are on the same network as your computer. This can be any name. OnSong does not set up it's own WiFi network like other devices. Instead, just make sure that you are connected to the same network as your desktop or laptop computer where you plan to use console.

Enabling Console

To enable console, open OnSong on your iPad or iPhone and choose the Utilities menu in the menubar. On and iPad, this is located by tapping on the gear icon in the upper-right corner. On an iPhone or iPod touch, this can be accessed when viewing a song. The gear icon will appear in the upper right corner of the screen.

Next, tap on the Console option in the menu. This will open the Console screen with text that explains what Console is, along with the video tutorial. You will notice an "Enable Console" button in the lower center of the screen as well as a potential price in the upper right corner. Tap on the "Enable Console" button or the price to purchase Console. Console is $9.99 USD. Once purchased, the console will be enabled. If you've already purchased Console previously, simply ensure that the console is enabled by tapping "Enable Console".

After a moment, a web address will appear under the enable/disable button. You will want to enter this web address into your web browser in order to load the Console web application. Remember to type in every part of this web address so your computer "calls" the right person... so to speak. If all is successful, you will get a splash screen containing an OnSong logo.

Granting Access

You don't want just anyone peering in on your music library. OnSong maintains a list of who may connect to your device. You'll notice a message below the logo in Console that says "allow access to this browser on the host device to connect". At the same time, you will notice an alert appear within OnSong on your device. Agree to this prompt within 30 seconds to add the device to the whitelist of allowed devices for use with OnSong Connect.

OnSong Console generates a random identifier to identify itself to OnSong. It then stores that identifier as a cookie in your web browser. That means as long as you don't use a different OnSong library, clear your cookies or use a different web browser or computer, you can continue to use that device indefinitely without needing to approve the connection each time.

If you choose to not accept the connection, OnSong will inform the web browser running Console so that it stops trying to connect. This will render OnSong incapable of accepting new connections for 5 seconds. After this time, OnSong will listen for new incoming requests to connect.

Troubleshooting

While connecting to Console should be easy, you may experience difficulty. This is because Console relies on your network setup and computer configuration, which may inadvertently be blocking access to the service running on the device. The following are things to check to resolve most of these issues:

Check your web address
Believe it or not, one of the most common issues is that the web address that was entered into the web browser is either not correct or incomplete. Be sure to type the full web address that appears in the Console screen in OnSong. The web address must start with "http://", contain four numbers separated by periods, and end with ":5076", which is the port.

If Console was working and you've connected to another network, such as traveling from work or church to your home, then you may need to check for an updated web address. This is because as your device connects to new networks, it is assigned a different IP address. OnSong 1.99 automatically switches the IP address as the networks change, but you will need to make sure you are using the most current web address as displayed in the console screen.

If you bookmark the web address, it is likely to not work in the future. This is because your network may assign a new IP address to your device in the future. Some networks will attempt to reuse the same IP address for the same device, but may need to assign a new one if there is a conflict.

Check your network
Make sure that both your computer and iOS device are connected to the same local area network. OnSong does requires a common WiFi connection to communicate between the devices.

More advanced network connections or public networks may have restrictions to prevent users from abusing the service or to maintain the user's privacy. If you are at a public location and having trouble using OnSong Connect, you may want to try a different network to see if the problem persists.

If you don't have a WiFi network available, you can also set up your iPad or iPhone to be a cellular hotspot if it has cellular capability. Remember that OnSong Console does not use the Internet, so you shouldn't receive any usage for enabling Console while connected to a cellular hotspot.

Check your firewall
One of the most common issues in connecting to Console is a computer firewall that denies access to resources in order to protect itself from possible security issues. If you are having trouble connecting to Console for the first time, go into your computer's firewall settings and temporarily disable the firewall. You can then determine if that is the issue. If this enables Console to work, be sure to grant ports 5076 and 5077 access.
Check your web browser
Console works on all modern web browsers that support the HTML5 standard and Canvas tag. You may have an older browser that won't work correctly with Console. If you are unsure, we recommend downloading and installing Google Chrome. This browser is updated often and supports all the standards required to run OnSong Console.

Disabling Console

While there's no pressing need to disable the Console, there are a few reason why you should. First, you probably don't want just anyone attempting to connect to your device. It would require them to be on the same local network as you and have the ability to guess or scan for your OnSong device, but it is possible. Turning the Console off will prevent them from connecting to you.

While very small, OnSong Console does use a few extra resources while running. On stage, a little extra battery life and performance can go a long way. That's just another reason to turn it off if you're not using it.

To disable Console, open the Console screen and tap on the button again to Disable Console. After a moment, the button will change back to Enable Console and the web address will be removed.

User Interface

Once you've loaded Console into a web browser, you're ready to get to work. Console let's you import or create songs as well as edit the songs you already have in your OnSong library on the device. This is accomplished by selecting a song, making changes in the editor, viewing in the real-time preview screen, and then saving. Let's take a look at the different areas of the Console's interface to help with each of these tasks.

Header

The top is the header which contains the OnSong logo. To the left of the logo is the name of the current song. If you have made changes to the save, a save button will appear to the right of the song title allowing you to save changes back to your OnSong library on the device. Finally, the help link is located on the far right and provides access to this web site.

Palettes

Palettes are floating windows that can be placed around the user interface. These palettes can be opened and closed using the menubar of the following panes.

Song List

The song list is displayed on the left and contains all the songs in your library. To view and edit a song, just select it from the list. This area also contains a search bar to search songs in your library as well as an add button to create new songs or import existing songs from your computer. Tapping on the + button displays the Add Songs Palette.

Song Editor

The song editor appears in the center of the screen and provides a text editor for making changes to your song. The toolbar items give you access to tools for managing your content such as the metadata, insert and text tools palettes, as well toolbars to convert text and delete the song.

Song Preview

The song preview pane displays the chord chart on the right side and is updated as it is updated in the song editor. The toolbar items allow you to turn certain features on and off such as Low Light mode, Pages mode, and follow mode. The toolbar also gives you access to additional palettes including style palette (to make changes to the look of the song) and chords palette (to transpose and capo). Lastly, you can toggle between the text and imported files with the view as menu, or export and print using the export menu and print button.

Palettes

Palettes provide the means to interact with songs and are similar to menus in the OnSong app for iOS. These palettes are opened by toggling buttons in the toolbars of the various panes in the application. Once opened, you can close and minimize the palette using the buttons in the upper-right corner of the palette titlebar.

Here is a list of all the palettes used in Console:

Add Songs Palette

The add songs palette is opened in the Song List pane and is used to create new songs or import files.

Metadata Palette

Provides fields that can be set to write the metadata of each song in the proper format. This is similar in function to the Metadata Editor found in the Song Editor.

Insert Palette

Provides buttons to insert chords and sections, as well as line formatting characters without needing to know the OnSong file format codes.

Text Tools Palette

Provides tools like search and replace, as well as the ability to toggle between chord formats similar to the Text Tools Menu in the Song Editor.

Style Palette

Enables you to customize the look of the song in a way similar to the Style Preferences Menu.

Chords Palette

Gives you options for transposing and capoing chords, as well as controlling how chords and diagrams appear on the screen. This is similar to the bottom of the Style Preferences Menu.

Add Songs Palette

The add songs palette is used to either create a new song completely within the Console, or to upload Supported Files to create songs.

Create New

This section of the palette allows you to type an optional song title and artist name. You can then click on one of the buttons to create the song and open it in the Song Editor.

Import Files

This area of the palette allows you to import one or more files at once into OnSong. Click on the Select files... button to open a file chooser window. Browse and select a file to import. Use the shift, command and control keys on your keyboard to select more than one file to import.

When you are all done, click on the Choose button in the window. Console will automatically upload and import those files into your library and show you the import status below the Select files... button. You can then close the palette to continue editing.

Insert Palette

The insert palette is used to insert chords, line formatting, and section labels into a song. Position the text cursor where you would like to insert chords or on the line where you'd like to apply line formatting.

Chords

As you write new chords in the text editor, they will appear here. Position the text cursor where you would like to insert the chord and then click on a button to insert the chord in that location. Position of the cursor differs for each chord format:

  • Bracketed Chords requires the cursor to be placed within lyrics where you would like the chord to be played.
  • Chords Over Lyrics requires the cursor to be placed above lyrics and positioned above lyrics using spaces.

Font Style

Click on a color to insert color codes at the front of the line. You can also toggle the bold and italic buttons to insert those line formatting codes as well.

Highlighting

Click on a color to add highlighting line formatting code to the front of the line. The white option will remove the code.

Labels

Common section labels appear in this section. Tap on one to name the current section.

Metadata Palette

The metadata palette automatically updates its fields as you select songs in the Song List. Change the contents of the fields to have OnSong update the metadata section of your song. This palette includes these fields:

Song Title

The title of the song.

Artist

The name of the artist or the byline to output under the song title.

Number

A number used to lookup the song in numbered music collections like hymnals.

Keywords

Keywords or topics to enter for the song. This is used in the By Topic tab in the Songs Menu.

Key

This sets the key of the song. If the key had been already set and there are chords in the song, this will also rewrite the chords of the song into that key.

You can also change the mode of the key to minor by clicking on the "m" button on the right side. The song contents are not rewriting when toggling between major and minor keys.

Capo

Sets the recommended capo level for the song.

Tempo

Set the tempo using this slider. Remember that you can click on the arrows to the left and right of the sliders to fine-tune adjust the values.

Time Signature

Click on a button that represents the time signature of the song to be written in the metadata section. If you do not want a time signature outputted, click on a selected time signature again to remove it. If the time signature you need is not in the list, congratulations on your rhythmic genius. Because of your skills, you'll just need to write the time signature yourself.

Duration

This is the time duration of the song. Set this to a default to enable autoscrolling with the approximate speed. This can be expressed as hh:mm:ss or numeric seconds.

Flow

This is the flow of the song used to arrange the parts of the song into a top-down fashion. Please see Flow for more details.

Copyright

This is the copyright line of the music. This will appear at the bottom of chord charts as well as in lyrics projection.

CCLI Song

This is the unique identifier for registering the song with CCLI SongSelect reporting. This will appear at the bottom of the chord chart on screen as well as at the bottom of lyrics projection.

Restrictions

These are a list of restrictions that are used to limit what recipients of the song can do with it. Please see Restrictions for a list of possible options.

Text Tools Palette

The text tools palette is used to perform operations on the text content of the song. This can help you change text quickly or switch and fix chord formatting.

Search and Replace

This section of the text tools palette is used to search and replace text in the Text Editor. This is useful for replacing words or chords when using bracketed chords. For instance, you can change all instances of [A4] to [Asus4].

To use, type the search value in the first field and the replace value in the second field. Then press the Perform Search/Replace button to perform the operation.

Chord Format

This section includes toggle buttons that allow you to switch between the two supported formats. If there are any square brackets located in the song content, the Bracketed Chords button is selected. Otherwise the Chords Over Lyrics button is selected. Press the opposite button to reformat the text content into the desired chord format.

It is useful to switch the bracketed chords when splitting or combining lines. This is because the chords will travel with the lyrics in this case. You can then switch to chords over lyrics if you would like to position chords in a more visual manner.

Fix Spaces

This section provides a single-use tool for correcting issues that may occur when converting text from a word processor. You may find that chords are pushed to the right and beyond the lyrics they used to reside over. This is due to variable-width fonts that require many more space characters to align chords above lyrics.

Press the Fix Alignment Spaces button to have chords detected and the space between the chords reduced by a specific amount. This usually will align the chords very close to their original positions when viewed in a word processor or printed. From there you can more easily adjust the chord positions.

Chords Palette

The chords palette provides tools for changing how chords appear in the chord chart. This affects both transposition, appearance, and chord diagrams.

Style

Typically chord charts use alphabetic characters to define chords. OnSong can convert alphabetic chords into numeric ones to better suit musicians that play using a number system. The selected style is highlighted. Choose from one of the following chord styles:

  • Alphabet uses letters A-G with sharps and flats to indicate precisely what chord should be played. If using different chord localizations, this may also include an H. Default.
  • Nashville uses a decimal numbering system which indicates the chord number based on the root chord of the key. In addition, this method uses symbols for different chord variations.
  • Roman uses upper and lowercase Roman numerals for chords. Major chords are represented in uppercase while minor chords are lowercase. Symbols are also used to indicate different modes such as a minus symbol for minor.
  • Italian uses do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do instead of numbers. Symbols are used to indicate different modes such as a minus for minor.

Transpose

Use this slider to transpose the song to any key. The key of C is placed on the far left and the key of Cb is on the far right. You can use the arrow keys to make fine-tune adjustments the key you would like to pick.

The power icon on the right turns transposition on and off. If turned off, and if no capo is applied, then no transposition is performed. This will display chords just as they appear in the Song Editor.

Capo

This slider allows you to apply a capo to the song. Slide from 0 to 11. This will modulate the chords of the song down to maintain the key of the song when a capo is applied. You can change the direction of this modulation in Settings » Display Settings » Song Formatting » Capo » Capo Modulates

You can turn the application of the capo on and off using the power icon on the right side. This allows you to maintain a capo and determine if you want to apply it or not depending on the instrument you are playing.

Diagrams

This section of the chords palette is used to toggle the chord diagram display on and off. Use the slider to adjust how many diagrams appear across the page. You can select a number between 4 and 10. Use the power icon on the right to toggle the visibility of chord diagrams on and off.

You can change how and where chord diagram appear in Settings » Display Settings » Song Formatting » Chord Diagrams.

Instrument

This section allows you to select the instrument to use when displaying chords. The selected instrument is highlighted. Choose a different instrument to have the chord diagrams change to the selected instrument.

Note: Making changes in this palette does not affect the song content but is applied in addition to the original song.

Style Palette

The style palette is used to change the way the chord chart looks in the Song Preview Pane. Use this to change the font, size, visibility, and color of different parts of the chord chart.

Font

This section contains toggle buttons that allow you to choose the typeface in which your chord chart should appear. Press the font button to make a change. The current font selection is highlighted.

Title

This slider allows you to the change the size and visibility of the title of the song. Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the font size. The point size of the font is displayed as you adjust this. You can also click on the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount. Tap on the power icon on the right to toggle visibility of the title on and off.

Metadata

This slider allows you to the change the size and visibility of metadata of the song. This includes the artist name, key, capo, tempo, and time signature.

Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the font size. The point size of the font is displayed as you adjust this. You can also click on the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount. Tap on the power icon on the right to toggle visibility of metadata on and off.

Lyrics

This slider allows you to the change the size and visibility lyrics in the song. Lyrics comprise all content in the song other than chords such as musical instruction, section labels, etc.

Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the font size. The point size of the font is displayed as you adjust this. You can also click on the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount. Tap on the power icon on the right to toggle visibility of lyrics on and off.

Chords

This slider allows you to the change the size and visibility of chords that appear above or within lyrics. Chords are detected in the song or have been surrounded with square brackets.

Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the font size. The point size of the font is displayed as you adjust this. You can also click on the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount. Tap on the power icon on the right to toggle visibility of chords on and off.

Line Spacing

This slider is used to adjust the spacing between text in the chord chart. Slide to the left or right to decrease or increase the line spacing. You can use the arrow buttons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the amount.

Chord Highlight

You can choose the highlight chords in your chord chart using this color picker. Click on the color of the highlight you desire. It will display under the chord in 50% opacity, just like a highlighter. Choosing the white color option removes the highlight.

Chord Color

This section allows you to change the color of the chords as well as their appearance. Click on a color in the color picker to change the color of the chord text. Choosing black uses the default text color which is black or white depending on the selected low light mode.

You can also toggle italic and bold appearance on and off for the chords as needed for extra visibility.

