OnSong 1.955 Manual

Entire Manual

Getting Started

OnSong is an app that turns your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch into a portable library that you can use to take your chord charts with you anywhere you practice or perform. Use it to import and edit your songs and then place them into books. Pull sets from your songs library and share them with your band, without the hassle of paper. Transpose keys, apply capo or adjust how the chord chart looks, all with the brush of your finger. OnSong aims to replace paper with a simple, compact solution.

In addition to replacing the binder, OnSong has a full array of tools for musicians. Toggle a metronome, play backing tracks, discover new ways to play chords and more. Use foot pedals or MIDI instruments to control OnSong. OnSong strives to be the best tool to help musicians practice and perform effectively.

A great way to get started is to check out our YouTube channel for video tutorials.

Overview

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:

Menubar

The menubar contains access to all the functions to manage 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 that provide tools you can use while performing.

Navigation Zones

Tapping on the top and bottom of the screen will scroll the current song up and down respectively. Tapping on the left and right of the screen will take you backwards and forwards through the current set.

Live Bar

In the lower right portion of the screen is the live bar. The live bar 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.

Hot Corners

Hot corners allow you to map certain function to tapping in the corners of the song viewer.

Song Viewer

The song viewer fills most of the OnSong song screen and displays the song you are currently viewing.

Choose a different song in the Songs Menu and then change the way the song appears using the Display Preferences Menu. You can also edit the song you are viewing by opening the Song Editor to change the lyrics or convert non-text files.

When viewing a set, you can swipe left and right to view other songs in the set. You can also swipe up and down to view more of each song. In OnSong, song content appears vertically. You can also use Navigation Zones navigate songs and sets with a single tap.

Live Bar

The live bar is a series of buttons located at the bottom right of the screen that provide quick access to functions useful for live performance. The live bar feautures the following buttons:

  • Networking

    Tap this button to toggle ad-hoc networking. Tap and hold this button to reveal the a list of connected devices.

  • Audio Track

    Tap this button to start, pause or stop the audio track linked to the chord chart. If an audio track is not associated to the chord chart, or if this button is tapped and held for two seconds, a menu will appear allowing you to select or deselect an audio track.

  • Metronome

    Tap this button to start or stop a metronome. If a tempo has not been set for the chord chart, or if this button is tapped and held for two seconds, a menu will appear allowing you to specify the tempo.

  • Autoscroll

    Tap this button to start or stop autoscrolling. If a song duration has not been set for the chord chart, or if this button is tapped and held for two seconds, a menu will appear allowing you to specify the duration of the song.

You can turn these buttons on and off and adjust their actions in Settings » Live Bar Options.

Network

Ad-hoc networking allows OnSong to connect with other devices running OnSong in your area. It does this using WiFi and Bluetooth to create a peer-to-peer network between devices. This button allows you to toggle networking on and off.

When off, the icon appears as a dot. When on, the icon appears as a network icon. Turn this on to receive sets and wireless streaming invitations. Otherwise, keep ad-hoc networking turned off to improve network operations such as synching and exporting, as well as battery life. You can also turn networking off if you don't want to receive invitations from other users.

Audio

The Audio Toggle looks like a play button and allows you to start and stop an audio track associated with your chord chart. If an audio track from your iPod library has not been selected, OnSong will display a menu to choose a song from your library (tablet only). You can also tap and hold this button to change the audio track associated with the chord chart.

You can also set the audio track to playback using the Current Song section in the Playback Menu.

Metronome

The Metronome Toggle looks like a metronome and allows you to turn the metronome on and off. If a tempo has not been set for the song, a menu will appear allowing you to set the tempo with a slider (tablet only). You and tap and hold the metronome toggle button to change the tempo.

The tempo pad allows you to slide your finger to the left or right to set the BPM slower or faster. The more quickly you drag your finger, the faster the tempo is set. Drag your finger more slowly for more accurate setting. You can also tap in this area to set the tempo while tapping to the music.

You can also set the tempo using the metronome slider in Playback Menu. Next to this slider you can enter the BPM with the keyboard, or tap a button to set a tempo to the beat of a song. In addition, you can set the tempo in the song using the Tempo: metatag.

Autoscroll

The Autoscroll Toggle looks like a down arrow and allows you to start and stop autoscrolling of the song. Autoscrolling scrolls from the top to the bottom of the song in a predetermined time duration. If this duration is not set, a menu will appear allowing you to set the time of the autoscroll with a slider (tablet only). Tap and hold the autoscroll toggle button to change the duration of the song.

The duration pad allows you to adjust the duration of the song by dragging your finger to the left and right. Moving your finger faster or slower changes the accuracy of the adjustment. You can also tap to the left and right to increment the time by one second.

You can also adjust the autoscroll duration with the song duration slider found in the Playback Menu or with the Duration: metatag.

For more information about autoscrolling, please see the Autoscroll topic.

Hot Corners

Hot corners allow you to map certain functionality to the four corners of the screen. When actions are set, the corners are formed where the Navigation Zones intersect. To configure hot corners, go to Hot Corners under Settings.

Hot corners can be mapped to a number of actions. For a complete list, see .

Our Story

OnSong began as an experimental side-project to see if chord charts could be made digital. Since that time, this project has been contributed to by thousands of musicians from around the world. We want to thank everyone who gives feedback and submits bugs. It helps make OnSong better than we could have ever made it by ourselves.

In early 2010, Jason Kichline was attending a worship team practice. Near the end of the meeting, the worship leader made the announcement that the team needed to "get organized". It meant that the team would be purchasing 3-ring binders, plastic sleeves and making a lot of copies of music. To Jason, this was not an option.

For most of his adult life, Jason designed and built web-based and mobile apps to solve business problems and reduce paper. He was a big believer in the notion that there are better ways than conventional paper forms and copies. When his worship leader made this announcement, he blurted out, "We need to make an app for that". The challenge began.

It was three weeks before the iPad would launch to the public and Jason rushed home that night and started writing the first lines of code of what would become one of the premiere iPad-specific apps on the Apple app store. A week after the iPad went on sale, OnSong appeared in the app store -�one of just 2,000 apps for this device that captured the imagination of the world.

The first versions were buggy, but Jason listened to feedback and passion of his first users. Together they worked through the bugs and added features that formed the robust app you are using today. "I want to have a personal relationship with each one of my users", says Jason "I want to share in their music experience and help make their life easier. If I can do that, then the power of their talent can be heard more clearly".

If you ask Jason about OnSong, you will get a sermon. OnSong was the product of a spiritual transformation that had started for Jason in 2008. It is a work-in-progress, an experiment that has been worked on during his free-time as a ministry. He simply wanted to use his talents to make the world a better place. Today OnSong is used by thousands of musicians around the world.

In 2010, Jason and his wife Jaime, had their first child. In 2011, they welcomed a young girl from South Africa into their home as well. Free time was quickly running out and OnSong began to strain under it's size and popularity. The decision was made to take a risk and do OnSong full-time.

in early 2012, Jason and his wife Jaime left their jobs and formed a company in partnership with 1Christian.net so they could live up to the promise they had made to their users. "There is so much to do and so little time. Taking this step of faith was the only thing that made sense to ensure the vision of OnSong would be achieved", says Jason.

To learn more about OnSong, please visit the website at http://onsongapp.com

Credits

Our goal is to make a product that lets focus on your music and talent by making the organization of your music easier and more convenient.