Song List

The song list appears in the left-most pane of the web app and is used for finding and selecting songs to view and edit. Use one of the following to add, import, or edit songs:

Add Button

The + button in the upper left corner of this pane opens the Add Songs Palette. From here you can create new songs or import songs that are stored on your computer.

Search Bar

The search bar gives you an area to type keywords. Press enter on your computer keyboard to filter the list by those keywords. You can then clear the search field to view all songs again.

Song List

The majority of this pane displays a table of songs. Three columns provide common information for browsing songs including:

  • Icon column displays an icon that was picked from the Organizer Menu. You can sort songs by this attribute by clicking the table header in the column.
  • Song Title displays the name of the song. You can sort the list by song title by clicking on the column header. The song list is sorted by the song title by default.
  • Key displays the key of the song if one is provided. Clicking on the table header above this column will sort the songs by key.

Click on a song to load it into Console. The song's contents will appear in the Song Editor and the song will be previewed in the Preview Pane.

Song Editor

The song editor contains tools and a large text area used to change the text-based content of the song.

The text editor component of this pane allows you to type content using the full-sized keyboard of your computer. As you type, the changes you make are reflected in the Preview Pane on the right. This gives you feedback on what the song will look like to avoid trial and error.

In addition to typing content in the text editor, you can also use palettes accessible from the toolbar to get the song looking just right. The toolbar buttons include:

Metadata

This toolbar button toggles the Metadata Palette on and off. Use this to set information about the song without knowing OnSong or ChordPro tags.

Insert

This toolbar button toggles the Insert Palette on and off. Use this palette to insert chords, section labels, and line formatting into the text editor.

Text Tools

This toolbar button toggles the Text Tools Palette on and off. Use this to change the formatting of the song or perform search and replace functions.

Delete

Click on this toolbar button to delete the song from your library. When you choose this option, you will be prompted prior to the song being deleted.

Convert

When you've imported a convertible file such as PDF or Microsoft Word, this option becomes enabled. Click on this to begin the conversion process on the host device. Once completed, the text editor is updated with the newly converted text.

Song Preview

The song preview pane displays how the song will look inside of OnSong. This uses the HTML 5 canvas tag to draw the song just the way OnSong does. You can scroll this pane to view the entire song. Use the toolbar to toggle features and palettes on and off.

Note: If you are viewing a file that is not text-based, it is up to the web browser if and how the file will be displayed. Most web browsers can view PDF files in a browser window, but other documents such as Microsoft Word will be downloaded to your computer for viewing in a separate application.

Low Light

Click on this button to toggle low light mode on and off. Not only does this show you how the chord chart will look in the preview, but when you save your changes the host device will also switch to low light mode too.

Pages

Click on this button to toggle viewing the chord chart on physical pages. This will divide your song based on the Page Layout options you've set in settings. This can give you an idea of how the chord chart will print.

Lead

When you turn on lead, action you make in Console like changing songs, scrolling and selecting sections also take place on the host device. This allows Console to remotely control another iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.

Follow

When you turn on follow, Console will load the currently viewed song on the host device. In addition, the screen will scroll along with any changes made on the host device. This is handy for knowing the song that is loaded on the device.

Style

This opens and closes the Style Palette, allowing you to style how the song should appear in the preview and on the device.

Chords

This opens and closes the Chords Palette so you can transpose, capo, and change the way chords and diagrams appear on the screen.

View As...

When viewing external files such as a PDF, this will display the PDF in the preview pane. You can switch between that and the text-based version of the song similar to the Use the imported file instead of OnSong switch in the Conversion Toolbar of the Song Editor.

Download

Click on the down arrow to choose a format to download the chord chart in. This will use the host device to create the file so be sure to save your changes first.

Print

Click on the print button to have the host device generate the print-ready PDF file and print it from your computer. This will prompt you to save your changes before printing.

Download Menu

When you click on the down arrow next to the download toolbar button, you can choose one of the following formats to download to your computer.

Note: This uses the host device to generate the content so you will be prompted to save any changes prior to the file being generated.

Header

The header portion of the console interface appears at the top of the browser window. This contains the following elements:

OnSong Logo

The OnSong logo appears on the left side of the header to visually reinforce the web app. In addition, this logo's glow will pulse subtly when network operations are occurring.

Song Title

The song title appears prominently and changes as you select a different song in the Song List.

Save Button

The save button will appear once you've made a change in the Song Editor or in one of the palettes.

Lyrics Projection Button

Tapping on the lyrics projection button will open a new window suitable for running lyrics projection from within a web browser on a remote machine.

Help Link

This will link to the Console help web page on the OnSong web site.

Lyrics Projection

Tapping on the lyrics projection button in the Console will open a new window that displays the configured background and lyrics. This allows you to display lyrics from a remote computer and operate it with OnSong running on an iOS device, or through the console if the leading is enabled.

Full Screen Mode

Drag the window to the external screen you'd like to target and click in the body of the window. This will cause the window to enter full screen mode. You can then press ESC on the keyboard to exit full screen mode. Keep in mind that full screen mode acts differently depending on your browser and platform.

Navigation

When the lyrics window is enabled, you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move between sections.

Background and Styles

Currently all changes to the look of the lyrics projection must be performed through the External Video Menu from inside the host device.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some questions that you may have before purchasing, or when using OnSong Console.

Does Console work on Windows or just Mac?
OnSong Console works on both Windows and Mac, and most likely Linux too. It just requires a modern web browser that supports the HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards.
Do I need to purchase Console for every device I own?
No. As long as you are using the same Apple ID to access the App Store, you only need to pay once. In addition OnSong Console is included in an OnSong Premium subscription. You may need to make sure you are signed in with your account or restore past purchases otherwise.
My computer is wired to my network, but my iPad is wireless. Will Console still work?
Yes. As long as both devices are on the same computer network, a wired connection or wireless shouldn't matter.
Both my devices are on the same network but I only get a blank screen in my web browser. Why?
OnSong Console works by turning your iPad or iPhone into a mini web server which may not be appreciated by some networks. Please try the following if you are having trouble connecting to Console:
  1. Ensure that your iPad or iPhone is on and OnSong is running. Console requires OnSong to be running in order to communicate.
  2. Disable and enable Console from the Console screen in the Utilities menu, or restart your iPad. In some cases, the web address that is shown may not be correct, especially when switching between networks.
  3. Make sure you are typing in the web address correctly. You must add the http:// before the four-part number called an IP address, and include the colon with the port number (5076).
  4. Some corporate networks do not permit other services to be running. Check with your IT staff to see if you are allowed to run console in that environment. OnSong Console operates on ports 5076 and 5077. Some networks may block traffic on these ports. Log into your router and be sure to allow these ports to be active on the network. Some corporate networks do not permit other services to be running. Check with your IT staff to see if you are allowed to run console in that environment.
  5. If you are running a firewall on the computer, temporarily disable it to make sure that it is not inhibiting traffic.
  6. Try a different network to see if that helps resolved the issue.
Can I use my iPhone or iPad hotspot connection instead of a WiFi access point to use Console?
Yes. Turn on the hotspot in your device's Settings screen and use the WiFi option. Bluetooth or USB will not work. Connect your computer to the hotspot network, and connect your device if it is not already the hotspot. Keep in mind that some carrier may charge you for hotspot connectivity.
My Console screen is telling me to type in 127.0.0.1:5076 and it doesn't work. Any ideas?
127.0.0.1 is essentially the iPad or iPhone referring to itself and is caused by the network IP address not being able to be resolved. Go into the Console screen and disable and enable the console again to see if that refreshes to a different web address. You can also go into the Share menu » Connect » Servers and use the IP address found under your device's name.
What web browsers does Console work with?
OnSong Console is an HTML 5, web-based application. This means that it works on modern web browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer. Different browsers have their quirks and we are continuing to refine around these. Older versions of Internet Explorer will definitely have some issues.
I'm getting just the opening screen with the OnSong logo and it gets stuck. Why?
OnSong Console requires Javascript to be enabled in order to communicate with your device. Make sure that Javascript is enabled in your web browser's preferences and that no additional security plugins are preventing Javascript from operating.

Drawing

Whether you are practicing or playing on stage, OnSong has many ways to make your music work for you. Sometimes you need to be able to sketch an idea or some instructions on your music. For that, you can use the Drawing Annotation. You get an intuitive drawing bar you can use to write and highlight. It also features a full undo/redo stack with layers.

To get started with drawing in OnSong, use the Drawing Annotation available in the Annotations Menu.

Files

The Files app in iOS 11 and higher gives you a centralized location to manage documents and data that you store in services like Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive. This was formally known as storage providers on older iOS versions. This system allows OnSong to import or export to your favorite cloud storage even if it's not available directly inside of OnSong.

Installing Apps

In order to import or export to these services, you need to install apps that support iOS storage providers so they appear in the Files app. There is no definitive list of apps that support this extension, but known apps include:

Importing

To import from another storage provider, go into the Songs Menu » All Songs and then tap on the + button to Add Songs. Tap on Files to open a window that displays that loads the storage provider interface. By default, iCloud Drive is opened. To choose a different storage provider, tap on the icon in the upper left corner. Tap on More to enable the apps that you've installed that are supported.

Exporting

To export, tap on the Share Menu from the menubar and then choose Export. Tap on the folder icon in the lower right corner and choose Files. Choose the file formats you would like to export and then tap on the Export button in the upper right corner. OnSong will again open the storage providers window. Choose a folder to export the files to.

Limitations

There are some limitations to using storage providers.

  1. Keep in mind that once the Files window opens that each interface is controlled by the app you choose. That is why each process of importing and exporting files is a little bit different.
  2. The Files interface may not support importing or exporting multiple files depending on the version of iOS you are using. This is why you can only choose one file to import, and multiple files are exported as a ZIP file. This may be supported by these apps in the future.
  3. You are limited to apps that support the new storage provider extension and apps that you have installed on your device.

Foot Pedals

OnSong works great with popular foot pedals to control OnSong without the use of your hands. These solutions can work great for vocalists, drummers, and other instrumentalists that need a creative way operate OnSong without taking away from why they are on stage in the first place.

Bluetooth

The most popular form of foot pedal connects via Bluetooth and is similar to a computer keyboard but for your feet. Companies like AirTurn have created stage-proven devices like the BT-105 Duo, the BT-105 Quad and the new PED that are highly reliable and flexible.

Foot pedals are set up to scroll your song and navigate your sets with a press of your foot. You can also customize the actions for each foot pedal in the Foot Pedal Setup screen. With four-pedal options you can also configure Gears to extend your foot pedals to perform even more actions!

MIDI

OnSong can be configured to work with various MIDI devices like the iRig Blueboard. The setup for MIDI devices is a bit different and does require the purchase of the MIDI Integration in-app purchase. Each pedal would need to be configured separately and does not function out of the box.

Wired

OnSong also works with wired foot pedals like the Griffin Stompbox or BiLiPro Page Turn.

Note: Keep in mind that USB foot pedals need to be able to be powered by the iOS device and require the use of a Camera Connection Kit to be connected to the device. Check with the manufacturer to make sure that the foot pedal works with iOS devices before ordering.

Supported Foot Pedals

The following is a list of foot pedals supported by OnSong.

AirTurn

AirTurn makes some of the premier foot pedals for musical applications. Musicians trust these foot pedals for their ease of use and reliability.

  • PED is the latest member of the AirTurn family and is a cost-effective, all-in-one device that covers most needs.
  • BT-105 Duo is the original design that covers most needs and is flexible for future expansion.
  • BT-105 Quad is just what you need if you need a lot of foot pedals in a convenient package.

BiliPro

BiLiPro develops innovative peripherals for controlling your computer with your feet.

  • Page Turn was originally designed for use persons with physical disabilities, but is useful for wired hands-free scenarios.

IK Multimedia

IK Multimedia is an industry leader in products for making music on mobile platforms.

  • iRig Blueboard is a wireless MIDI foot switch that is useful for a number of operations.

Griffin

Griffin makes great products for your mobile lifestyle.

  • Stompbox gives you real guitar stomp box feel in a single, wired package at an incredibly affordable price.

PageFlip

PageFlip makes two foot pedals to meet the needs to musicians.

  • Cicada is the basic, two-pedal page turner.
  • Firefly provides LED lights to light the way.

Griffin Stompbox

The Griffin Stompbox is a solid, wired foot pedal with a real stomp box pedal feel. In addition to four stomp buttons, it includes a 1/4" input jack for an optional expression pedal.

The Stompbox connects to your iPad or iPhone with a 30-pin dock connector. For newer Lightning port devices, you will need to use a Lightning to 30-pin Adapter.

OnSong lets you choose different actions for each foot pedal using the Foot Pedal Setup Screen. Just be sure to swipe to the Griffin Stompbox screen to enable the Stompbox and configure the buttons and expression pedal.

Hands-Free

When you're on stage, you already have plenty of strings, buttons, keys, and pedals to be concerned with. Thankfully, you can use OnSong completely hands-free, allowing you to focus on the music.

Sets

To get started, you need to first create a set and place your songs in the order you will perform them. This will allow you to switch between songs without opening the songs menu or touching the screen.

Foot Pedals

Once you have a set, you can tap on the edges of the screen to quickly navigate your song and set. But wouldn't it be nice if you could use your feet instead?

OnSong works with popular foot pedals to create the ideal stage solution. Foot pedals are designed to scroll and move through songs in your set list out of the box. You can configure them further in the Foot Pedal Setup screen.

Autoscroll

Another option is to use autoscroll, which allows you to slowly scroll from the top to the bottom of each chord chart over a specified amount of time. You can also turn on [Settings] » Live Settings » Live Bar » Autoscroll » Autoscroll Continually to have OnSong automatically switch to the next songs in the set when autoscroll reaches the bottom.

MIDI Integration

With MIDI integration, you can trigger songs to appear on your device when configured MIDI commands are triggered from MIDI-compatible software. (such as Ableton Live) Likewise, you can also scroll and navigate your sets using MIDI commands. Start your sequence and program OnSong to follow along.

Connected Devices

If you are using multiple devices controlled by one host, or if you are sharing your screen with the stage monitor mode, you can make sure that the rest of your band doesn't have to use their hands either. Here are a few ways you can connect devices:

  • Connect uses WiFi to share your library with others and stream chord charts during a performance.
  • OnCue is similar to OnSong Connect, but has the option of Bluetooth for streaming without a wireless access point.
  • Stage Monitors allows you to turn HDTVs into virtual music stands.

Low Light Mode

One of the advantages to using an iPad on stage is that it is automatically backlit. This means that you don't need to supply additional lighting for paper charts. Because it's backlit, it's also easier to read even though the screen is smaller. You get higher contrast and sharper text.

When To Use

If you play on a dimly lit stage or outdoors, you may quickly come to appreciate this advantage. But using white paper and black text is not ideal for these environments. The bright light can be hard on your eyes. In addition, the ambient light from screens can cause your face to glow white on stage. To make things easier on your eyes and less distracting for your audience, use low light mode.

Limitations

Low light mode will only work for text-based chord charts. Songs that are displayed as PDF, Microsoft Word or other file formats are displayed "as-is". In these cases, low light mode cannot be applied.

Enabling Low Light Mode

Low light mode is enabled either from a foot pedal, a hot corner, or from the settings screen. To enable, go into Settings » Display Settings » Enable Low Light Mode and switch that on. When you tap Done, your screen will redraw with low light mode enabled.

Now your chord chart and menus will appear with a black background and white text. If you want your menus to retain their white background and black text, you can change this settings in Settings » Menu Settings » Use Dark Menus in Low Light Mode.

Setting an Action

You can also toggle low light mode on and off using either a foot pedal, hot corner, or MIDI trigger.

Messages

What are Messages?

Communication with your band when playing live can be challenging. Hand signals and vocal cues can be used, but what if you could use colors and text to inform your band where the music is headed next?

Setup

You can create and manage personalized messages using the Messages Menu. You can also trigger messages from this menu, although when playing live, it's more useful to trigger these from a Hot Corner or from Foot Pedals.

Viewing Messages

Messages can be viewed on your device's screen, devices connected with OnSong Connect, or with any external video screens running as Stage Monitors. Messages will appear for about one-third of a second per word. This ensures that the reader has enough time to read longer messages. You can configure messages to appear longer in Settings » Display Settings » Song Viewer » Flash Message.

Sending Messages

You can send messages by triggering a Send Message action in the Action Menu inside of OnSong. You can set actions for Hot Corners or Navigation Zones in Editors » Navigation » Screen Tab.

You can also set actions for foot pedals in the Foot Pedals Setup screen. From here, you can setup your pedal to trigger the Send Message action in the Action Menu.

Metronome

Playing to a click track is a great way to work on your tempo personally and as a band. OnSong has a built-in metronome that plays to the tempo you set for every song in your library. OnSong has both an audio and visual metronome to work in any scenario.

You can set the tempo and time signature of the metronome for each song in the Playback Menu or by setting Metadata in the Song Editor or with the Metadata Editor.

You can toggle and set the metronome from the Metronome Live Bar Button found in the Live Bar at the lower right corner of the OnSong user interface. You can also toggle the metronome using Foot Pedals.

The metronome has many different configuration options that can be accessed in Settings » Live Settings » Metronome. Here are some things you can do with the metronome:

Get Musical

Use different metronome sounds like a snare and bass drum to make the metronome sound more like music. Do this in Settings » Live Settings » Metronome » Audio Settings » Sound.

Get the Song Started

Forgetting the tempo of a song can be catastrophic to the rest of the song. Play the metronome for a few measures and have it turn off automatically. You can do this with the Stop Metronome option in Settings » Live Settings » Metronome » Audio Settings » Behavior.

Click Track with In-Ear Monitors

Whatever you do, don't play your metronome on stage for everyone to hear! However, you could send the audio metronome from OnSong into your sound board or use a mix-in channel on your in-ear monitoring system. With this configuration, you will hear the click and your audience won't.

Visualize the Beat

If you are using Stage Monitors, OnCue, or OnSong Connect you can configure OnSong to flash external displays in time with yours. Configure visual metronome settings in Settings » Live Settings » Metronome » Visual Settings.

MIDI Integration

MIDI or "Musical Instrument Digital Interface" is a powerful digital communications protocol that ushered in the age of electronic music. Even though it was first released in 1984, it's use is still prevalent in modern computing. Apple has built CoreMIDI into iOS, making the iPad and iPhone great tools for musicians on-stage. In addition, MIDI is now being used to communicate between music apps on the device, as well as external devices.

Setting Up MIDI

The first step in using MIDI on an iOS device is connecting the standard MIDI or USB cable to the device. This can be accomplished with:

  • MIDI Adapters are devices that connect to your 30-pin or Lightning port and provide traditional MIDI "DIN-5" connections.
  • USB with Camera Connection Kit allows MIDI devices with a USB port to be connected directly to the iOS device.
  • MIDI over WiFi can also be used as long as you have a computer or host device to create the MIDI network session.

Triggering Actions from MIDI

Once you have a MIDI device connected, you can map MIDI signals to OnSong actions. This can be used to scroll the chord chart, navigate your set, or trigger backing tracks. Any action that can be performed in OnSong can be mapped to MIDI in the MIDI Triggers screen.

*Note: MIDI devices may send signals differently depending on their intended use. For instance, the iRig Blueboard device becomes a latching pedal with control changes. OnSong has advanced MIDI Settings to handle some of these differences.

Sending and Receiving MIDI

OnSong can also be used to send MIDI commands to other MIDI devices when songs are viewed or when sections are selected. In addition, you can have OnSong switch to a song by listening for specific MIDI commands. These are typically set up using Metadata with the Metadata Editor in the Song Editor.

OnSong Connect

OnSong Connect is a communications layer in OnSong that allows your device to control or to be controlled by other compatible apps on your local network using WiFi. OnSong uses this communications layer to "connect" devices together with a robust network. Within the app, this allows you to share your music by either beaming songs and sets, or by sharing the music on a leader's device with other members of the team.

Beaming

You may want to share your set with your band after practice so they can review the songs before performing them. To do this with OnSong Connect, go into the Share Menu » Connect screen.

Scenes

Music is so much more than sound alone. It's the entire experience that you bring between you and your audience. But bigger experiences can be cost prohibitive and require trained and specialized people to run light shows or graphics. But what if the simple act of swiping to the next song or pressing a foot pedal could shift the visual and emotional impact of your music in a moment? That's scenes.

Scenes integrates smart bulbs from companies like Philips and LIFX to create colorful lighting for your stage. Compared to professional lighting equipment, these bulbs are very affordable, easy to install and portable.

Scenes also can integrate with DMX stage lighting fixtures using the ArtNet protocol with a compatible interface from companies like DMXKing.com.

To enable the in-app purchase and start making a scenes, open the Utilities Menu » Editors » Scenes.

Spotify

Spotify lets you play millions of songs through streaming technology. Now you can link Spotify tracks to your OnSong chord charts.

Stage Monitor

Get rid of paper and make sure everyone is on the same page by using stage monitor mode. Stage monitors use standard HDTV on stands or wedges, turning them into virtual music stands. With one iPad or iPhone, you can control an entire band.

Connecting

You can use either a wired adapter to connect to your screens or use an AppleTV to send video wirelessly using AirPlay. From there, you can use standard video splitters to have more than one screen if necessary.

Note: OnSong recommends using wired adapters to avoid issues with wireless radio interference in production environments. If you are planning to use multiple video screens, be sure to invest in quality HDMI components and powered splitters.

Equipment

Here is a list of supplies that we used in the making of the tutorial video. The cost per station is about $250-$300 depending on screen size and cabling. In addition, each monitor can be used by more than one musician.

Confidence Projector

If your facility has a back-of-house projector, you can also project chord charts in a way that makes them easy to see from the stage. Since most projectors are locked in the landscape orientation and further away, you may want to show one song at a time to make the size larger. You can do this in Settings » Live Settings » External Video » Stage Monitor.

Sticky Notes

OnSong is designed to replace paper, so it's only natural to use metaphors and tools that we've come to rely on with paper charts. Sticky notes allow you to apply notes to a song to remind you of who's starting the song or other hints that help you play.

You can choose a variety of colors for your sticky notes, too. Change the opacity of them to allow your music to show through. You can even position, rotate, and scale them to make them more visible.

Create sticky notes by selecting the Sticky Note option in the Annotations Menu found in the Menubar. This will add a sticky note to your chord chart and will open the Note Editor so you can begin typing.

Tap and drag a sticky note around the page to place it where it belongs. Double-tap to open the Note Editor.

Supported File Formats

OnSong supports a number of file formats making it a great app for any type of music content. Click on a file format to learn more about it and how OnSong displays its contents.

Chord Charts

OnSong works best with text-based chord charts and natively understands these formats.

Converted

These file formats are text-based in nature but not natively understood or edited by OnSong. They are converted when imported into supportable formats.

External Files

All other supported file types can be imported and viewed "as-is" from within OnSong. The song editor also supports conversion of many of these file types to text.

Media Files

OnSong features a media library that can be used for associating graphical assets like images and videos to lyrics projection, or to assign backing tracks to songs. You can import the following file types into your media library.

ZIP Files

OnSong can also import ZIP files that contain one or more supported file formats. This is useful for import more than one file at a time from an external resource or app.

Advanced Audio Coding

Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates. This is the native audio format for iOS devices.

When you import audio files directly into OnSong, they are added to your OnSong audio media library where you can link them to chord charts as backing tracks.

Audio Interchange File Format

Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data. AIFF files are typically uncompressed resulting in large file sizes but without lossy compression for higher quality sound output.

When you import audio files directly into OnSong, they are added to your OnSong audio media library where you can link them to chord charts as backing tracks.

FLAC

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec which is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software package that includes a codec implementation. Digital audio compressed by FLAC's algorithm can typically be reduced to between 50 and 70 percent of its original size and decompress to an identical copy of the original audio data.

FLAC is supported in OnSong on iOS versions that support the codec which appear to be iOS 11 and higher only.

HTML

The Hypertext Markup Language or HTML is what is used to create web pages that you browse on the Internet. In some cases you may save chord charts as HTML files that can then be imported into OnSong. OnSong can view these files using the built-in viewer and can also convert these files into text. The quality of the conversion depends on how the HTML file was authored. For instance, you may receive navigation or hidden text from the conversion.

JPEG

If you have lots of paper chord charts, you may opt to scan those documents into a digital form. One method you could save files is as a JPEG image. You could also use JPEG images for lyrics projection backgrounds. OnSong can import both file types and determines their use automatically.

About

JPEG images are typically used for photography since the compression algorithm can be used without noticeable loss of quality. However, as the compression is increased, the artifacts may become apparent and the image may blur and lose quality as a result. OnSong can read JPEG files, but it may not display properly depending on size and complexity of the image. OnSong recommends a scan setting of 100 DPI greyscale if you intend to use scanned paper documents in OnSong. Since a chord chart may span more than one page, you may choose to scan as a PDF document.

Scanned Chord Charts

If the image is in a portrait orientation, or if the scan is landscape and the average color of all four corners has an average brightness greater than 93%, then the image is considered a chord chart.

Lyrics Projection Backgrounds

If the image is in the landscape orientation and not consider to be a paper scan, then the image is imported into your image media library. You can then use that background in the External Video Menu using the Background Image Picker toggle button.

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is one of the most popular word processing applications available. You may have many chord charts available in that format. OnSong can read, view, and convert both the older DOC file format as well as the newer DOCX format.

To learn more about Microsoft Word, please visit http://office.microsoft.com/word.

Converting

Word processing files can be challenging to convert into text-based chord charts. This is because files are often written in variable-width fonts that make a space character much narrower than other characters. While this is easier on the eye while reading, it can cause the author of the chord chart to use many more spaces to align chords on lines above lyrics. Other word processor specific features (like tabs or text boxes) may also have been used making the alignment of chords difficult because both of these layout tools are not used in text-based file formats.

You will usually need to adjust chords after converting them to text. OnSong provides various tools to assist with this process. Please see the Text Tools Menu for details.

Viewing

Word files are viewed "as-is" using the built-in web viewer of iOS. This means that any issues regarding the viewing of these files is related to how iOS interprets them. For instance, some users have reported formatting or font changes when viewed on an iPad versus Microsoft Word. OnSong has no way to correct these rendering issues as the file format is relatively closed and display of the file is handled by iOS.

Another common issue is found when viewing DOCX files in Word. There appears to be a bug in iOS 7 and higher that may cause a crash when more than one DOCX file is loaded concurrently. OnSong takes steps to limit this behavior and avoid the crash condition.

MIDI Files

MIDI files contain up to 16 channels of MIDI commands and are written in such a way to support playback of those songs on a MIDI-compatible instrument. OnSong supports MIDI files as backing tracks in OnSong which can be linked to chord charts and played. This allows synthesizer apps as well as virtual and MIDI-enabled instruments to playback the MIDI stream. You can also use this to configure more advanced MIDI commands to be sent for configuration when a song loads or when you trigger playback.

When you import audio files directly into OnSong, they are added to your OnSong audio media library where you can link them to chord charts as backing tracks.

MP3

When OnSong imports MP3 files, it actually does a few things. If the MP3 file contains lyrics, it creates a chord chart based on the attributes of the song and its lyrics.

The MP3 file is then importing into the OnSong audio media library and optionally associated with the created chord chart. This allows you to bypass using iTunes to synchronize audio tracks for linking chord charts to backing tracks.

MPEG-4 Audio

The M4A file type is primarily associated with 'MPEG-4 Audio Layer'. Files in .M4A format are actually the audio layer of (non-video) MPEG 4 movies. M4A is slated to become the new standard for audio file compression. This format is also known as Apple Lossless, Apple Lossless Encoder, or ALE. It is a new codec designed to provide lossless encoding in less storage space.

When you import audio files directly into OnSong, they are added to your OnSong audio media library where you can link them to chord charts as backing tracks.

MPEG-4 Video

M4V and MP4 files contain MPEG-4 video streams. OnSong imports video files directly in your OnSong image media library allowing your to set the background image or motion graphics in Lyrics Projection.

Video files should be 720p or 1080p for best quality and support looping for seamless motion backgrounds.

OnSong Archive

The OnSong Archive file format is used internally by OnSong to transfer a song, collections of songs, or an entire set. It includes all the information required to restore this information in another OnSong library including the song content, attachments, styles, settings, transposition, and annotations. This file is intended to be imported and exported from OnSong and cannot be easily read with other software.

The OnSong Archive file format has a file extension of either .archive or .onsongarchive.

OnSong File Format

The OnSong file format is a text file that is written in a way to give a song musical meaning. It typically has a .onsong file extension, although OnSong understands any type of plain text file and can render it as an OnSong-formatted file. This format uses special characters to attribute meaning to different parts of a song.

Apps for Editing Plain Text

The first thing to know is that an OnSong file is a plain text document. This makes it very easy to edit on any platform with included software.

  • On OS X open TextEdit from your Applications folder. TextEdit is a general purpose word processing program that can also edit plain text files. Be sure to switch to plain text by choose Make Plain Text from the Format menu.
  • On Windows open the Notepad application from the Start menu.

To follow along with the rest of this tutorial, download this Example OnSong File and open it in your application of choice.

Sections

The first thing to know about the OnSong file format is that it can be divided into sections. Sections are typically used to divide verses from the chorus or bridge. They can also be used to divide a verse into two separate stanzas for lyrics projection, or to make things easier to read. You can even label sections if desired.

Metadata

Metadata is information about the song which is always contained in the first section. Typically these are provided in name/value pairs separated by a colon, each being placed on its own line. You can also set the title and artist of the song as the first and second lines in the file.

Chords and Lyrics

Chords are placed to align with certain words or phrases. OnSong supports two kinds of chord formatting: Bracketed Chords and Chords Over Lyrics.

ChordPro

While the OnSong format does much of what you need in a chord chart, the ChordPro format has a few other tricks up its sleeve. You can use ChordPro syntax interchangeably for advanced options.

Line Formatting

Want to bold or highlight a line of lyrics? OnSong uses special characters to format your chord chart for harmony parts, or to make things stand out.

Pages

You can now define separate pages in your chord chart which can be used to force page breaks for printing.

Pages

Chord charts in OnSong are outputted in a single page and scrolled from the top to the bottom in a continuous view. When printing the chord chart, it is automatically divided. You can force page breaks for printing, or for scrolling by pages as another method to set scroll markers.

To add a page break, type four hyphens in a row on a single line. For instance:

Verse 1:
This is the end of the first verse.
Just before we start the second one.

----

Verse 2:
This is the second verse now,
And then we are done.

Chords and Lyrics

Chords and lyrics represent the content of your song and can be expressed either as bracketed chords or as chords over lyrics. Place this content in sections to divide your song into its logical parts.

Bracketed Chords

With bracketed chords, you place the chords on the same line as the lyrics, but surround the chord with square brackets. Here is an example of this format:

Verse 1:
Amazing [D]Grace, how [G]sweet the [D]sound,
That saved a wretch like [A7]me.
I on[D]ce was lost, but [G]now am [D]found,
Was blind, but [A7]now I [D]see.