The following are those individuals who have contributed their time and talents to this project:

Our Staff

  • Jason Kichline - President/Lead Architect
  • Jaime Kichline - Product Manager
  • Rob Winter - Vice President
  • Nick Blackman - UK Region
  • Doug Gould - Northeast US Region

Quality Assurance

  • Alan Field
  • Alex Falcao
  • Andreas Kolisko
  • Art Spiller
  • Benjamin Duk
  • Brian Seong
  • Chris Burke
  • Chris Cleveland
  • David Barr
  • David Figge
  • Dave Goldberg
  • Ed Pooner
  • Eddie Forero
  • Gary Lawhon
  • Gary Rich
  • Giovanni Stefani
  • Greg York
  • Jean-Pierre Cardoso
  • Jeff Huntington
  • Joe Cassara
  • Joshua McClure
  • Kenrick Chin
  • Kerry Getz
  • Les Jones
  • Mark Ginsberg
  • Martin Booth
  • Michael McCann
  • Miguel Alcover
  • Mitch McCarthy
  • Owen Poteat
  • Phil Lesh
  • Rémi Boucher
  • Rena Jonassen
  • Richard Flores
  • Ritchie McCorkindale
  • Rob Shillito
  • Ryan Neves
  • Sean Burgess
  • Sergio Cariello
  • Shaun Williams
  • Stephan Zweers
  • Steven Henderlong
  • Steven Kinchen
  • Trenton Allan

Translations

  • Tiffany Botha - Afrikaans
  • Lagya Horky - Czech
  • Stephan Zweers - Dutch
  • Pierre Allemand - French
  • Lars Eriksson - Swedish
  • Benjamin Helfmann - German
  • Massimo Zambolin - Italian
  • Joshua McClure - Spanish
  • Angela Garland - Spanish
  • Thadeu Soares - Portuguese
  • Alexey Nayden - Russian
  • Ole-Morten Ruud - Norsk (Bokm�l)

Viewing

In OnSong, the primary goal is to view a chord chart so you can play it during practice, or when you perform. This section reviews ways you can quickly get to the songs you want. We will also review changing what you see to fit your needs.

Songs

The core of OnSong is your songs library. You can view songs in the All Songs tab, search, sort and even browse by key, artist and topic. OnSong provide powerful tools that help you keep track of trousands of songs.

Local

OnSong stores your imported and added songs locally on your device. You can access your local library in the Songs menu under the All Songs tab. Tap on the "Local" button at the bottom of the song list.

Remote

With OnSong you have access to thousands and thousands of songs in a remote tab of your library. This makes accessing content even easier than before. For a low subscription rate, you can view these songs, or even download them to your local library. Just tap on the "Remote" tab at the bottom of the songs menu to view and search these titles.

Tapping on a title will show a preview without chords. If you are interested in using the song, sign up for a subscription. Currently OnSong supports Rockin' With The Cross worship songs, but we are working hard to add non-religious works as soon as possible. When this happens, you will be able to choose the repositories you would like to access. Each repository will have a separate subscription rate to cover licenses accordingly.

If you do not want access to these cloud-based chord charts, you can turn the feature off. The first time you access the remote tab, OnSong will provide information on how to disable this feature. You can also disable it by going into Settings > Song Navigation > Show Remote Songs.

Sorting

To sort songs, tap on the sort button in the lower left corner of the menu. This will produce a list of sorting options. Tap on an option to sort the list. OnSong will change the icon of the sort button to indicate the sorting method.

Sorting options include:

  • Title the title of the song
  • Artist the name of the artist
  • Starred starred items appear on top
  • Added newly added songs appear on top
  • Number the number set as a metatag

Searching

OnSong allows you to search the entire contents of songs including lyrics. To search, perform the following:

  1. Locate the search bar by scrolling to the top or tapping the search index on the right
  2. Type your search query into the search bar and tap the "Search" button on the keyboard
  3. OnSong returns matching songs by searching the title, artist and lyrics

It should be noted that OnSong cannot search the contents of imported files unless they have been converted to text. It will search the title of the song however.

Browsing

OnSong provides a number of ways to browse songs. Songs can be browsed by selecting a tab in the Songs menu. These tabs include:

  • All Songs allows you to browse alphabetically through your library by the title of the song, or by sorting on a different song attribute.
  • By Artist allows you to choose an artist and view just their songs.
  • By Key allows you to choose the key of the song and view just those songs.
  • By Topic allows you to create and choose a topic. This will search the song's contents or the keywords set on the song if specified. Keywords allows for more accurate categorization by topic.
  • My Sets Allows you to create and view sets

Sets

Sets allow your to pick songs and place them in a specific order for playing an event. Using the My Sets tab, you can view, create, pick and arrange sets quickly.

The my sets screen allows you to completely manage your set with the following user interface controls:

  • Back Button allows you to organize your sets into folders. Use this to make sets for different bands or venues.
  • Edit Button lets you edit the set and perform additional operations.
  • Set List allows you to pick a set to view or arrange.
  • Sort Button allows you to sort your list of sets by title or by an order you specify. To specify an order, tap on the "Edit" button a use the reordering handles when sorting by custom order.
  • Filter Bar lets you toggle between active and archived sets. Additionally, you can view sets that are stored remotely using the remote tab. When viewing remote sets, tap on them to view, or tap the cloud icon to download the set and it's songs to your local library.
  • Add Button lets you add a new set.
    • .

Creating

To create a new set, tap on the "+" button in the lower right corner of the My Sets tab in the Songs Menu. This will prompt you for the date of your set, as well as an optional name and folders in which the set should be placed. Once entered, OnSong will create a set. Tap on the name of the set to view the set or to pick and arrange songs.

Folders allow you to organize your sets by venue, band, or any other method that helps you stay organized. From the folders option on the create sets screen you can choose existing folders, or create new ones.

OnSong will automatically report song usage for new sets with dates, or sets that you return to configure a date. Song reports can be accessed under the Utilities Menu in the Song Reporting editor.

Picking

Songs are easy to add to a set list. Just tap the "+" button on the right side of the bottom toolbar. This displays the song picker, allowing you to easily add or "pick" songs for your set. If you have books, an intermediate screen is displayed prompting you to decide which book you would like to pick songs from.

Tap on a song to select it. OnSong places a checkmark next to the songs that are to be added to the set. Tap again to unselect it by removing the checkmark. When you have selected the songs you wish to add to the set, tap the "Done" button. New songs will be added to your set.

Arranging

You can arrange songs in your set alphabetically, randomly, or in an order you choose. Tap on the sort button in the lower left corner to change the sort mode. In alphabetic mode, the songs are listed sorted by their title. In the random mode, OnSong will temporarily randomize the songs in the set. Each time you choose the random sort option, the order changes. Choose the custom order to show songs in the order you want to play them. Tap on the "Edit" button to change the order of the songs by dragging the reorder handle to the right side of each songs. Tap the "Done" button to save your changes.

Viewing

A set contains songs to be displayed by OnSong. To view a set, tap on the "My Sets" tab in the Songs Menu to view a list of sets. Tap on the name of the set to view it. From this screen you may also pick songs for the set, change the order of the songs, or perform more advanced actions related to songs contained in a set. Tapping on the name of the song will display it in the Song Viewer.

Editing

When viewing your list of sets, use the edit button to place sets in a custom order, remove sets, or to perform more advanced functions. When in edit mode, tap on the name of the set to perform one of the following actions:

  • Delete Set permanently deletes the set, retaining songs in your local library unless they were shared from another device.
  • Archive/Unarchive Set archives or unarchives the set.
  • Shuffle Set randomly shuffles the order of the songs in the set.
  • Rename Set allows you to rename the set.
  • Duplicate Set makes a copy of the set and the songs contained in it. Use the rename function to change the name.
  • Add Set To Folder adds the selected set to a folder.
  • Add Songs To Book adds the songs contained in the set to a book.

    • Editing Songs

    When viewing a set you can tap the edit button to change the order of the songs in your set. Sort your songs by custom order and then drag the reorder handle on the right to place it. You can also remove the song from the set by tapping on the delete icon on the left. You can remove songs from the set at anytime by swiping left to right over the name of the song. By tapping on the name of the song, you can perform more advanced options including:

    • Edit Song opens the song editor allowing you to make changes to the song.
    • Duplicate Song allows you to have the same song in the same set more than once.
    • Archive Song saves a full archive version of the song to iTunes file sharing.