Bracketed chords are the preferred method of expressing chords in the OnSong File Format and in the ChordPro File Format.

Chords Over Lyrics

The other way to express chords in lyrics is to place the chords on a line above the lyrics and use space characters to align the chords with lyrics. This is supported since most music found in other formats use this technique. Here is an example of chords over lyrics:

Verse 1:
        D           G        D
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
                         A7
That saved a wretch like me.
  D                  G      D
I once was lost, but now am found,
               A7    D
Was blind, but now I see.

It's important to note that if non-chord words are found on a line of chords, that OnSong will reject that line and not detect the chords. Please move any musical instructions or notes to the following line to avoid this. One exception to this rule is if you surround instructions in parenthesis. This will allow the chord line to be detected. You can also start the line with a period or a back tick character to force the line to be detected as chords like this:

.I Am Chords
`I Am Also

Comments

If you want to create comments in your song that will not appear on the screen, prefix the line with a "#" symbol.

# This line will not appear in the song viewer, only in the song editor.

Line Formatting

Line formatting in OnSong lets you add characters to your lines in the song editor to apply basic formatting in your song viewer.

To do this, choose a song and open the song editor by tapping the pen icon in the menubar. You can then place special characters in front of lines to add formatting like this:

*This line will be bold
/This line will be italicized
!This line will be bold and italicized
&red:This text will be red
𞉀:This text will be a custom color using HTML color codes
>yellow:This line will be highlighted in yellow

If you want to use a custom color code, note that it starts an a # symbol. This is a hexadecimal representation of color used on web pages. Use a color picker website to compose colors and then type the 6 characters into this area in your OnSong document.

You can even also combine these line formatting commands for more complex scenarios.

Color Names

Line formatting can change the text color or the highlight color. You can use named colors to achieve this. Here is a line of named colors you can use:

Standard Colors

The standard named color can be used.

  • black
  • blue
  • brown
  • clear
  • cyan
  • darkGray
  • gray
  • green
  • lightGray
  • magenta
  • orange
  • pink
  • purple
  • red
  • white
  • yellow

Special Colors

The following are special colors that can be used:

  • onsong is a bright teal color that matches the OnSong brand.
  • paper is the color of the current paper background color.

Color Code

You can use custom colors in line formatting using the HTML color code syntax. This requires a hexadecimal value preceded by a pound sign. This is an example of using a custom color:

>#00C6B3:This line will be highlighted in teal

HTML color codes divide a color into three parts: red, green and blue. Every two characters of the color code represents the amount of color to be applied. Colors are 24 bit which results in more than 16.7 million color combinations which far exceeds the eye's ability to perceive a difference in those colors. Each component is 8 bits which results in a value from 0 through 255.

Hexadecimal encoding uses numbers and the alphabetic letters A through F to represent numbers. A through F represent decimal values 10 through 15. Using this method, 0-255 can be represented in two characters. The first character in the two-character sequence represent 0-15 multiplied by 16. The second character is added to that in the range of 0-15.

In the example above, 00 is simply a red value of 0. That was easy, right? The value C6 is C or the decimal value 12 multiplied by 16 which results in 192 and then 6 is added to that for a final value of 198. Likewise, B3 is the value of B or 11 multiplied by 16 which results in 176 and then the 3 is added to that for 179. Thus, the RGB (red, green, blue) values are 0, 198 and 179.

Now that you know how to do this, you may be happy to know that there are utilities available to help you pick colors and give you that HTML color code without all the mental gymnastics. We recommend colorpicker.com to help you blend colors and use the resulting HTML color code.

Metadata

Metatags are a way to provide information about a song and is expressed in a metadata section. Metadata is expressed in the first section of the song before the first blank line or until no more metatags are encountered. Metatags are name/value pairs where the name is on the left and value on the right separated by a colon. Only one metatag can appear per line. Please reference the ChordPro File Format for details on how to express metadata in the ChordPro format.

OnSong automatically assigns the first line of a text file as the title of the song if it is not in the metatag format. In addition, the second line is considered the artist/byline of the song unless a metatag is defined. The following is an example of a typical song metadata section that sets the title and artist as the first and second lines as well as the key and tempo.

Amazing Grace
Daniel Thomas
Key: D
Tempo: 76

Lyrics and chords start here...

Supported Tags

The following tags are supported by OnSong:

  • Title: The title of the song. This can also be expressed on the first line of the song content.
  • Artist: The artist name or any other byline information. This can also be expressed on the second line of the song content. You can specify multiple artists by separating names with a semi-colon. - Kim Walker-Smith; Chris Quilala
  • Author: The name of the person who created the chord chart. This is displayed at the bottom of the chord chart and in lyrics projection.
  • Key: The key of the song written as a key with enharmonic preference and an optional "m" to indicate minor. - alphabetic, e.g. Bb or Em
  • Capo: The capo to set as number of frets. - numeric
  • Tempo: The beats per minute (BPM). - numeric
  • Time: The time signature. - numeric beat over bar e.g. 3/4
  • Duration: The song length for autoscroll. - seconds or mm:ss
  • Book: The name of the book or books to place the song into. This is a comma-delimited list of book names into which the song will be placed. If the book does not exist, it will be automatically created as well.
  • Number: The number of the song - numeric. Use for hymns, years, etc. You can sort songs by the number for reference.
  • Flow: The arrangement of sections. - list of section labels. See Flow for details on arranging the flow of a song.
  • MIDI: The MIDI commands to send when the song is viewed. See MIDI Syntax for how to express MIDI commands as text in OnSong.
  • MIDI-Index: The MIDI commands that will trigger this song to be opened in the Song Viewer. See MIDI Syntax for how to express MIDI commands as text in OnSong.
  • Keywords: or Topic: The list of tags to use with topic search. See Topics for more information on browsing by topic.
  • Copyright: or Footer: The copyright information of the song. This will appear at the bottom of the chord chart and lyrics projection.
  • CCLI: The CCLI number of the song. This will appear at the bottom of the chord chart and lyrics projection.
  • Restrictions: These are restrictions that prevent certain actions from taking place within a song. See Restrictions for details on setting restrictions for your song.
  • Pitch: The note or notes to play when using the Pitch Pipe feature. This is defined as a space-separated list of notes with optional octaves. - e.g. A3 C#4 E5

Note: Metatags are not case sensitive

Flow

Flow is a way to write the sections of a song once and then arrange the song in a top-down format. For instance, you may want the song to play the first verse, chorus, second verse and then repeat the chorus twice. Instead of rewriting the chorus multiple times, you can express this in a flow metatag or temporarily using the Flow field in the Playback Menu.

Expressing Flow

The first step to using flow is to create Sections and label them. You can specify a flow using a metatag in shorthand like this:

Flow: V1 C V2 C C B C C

You can also write them in a longhand form by writing out the full name of the sections in a comma-delimited list like this:

Flow: Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus

OnSong creates the shorthand version by using the first character of each word in the section name. This means you do not have to use special names for this to work. In the case of a conflict, OnSong will use the first section matching the abbreviation.

Pages and Instructions

You can also use flow to add musical instruction and page breaks in the flow definition instead of in the song content. You can do this by entering flow information that does not match a section label. Because the values you may want to output may contain spaces, you will want to use the comma-delimited method. Here's an example of adding musical instruction and page breaks.

Flow: Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, (Repeat 2x), ----, Bridge, Chorus, (Repeat 2x)

This will output the musical instructions (Repeat 2x) under each chorus. The four hyphens will force a page break between the first set of choruses and the bridge.

MIDI Syntax

OnSong uses a text-based syntax for expressing MIDI commands. While you can use the MIDI Events in the Metadata Editor, you can also express MIDI commands in text.

Delimited Values

First and foremost, multiple MIDI commands can be separated by various characters including: a tab character, comma, semi-colon, vertical pipe, or new line. The comma is the most common delimiter. For example:

1.2:0@0, PC1.2:3@0, N67@1, START, SS8

Channel

Each entry may contain an @ symbol. The numeric value after the symbol is the channel on which the command is to be sent. Since channels in MIDI start on zero, channel one would be a zero (0), channel two a one (1), etc.

If no @ symbol is used, the command is sent or received on all channels.

Prefixes

Each entry in the list contains a prefix. This prefix determines what type of MIDI command to send. These include:

  • PC or No Prefix is a program change event.
  • N is a note event
  • CC is a control change event.
  • SS is a song select event.
  • START is a start command.
  • STOP is a stop command.
  • CONTINUE is a continue command.
  • F0 prefixes a SysEx message.

Values

The value of the command appears just before the @ symbol or at the end of the entry if no @ is given. This is the value of the program change, control change, note, or song select based on the prefix. In the case of SysEx entries, the hexadecimal value of the SysEx is provided directly after the F0 prefix which is used as a header to all SysEx commands.

Subvalues

In some cases, additional information is conveyed in the MIDI command as subvalues. For instance, MSB and LSB, as well as velocity of control values can be sent this way. This is expressed through the addition of a colon in the value portion. The subvalue has different context depending on the type of MIDI command sent:

  • Program Change has subvalues aligning with the MSB/LSB of the program change. These values are separated by a period with the MSB on the left and the LSB on the right.
  • Control Change has the value of the control set using this. The number can be between 0 and 127. If omitted, the value of 127 is inferred.
  • Note Event has a subvalue relating to the velocity at which the note should be played. This can be set to a numerical value between 0 and 127.

Examples

Let's start with a simple program change. In this scenario we use program change 8 that also sends an MSB of 4 and an LSB of 2 on channel 1. The example starts with the most complex variation of this and removes the bank select and channel to become more broad:

PC3.1:7@0, 3.1:7@0, 3:7@0, 3:7, 7@0, 7

Control changes are similar except that the left side of the syntax is the control change number and the right side is an optional value. If the value is not provided, 127 is sent instead. We will send Control Change 106 with a value of 64 on channel 3.

CC105:63@2, CC105:63. CC105@2, CC105

Now let's take a look at note events. We want to play C4 on channel 8 at 75% velocity, we would enter the following because OnSong starts counting MIDI C0 as 0 on the MIDI note scale:

N60:95@7, N60@7, N60:95, N60

Again, it is important to remember that as values are removed from the MIDI syntax, the MIDI statement becomes more broad and less specific. For instance, the last version of the note event will send C4 at 100% velocity on all channels.

Restrictions

Restrictions prevent certain actions from being performed on a song. You can list these restrictions by name in a comma-delimited list as a metatag. For instance:

Restrictions: Print, Export, Distribute

The following are actions that can be set as a restriction. To remove restrictions, you can't just remove the metatag. Instead, set it to None. Also, if you want to prevent other users from changing your restrictions, add the Rights restriction as well.

  • None removes restrictions from the metadata section. If selected, all other check marked restrictions are unchecked.
  • Edit prevents the song from being edited.
  • Print prevents the song from being printed.
  • Export prevents OnSong from exporting the file.
  • Share prevents the OnSong user from sharing the file in any manner.
  • Email prevents the song from being transferred via email.
  • Upload prevents the song from being uploaded to a remote server.
  • Project prevents the song from being displayed in lyrics projection.
  • Distribute prevents the song from being distributed to other sources.
  • Rights prevents further rights and restrictions from being set.

Sections

The OnSong file format allows you to create different sections in your music. These sections are defined by inserting a blank line between lines of text. The first section of the song is considered the metadata section where you place your metatags. This is where you can set the key, tempo, and other attributes of the song. See Metadata for information on setting information about your song.

After the first blank line, each section contains Chords and Lyrics.

Labels

Each section can be labeled with a name. You can label your sections by typing a name on the first line of the section (followed with a colon), and then follow it with a new line. In the song viewer this appears above the lyrics in a bold typeface and can also be used to arrange the Flow of your song. The named section continues until another label is encountered, allowing you to divide a section further into stanzas.

Musical Instructions

You may want to provide musicians with instructions that you don't want to appear in lyrics projection. OnSong allows you to surround text on a line with parenthesis, allowing it to appear in a different color and not be output for lyrics projection. You can adjust the color of musical instructions under Settings » Display Settings » Song Formatting » Instructions.

OpenSong

This format is used by a variety of open source lyrics and music programs. It stores metadata in XML and lyrics/chords as plain text. Chord lines are delineated by a period at the beginning of the line. The file extension is (.xml)

Other

OnSong can display any type of file that iOS can display in the built-in web viewer. We cannot guarantee the usability of these formats beyond that. For instance, you could import a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation which may view slides vertically. This may not be what you expect. Please use a supported file format for better results or a text-based chord chart for best results.

Plain Text

OnSong can import plain text files just as it would OnSong or ChordPro files. In fact, all of these files are treated as the text-based chord chart and editable in the Song Editor. This means that you can write your songs with a .txt file extension and OnSong will recognize the file as either:

OnSong File Format

The OnSong file format is the native text-based chord chart format of OnSong that uses simple text and human-readable syntax to create chord charts.

ChordPro File Format

The ChordPro file format is used by other applications and has a syntax similar to the OnSong file format. Instead of using reader-friendly syntax, it uses curly braces to define "tags". These tags provide information about the song structure.

Portable Network Graphics (PNG)

Portable Network Graphic or PNG files are used to replace older graphic image formats on the web. They are becoming more common in new devices because of their higher quality, lossless compression, and are not encumbered by third-party royalty fees.

About

While OnSong can read PNG files, it may not display properly depending on size and complexity of the image. OnSong recommends a scan setting of 100 DPI greyscale if you intend to use scanned paper documents in OnSong. Since a chord chart may span more than one page, you may choose to scan as a PDF document for better results.

Scanned Chord Charts

If the image is in a portrait orientation, or if the scan is landscape and the average color of all four corners has an average brightness greater than 93%, then the image is considered a chord chart.

Lyrics Projection Backgrounds

If the image is in the landscape orientation and not consider to be a paper scan, then the image is imported into your image media library. You can then use that background in the External Video Menu using the Background Image Picker toggle button.

QuickTime Movie

A powerful multimedia technology with a built-in media player, QuickTime lets you view internet video, HD movie trailers, and personal media in a wide range of file formats. OnSong supports QuickTime video that is supported by iOS and has the .mov file extension.

OnSong imports video files directly in your OnSong image media library allowing your to set the background image or motion graphics in Lyrics Projection. Video files should be 720p or 1080p for best quality and support looping for seamless motion backgrounds.

Rich Text File

The Rich Text Format, or RTF for short, is an interchange format created by Microsoft and understood by many types of word processing applications. OnSong can read, view, and convert RTF files to text.

To learn more about the Rich Text Format, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format.

SongSelect USR

SongSelect USR is a file format used for transferring lyrics in file form. OnSong will import this file format and convert it into the OnSong file format for internal use and editing.

SongShowPlus

SongShowPlus is lyrics projection software for Microsoft Windows. OnSong can read and automatically convert files exported in the SongShowPlus file format.

To learn more about SongShowPlus, please visit their website at http://songshowplus.com.

System Exclusive Files

System Exclusive MIDI is a way to send raw data to devices and is used for more complex MIDI configurations. These are normally written as hexadecimal text that begins with the characters "F0". SysEx messages are non-channel specific MIDI that is broadcast so that compatible devices can receive the information and act accordingly.

These files can be started as raw data or hexadecimal text files with the *.sysex or *.syx file extension. When imported, OnSong will automatically create a MIDI Global using the file name as the global name and tag.

TIFF

The Tagged Image File Format or TIFF is commonly used in scanning and desktop publishing applications due to it's scope of compression options. OnSong can view TIFF images, but it may not display properly depending on size and complexity of the image. OnSong recommends a scan setting of 100 DPI greyscale if you intend to use scanned paper documents in OnSong. Since a chord chart may span more than one page, you may choose to scan as a PDF document for better results.