Importing

OnSong provides many ways to import your music into your digital library. Access chord charts from web-based sources or import your own files. OnSong supports a wide array of file types as well as conversion tools to make the most out of OnSong.

iTunes File Sharing

You may have a lot of chord charts available on your computer. You can use iTunes File Sharing to add these songs directly to OnSong. To do this, open up iTunes on your computer. Connect your device with the USB cord. In iTunes, select your device on the left side under "Devices". Go to the "Apps" tab and scroll down to the "File Sharing" section. Pick "OnSong" on the left, and drag files into the area on the right. Once complete, you may optionally disconnect the cable and then open OnSong.

Tap "iTunes File Sharing" as the source from which to import. OnSong will present a list of all the songs that are contained in iTunes file sharing on your device. Place a checkmark next to the songs you wish to import and then tap the "Import" button. OnSong will add these to your library and provide you with a status of the progress. You may also use the "Select All" and "Deselect All" button to make this process faster.

Watch our video tutorial on importing files from iTunes File Sharing.

For more details about the types of formats supported by OnSong, see Supported File Types.

Internet

You can add songs directly from the Internet. When you tap this option, you are presented with a screen to search for a song. Type in some keywords and then tap "Search". This will use the Bing search engine to peruse the configured web site and display those results. Tap the magnifying class icon on the left of the songs in the list to preview converted contents. When you have found the songs you wish to import, place a checkmark next to each and tap "Import". Once the songs have been downloaded and converted, they will appear in your song list.

OnSong uses chordie.com as its source for songs over the Internet. Since this is music found on the Internet, you will need to be responsible for obtaining the necessary licenses for use from the publishers. You may change the web site that OnSong searches under Internet Settings in Import Options of OnSong settings.

Note: This option is only available if you are connected to the Internet and a source has been configured.

Rockin' With The Cross

We've partnered with Rockin' With The Cross to bring you access to thousands of quality, licensed chord charts. Search and browse through our collection. You will need to sign into your Rockin' With The Cross account in order to import songs and to access songs in the Remote tab in the songs menu.

For more details about Rockin' With The Cross or to sign up, please visit /rwtc/.

SongSelect

Many churches have a membership to CCLI SongSelect. OnSong provides in-app access to their mobile web site where members can search and download lyrics or PDF versions of the chord charts. PDF files can be viewed "as-is" in OnSong but are limited in their functionality due to the PDF format. For best results, we recommend using a text-based chord chart provider.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a free service that allows you to store and share files on the Internet. To use Dropbox in OnSong, you will first need an account. To obtain a Dropbox account, please visit http://dropbox.com.

You can add songs from your Dropbox account with this option. Tapping this source will prompt you for your Dropbox account information. Once entered, you can use the screen to navigate your Dropbox files and folders. Place a checkmark next to each song you wish to import and then tap the "Import" button. You can use the "Select All" and "Deselect All" button to for faster selection of songs. If you need to sign into another account, tap the "Sign Out" button and try again.

Other

OnSong supports connecting to remote sources using other protocols such as FTP, WebDAV and Amazon S3. Tapping the "Other" option will take you to a screen where you can create new sources that OnSong can use to import, export and synchronize with. See Configuring Sources for more details.

Configuring Sources

Sources in OnSong are other ways to import, export and synchronize songs. For instance, you may have your collection of songs on an FTP website that you run and would like to pull from that resource. You can configure a source to attach to that FTP site.

To configure a source, choose "Other" when importing, exporting or synchronizing. This will bring you to a screen where you can choose a source. Tap on the "+" button in the upper right. From here you can configure a new source with the following fields:

  • Title is a name you will call your source. This is what appears in the sources list and should be meaningful to you.
  • Type is the type of storage protocol used. Your options include:
    • FTP or file transfer protocol is a popular format for accessing file-based resources.
    • Amazon S3 or Amazon Simple Storage Service is a way to store many files in the cloud at reasonable cost. This protocol requires secret keys and access keys making it more adept for infrastructure needs.
    • WebDAV or Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning, is a web-based format that replaces FTP.
  • Host/Bucket When you have FTP or WebDAV selected, this is the domain name or IP address of the server you are connecting to. When connecting to Amazon S3, this will be the bucket in which you place your files.
  • Path In some cases, you may want to access a subdirectory of a resource instead of the root of the resource. Specify the path here.
  • Use SSL Some connections require a secure connection. Enable this to perform secure file transfers. This does not work for the FTP source type.
  • Authenticate? Determine if the user must authenticate to the given resource. Usually this is the case. Turn this on to pass the username and password to the resource for authentication.
  • Username or Access Key This is the username, email address or access key of the authenticating user.
  • Password or Secret Key This is the password or secret key used to authenticate the user.

FTP

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is a standard way to work with files on the Internet. You can access files you may have shared on an FTP server.

WebDAV

WebDAV stands for web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning and is being used more and more to replace FTP to work with files on the web. You can use a WebDAV server to access your song files from OnSong.

Amazon S3

Amazon's S3 stands for Simple Storage Service and is used to store files on the cloud. You will need to sign up for an account to use Amazon S3 which you can do here. You can configure OnSong to access files in your bucket by supplying your access key and secret key.

Supported File Types

OnSong works best with text-based chord charts. Here are the file types that OnSong can read and use as text, giving you the features you expect like formatting, transposing, chord detection and lyrics projection.

OnSong

The OnSong file format is a simple text file written in a certain way to derive musical meaning from the text. It is human-readable and as close to a plain text file as possible.

ChordPro

The ChordPro file format is a text file that contains metatags in curly braces and chords in square brackets. This allows authors to apply musical meaning to the song in a format that is easy to edit.

For more information on this format, please see the ChordPro File Format topic.

Plain Text

May chord charts are made available in just plain-text file formats. OnSong can usually bring functionality to these charts since the OnSong file format follows many conventions used in plain-text file formats. For instance, OnSong will use the first line of a song as the title and the second line as the artist name. It also divides a song into sections using blank lines and recognizes chords placed on a separate line above lyrics. You can import these files and then finesse the text to better suite your needs.

OpenSong

OpenSong is a free, open-source software application available on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux to manage lyrics, chords, lead sheets, overheads, computer projection, and more. It saves files in an XML-based file format which OnSong can automatically convert into it's own format. OnSong can also export files as OpenSong XML for complete interoperability.

To learn more about OpenSong, please visit their website at http://www.opensong.org.

SongSelect USR

USR is a type of file format offered by CCLI through the SongSelect service is also called SongSelect. These SongSelect files are plain text files with a format similar to INI files and have the extension USR. OnSong can read and automatically convert these files into the OnSong file format for use in OnSong.

To learn more about CCLI SongSelect, please visit their website at http://www.songselect.com.

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.

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 extract text from the document 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.

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.

Rich Text Format

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.

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 those files to text.

For more information about Pages, please visit the website at http://www.apple.com/iwork/pages.

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 website at http://www.openoffice.org

HyperText Markup Language

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Writing

Your song files are stored either as a text-based chord chart or as an imported file such as PDF or Word document. This section reviews how you can convert, edit and adjust your song content to make the most out of OnSong

Adding

OnSong is a great tool for writing your own music. To write your own music, simply tap on the "+" button in the songs menu and choose "New Song" under the "Add" section. This will open the Song Editor with a sample song.

To write your own song, delete the sample and write your text in the OnSong File Format or ChordPro File Format. This will give you the best results in OnSong.

Converting

OnSong is designed to work best with text-based chord charts. However, most musicians have their music available in other formats. Whether you are using PDF, Word or scanned music, OnSong can help you in the transition to text-based chord charts.