Waveform Audio File Format

Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or more commonly known as WAV due to its filename extension) is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is the main format used on Windows systems for raw and typically uncompressed audio.

When you import audio files directly into OnSong, they are added to your OnSong audio media library where you can link them to chord charts as backing tracks.

Adobe PDF

Adobe PDF files are commonly used as digital versions of paper documents. The PDF format faithfully reproduces the printed page. OnSong can view PDF files, vertically scrolling through multiple pages. OnSong expects each song to be contained in a single PDF file.

While PDF files maintain how a document should look, they can sacrifice meaningful text to do that. For instance, some PDF documents do not contain textural content but rather shapes and images. While this may appear as text to the human eye, it can be very difficult to extract from the document. OnSong attempts to do this when converting to text. If sufficient text cannot be extracted, OnSong will upload the document to an optical character recognition service (OCR) that will attempt to read the document using computer algorithms. This can have varying results depending on the original document.

For more information about PDF files, please visit the Adobe website at http://www.adobe.com/pdf.

Apple Pages

Pages is a word processing program available on the Mac OS X as well as on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. You can view Pages documents in OnSong as well as convert them to text.

For more information about Pages, please visit the website at http://www.apple.com/iwork/pages.

Note: Recently Apple has updated their iWork suite which has changed the file format used by Pages and other apps. This change has reversed platform compatibility, making the use of these files much more difficult outside of their native applications. OnSong no longer fully supports viewing or conversion of Pages 5.x files due to changes in the file format.

ChordPro

The ChordPro file format is a common format used in other software applications. OnSong understands this format natively. OnSong recognizes files with the following file extensions: .chordpro, .chopro, .cho, .crd, .pro

The ChordPro format allows for song information to be expressed in tags delineated by curly braces. This information can be logically divided into metadata tags and inline tags.

Metadata Tags

These are ChordPro tags that you would use in the metadata portion of the song.

  • {title:} or {t:} The title of the song.
  • {subtitle:}, {st:} or {su:} The artist name or any other byline information. You can specify multiple artists by separating names with a semi-colon. - Kim Walker-Smith; Chris Quilala
  • {album:} The name of the album where the song is located.
  • {artist:} or a: The artist name or any other byline information. You can specify multiple artists by separating names with a semi-colon. - Kim Walker-Smith; Chris Quilala
  • {author:} The name of the person who created the chord chart. This is displayed at the bottom of the chord chart and in lyrics projection.
  • {key:} or {k:} The key of the song written as a key with enharmonic preference and an optional "m" to indicate minor. - alphabetic, e.g. Bb or Em
  • {capo:} The capo to set as number of frets - numeric
  • {tempo:} The beats per minute (BPM) - numeric
  • {time:} The time signature - numeric beat over bar e.g. 3/4
  • {duration:} The song length for autoscroll - seconds or mm:ss
  • {book:} The name of the book or books to place the song into. This is a comma-delimited list of book names into which the song will be placed. If the book does not exist, it will be automatically created.
  • {number:} The number of the song - numeric, use for hymns, years, etc. You can sort songs by the number for reference.
  • {flow:} The arrangement of sections - list of section labels. See Flow for details on arranging the flow of a song.
  • {midi:} The MIDI commands to send when the song is viewed. See MIDI Syntax for how to express MIDI commands as text in OnSong.
  • {midi-index:} The MIDI commands that will trigger this song to be opened in the Song Viewer. See MIDI Syntax for how to express MIDI commands as text in OnSong.
  • {pitch:} The notes to play when using the Pitch Pipe feature.
  • {keywords:} or {topic:} The list of tags to use with topic search. See Topics for more information on browsing by topic.
  • {copyright:} or {footer:} Specifies copyright footer text to appear at the bottom of the page or lyrics projection.
  • {ccli:} The CCLI number of the song.
  • {restrictions:} The rights management for the song's comma-delimited list of restrictions. See Restrictions for details on setting restrictions for your song.

Inline Tags

These tags are used within the content of the song and can be used to either define sections or to format parts of the song.

  • {define:} is used to define custom chord diagrams. See Defining Chords for more information.
  • {comment:} or {c:} Defines a comment and appears as a musical instruction.
  • {comment_bold:} or {cb:} Defines text to appear in bold.
  • {comment_italic:} or {ci:} Defines text to appear as italic.
  • {guitar_comment:} or {gc:} Defines a comment that appears as a musical instruction.
  • {start_of_bridge} or {sob} Declares the start of a bridge section.
  • {end_of_bridge} or {eob} Declares the end of a bridge section.
  • {start_of_chorus} or {soc} Declares the start of a chorus section.
  • {end_of_chorus} or {eoc} Declares the end of a chorus section.
  • {start_of_tab} or {sot} Declares the start of tablature which OnSong renders in a monospaced font.
  • {end_of_tab} or {eot} Declares the end of a tablature section.
  • {new_page} or {np} This is used to declare a new page.
  • {new_physical_page} or {npp} This is used to declare a new page.

Formatting Tags

The following tags are used to define the default font and size for lyrics and chords in the chord chart.

  • {textsize:} Defines the size of the lyrics as a numeric value in points.
  • {textfont:} Defines the name of the font to use for lyrics. Must be supported on the platform.
  • {chordsize:} Defines the size of the chords as a numeric value in points.
  • {chordfont:} Defines the name of the font to use for chords. Must be supported on the platform.

Flow

Flow is a way to write the sections of a song once and then arrange the song in a top-down format. For instance, you may want the song to play the first verse, chorus, second verse and then repeat the chorus twice. Instead of rewriting the chorus multiple times, you can express this in a flow metatag or temporarily using the Flow field in the Playback Menu.

Expressing Flow

The first step to using flow is to create Sections and label them. You can specify a flow using a metatag in shorthand like this:

{flow: V1 C V2 C C B C C}

You can also write them in a longhand form by writing out the full name of the sections in a comma-delimited list like this:

{flow: Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus}

OnSong creates the shorthand version by using the first character of each word in the section name. This means you do not have to use special names for this to work. In the case of a conflict, OnSong will use the first section matching the abbreviation.

Pages and Instructions

You can also use flow to add musical instruction and page breaks in the flow definition instead of in the song content. You can do this by entering flow information that does not match a section label. Because the values you may want to output may contain spaces, you will want to use the comma-delimited method. Here's an example of adding musical instruction and page breaks.

{flow: Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, (Repeat 2x), ----, Bridge, Chorus, (Repeat 2x)}

This will output the musical instructions (Repeat 2x) under each chorus. The four hyphens will force a page break between the first set of choruses and the bridge.

Defining Chords

OnSong has the ability to display chord diagrams for chords found in text-based chord charts. By default, OnSong finds the default variation of the chord in the Chord Diagram Library. In some cases you want to use a specific chord variation for a song. To do this, you define a chord using the ChordPro syntax as follows:

{define: E5 base-fret 7 frets 0 1 3 3 x x fingers - 1 2 3 - - key E}

This expression can be divided into the following parts:

  • Define begins the declaration of a new chord diagram.
  • E5 is the name of the chord that is declared. Chords matching this name will use the specified diagram. base-fret declares that the following number will be the the fret on which the chord diagram begins. All frets are relative to this base fret.
  • frets declares that the following will be a space-delimited list of the frets to play. In the example given, 0 means an open string is to be played, 1 and 3 are the first and third fret relative to the base fret and "x" means to not play the that string.
  • fingers declares a space-delimited list of the fingers to use on each string. In this particular example, the - symbol indicates that the strings are not played with fingers. The 1, 2 and 3 indicate the fingers to be used for playing the chord.
  • key is the key in which the chord should be played. Not currently supported.

If the chord definition does not exist in the Chord Diagram Library, it is added and set as the default variation for the song. OnSong applies the chord to the guitar instrument when six strings are defined, the 5-string bass when five strings are defined, and the default instrument when 4 or another number of strings are used.

MIDI Syntax

OnSong uses a text-based syntax for expressing MIDI commands. While you can use the MIDI Events in the Metadata Editor, you can also express MIDI commands in text.

Delimited Values

First and foremost, multiple MIDI commands can be separated by various characters including: a tab character, comma, semi-colon, vertical pipe, or new line. The comma is the most common delimiter. For example:

1.2:0@0, PC1.2:3@0, N67@1, START, SS8

Channel

Each entry may contain an @ symbol. The numeric value after the symbol is the channel on which the command is to be sent. Since channels in MIDI start on zero, channel one would be a zero (0), channel two a one (1), etc.

If no @ symbol is used, the command is sent or received on all channels.

Prefixes

Each entry in the list contains a prefix. This prefix determines what type of MIDI command to send. These include:

  • PC or No Prefix is a program change event.
  • N is a note event
  • CC is a control change event.
  • SS is a song select event.
  • START is a start command.
  • STOP is a stop command.
  • CONTINUE is a continue command.
  • F0 prefixes a SysEx message.

Values

The value of the command appears just before the @ symbol or at the end of the entry if no @ is given. This is the value of the program change, control change, note, or song select based on the prefix. In the case of SysEx entries, the hexadecimal value of the SysEx is provided directly after the F0 prefix which is used as a header to all SysEx commands.

Subvalues

In some cases, additional information is conveyed in the MIDI command as subvalues. For instance, MSB and LSB, as well as velocity of control values can be sent this way. This is expressed through the addition of a colon in the value portion. The subvalue has different context depending on the type of MIDI command sent:

  • Program Change has subvalues aligning with the MSB/LSB of the program change. These values are separated by a period with the MSB on the left and the LSB on the right.
  • Control Change has the value of the control set using this. The number can be between 0 and 127. If omitted, the value of 127 is inferred.
  • Note Event has a subvalue relating to the velocity at which the note should be played. This can be set to a numerical value between 0 and 127.

Examples

Let's start with a simple program change. In this scenario we use program change 8 that also sends an MSB of 4 and an LSB of 2 on channel 1. The example starts with the most complex variation of this and removes the bank select and channel to become more broad:

PC3.1:7@0, 3.1:7@0, 3:7@0, 3:7, 7@0, 7

Control changes are similar except that the left side of the syntax is the control change number and the right side is an optional value. If the value is not provided, 127 is sent instead. We will send Control Change 106 with a value of 64 on channel 3.

CC105:63@2, CC105:63. CC105@2, CC105

Now let's take a look at note events. We want to play C4 on channel 8 at 75% velocity, we would enter the following because OnSong starts counting MIDI C0 as 0 on the MIDI note scale:

N60:95@7, N60@7, N60:95, N60

Again, it is important to remember that as values are removed from the MIDI syntax, the MIDI statement becomes more broad and less specific. For instance, the last version of the note event will send C4 at 100% velocity on all channels.

OpenOffice Text

OpenOffice is a free, open-source office suite available on nearly any operating system. This software includes "Writer" which saves word processing documents as "ODT" files. OnSong can view these files as well as convert them to text.

For more information about OpenOffice, please visit the OpenOffice website.

Transposition

Let's face facts. Sometimes a song is not performed in a key that is suitable for your vocal range. Or perhaps playing a song in the key that it is written in is too difficult for your guitarist and they don't want to capo. Music is best when it matches with your talent. OnSong provides a powerful transposition engine to make the music match your unique abilities and style.

How It Works

Chord charts can be expressed as text-based documents using the OnSong or ChordPro file formats. These files are designed to give musical meaning to characters in the document. This allows chords to be detected.

Transposition also requires the key of the original song to be known. You can declare a key using Metadata. If the key of the song is unknown, OnSong typically uses the first chord of the song as the key. You can change this behavior in Settings » Menu Settings » Style Preferences » Transpose and Capo » Detect Key By.

When transposition occurs, OnSong determines the new key and the enharmonic preference of transposed chords using the enharmonic preference of the new key. You can change this behavior in Settings » Display Settings » Song Formatting » Enharmonic.

Note: Transposition does not work with externally imported documents like Word or PDF because these files are designed to be printed and do not carry information about chords or metadata needed for musicians. The design goals of these types documents are different from OnSong's text-based chord charts. The content written in word processing documents are not in a standardized format and is often proprietary in nature.

How To Transpose

Once you have your song in a text-based document and chords are detected, you can transpose using the Transpose Slider found in the Style Preferences Menu in the Menubar. Just slide the slider to the left or right to adjust the key. You can even tap on the icons to the left and right to fine-tune adjust the key.

If you want the chords to be displayed as they are written in the Song Editor, turn off transposition using the power icon to the right of the Transpose Slider found in the Style Preferences Menu in the Menubar.

Using Different Keys

The notion of dynamic transposition means that you can have one copy of your song and make changes in one place. However, you may need to have the song available in different keys when playing with different bands or at different venues. OnSong can use a different key for the song in a particular set while keeping the original key in the master song list.

To do this, turn on Separate Set/Song Styles when Adding or Renaming sets. This will now store changes made to the song when viewed in the set to the set. For instance you can change the tempo, autoscroll duration, flow, and style preferences and all will be applied to that song in the set.

Universal

OnSong is a universal app which means the same app runs on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The user interface adapts to the device platform that you are using. For instance on an iPad, OnSong will use popover menus to provide access to songs and transposition. On an iPhone, this happens using model screen and navigation. Let's take a look at some of these differences.

Popover Menus versus Navigation Screen

The first thing you'll notice is that things are organized a little differently on smaller screens. The first screen you will see is the Songs Menu which takes up the entire screen. Tap on a song or set to slide over to the song viewer.

Song Viewer Toolbar

Song Editor Changes

Other Tweaks

User Interface

OnSong is designed to let you focus on what's important, your music. On a tablet device like the iPad, your music appears first. On handheld devices like the iPhone, the first screen to appear is the Songs Menu. On smaller devices like the iPhone or iPod touch, you'll need to select a song before accessing the main interface due to limited screen real estate.

The OnSong interface is divided into these main areas:

Status Bar

The status bar is provided by the operating system and provides information such as the current time, networking, and battery status.

Menubar

The menubar contains access to all the functions for managing your library and the songs you are viewing.

Song Viewer

Most of the main interface displays the currently active song. There are special regions that overlay the song viewer which provide tools you can use while performing.

Live Bar

In the lower right portion of the screen is the live bar which contains large buttons that can be activated during a live performance. These include autoscrolling, starting and stopping a backing track, starting or stopping the metronome, and toggling ad-hoc networking mode.

Registration Screen

When you open OnSong, the Registration or Getting Started screen is displayed. You can prevent this window from opening in the getting started screen once you have the information you need to make the most out of OnSong.

You may also be prompted to opt into push notifications. OnSong intends to use push notifications to notify our users of an emergency or to pass along time-sensitive information.

Compact Mode

OnSong works best on iPad as it has a much larger screen for viewing your music. But that doesn't mean you can't use an iPhone or iPod Touch. OnSong makes a view changes to adapt to the smaller screen size.

Songs Menu

Just like on the iPad, you access your songs and sets by tapping on the Songs button in the upper left corner. Instead of a popover, the menu will open full screen and be hidden once you select a song.

Heads-Up Display

The title of the song appears in the middle of the top menubar. You can change what is viewed there by swiping right or left, just like on the iPad.

Utilities Menu

Just like on the iPad, the gear icon provides access to the Utilities Menu where you can access editors, tools and settings.

Toolbar

The tools that are normally found in the menubar at the top of the screen are moved to a toolbar at the bottom of the screen. This allows easier access when using OnSong on a handheld device and also makes more room at the top for the heads-up display.

The toolbar removes the Foot Pedal Menu, but that is still available under the Utilities Menu » Editors » Navigation » Pedals. The Messages Menu may also be removed on very small screens.

Song Editor

While most of the menus are the same or similar, the Song Editor makes some more changes due to the compact size.