Out of the gate, you can import your digital files and view them in OnSong. In fact, any format that the iPad can view, OnSong can view as well. However, you will have a degraded user experience with these files. This is because they can consume more system resources to view and will not have the same features as text-based chord charts. This is because these formats do not allow us to access and manipulate the underlying meaning in the songs. You can unlock this potential by converting your music to text.

The Song Editor contains a conversion toolbar that can help in this process. View the song you wish to convert and then open the song editor. At the bottom will appear a toolbar containing a "Convert File" button. Tap on the button to convert the file. If you are using a word processing document, OnSong can convert this song quickly in the app. If you are using a graphics or image file like certain PDF documents or scanned images, OnSong uses optical character recognition to make the conversion possible.

It's important to note that converted files will require editing to work best with OnSong. If you don't want to perform this editing right away, turn on the "Use Imported File" switch. This lets you toggle between the text version of the song and the imported file. You can also revert the conversion if you are not pleased with the results.

For more information on converting files to text, please watch our video tutorial.

Editing

OnSong uses plain text files to create chord charts. This means they are easy to create in a variety of programs. OnSong also includes a Song Editor where you can make changes. Some people find it easier to edit files on a computer or laptop and then import into OnSong.

You can write music in the OnSong File Format or the ChordPro File Format. Both are similar with subtle syntax variations.

Metatags

Metatags are a way to provide information about a song and is expressed in a metadata section. Metadata is normally 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 follow 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...

OnSong support the following metatags:

  • Title: The title of the song
  • Artist: The artist name or any other byline information
  • Key: The key of the song --�alphabetic, major or minor
  • 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 -- 3/4
  • Duration: The song length for autoscroll --�seconds or mm:ss
  • Flow: The arrangement of sections --�list of section labels. See Flow for details on arranging the flow of a song.
  • Book: The name of the book to place the song into
  • Number: The number of the song -- numeric, use for hymns, years, etc
  • Keywords: or Topic The list of tags to�use with topic search. See Topics for more information on browsing by topic.
  • Copyright: The copyright information of the song
  • CCLI: The CCLI number of the song
  • Restrictions: The rights management for the song Comma-delimited list of restrictions. See Restrictions for details on setting restrictions for your song.

Metatags are not case sensitive

Sections

The OnSong file format allows you to create different section to your music. These sections are defined by inserting a blank line between each section. 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.

Each section contains Chords and Lyrics.

Labels

Each section can be labeled wih a name. You can label your sections by typing a name on the first line of the section followed by a colon and then make a new line. This appears above the lyrics in a bold typeface and can also be used to arrange the flow of your song using Flow. The named section continues until another label is encountered, allowing you to divide a section into two parts.

Instructions

You may want to provide musicians with instructions that you don't want to appear for lyrics projection. OnSong allows you to surround text on a line with parenthesis. This text will appear in a different color and not be output for lyrics projection. You can adjust the color of musical instructions with the Instructions Color option in Settings » Display Settings.

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 it's 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 the standard method 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 uses 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.

Comments

If you want to create comments in your song that will not appear on the screen, prefix the line with a "#" symbol.

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.

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.

Defining Chords

OnSong has the ability to display chord diagrams for chords found in in text-based chord charts. By default, OnSong finds the default variation of the font from chord diagrams defined in the Tablature Editor. 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}

The 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 is the fret on which the chord diagram begins. All frets are relative to this base fret.
  • frets is 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 is currently not supported. 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 OnSong chord dictionary, 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.

Restrictions

Restrictions are great for songwriters who want to share their work with others. Using a metatag, you can set restrictions on what your song can't do. Once your restrictions are set, you lock them in place using the same mechanism. Here is a sample of how to declare restrictions:

Restrictions: Upload, Distribute, Rights

Here is a list of restrictions that can be set using a metatag:

  • Edit Cannot open the song editor
  • Print Cannot be printed
  • Export Cannot be exported
  • Share Cannot be shared wirelessly
  • Email Cannot be emailed
  • Upload Cannot be uploaded to a server
  • Project Cannot use lyrics projection
  • Distribute Cannot distribute the song
  • Rights Cannot alter the rights
  • None Removes all restrictions

OnSong strives be a good citizen to the music community. We want artists and songwriters to be rewarded for their work.

ChordPro Format

The ChordPro file format is common format used in other software applications. OnSong understands this format natively. The ChordPro format allows for song information to be expressed in tags delinated by curly braces. The following are metatags supported by OnSong's implementation of the format:

  • title or t is the title of the song
  • subtitle, st or su is the artist name or any other byline information
  • album or a is the name of the album where the song is located
  • artist: The artist name or any other byline information
  • key: The key of the song --�alphabetic, major or minor
  • 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 -- 3/4
  • duration: The song length for autoscroll --�seconds or mm:ss
  • flow: The arrangement of sections --�list of section labels. See Flow for details on arranging the flow of a song.
  • comment or c defines a comment and appears as a musical instruction
  • guitar_comment or gc defines a comment that appears as a musical instruction
  • 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.
  • define used to define custom chord diagrams. See Defining Chords for more information.
  • copyright specifies copyright information
  • footer specifies footer text to appear at the bottom of the page or lyrics projection.
  • book: The name of the book to place the song into
  • number: The number of the song -- numeric, use for hymns, years, etc
  • keywords: The list of tags to�use with topic search. See Topics for more information on browsing by topic.
  • ccli: The CCLI number of the song
  • restrictions: The rights management for the song Comma-delimited list of restrictions. See Restrictions for details on setting restrictions for your song.
  • 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.

For more information on the ChordPro file format, please see ChordPro Song File Format Reference.

Sharing

Music is a social activity and OnSong helps you to share with your band mates for practice and performance. Once you have your set list ready, you can share it with your team in many ways including wirelessly. You can also share your songs as you perform to an audience using built-in lyrics projection.

Sharing is limited by restrictions placed on songs. OnSong respects copyrights that allow creative individuals to be rewarded for their hard work and talent. Join with us and help creativity flourish!

Exporting

Exporting files lets your easily save your currently selected song or set as files. To get started, select a song from the songs menu, or a set from the sets tab. Then tap the sharing icon and choose to export.

Export Screen

The export screen allows you to choose the export format for your songs. This page contains the following areas, mentioned from the bottom up:

Location Icon

In the lower right corner is a button that allows you to change where files are to be exported. By default, files are exported to iTunes File Sharing where you can retrieve them using iTunes. Tapping this button let's you choose from iTunes, Dropbox or Other. Choosing the other option will require you to Configure Sources.

If you choose Dropbox, you will be prompted to sign in (if you haven't done so already) and navigate your online repository to the folder where you would like to export your song files. Once you find the folder, tap the "Choose" button in the upper right. You can use the "Sign Out" button on the bottom to log out of your repository, or use the "+" button to add a new folder. You can also swipe left to right on any item in the navigation area to delete that folder or file.

Song Picker

OnSong will automatically choose the songs viewable in the song viewer to export. If you want to change this, tap on the icon second from the right that looks like a stack of papers. This will give you a song picker, allowing you to change the songs that are exported.

Single File

The Single File toggle button allows you to specify if each song in the set should be saved as a separate file, or as a single file. For instance, if you choose to export a PDF with Single File turned on, one PDF file is created containing all the songs in the order of the set. This has no effect if you have only one song selected.

Original Key

The Original Key toggle button allows you to specify if the songs should be exported in their original key rather than the currently active transposition.

Lyrics Only

The Lyrics Only toggle button allows you determine if chords are displayed in the exported file or not. This is applied to any file type exported, except the OnSong Backup and Song List.

Formats

The main area of this Export Page features the file formats that OnSong supports for export. You may select one or more formats to export and then tap the "Export" button in the upper right. It is important to note that OnSong will not convert external files that have not been converted, opting instead to export them as-is.

Below are the supported formats:

  • Adobe PDF Generates a file that is readable on many devices and is a print-ready representation of the chord sheet as seen on the iPad screen. The file extension is (.pdf)
  • OnSong This is the native format of OnSong. It is a simple text format with chords surrounded by square brackets. The file extension is (.onsong)
  • ChordPro This format is used on a number of programs and is similar to the OnSong format. It places its metadata in curly braces and chords in square brackets. The file extension is (.chordpro)
  • OpenSong This format is used by a variety of open source lyrics and music programs. It stores metadata in XML and lyrics and chords as plain text. Chord lines are delineated by a period at the beginning of the line. The file extension is (.xml)
  • HTML File This format is great for viewing on web browsers. It's format is similar to what is viewed on the OnSong app, but built to be compatible with a variety of browser technologies in a print-friendly format. The file extension is (.html)
  • Text File This is a plain text file. It is similar to the OnSong format, but chords are placed on lines above the text instead of inline. The file extension is (.txt)
  • Song List The song list is an HTML file containing the list of the songs in the set. This includes the song name and key in the order they appear in the set. The file extension is (.html)
  • OnSong Archive This file format retains all the formatting and metadata about the set or song. It is not readable with software other than OnSong.
  • OnSong Backup This file is not limited to the current song or set, but rather is a backup file containing your entire OnSong library. This is actually a ZIP file with a (.backup) file extension. The ZIP file contains the OnSong.sqlite3 file as well as a copy of all the external files that have been imported.

Export Button

Once a format has been selected, you can tap the "Export" button. The progress indicates the files that have been written to the export source. When finished, the export page will close. You can cancel the export process at any time using the "Cancel" button,

Emailing

Emailing allows you to send the currently selected song or set list to an email address. You simply choose the format to send. You can also specify if you want to email lyrics only, if you want to combine songs into a single file and if you want to email the songs in their original keys. Files are attached to an email message and the song list is written as a bulleted list in the email message body.

Email Screen

The email page allows you to choose the format used to email your songs. It also has toggle buttons to adjust how the attachment is generated,

Lyrics only

This toggle button allows you determine if chords are displayed in the emailed file.

As a single file

This toggle button allows you to specify if each song in the set should be emailed as separate files, or as a single file. For instance, if you choose to email a PDF with Single File turned on, one PDF file is attached containing all the songs in the order of the set. This has no effect if you have only one song selected.

Original key

This button allows you to determine if the song is emailed in it's original key, or in the key that it has been transposed into.

Formats

The main area of this screen features the file formats that OnSong supports for emailing. Simply tap on a format and OnSong creates an email message and opens the email composer. From there you can specify recipients or customize your message. It is important to note that OnSong will not convert external files that have not been converted, opting instead to email them as-is.

Below are the supported formats:

  • Adobe PDF Generates a file that is readable on many devices and is a print-ready representation of the chord sheet as seen on the iPad screen. The file extension is (.pdf)
  • OnSong This is the native format of OnSong. It is a simple text format with chords surrounded by square brackets. The file extension is (.onsong)
  • ChordPro This format is used on a number of programs and is similar to the OnSong format. It places its metadata in curly braces and chords in square brackets. The file extension is (.chordpro)
  • OpenSong This format is used by a variety of open source lyrics and music programs. It stores metadata in XML and lyrics and chords as plain text. Chord lines are delineated by a period at the beginning of the line. The file extension is (.xml)
  • HTML File This format is great for viewing on web browsers. It's format is similar to what is viewed on the OnSong app, but built to be compatible with a variety of browser technologies in a print-friendly format. The file extension is (.html)
  • Text File This is a plain text file. It is similar to the OnSong format, but chords are placed on lines above the text instead of inline. The file extension is (.txt)
  • Song List This is a list of the songs in the current set. If the user is viewing a single song, this becomes a list of your entire OnSong library. This file is HTML and contains the name, artist, key and other important information about the song.
  • OnSong Archive This file format retains all the formatting and metadata about the set or song. It is not readable with software other than OnSong.
  • OnSong Backup This file is not limited to the current song or set, but rather is a backup file containing your entire OnSong library. This is actually a ZIP file with a (.backup) file extension. The ZIP file contains the OnSong.sqlite3 file as well as a copy of all the external files that have been imported.

Socially

Social sharing allows you to post your set list to Twitter. In iOS 6, OnSong will support posting to Facebook as well. This uses built-in sharing panels that list a number of songs and attaches a link to full details about the set.

Posting to social media does require you to active the service in your device's settings and have a valid user account.

You can customize what displays on the link attached to your post under Settings » Social.

Printing

OnSong provides support for AirPrint, the wireless and configuration-free way to print using iOS 4.2. To print, your current song or set just select to print out of the sharing menu. OnSong will then display the AirPrint dialog. This let's you pick a printer, and the number of copies to print.

Selecting a Printer

Perhaps the most challenging part about printing from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch is setting up a printer. Currently, AirPrint is only officially supported on a handful of printers from HP, featuring ePrint technology. Contact your local Apple store to get a printer that is right for you.

If you wish to print from a printer attached to an Apple OS computer, you can download and install a program called Printopia This program will allow any printer attached to the computer running that software to be accessible via AirPrint.

It is expected that Apple will open support for AirPrint to printers connected to Windows and OS X computers running iTunes soon.

Beam

Beaming allows you to send the current set or song to other OnSong-enabled devices in your proximity. This feature uses both Bluetooth and WiFi to transmit information to other band members. For best results, make sure Bluetooth is turned on in your device settings.

To get started, tap on the "Beam" option in the share menu to open the wireless sharing screen. This screen will display devices that are connected to the ad-hoc OnSong wireless network. If devices do not appear on this list, make sure they have ad-hoc networking enabled in the Live Bar. This is the upper-left button that looks like a dot when turned off. In some cases, you may need to tap on the refresh button to recycle the network and attach to devices.

Once devices appear on the screen, ensure there is a checkmark next to each device you would like to send the set to. Tap on the "Share" button in the upper-right corner to send your set or song to users.

Each user will receive a notification to accept the song or set. Tapping "Accept" will display the set or song that was shared. It should be noted that by default, OnSong does not permit songs to be copied into the recipient's library due to copyright laws. If you are certain that you have obtained the right to distribute copyrighted works with your team, you may change this behavior in Settings » Sharing and Rights.

When not sharing sets, turn off ad-hoc networking to prevent unsolicted OnSong requests and to improve networking performance and battery life.

Stream

OnSong uses a featured called "OnCue" to wirelessly stream what appears on your screen to other iOS-compatible devices running OnSong. This feature uses the OnSong ad-hoc network over Bluetooth and WiFi. For best results, make sure you have Bluetooth turned on in your device settings.

To get started, make sure each user is attached to the OnSong ad-hoc network. Each user should enabled ad-hoc networking in their Live Bar which is found in the lower-right corner of the screen. The networking button looks like a dot when turned off and a networking icon when turned on. You can also see who is available on the network by opening the wireless sharing window. See Beam for more details.

Tap on the "Start OnCue" option in the Share Menu. This will send an invitation to all attached devices. Upon accepting this invitation, OnSong will take over their screens, displaying the song on the master device. As the "master" changes songs, navigates the song or makes formatting changes, all screens will update accordingly. It can take a few moments for OnSong to deliver these changes to the other devices.

It should be noted that wireless networking quality can effect the operation of song streaming. Many external factors such as wireless microphone systems, number of Bluetooth and WiFi networking devices and other environmental factors can controbute to a degradation of networking performance.

Organizing

OnSong uses a number of ways to help you organize your collection of chord charts. Learn more about books, folders, searching, browsing, sorting and more.