Toolbar

When using OnSong on iPhone or iPod Touch, access to many menus is moved to the bottom of the screen via a toolbar. The following items can bet accessed:

Share Menu

This icon looks like an up arrow in a box and allows you to share the current song or set in a variety of ways including exporting, emailing, printing, and sharing wirelessly.

External Video Menu

This menu button looks like a computer monitor and lets you configure an external monitor or projector for use with OnSong. Using an Apple Dock Connector to VGA Adapter, Apple Digital AV Adapter, or AirPlay and an AppleTV, you can use OnSong to project lyrics for an audience, or to display chord charts on a monitor on stage.

Playback Menu

This icon looks like a pair of headphones and lets you set an audio track to play along with while viewing the chord sheet. It also lets you configure the metronome tempo and time signature, as well as setting a duration of the song for autoscroll. You can also find new versions of that song through the integrated iTunes search.

Messages Menu

Using this menu, screen taps and foot pedal presses can send messages to your team. Use these to communicate more effectively in live performances.

This button may be removed on smaller screen sizes.

Organizer Menu

The organizer menu is used to place the currently loaded song into a set, book or to mark a song with an icon such as a star. When the song has an icon associated with it, the star icon in the menu bar is enabled.

Song Editor

This icon opens the song editor. The song editor allows you to make changes to the song's chords, lyrics, and metadata as well as tools to assist you in editing songs, or even writing them from scratch.

Annotations Menu

This icon looks like a sticky note and allows you to easily add sticky notes or drawings to your chord chart. These can help remind you of things such as who starts the song or how it is played.

Style Preferences Menu

This icon looks like a series of sliders and allows you to quickly change how your song sheet looks and acts. In this menu you can change font sizes and styles, highlight colors, and transpose/capo the song. You can also turn portions of the song on and off such as the header, lyrics, chords, tablature, and whether the capo should be applied.

Gestures

You can use gestures to quickly show and hide the menubar as well as show the songs menu. These gestures are only available on iPad.

Close Screens

If you've opened a modal screen in OnSong, you can close it by swiping down on the top navigation bar.

Scroll To Top

Depending on the number of songs you have, you may have very long lists. If you want to quickly get to the top of most lists, tap on the title in the navigation bar at the top to be taken to the top of the list.

Show Songs Menu

The songs menubar can be displayed by swiping from the left or right edges of the screen depending on the orientation of the menubar. If the Songs button is on the left, then swipe from the left. If the Songs button is on the right, then swipe from the right. The swipe must originate off of the screen.

Hide Menubar

You can tap in the middle of the screen to toggle the menubar visibility. However, you can also swipe up on the menubar to hide it.

Show Menubar

You can use the overscroll gesture to show the menubar when it is hidden. Pull down on the song viewer as you would when refreshing a list in other apps. This will trigger the menubar to show again.

Live Bar

Playing live uses all of your concentration and usually most of your limbs as well. Triggering events for live performance needs to be easy. The live bar in OnSong is designed to provide large buttons for controlling live performance events, as well as a visual status of each function.

Tapping on a live bar button starts or stops its function. Tapping and holding on a live bar button will open a menu allowing you to configure properties. The following buttons can be contained in the livebar. You can also turn these buttons on or off in the Utilities Menu » Editors » Navigation » Screen Tab. You can also accomplish this in Settings » Live Settings » Live Bar » On-Screen Buttons.

The live bar consists of:

Audio

The audio live bar button is used start, pause or stop backing tracks. Tap and hold to choose a different track, or to link to a custom track from your Apple Music library.

Autoscroll

Playing live necessitates using all your hands, feet and fingers. But what if your chord chart is longer than the screen can contain? Autoscroll provides a solution by slowly scrolling the chord chart from top to bottom over a duration.

Metronome

Playing with a click track is great for practice, or to get your band started on a song. The metronome in OnSong stores the BPM for each song letting you start at the right tempo every time.

Networking

OnSong can be used to share and stream what's on your screen wirelessly to your team. The networking livebar button lets you turn sharing on and off.

Audio

The audio playback live bar button is flexible to meet the needs of live performers. By default, the button is designed to start and pause a backing track. Double-tapping on the audio live bar button when playing or stopped will cause the song to beginning at the beginning of the track as a repeat function.

OnSong automatically selects a track from your libraries with the same name as the chord chart. This means the only requirement is to have an audio track with the same name of your chord chart in your music library. OnSong searches both your Apple Music library as well as it's internal OnSong audio media library. See Adding Tracks to your Apple Music Library for details on how to accomplish adding audio tracks to your Apple Music library. Your OnSong audio media library can be completely managed from inside of the app using the OnSong Audio Media Library.

Picking Audio Tracks

If you have multiple tracks available in your libraries and need to choose a different track, or if you need to choose a track with a different name, tap and hold on the audio live bar button to open the Audio Track Picker and choose a different track, or link to a specific track using the Choose Custom Track option.

Configuring Audio Playback

You can configure how OnSong plays backing tracks in settings. For more details on these options, please see Settings » Live Settings » Live Bar » Audio.

Apple Music Library

OnSong can link chord charts in your OnSong library to audio tracks in your iTunes Music Library on your device. You can browse your iTunes Music Library using the built-in Music app from your device's home screen. Apple provides tools and services to help you get your music onto your device.

History

In the days of the iPod music player as well as the first iPhone devices, you put music on your device using iTunes. iTunes is free software that was required to instantiate and manage your device. Since that time, Apple has moved away from requiring you to connect your device to a Mac or PC, making the iPad and iPhones standalone products.

iTunes

Most users who purchase iPad or iPhone are familiar with iTunes. In fact, the App Store is an extension of the iTunes store which sells apps instead of music, videos, and more. The iTunes application not only acts as media management software, but also as a portal to this large ecosystem of music, TV shows, movies and of course apps.

Misconceptions

That being said, there's a misconception that you need to purchase content from iTunes in order to use it on your iPad or iPhone. You can use iTunes to manage your own audio tracks or tracks from other vendors such as Amazon. However, Apple has made it very easy and convenient to purchase music legally through their iTunes store which is why many believe that is the only way.

Transferring Music

There are a few ways to get music onto your iPad or iPhone. The first and original way is to plug your device into a computer running iTunes. Next, add music in your iTunes library. Remember that you can do this either by purchasing content on the iTunes store, using software that bounces or adds tracks to iTunes (such as GarageBand), or by simply dragging MP3, AAC or other supported file formats into the iTunes window.

iTunes sorts and manages your tracks from any source. You can then use choose your device from the iTunes user interface and synchronize or "Apply" your music to the device. Learn more about adding, importing and converting music using iTunes

Music in the Cloud

With the advent of iCloud, Apple has made getting music to play on your device even easier with iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Music Match. These services allow you to access your music on your device without having the music physically stored on the device. For most people this is convenient because their music collections are large, not always listened to, and would take up significant space on their device.

While OnSong can play music from iCloud, there may be a delay as the song is streamed and buffered for playback. Make sure that you download music for live performances to your device before playing. That will ensure that network problems do not inhibit your performance and provides for smoother and immediate playback of your audio. Learn more about iTunes in the Cloud

Audio Track Picker

The audio track picker displays all tracks that match the current chord chart by name. In addition, this menu will display a custom track that you've picked. For each track, the album artwork is displayed (if available) as well as the track name and artist.

Audio Playback Settings

Tapping on the wrench icon will open a screen allowing you to change audio playback settings. Tap Done to save changes and close the screen, or tap on Cancel to close the screen without saving changes.

Linking To Matching Audio Tracks

Tap on the audio track you want to associate with the chord chart. By default, OnSong will link the first found track when matched by name. A checkmark will appear next to the track to indicate the currently linked track. If you would like to unlink the track from the chord chart, tap on the checked track to uncheck it. This will result in no audio track being associated with the chord chart.

Linking To Custom Audio Tracks

To choose a track from your Apple Music Library or OnSong Media Library, tap on the Choose Custom Track row in the menu. This will open the Choose Custom Track menu that allows you to browse for music.

iCloud Music Matching

Please note that tracks found by matching the name of the chord chart to the audio track may include audio tracks found in iCloud. You can remove these as options in Settings » Live Settings » Live Bar » Audio » Show Music in iCloud.

Choose Custom Track

If you want to link a custom audio track to your chord chart, you must first decide which library to pull from for playback. OnSong provides access to the following libraries.

Apple Music Library

This option provides access to shared audio tracks that you can play using the Music app on your device. Linking audio tracks from your Apple Music library has some advantages.

  • Tracks that are stored in iTunes in the Cloud or Apple Music match can be accessed using the Apple Music library.
  • Tracks that contain digital rights management may need to be played through the Apple Music library.
  • Tracks are not stored within your OnSong library making the storage requirements of your app and backups less.
  • Tracks are shared between multiple apps and can be played back from the Music app on your device.
  • Tracks can have playback metadata associated with them as configured in Apple Music. For instance, you can adjust the output volume as well as start and end time points.
  • While OnSong does support background audio when playing music, if OnSong were to crash for any reason, the audio would stop. When using Apple Music library assets, the song can keep playing even in the event of an unlikely failure.

OnSong Media Library

Choose this option to manage audio files directly inside of OnSong without needing to use Apple Music to manage your backing tracks.

The OnSong media library is stored inside of your OnSong library. This lets you import and manage audio tracks without using Apple Music, but does require that the audio tracks are stored inside of the OnSong app. This means that your backup files will increase in size to contain the audio files.

Apple Music

Apple Music is where you can access any song that you have access to through the Music app on your device. If you subscribe to Apple Music, all of your songs are available for playback. You can use this Apple-provided interface to select songs to play or import as backing tracks. Once you find a song, select it to link it to your song in the OnSong library, or to import into the library.

This interface is controlled by Apple and may require you to sign into Apple Music to access your tracks. We recommend that you download tracks for performance use through the native Music app so that the track can be played in OnSong without interruptions. Streamed backing tracks and tracks with digital rights management can only play using the Apple Music app which OnSong controls remotely. Certain features like crossfading are not available for tracks played through the Apple Music app.

iTunes Music Library

You can choose any available song in your iTunes Music Library to link to a chord chart. When you tap on the "iTunes Music Library" option in the Audio Track Picker, a modal window will appear. This gives you options for browsing your iTunes Music Library. Choose a tab on the bottom to determine how to browse your songs. You can also search songs in the Songs tab.

Once you've found the song you are looking for, tap on it to select it. The song will be added the Audio Track Picker and checkmarked. This links the custom track to the currently viewed chord chart.

If you do not want to pick a song, simply tap on the Cancel button at the top.

Spotify Library

The Spotify Library screen let's you link Spotify tracks to your song in OnSong. You can access saved songs as well as followed artists in Your Music. You can also search the entire Spotify music catalog by song title, artist or album.

Authentication

If you haven't signed in yet, you'll be prompted with a Spotify login screen. Tap the Log In To Spotify button to login with your credentials.

If you don't have a Spotify account, you can create one at spotify.com or by signing in with Facebook on the Login Screen.

Spotify Library

Once you've authenticated into your Spotify account, you'll see the following tabs to access Spotify tracks:

  • Playlists browses for songs in all the playlists that you've created in Spotify.

  • Songs views all of the tracks that you've saved to Your Music under your Spotify account.

  • Artists displays all artists that you are following.

  • Albums shows albums that you have saved to Your Music under your Spotify account.

  • Search allows you to search for tracks by track, artist or album.

Note: You can tap on the close button in the upper right corner to close this screen at anytime.

Albums

The Albums tab lets you quickly browse albums that you've saved to Your Music in Spotify. Tap on an album to view its songs.

Cancel

Tap on the Cancel button in the upper-left corner to close the Spotify Library screen without linking a track.

Logout

Tap on the Logout button to sign out of Spotify, close the Spotify Library screen and start over with the Login Screen.

Viewing Songs

Tap on an album in the list to view a list of the songs contained in the album in the order they appear.

Songs

Once you've tapped on a album, you can view all of the songs in the album to link a song to the active chord chart.

Logout

Tap on the Logout button to sign out of Spotify, close the Spotify Library screen and start over with the Login Screen.

Linking Songs

The list of songs that is displayed and the songs found in the album. The list contains columns for the album artwork, track title, artist name, album name and duration. Tap on a track to link it to the active chord chart.

Artists

The artists tab displays all artists that you are following on Spotify.

Cancel

Tap on the Cancel button in the upper-left corner to close the Spotify Library screen without linking to a track.

Logout

Tap on the Logout button to sign out of Spotify, close the Spotify Library screen and start over with the Login Screen.

Viewing Albums

Tap on an artist row to view a list of albums you can use to browse to a Spotify track.

Albums

Tapping on an artist will reveal every album they have in the Spotify music catalog. Tap on an album to view its songs.

Logout

Tap on the Logout button to sign out of Spotify, close the Spotify Library screen and start over with the Login Screen.

Viewing Songs

Tap on an album in the list to view a list of the songs contained in the album in the order they appear.

Songs

Once you've tapped on a album, you can view all of the songs in the album to link a song to the active chord chart.

Logout

Tap on the Logout button to sign out of Spotify, close the Spotify Library screen and start over with the Login Screen.

Linking Songs

The list of songs that is displayed and the songs found in the album. The list contains columns for the album artwork, track title, artist name, album name and duration. Tap on a track to link it to the active chord chart.

Log In To Spotify

You can log into Spotify using either Facebook or your Spotify username and password.

Facebook

Tapping on the Log In With Facebook button will display the Facebook login screen to let you authenticate using your Facebook account. Once complete, you will be signed into your Facebook-linked Spotify account.

Spotify Login

You can also type in your Spotify username and password in the fields below. Checking the Remember me option will retain your login information in the web page that is used by Spotify to authenticate you. This has no no effect on OnSong unless authentication occurs automatically.

Forgot Username or Password

If yo have forgotten your username or password, tap on the Forgot your username or password link to recover your information.

Note: If you are not a Spotify user and choose to sign in with Facebook, you will automatically be registered and automatically agree to the Spotify Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Playlists

The playlists tab displays all playlists that you have created on Spotify.

Cancel

Tap on the Cancel button in the upper-left corner to close the Spotify Library screen without linking to a track.

Logout

Tap on the Logout button to sign out of Spotify, close the Spotify Library screen and start over with the Login Screen.

Viewing Songs

Tap on a playlist to view a list of songs in that playlist in the order that they appear.

Playlist Songs

Once you've tapped on a playlist, you can view all of the songs in the playlist to link a song to the active chord chart.

Logout

Tap on the Logout button to sign out of Spotify, close the Spotify Library screen and start over with the Login Screen.

Linking Songs

The list of songs that have been added to the playlist are displayed. The list contains columns for the album artwork, track title, artist name, album name and duration. Tap on a track to link it to the active chord chart.

Search

Use the Search tab to search the entire Spotify music catalog for a track.

Cancel

Tap on the Cancel button in the upper-left corner to close the Spotify Library screen without linking a track.

Search Bar

The search bar in the upper-right corner of the screen lets you enter keywords to search for. In addition, a menu to the right of the search bar allows you to search either the album, artist or track title.

Linking Songs

Once you've performed a search, the results appear in list format. This list contains columns for the album artwork, track title, artist name, album name and duration. Tap on a track to link it to active chord chart.

Songs

The Songs tab lets you quickly browse tracks you've saved to Your Music in Spotify. Once you've found a song, tap on it to link it to the active chord chart.

Cancel

Tap on the Cancel button in the upper-left corner to close the Spotify Library screen without linking a track.

Logout

Tap on the Logout button to sign out of Spotify, close the Spotify Library screen and start over with the Login Screen.