Books

Books allow you to organize your collection of song into smaller pieces for manageability. To manage books, tap on the "Books" button in the upper-left corner of the songs menu. This screen contains the following elements:

  • Edit Button allows you to edit individual books. In addition to deleting books or providing a custom sort order, you can also perform advanced functions by tapping on the name of the book. Actions include:
    • Delete Book and Songs permanently deletes the book and all of the songs that are contained within the book, unless they are contained in another book.
    • Remove Book removes the book from the list without deleting any songs.
    • Rename Book allows you to rename the book
    • Export Songs opens the Export Screen with the songs contained in the book marked for export.
    • Pick Songs lets you choose which songs are contained in the book using a checklist.
  • All Songs category displays all songs independent of which book they are placed within.
  • Unbound Songs displays only songs that have not yet been placed in a book. This is useful when organizing your songs into books.
  • Book List lets you choose a book to view. Songs contained in the book are displayed in the songs menu.
  • Sort Button lets you sort books either alphabetically or in a custom order. Use the edit button to display a reordering handle on the right to place books in an order you desire.
  • Add Button allows you to add a new book.

Folders

Folders allow you to organize sets a variety of ways. For instance, you may want to place sets in a folder depending on a band you play in or for a particular venue. To get to the folder list, tap on the "Folders" or "Back" button in the sets list in the "My Sets" tab. From there you can view, add and manage them.

Folders List

The main part of the screen lists your folders. There's an option that will always appear in this list called "All Sets". This is a way to view every set independent of the folder it was placed in. Tap on a folder or the All Sets option to view those sets.

Adding Folders

To add a folder, tap on the "+" button on the right side of the toolbar beneath the folders list. This will prompt you to name your folder. When done, tap on the name of the folder to begin adding sets. You may already have sets that you want to place in the folder you just created which you can do by editing the list of folders.

Editing Folders

Tap on the "Edit" button in the upper right of the screen. This will place your list of folders into edit mode, allowing you to perform various functions on each folder. Use the delete icon on the left to delete the folder. You can also tap on the name of the folder to perform other actions:

  • Delete Folder deletes the selected folder. This will not delete the sets contained in the folder. You will need to delete sets from the All Sets list to permanently delete them.
  • Pick Sets allows you to place existing sets into the folder. This will display a set picker where you can place a checkmark next to the sets to add to the folder.
  • Rename Folder allows you to change the name of the folder while retaining it's contents.

Sorting Folders

You can sort folders either alphabetically or in an order you choose. Tap on the sort button on the left of the toolbar. This will toggle between alphabetical sorting and custom sorting. When custom sorting is selected, you can change the order of the folders by tapping on the "Edit" button. Use the reordering handles to the right of the folder name to drag the folder where you would like it to be. Tap the "Done" button to save your changes.

Starring

OnSong's simplest form of annotation is to star or unstar a song. This is a quick way to find songs you like or ones you need to practice later.

When viewing a song, tap the "star" icon in the menu bar to star it. The star button will show as enabled. Tap again to unstar the song. These stars appear in the song menu and you can also sort by the starred attribute.

We will be adding additional star colors in the future.

Sticky Notes

Sticky notes are a way of annotating your music. Use them to inform your team of who intros a song or who the song dynamic should go. Simply add a new sticky note from the menu bar. Enter the text of your note and then use your finger to move it around the page. To delete the note, tap it and either touch the trash icon, or open up the note editor and use the delete icon.

Topics

Topics allow you to browse songs that match a specific keyword or tag. To use, simply tap the "+" button in the lower-right corner and create a new topic. Tap on the name of the topic in the list to return a list of songs containing that keyword in the content of the song.

To further refine topics, use the Keywords: or 

Topic:
metatag in the Song Editor. When keywords are used, OnSong will use these instead of doing a full text search in topics. This provides for a faster and more accurate retrieval of songs.

Performing

OnSong is built for performance by reducing your song sheets to one simple device. This section provides tips on how to make the most out of OnSong by using low light mode, sets, foot pedals and more.

Autoscroll

OnSong has the capability to auto scroll through a song. This goes from the top of the page to the bottom over a period of time. This period of time is set as the duration of the song. OnSong originally used the tempo of the song to determine the scroll speed, but this proved complicated to adjust for most users. You now set the duration of the song in the Playback Menu, by long pressing the autoscroll button in the Live Bar, or by adding the "Duration" metatag in the Song Editor.

Starting and Stopping Autoscroll

Autoscrolling can be toggled on and off using the down arrow icon in the Live Bar in the lower right of the screen. Once scrolling reaches the end of the song, it stops. At any time, you may navigate the song, and scrolling will continue to run until it reaches the end of the page. Autoscroll is also turned off when you navigate to another song.

Indicators

OnSong features colored bars on the side of the page that help you visually located where you are on the scrolling page. There are two indicators. The first is a solid color and indicates your approximate location on the page. The second is faded and indicates the section of the song that is currently active. This is useful if you are projecting lyrics while autoscrolling the song.

Triggers

Autoscrolling can also trigger other actions to occur such as starting an audio backing track or the metronome. You can configure this in Live Bar Options in OnSong settings.

Backing Tracks

One great feature is the ability to link a song in your iTunes library with a chord chart. This allows you to play back the audio all while having access to the chord chart.

Backing tracks are automatically associated to chord charts based on an exact match of the song title. OnSong also uses artist and album information to further refine that association.

You can play a backing track through either the Playback Menu or through the Audio Toggle Button in the Live Bar.

Foot Pedals

OnSong integrates with a number of different foot pedals to make for a hands-free experience. When you're on stage, your hands are busy with playing music. By tapping on a foot pedal, OnSong can scroll the currently viewed song and navigate to other songs in the set. Now you can also map OnSong actions to other features like starting and stopping backing tracks, transposing a song up and down, and much more.

To configure foot pedals, you use the Foot Pedal Control options under Settings.

OnSong recommends the following foot pedals:

  • AirTurn BT-105 is an all-in-one unit that is wireless, compact, rechargable and also features an "eject keyboard" mode that allows you to simultaneously use the on-screen keyboard with the foot pedal. The BT-105 is expandable to four foot switches.
  • PageFlip Cicada is a lower cost Bluetooth that is a wireless and compact two-pedal unit.
  • Bili Page Turner is a low cost USB foot pedal that works with the Apple Camera Connection kit. It's great for users who don't want to use Bluetooth for a simple plug-and-play installation.

Low Light Mode

OnSong typically displays music as a white page with black text. When used on stage with low light, it can create light noise on stage. In addition, this brightness can be hard on the eyes. Turn on low light mode in OnSong to invert the screen for stage use.

To turn low light mode on, go into Settings, Display Settings and turn on Low Light Mode. In addition, you can toggle the Invert Menus option to turn the menus black with white text as well.

Lyrics Projection

OnSong not only display chord charts on stage, but can be used to output lyrics to an audience with an optional video adapter. In addition, you can use an Apple TV and AirPlay to stream lyrics to an HDMI video device. This makes OnSong an all-in-one solution for musicians.

To use lyrics projection connect an external video device of your choice:

  • VGA using a VGA Adapter.
  • HDMI using a Digital A/V Adapter.
  • AirPlay using an Apple TV. To use AirPlay, double press your device's home button and swipe to the left. Turn on AirPlay and enable mirroring. This requires an iPad 2 and higher, or an iPhone 4s or higher.

Once connected, OnSong should automatically start displaying lyrics. Tap on the section of lyrics in the song viewer to display. You can also adjust video output options in the External Video Menu.

For more advanced options, see Settings » External Video.

Be sure to acquire a license for publically performing music. OnSong does not license you to use copyrighted works in a public setting.

Screen Mirroring

OnSong is a great tool to help bring your paper chord charts into the future with digital display technology. However it costs a lot of money to outfit an entire band with tablet devices. In addition, it is hard to keep everyone on the same page when they are using their own device. using external video devices and screen mirroring, you can extend your library to an entire stage for the fraction of the price of individual tablets.

To use screen mirroring, connect an external video device of your choice:

  • VGA using a VGA Adapter.
  • HDMI using a Digital A/V Adapter.
  • AirPlay using an Apple TV. To use AirPlay, double press your device's home button and swipe to the left. Turn on AirPlay and enable mirroring. This requires an iPad 2 and higher, or an iPhone 4s or higher.

Once connected, open the External Video Menu and choose screen mirroring mode. This is the button under projection preview to the far right. Once on, your chord charts will appear on the external device. Use a VGA or HDMI splitter to power multiple monitors on-stage or display chords on the back wall with a projector.

For more advanced options such as locking the screen rotation or choosing a specific resolution, see Settings » External Video.

Learning

Not every musician is an expert. In fact, you should always be learning ways to improve your artistic expression. OnSong provides ways to help you learn new things. Use OnSong to discover new ways to play chords, even on completely different instruments.

Discover Music

Music is all around us and OnSong help emmerse you to music. As a musician you know that music is so much more than something that can be passively listened to, but rather is something you want to actively participate with. OnSong lets you search a number of repositories of music for chord charts and connects these songs to your iPod library allowing you to seamlessly prepare, practice and perform your favorite songs.

Use the Playback Menu to find iTunes albums that match your chord chart and link your music to audio versions. We hope to integrate with other music services in the future.

OnSong believes that great music comes from a healthy creative ecosystem. To this end, we respect and encourage our users to respect copyrights. Make sure you purchase your music and be legal. In doing this, you help give back to the songwriters, artists and managers that provide us with inspiration.

Chord Inspector

The chord inspector allows you to tap on a chord or chord diagram in the chord chart to view different ways to play the chord on various instruments. Tap on a chord to open the inspector.

The main portion of the screen is filled with diagrams on how to play the chord on various instruments. Use the tab bar at the bottom to switch between different instruments such as guitar, piano, 4-string bass, 5-string bass, ukulele, mandolin and banjo. As you select a different instrument it appears in the title bar of the inspector.

You can scroll through the variations of the chord by swiping left to right (up and down on handheld devices). Tap on a chord diagram to select it as the default variation for the current song. Once the chord inspector is closed, tablature drawn on the page will be updated with the new variation.

The navigation bar may have a button that looks like a on/off speaker. Turn on the button to allow for chord playback as you select a chord diagram. This requires Sound Banks which are downloaded separately. Chord playback is controlled by the settings in the Chord Playback Options in settings.

You may also be able to edit the chord by tapping an "Edit" button (not available on handheld devices). This will open the Tablature Editor to add, remove, edit or reorder the chord variations.

When done using the chord inspector, you can tap on the chord chart for tablets or tap on the "Close" button on handheld devices.

Chord Playback

OnSong lets you know only visualize chords with full tablature diagrams, but also lets you hear those chords. To do this, you'll need to first download soundbanks. Soundsbanks can be acquired by going into the Utilities Menu » Add-Ons.

Once soundbanks are installed you can play the chord by tapping on a chord in the Song Viewer to open the Chord Inspector. Tap on the speaker icon in the upper left corner to turn sound on. Tap on a variation in the chord inspector to hear how that chord sounds. You can also playback a chord in the Tablature Editor.

To control how OnSong plays chords, see Settings » Chord Playback.

Metronome

OnSong comes with a metronome built-in so you can keep in time with the music as you view the chords. Simply set the tempo of the song in the Playback Menu, in the Live Bar or using the Tempo: metatag.

In addition to an audio metronome, OnSong also implements a visual metronome by blinking the menu bar in time with the beat. You can set a time signature to your song to see and hear the down beat as well. You can use the Playback Menu or Time: metatag to effect the downbeat.

Use Settings » Metronome to change the visual colors of the metronome or change the sound samples.

Settings

Every musician is as different as the types and styles of music we play. To accommodate all of these preferences, OnSong features a number of ways to configure OnSong to work for you. This section describes each setting and how you can use them to make OnSong work for you.

About

The about section of settings tells you information about OnSong. This shows you the version number.

Font Settings

The font settings section gives you control over the default values used to format songs. The following defines each setting:

  • Font Family This is the default font when rendering the chord chart.
  • Font Size This is the default font size when rendering the chord chart.
  • Chord Size This is the default size of chords when rendering the chord chart.
  • Chord Highlight This provides a list of common chord highlight colors to use as default.
  • Chord Color This allows you to set the default text color of chords.
  • Bold Chords This determines if song sheets should bold chords by default.

Display Settings

The display settings section contains default settings for how chord charts should appear. This includes the following options:

  • Separate Set/Song Styles Allows you to have separate display preferences for songs in sets. When turned on you can have your original song in your all songs library. When you add this song to a set, it carried over your display preferences, notes, key, capo, etc. However, you can make changes separately to the song within the set such as key and chord colors. This is off by default.
  • Low Light Mode Turning low light mode on will give you white text on a black background. This is ideal when you are playing on a dimly lit stage and don't want extra light from your screen.
  • Invert Menus When low light mode is on, the main screen is white on black. If this option is on, menus appear as white on black as well. If this is off, the menus appear as if low light mode was not on.
  • High Quality Zooming When zooming into a page using the native pinch gesture, you may notice that the words on the page get blurry. For performance, this is the default function of OnSong. By turning on this setting, OnSong will redraw the page at a higher resolution. Some issues may occur using this mode such as shifting of the page.
  • Remember Zoom/Position When turned on, OnSong remember the last zoom level and position of your chord chart. Otherwise, OnSong will reset the chord chart to the default zoom level and position when viewed.
  • Display Header Turning this off will hide the header of your chord sheet. This includes the title of the song as well as section titles.
  • Display Metadata Turning this off will hide the metadata of your chord sheet. This includes the artist, key, capo, tempo and time signature
  • Display Lyrics Turning this off will hide lyrics on your songs by default.
  • Display Chords Turning this off will hide chords in your chord sheets by default.
  • Instructions Color The instructions color lets your adjust the color of musical instructions in your chord sheet. Instructions are created by surrounding a line in parenthesis. Instructions are displayed on your song sheet, but hidden from lyrics projection.
  • Language OnSong uses your device's native language when supported. If you are using a language that is not supported by OnSong, English will be the default. This setting allows you to use a different language other than the one your device is using. It also can support languages that are not currently supported by the device. You must restart the app from the multitasking tray for language changes to take effect.

Live Bar Options

Live bar options are located in settings and allows you to customize how your live bar appears as well as the behavior of some of the buttons. It includes the following sections:

  • Include Audio Track allows you to turn the audio toggle button on or off.
  • Include Autoscroll allows you to turn the autoscroll toggle button on or off.
  • Include Metronome allows you to turn the metronome toggle button on or off.
  • Include Networking allows you to turn the networking toggle button on or off.
  • Audio Behavior determines what functions are performed when tapping the audio toggle. Options include:
    • Play/Pause starts and stops the song. Pressing the play button again resumes where the song had stopped.
    • Play/Stop starts and stops the song. Pressing the play button again starts the song from the beginning.
  • Autoscroll Trigger can trigger another event when the autoscroll toggle button is tapped. Options include:
    • None Toggling autoscroll does not effect anything else (default)
    • Audio Toggling autoscroll on starts the audio backing track if available.
    • Metronome Toggling autoscroll on starts the metronome.
  • Stop Triggered Event stops the triggered event when autoscroll is stopped. It is off by default. For instance, if you start autoscrolling a song and have a trigger to start playing the backing track, the audio will continue playing even if autoscrolling stops. If this option it turned on, the audio track will be stopped when autoscrolling stops.