Linking Songs

Songs that you've saved to Your Music appears in list format on this screen. The list contains columns for the album artwork, track title, artist name, album name and duration. Tap on a track to link it to the active chord chart.

Audio Media Library

The OnSong audio media library screen features audio tracks that you've imported.

Adding Tracks

You can add tracks by importing audio track files just like any other file type. You can also import directly inside of the audio media library screen by tapping on the + button in the upper right corner to open the Import Files Menu.

Browsing Tracks

You can browse your tracks by artists, songs and albums with the default view being the songs list.

  • Artists groups your tracks by artist.
  • Songs displays a list of all songs in your OnSong audio media library indexed alphabetically by the track name.
  • Albums groups your tracks by album name if available.

Picking Tracks

You can choose a song to link to a chord chart by tapping on it in the list. This will close the audio media library screen and return you to the audio picker menu.

Managing Tracks

You can delete and edit tracks in the OnSong audio media library by swiping from right to left over the audio track. This will reveal an Edit button to make changes to the track using the Track Editor screen. The Delete button will delete the audio track from your library.

You can also tap and hold on a row containing an audio track to open the Track Editor if you are not running iOS 8.

Reduce File Size

This screen presents available file formats that can be used to downsample media to reduce file size in storage. For instance, if you've imported large WAV files, you can downsample within OnSong to M4A file formats and reduce the size of your OnSong library.

Audio

OnSong provides compression into the M4A file format to reduce the size of audio files.

Video

If you are compressing a video file format, OnSong can encode into a low resolution video using the built in H.264 encoder.

Share

The share menu is the built-in activities menu in iOS/iPadOS which provides access to all available apps and actions.

Apps

Here you some standard apps available to share the media items to:

  • AirDrop the files to another device over peer-to-peer WiFi.
  • Messages to send as an iMessage attachment.
  • Mail to email the attachments.
  • More allows you to pick other apps that have been registered to open these sorts of files.

Actions

You can also select from actions available in the system or through OnSong:

  • Copy will place the content into the clipboard for pasting.
  • Export will open the Export Menu allowing you to export using the OnSong export interface.
  • Add To OnSong will import the files into your OnSong library which would be an odd choice, but you're free to choose!
  • Save To Files allows you to save the reports to storage locations or drives connected to the Files app.

Editing Mode

When you tap on the Select button in the upper right corner of the menubar, you enter selection mode. This will allow you to tap on songs, artists or albums to select each item, placing a checkmark on the left side of each item to indicate it has been selected.

Export

To export, tap on the action button that looks like a square with an up arrow in the upper right corner to open the Export Menu.

Delete

To delete selected tracks, tap on the trash can icon in the upper right corner.

Cancel

If you do not want to export the selected songs, tap on the Cancel button to cancel out of selection mode.

Export Menu

The export menu lets you choose a location where exported content should be saved. If you have more than one file to export, the number of items is displayed in parenthesis in the title.

OnSong supports four general locations with the last option allowing for future expansion to web services that implement standard access protocols.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a file storage service that allows you to place your important documents in the cloud. This means that they are near-instantly available on all your devices, making the service a great candidate for backing up your library. Tapping on the Dropbox option allows you to select a folder in your Dropbox where you would like your files exported.

Google Drive

Dropbox is a cloud-based storage service that allows you to store documents in the cloud. This means that they are near-instantly available on all your devices, making the service a great candidate for backing up your library or storing files. Tapping on the Google Drive option allows you to select a folder in your Google Drive where you would like your files exported.

File Sharing

This option allows the user to export to file sharing. This is a special folder contained inside of the OnSong app which can be accessed through the Finder (macOS) or iTunes (Windows) when connected with a sync/charge cable. This means that the file is stored on your device until it is saved off of the device onto a computer.

Files

iOS has the ability to export files to apps from storage providers that support integration with the iOS Files app. Use this option to select a location and folder where the file should be exported.

Other

Some online storage services have support for open standards, allowing files to be securely stored and retrieved without individual configurations. Use this option if you would like to add an online source that supports Amazon S3, FTP, or WebDAV protocols.

Albums

The albums tab in the audio media library groups all tracks by album if available. This allows for faster browsing of larger music libraries. Albums are indexed alphabetically.

The album artwork is displayed on the left followed by the album title and artist name. The number of songs and total album duration in minutes are displayed on the far right side.

Tap on an album to display songs performed on that album in the Album Track List.

Album Track List

The album track list displays the selected album's information above a list of tracks. Album information includes a thumbnail of the album cover artwork, the album name, number of songs and length of time of all tracks.

Each track is displayed in order of track number. The track number is displayed on the left followed by the track name and duration of the track.

Picking Tracks

You can choose a song to link to a chord chart by tapping on it in the list. This will close the audio media library screen and return you to the audio picker menu.

Managing Tracks

You can delete and edit tracks in the OnSong audio media library by swiping from right to left over the audio track. This will reveal an Edit button to make changes to the track using the Audio Track Editor screen. The **Delete* button will delete the audio track from your library.

Artists

The artists tab in the audio media library groups all tracks by artist if available. This allows for faster browsing of larger music libraries. Artists are indexed alphabetically.

The album artwork of the most recent album is displayed on the left followed by the artist's name. The number of albums and songs are displayed on the far right side.

Tap on an artist name to display songs performed by that artist in the Artist Track List.

Artist Track List

The artist track list displays the selected artist's information above a list of tracks. Artist information includes a thumbnail of an album cover artwork, the artist's name, number of albums and total number of songs.

Each track is displayed in order of track number. The track number is displayed on the left followed by the track name and duration of the track.

Picking Tracks

You can choose a song to link to a chord chart by tapping on it in the list. This will close the audio media library screen and return you to the audio picker menu.

Managing Tracks

You can delete and edit tracks in the OnSong audio media library by swiping from right to left over the audio track. This will reveal an Edit button to make changes to the track using the Track Editor screen. The Delete button will delete the audio track from your library.

Import Files

The import files menu provides a list of common import locations with the ability to import audio tracks from those sources. These import screens are similar to those found in the Songs Menu except that only audio files are selectable.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a popular cloud-based storage service that works great for importing documents from your computer.

iTunes File Sharing

iTunes File Sharing allows you to import files from your computer using a USB cable and iTunes software.

Other

The other options lets you import from other remote sources using standard communication protocols.

Songs

The songs tab in the audio media library shows all songs contained in your library. Songs are indexed alphabetically by track name.

Picking Tracks

You can choose a song to link to a chord chart by tapping on it in the list. This will close the audio media library screen and return you to the audio picker menu.

Managing Tracks

You can delete and edit tracks by swiping from right to left over the audio track. This will reveal an Edit button to make changes to the track using the Track Editor screen. The Delete button will delete the audio track from your library.

Track Editor

The track editor is accessed by swiping from right to left over audio tracks and choosing the Edit button. This present you with editable fields. When you are finished making changes, tap on the Done button to save your changes and have audio adjustments gradually implemented in a track being played from the live bar.

Track Information

This is information related to the track metadata.

  • Title is the name of the track, typically the name of the song.
  • Artist is the name of the artist.
  • Album is the name of the album.
  • Copyright is the provided copyright information.

Note: Changes made here is saved in the OnSong audio media library record and does not get written back to the underlying audio file.

Preview

Use this scrubber and play button to listen to the track. This is useful for other adjustment sliders below.

Volume Adjustment

This will adjust the output volume of the track allowing for custom volumes to normalize track volumes. Changes to the volume here are reflected in the audio output if you preview the track, but not to the track if it is being played from the live bar. Tap on the target icon on the right to return to the original value.

Pan Adjustment

This will adjust the pan settings for the track. Changes made here are elected immediately to the track that is being previewed, but not to the track if it is being played from the live bar. Tap on the target icon on the right to return to the original value.

Autoscroll

The autoscroll live bar button is used to toggle autoscroll on and off. Autoscroll will automatically navigate through your song. Choose from linear or non-linear autoscrolling to meet your needs.

Tapping on the autoscroll button for the first time displays the Autoscroll Menu you can use to set the duration for linear autoscroll or record the timeline events for non-linear autoscroll.

Toggling Autoscroll

Once autoscroll has been configured, tapping on the autoscroll button starts autoscroll. Tapping on it when running will stop autoscroll. You can resume autoscroll by tapping the button again. Tap and hold on the autoscroll button to open the Autoscroll Menu to adjust parameters.

Linear Autoscroll

If you set a duration and remain on that tab, OnSong will scroll the page from the top to the bottom over the set duration. Tapping on the autoscroll button toggles When autoscroll is running, you can continue to scroll the page. Autoscroll will temporarily pause and then resume from the new scrolled position. Zooming your chord chart also will pause and recalibrate autoscroll.

Because autoscroll scrolls vertically from the top to the bottom of the song content, it may not handle changes or repeated sections in the song. You will want to combine autoscroll with Flow in order to arrange your song in a continuous piece to allow autoscroll to be more effective.

Non-Linear Autoscroll

If you record events using the timeline tab, then OnSong will playback those recorded events over the duration that you have set. In other words, if you set a duration and record a timeline, and then later adjust the duration, the timeframe of playback is adjusted accordingly.

You can continue to scroll and interact with the page, but timeline events will continue to play.

Autoscroll Menu

When you tap on the autoscroll button for the first time, or if you tap and hold on the autoscroll button in the live bar, the autoscroll menu appears. In this menu you can configure either linear or non-linear autoscroll depending on when tab you choose.

Duration

Tapping gone this tab and keeping it selected will cause autoscroll to scroll from the top to the bottom of the song smoothly over the set amount of time.

Timeline

Tapping on this tab and keeping it selection will cause will playback the events that you record within the tab. This allows for non-linear autoscrolling since you can configure it to scroll back and forth to different parts of the song.

Changing Autoscroll Speed

Changing the speed of linear autoscroll is as simple as changing the duration of the song in the duration tab. However, changing the speed of non-linear autoscroll is possible as long as you take some steps:

  1. Set the duration of the song in the Duration tab.
  2. Tap on the Timeline tab and record your timeline.
  3. OnSong records the original duration of the song to the timeline.
  4. Return to the Duration tab and adjust the duration to change the speed of autoscroll.
  5. OnSong will adjust the delay between events to adjust for the difference between the original and new duration.

Change Duration

The duration picker appears in the autoscroll menu as the default selected tab when first tapping on the autoscroll button in the live bar, or when tapping and holding the button to make changes to a song with autoscroll previously configured. You can also access the duration picker from the Metadata Editor found in the Song Editor.

Autoscroll Settings

Tapping on the wrench icon will open a screen allowing you to change autoscroll settings. Tap Done to save changes and close the screen, or tap on Cancel to close the screen without saving changes.

Setting the Duration

Set a time by tapping and dragging your finger to the left and right. This is great for quickly picking a duration. To fine-tune the duration, tap on the left/bottom or right/top sides to decrease or increase the time by one second.

When finished, simply close the menu to have your song duration updated. If you are using autoscroll at the time of the adjustment, it will automatically change speed to adapt to the new duration of the song.

The duration picker allows any duration of time to be set. If you set the duration to zero or less, the duration setting is removed.

Timeline

When the timeline screen is selected, OnSong uses non-linear autoscrolling. This means that you must record navigational events to play back when autoscroll in enabled.

Recording Events

To record events, tap on the Start Recording button at the bottom of the screen. The menu will close so you can begin recording navigation events right away.

Scroll, zoom, select sections and even toggle linear autoscroll using the autoscroll button. Each navigational event will be recorded into the timeline. Tap and hold on the autoscroll button to open the autoscroll menu and stop recording.

Viewing Events

Each event describes what type of action was recorded, followed by the amount of time to wait until playing the next event. You can tap on a timeline event to have it performed.

Editing Events

Tap on the Edit button in the upper right corner to make changes to recorded timeline events.

Clearing Events

Tap on the eraser icon on the lower left corner to clear all timeline events and start over. OnSong will prompt you to confirm clearing events.

Recording Options

Timeline records the most common actions that you perform like changing the scroll position of a song, selected sections, linear autoscroll and more. But in some cases you may not want to record certain actions. The recording options screen lets you toggle those actions on and off when you record.

  • Change Scroll Position determines if swiping or tapping to scroll are recorded. You may choose to disable this if you are recording section selections to perform scrolling instead.
  • Change Section determines if section selections are recorded. You may choose to turn this off if linear autoscroll is handling automatic selection of sections.
  • Send Messages determines if messages should be recorded. You may want to turn this off if you want to handle sending messages manually when played back.
  • Toggle Audio determines if backing tracks being played, paused or stopped are recorded.
  • Toggle Autoscroll determines if linear autoscroll is recorded. You may turn this off if you want autoscroll to record position changes automatically.
  • Toggle Metronome determines if starting or stopping the metronome is recorded. You may disable this if you use the metronome for recording purposes but do not want it recorded in the timeline.
  • Zoom determines if zooming in and out of the document should be recorded to the timeline.

Edit Mode

When you tap on the Edit button in the upper right corner of the screen, you can make changes to events in your timeline.

Deleting Events

Tap on the red minus icon on the left side to reveal a Delete button. Tapping on the delete button will remove that event from the timeline.

You can also delete events from the timeline by swiping from the right to left when not in edit mode.

Reordering Events

You can change the order of events in the timeline by tapping and dragging on the reordering handles on the right side.

Changing Event Timecodes

While recording is the fastest way to set what you want to happen, it may not be accurate enough for your needs. Tap on the row to open the Timecode Editor and change the minute, second or fraction of a second for each event in your timeline.

When you are all done, tap on the Done button to save your changes to the timeline.

Event Editor

The timeline event editor lets you change the aspects of each event. Tap on the Done button in the upper right after making changes to update the event in the timeline.

Timecode

The timecode if the time at which the particular event is performed. You can tap on the time to adjust the timecode using the timecode editor.

Action

You can change the action associated with the timeline event by tapping on this row. Please note that recorded actions are special and may not exist in the same way in the action picker.

Parameters

Different actions may have different named parameters that can be modified. Different actions may have different parameters, or none at all. For instance, momentary actions do not have parameters.

If you choose a variable action, the "amount" parameter will be available which is typically a value between 0-100%.

Changing the timecode will move the timeline event independent of other timeline events unless the timecode you choose is greater than or less than an existing timecode. This will cause those timeline events to push elsewhere on the timeline.

Actions Menu

The actions menu lets you pick an action to perform when an event occurs such as pressing a foot pedal or tapping on the screen.

  • None performs no actions when the input is received.
  • Capo Up increases the capo for the song by one fret.
  • Capo Down decreases the capo for the song by one fret.
  • Scroll Up scrolls the song up. If using a foot pedal, performing this action once the top of a song is reached will navigate to the previous song in the set.
  • Scroll Down scrolls the song down. If using a foot pedal, performing this action once the bottom of a song is reached will navigate to the next song in the set.
  • Next Song navigates to the next song in the set.
  • Previous Song navigates to the previous song in the set.
  • Random Song loads a random song from the currently selected book or set. Use for practicing songs in your library without a pattern.
  • Reset Song scrolls the current song to the top and optionally resets toggled events such as autoscroll, backing tracks, the metronome and section assignments. These can be customized in Settings » Navigation Settings » Actions » Reset Song.
  • Next Slide advances to the next slide when projecting lyrics.
  • Previous Slide advances to the previous slide when projecting lyrics.
  • Next Timeline Event will advanced to the next event as recorded or specified in the the Timeline.
  • Previous Timeline Event will go to the previous event as recorded or specified in the the Timeline.
  • Show/Hide Menubar toggles the menubar on and off for a full screen view.
  • Show Quick Pick displays the Quick Pick screen for quickly searching and loading songs.
  • Show Songs List shows and hides the song menu.
  • Scroll Faster decreases the duration of the song by 30 seconds which causes autoscroll to speed up.
  • Scroll Slower increases the duration of the song by 30 seconds which causes the autoscroll to slow down.
  • Start Audio will start playing a backing track assigned to the currently viewed song.
  • Start Autoscroll will begin autoscrolling the current song.
  • Start Metronome will start the metronome to the tempo assigned to the currently viewed song.
  • Stop Audio will stop the audio track if one is playing.
  • Stop Autoscroll will pause autoscroll whether linear or in a non-linear timeline.
  • Stop Metronome will stop the metronome.
  • Toggle Audio play, pause, or stop the backing track associated to the song.
  • Toggle Autoscroll starts or pauses the autoscroll.
  • Toggle Capo turns the capo on or off.
  • Toggle Low Light Mode turns low light mode on and off. When on, the background of the song is black with white foreground text.
  • Toggle Metronome turns the metronome on and off.
  • Toggle MIDI Clock starts or stops sending MIDI clock events used to synchronize tempo between MIDI devices.
  • Toggle MIDI Start/Stop sends the MIDI start or stop command.
  • Mute Metronome mutes the metronome, allowing it to continue to keep time and optionally blink the menubar. This is great to use for practice to see if the beat can be maintained without click reinforcement.
  • Tap For Tempo is used to change the tempo of the current song. This should not be used on high latency foot pedals like the AirTurn BT-105 since they are designed to forgive accidental foot taps or double entry.
  • Tempo Up increase the tempo of the song by 1 BPM.
  • Tempo Down decreases the tempo of the song by 1 BPM.
  • Transpose Up transposes the song up by one half step including enharmonic variations.
  • Transpose Down transposes the song up down one half step including enharmonic variations.
  • Volume Up increases the master volume of the device by a sixteenth.
  • Volume Down decreases the master volume of the device by a sixteenth.
  • Blackout Lyrics blacks out the lyrics for lyrics projection by hiding lyrics and removing the background.
  • Clear Lyrics shows or hides the lyrics during lyrics projection while retaining the background image or video.
  • Continue Scene will continue the playback of a scene if a step is encountered that has an infinite duration. Use this for more advanced playback without the creation of addition scenes.
  • Play Scene is used to restart playback of the currently loaded scene.
  • Stop Scene is used to stop the playback of the currently playing scene.
  • Toggle Scene Playback can be used to toggle the playback state of the currently loaded scene.
  • Playback Pitch plays the pitch of the song for a cappella groups. This can be configured using metadata.
  • Shift Up shifts to the next gear in the configured gears.
  • Shift Down shifts to the previous gear in the configured gears.
  • Unshift shifts to the first gear in the configured gears.
  • Send Message allows you to select a message to be sent to connected devices.
  • Send MIDI when using the MIDI in-app purchase, this option is available and allows you to define a MIDI command to be sent.
  • Switch Scene can map a specific scene to an action. For instance, set an action to blackout all lights or to bring the house lights up.
  • Switch Section allows you to link an action directly to a named section in your song. For instance, you can link to "Verse 1" or "Chorus".
  • Switch Song allows you to switch to a particular song in your library when triggered.

Timecode Editor

The timecode editor allows you to adjust the timecode, or the exact time when an event will occur.

How Timecodes Work

Timeline events contain an action coupled with a wait time. This means that the timecode is generated based on the placement of the event in the timeline. This also means that you may only be able to reduce to the timecode to a point that it does not conflict with other events in the timeline.

Adjusting the Timecode

To adjust the timecode, slide your finger left or right. You can then fine-tune the timecode by one frame by tapping on the left or right. Timecodes are displayed in minutes, seconds and frames where frames are 1/60th of a second.

MM:SS FF

When you are finished adjusting the timecode, tap on the Back button to return to the timeline editor.

Metronome

The metronome live bar button is used to toggle the metronome on and off. The first time the metronome button is pressed with out a tempo, the Tempo Picker will appear allowing you to select a tempo for the song.

Once a tempo has been set, tapping on the button will start the metronome. Tapping again will stop the metronome. Tap and hold the button to open the tempo picker again to set a different tempo.

For more details on the metronome, refer to the Metronome in Features.

Tempo Picker

The tempo picker is displayed when a tempo is required to play the metronome, when tapping and holding on the metronome live bar button, or when settings the tempo using the Metadata Editor in the Song Editor. It allows you to set the tempo in beats per minute (BPM).

Setting The Time Signature

to change the time signature, tap on the time signature in the upper left corner to display the time signature picker. OnSong uses the 4/4 time signature by default.

Adjusting Metronome Settings

You can change the audio and visual attributes of the metronome directly in the metronome live bar menu by tapping on the wrench icon in the upper right corner. This will open a screen containing metronome settings. You can then tap Done to apply those settings, or tap on Cancel to close the screen without saving changes.

Setting the Tempo

To set the tempo, slide your finger to the left and right to decrease or increase the tempo in broad strokes. Tap on the left/bottom or right/top of the picker to decrease or increase the tempo by one beat per minute.

Alternately, you can tap in the middle of the tempo picker to tap the tempo of the song that is already playing.

Starting and Stopping

Because playing the metronome should be immediate when tapping on the live bar button, tapping and holding the button will cause the metronome to start playing. This is by design since to determine if a tap has been held requires the operating system to wait to determine the type of touch. The tempo picker includes a play/stop button that allows the metronome to be started or stopped. This can be used to stop a playing metronome for settings a new one, or to check the tempo once a BPM has been selected.

Changing Tempo Limits

The tempo can be adjusted between 40 and 200 BPM. If the tempo is set below the minimum BPM, it is set to None, removing the tempo from the song. The minimum and maximum BPM can be adjusted in BPM Settings found in Settings » Live Settings » Metronome » Audio Settings » BPM Settings.

Acquiring Tempo from MIDI

If you have enabled the MIDI add-on, you can acquire the tempo by listening to a MIDI clock. The MIDI clock is sent from hardware and software to allow multiple MIDI devices to remain in sync with one another during tempo shifts.

Turn this switch on to set the tempo. When finished, turn the switch off to retain the acquired tempo.

Time Signature Picker

You can change the time signature of the current song by tapping on the time signature button in the upper left corner of the metronome.

Swipe up and down to adjust the number of beats and beats per measure. The time signature will change on a running metronome. You can also tap on the play/stop button to toggle the metronome playback as well.

When you are done selecting the time signature. Tap on menu beneath to hide the picker.

Networking

The networking live bar button is used to toggle wireless networking on and off in OnSong. Wireless networking allows your device to be discovered by other OnSong peers for sharing songs and sets, or remote controlling your device using OnCue. This button does not effect OnSong Connect.

Tap on the networking button to toggle networking off and on. This does not change your WiFi or Bluetooth status, only the visibility of your device on the ad-hoc, peer to peer OnCue network.

Tap and hold on the button to open the Wireless Sharing Screen. From there you can choose peers to share content with as well as set up an OnCue streaming session.

Registration Screen

Our customers are important to us. Our goal at OnSong is to build an app that meets the needs of musicians worldwide. The most important component of any relationship is communication. That's why we request you to register OnSong. Provide your full name and email address so that we can keep in touch.

What Will I Receive and How Often?

OnSong sends an email when there are major updates to the app so you know it's time to update. We typically include video tutorial on new features as well as special deals on products that work great with OnSong. These emails are typically sent once per month and we try very hard to not be annoying.

Am I Signing Up For Spam?

No. Our goal with registered users is to help you make the most out of OnSong and your iPad or iPhone on stage. This is used to communicate important news and updates about our software. We may also send information from companies that have related products that you may be interested in. For instance, if a new product comes to market that works with OnSong, we want to keep you in the loop. You can always unsubscribe from these emails at any time by clicking on a link in the footer of the email.

Are You Going To Sell My Information?

No. We don't like when people do that to us, and we refused to do that to you. Any email that is sent will be coming from OnSong. Again, we may let you know about third-party products, but only ones that we think are worth the cost of postage, so to speak.

What If I Don't Register?

No problem. Registration is completely optional and doesn't effect the operation of OnSong. If you want to prevent the registration screen from opening, you can turn this off at the bottom of the Getting Started screen. You can get to this screen by tapping on the Maybe Later link.

Song Viewer

The song viewer is where your songs appear. You can load a song or set into the view using the Songs Menu.

Navigate your song and set by swiping up and down or left and right. OnSong displays songs vertically on the screen. This means to view the contents of the song, you can scroll the screen up and down. You can flip between songs in your set by swiping left and right. This model lets you know exactly where you are at in a set.

Navigation

While swiping is the standard method of navigating documents on mobile devices, it is challenging to perform these functions while playing an instrument. The song viewer also features areas of the screen that can be tapped for navigation called Navigation Zones and Hot Corners

Chords

If you are using a text-based chord chart, you can also tap on chords to open the Chord Inspector. This lets you see different ways to play the chord on various instruments.

While you can change the action that is performed when you tap on a chord in Settings » Live Settings » Chord Playback, tapping and holding on the chords will always open the Chord Inspector.

Sections

If you are using Lyrics Projection, you can tap on sections of lyrics to choose what is displayed on the connected video display. The currently selected section is highlighted using a colored bar on the left side of the screen. You can change the color of this bar in Settings » Live Settings » Live Bar » Autoscroll » Vertical Position Color.

You can tap and hold sections in the song viewer to open the Section Mapping Menu. This menu allows you to map Scenes and MIDI Events to a section of the song. When the section is selected, the scene is set and the MIDI events are sent.

Layout

You can change the way your chord charts appear using the Style Preferences Menu which changes the font and styles for the chord chart. You can also change the page layout using the Layout Screen found in the Navigation Editor in the Utilities Menu.

Chord Inspector

The chord inspector appears when a chord or chord diagram is tapped in the Song Viewer. This allows you to see various ways to place the chord on different instruments.

Viewing Chords

You can scroll through variations of a chord by swiping left to right in the viewer.

Selecting Chords

Tap on a diagram in the viewer to select it as the preferred variation for the song. When you select a song, the chord can be played back using a sound bank.

Playing Chords

Tap on the speaker icon in the upper left corner to toggle chord playback on and off. Playback does require a sound bank to be installed. You can purchase sound banks in the Add-Ons Screen. You can alter the way chords are played under the Utilities Menu » Settings » Live Settings » Chord Playback.

Editing Chords

Tap on the Edit button in the upper right corner to open the Chord Diagram Library with the selected chord loaded.

Choosing an Instrument

Choose an instrument in the tab bar on the bottom of the chord inspector to view chords for that instrument. Supported instruments are:

Guitar

The default instrument selected for the chord inspector and diagrams is guitar.

Guitar chord diagrams contain six strings tuned to the standard E A D G B E tuning.

Piano

The piano instrument displays chord diagrams as miniature, two-octave versions of the piano keyboard. The keys to be played are highlighted in red.

Inversions are created from the standard chord when the first key is the root of the chord. Inversions are created for each note in the chord. For instance, in a standard major triad, this results in three chord inversions. More complex chords result in more inversions.

4-String Bass

Diagrams for bass guitars are rare since you typically only play one string at a time. OnSong provides chord diagrams for bass guitar for completeness and to help teach bass guitar to students.

The chord diagrams show are for the standard 4-string bass tuning of E A D G.

5-String Bass

Diagrams for bass guitars are rare since you typically only play one string at a time. OnSong provides chord diagrams for bass guitar for completeness and to help teach bass guitar to students.

The chord diagrams show are for the standard 5-string bass tuning of B E A D G.

Ukulele

The ukulele instrument displays chords using four strings. This is done with the standard ukulele of G C E A.

Banjo

The banjo instrument displays chords using four strings. This is done with the standard banjo tuning of D G B D.

Mandolin

The mandolin instrument displays chords using four strings. These strings are tuned to the standard mandolin tuning of G D A D.

Hot Corners

OnSong is designed for performance. It can do many things to help you in your performance. The trouble is that you have limited dexterity and time while playing an instrument.

Hot corners allow you to assign the four corners of the song viewer to perform actions in OnSong. For instance, you can configure a hot corner to handle lyrics projection tasks, or to send messages to other members of your team.

To configure hot corners, go into the Utilities Menu » Editors » Navigation and then use the Screen Tab.

You can also access hot corners in Settings » Navigation Settings » Hot Corners.

Navigation Zones

Navigation zones are found along the four edges of the device and also includes the center of the screen. Tap on any edge to scroll up and down in the current song, or to switch songs in your set. This is their default function, but can be configurable.

To change the function of the navigation zones, go into the Utilities Menu and open the Navigation Editor to choose the Screen Tab. There you can tap on the navigation zones to change their function.

You can also setup navigation zones in Settings » Navigation Settings » Navigation Zones.

Section Mapping Menu

This menu allows you to map actions to be performed when a section is selected or when the song is viewed. You tap and hold in other of the following sections within the Song Viewer.

  • Tapping and holding in the header/metadata section of the song to map actions when the song is viewed. For instance, each time the song appears when tapped in the Songs Menu or when flipping through a set.
  • Tap and hold in a lyric section of the song to map actions to when that section is selected either by tapping on it, using foot pedals or autoscroll.

You can map the following types of actions to sections:

MIDI Events

MIDI can be used to configure your stage instruments and perform other automation such as setting guitar effects or synthesizer programs. Mapping MIDI events to sections requires the MIDI add-on to be enabled.

Scenes

Scenes let you change lighting and images on your stage. This is great for visually reinforcing the emotion of each song, or even each portion of a song. Mapping scenes to a section requires the Scenes add-on to be enabled.

MIDI Events

The MIDI Events menu lets you set up MIDI to be sent when a song is loaded, or when a specific section is selected.

Adding

To add a MIDI command to the event list, tap on the + button in the lower right corner to open the MIDI Editor to add new commands.

Acquiring

Instead of manually creating MIDI commands using the MIDI editor, you can turn on the Listen for MIDI events switch to have OnSong listen for incoming commands from a MIDI device.

Deleting

To delete a MIDI command from the list, swipe right to left over an item in the list to reveal a Delete button. Tap to delete the item from the list.

Editing

You can edit an item in the list by tapping on it to open the MIDI Editor.

Reordering

You can reorder the MIDI event list by tapping on the Edit button in the upper right corner. This places the list in editing mode. In this mode you can tap and drag the reordering handles on the right to change the order that MIDI events are sent. You can also tap on the red minus icon on the left to delete MIDI events.

Testing

Tap on the Test button in the upper right corner to test the MIDI events by sending them.

Scene Picker

Scenes let you assign color washes, lighting programs and lyrics projection backgrounds for each song, or each section of a song. Not only that, but you can use OnSong's advanced navigation features to switch scenes seamlessly during a performance.

Picking Scenes

Place a checkmark next to the scene you would like to map to the section by tapping on it in the list. To remove a scene from the section, tap on the marked scene to uncheck it. Tap on the preview on the left to see a preview of the scene.

Adding Scenes

You can create new scenes right from this menu. Tap on the + button in the upper right corner to open the Scene Editor

Editing Scenes

To edit a scene, open the Scenes Editor and choose a scene from the list to make changes. Any changes you make the scene will be automatically applied to the section the next time the scene is set.

When you are done picking a scene, tap on the Done button (iPhone) or tap off of the menu in the Song Viewer (iPad) to close the menu.

Statusbar

An underlying status bar is made available through iOS to show important features of your device such as the current time, battery life, network activity, and Bluetooth status.  If you are operating a device that uses iOS 7 or later versions, the status bar will automatically hide when the menubar is hidden.  Want to turn off this function?  Simply go under Utilities » Editors » Navigation » Screen tab.  Then, you can tap the menubar to toggle the Hides Status Bar option.