Hot Corners

Hot corner options allow you to map the corners of the screen to specific actions. This provides a larger area for you finger to hit that may be easier for some than the live bar buttons. You can set the four corners to one of the following actions:

  • None No action will be performed when touching the corner (default)
  • Audio Start or stop the audio track associated with the chord chart.
  • Autoscroll Start or stop autoscrolling of the chord chart.
  • Menu Show or hide the menubar.
  • Metronome Start or stop the metronome at the tempo set for the chord chart.

Hot Corner Actions

Each hot corner can perform one of the following momentary actions:

  • None no action is performed
  • Scroll Up scrolls the page up by 75% of the screen height. This can be configured in Scroll Amount in settings.
  • Scroll Down scrolls the page down by 75% of the screen height. This can be configured in Scroll Amount in settings.
  • Next Song goes directly to the next song in the set.
  • Previous Song goes directly to the previous song in the set.
  • Next Slide advances lyrics projection to the next section of the song..
  • Previous Slide returns lyrics projection to the previous slide.
  • Show/Hide Menubar shows or hides the menubar.
  • Show Songs List shows the songs menu (note the songs menu cannot be hidden again when using a wireless foot pedal that emulates a keyboard because it receives the input of the keyboard at this point)
  • Scroll Faster speeds up the autoscroll by reducing the duration of the song by 30 seconds.
  • Scroll Slower slows down the autoscroll by increasing the duration of the song by 30 seconds.
  • Toggle Audio starts and stops playback of the associated backing track.
  • Toggle Autoscroll starts or stops the page from autoscrolling..
  • Toggle Capo toggles capo adjustment on the song.
  • Toggle Low Light Mode turns low light mode on and off.
  • Toggle Metronome starts or stops the metronome at the tempo set for the current song.
  • Tap For Tempo allows you to tap to set the tempo.
  • Tempo Up increases the tempo of the current song by one BPM.
  • Tempo Down decreases the tempo of the current song by one BPM.
  • Transpose Up transposes the song up a half step.
  • Transpose Down transposes the song down a half step.
  • Volume Up increases the volume of the device output by 10%.
  • Volume Down decreases the volume of the device output by 10%.

Layout Options

The layout options section provides settings for adjusting how your song sheets are drawn on the page. These settings include:

  • Notation Chords Notation chords are the ones that appear in textual bars used for chords timing. These usually look like the following:
    | [A] \ [B] \ [C] \ [D] |
    OnSong detects that these chords are placed in notation and draws them alongside the notation marks instead of placing them on top. You can alter this behavior with this settings.
  • Adjust Whitespace Newer versions of OnSong will adjust white space to be closer to the average width of the font instead of a fraction of a letter width. In some cases, this can cause issues for some users. You can turn off whitespace adjustment to use the older rendering technique.
  • Adjusted Space Character When adjusting for white space, OnSong uses the width of a specific character to determine width. You can change that character to adjust the amount of whitespace.
  • Detect Chords In Lyrics OnSong can automatically find chords placed above lyrics lines. Turn this setting off to prevent chord detection.
  • Chord Position By default, OnSong places chords above the lyrics. Some users enjoy more condensed music by having chords placed on the same line as the lyrics. You can choose between "Above" (default) and "Inline" chord positioning.
  • Chorus Indent This setting indents the chorus of your song by the amount specified. The chorus is identified by the section name. The name must be equal to either "Chorus" or "Refrain".
  • Bold Chorus Turning on this setting will bold the lyrics of the chorus for better visibility. This is determined is the name of a section is either "Chorus" or "Refrain".

Instrument Settings

The instrument settings section lets you adjust OnSong for the instrument you play. In some places, OnSong can generate tablature and chord diagrams for you using these settings.

  • Adjust For Capo Turning this setting on will automatically apply the capo if one is set.
  • Display Tablature Turning this setting on will automatically show chord diagrams at the bottom of the chord chart.
  • Tablature Instrument This setting determines the default instrument to use. You can change this per song by viewing chords in the chord inspector and choosing a different instrument.
  • Disable Chord Popovers Tapping on chords on the chord chart will display the chord inspector which contains chord diagrams and variations for a variety of instruments. Turning this setting on will prevent those from appearing.
  • Left Hand Tablature This setting will reverse tablature chord diagrams for left-handed musicians.
  • German Chords Turning this setting on replaces the "B" note with "H" and the "Bb" note with "B" for german users.
  • Use Musical Symbols Some users prefer to see actual sharp and flat symbols instead of the pound (#) and lowercase B (b) symbols. This settings will toggle OnSong to use the real symbols when drawing the page.
  • Enable Alternate Keys Turning this setting on will allow you to access Nashville Numeric Notation, Roman Numeral or Italian keys on the left side of the transpose slider.
  • Capo Modulates When applying a capo to a song, OnSong modulates or transposes the song down that number of half steps. This allows the musicians to play the notes as shown on the chord chart, but actually be playing in another key. Some users prefer to modulate or transpose the song up when capo is applied. You can set that here.
  • Detect Key By Knowing the key of a song is important for the transposition engine including in OnSong. Normally, a key would be declared using metadata. In the even that a key is not declared, OnSong resorts to determining the key. Originally, OnSong would detect the key using the first chord of a song. This is not always accurate. You can choose other methods such as the last chord, by counting the sharps and flats contained in the song, or by metadata only.

Editor Options

The editor options section gives you control over how the song editor looks. You can adjust it using the following settings:

  • Font Family This is the font to use in the song editor. All fonts in the list are monospaced for easier typing.
  • Font Size This is the size of the font in the editor. You can increase the font size for better visibility or selection or words or placement of the cursor.

Import Options

This section lets you customize how songs are imported into OnSong. It has the following options:

  • Internet Settings This allows you to configure how OnSong imports from the Internet. The settings are contained on another screen and require advanced knowledge of how search engines, web pages and regular expressions work. By default, these settings are blank and use OnSong's built-in Internet search settings.
  • Dropbox Settings This allows you to configure Dropbox options for cases when you have networking issues. For instance, you can turn off SSL encryption which can speed up transfers at the risk of sending your files across the Internet unencrypted.
  • File Encoding OnSong attempts to determine the encoding of imported text files. In some cases you may need to set the encoding manually. You can set this to: Auto, ASCII, UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32 or ISO Latin.
  • Text File Conversion OnSong has the ability to convert chords found in text files into bracketed chords. Since OnSong 1.8, this setting defaults to Text since OnSong automatically detects chords founds in text files.
  • Keep File in iTunes When importing songs from iTunes File Sharing, OnSong will retain a copy in File Sharing. If you set this option to Off, OnSong will delete files after they are imported.
  • Fallback File Extension OnSong uses the file extension of the file name to determine the type of file that is imported. For some programs, no file extension is used. You can determine the file extension OnSong should use when importing in this option. The default is "xml" since OpenSong files do not typically include file extensions.

Internet Settings

You can change the site OnSong uses to search on the Internet if you have knowledge of regular expressions. These are used to extract the content from the HTML returned by the search engine. It has the following options:

  • Search Parameters Search parameters for the Bing search engine sans the query.
  • Title Pattern Regular expression to extract the song title from <title>
  • Byline Pattern Regular expression to extract the artist name/byline from <title>
  • Content Pattern Regular expression to find the content of the song
  • Chord Pattern Regular expression that identifies chords in lyrics

Synchronization

This section allows you to configure how synchronization works with a remote server. It includes these options:

  • Sync Folder The name of the folder in which synchronization files are saved.
  • Sync As Files Outputs text-based chords charts as text files, allowing them to be edited remotely and then synchronized back into the database.

Sharing and Rights

The sharing and rights options allows you to customize how OnSong shares songs and sets wirelessly. By default, OnSong no longer copies songs into the recipient's library. This is done to prevent clutter and duplicate songs. It's also done this way to prevent copyrighted works from being distributed illegally without the sharer's knowledge. This section contains the following options:

  • Expire Shared Sets When sharing sets with other users, OnSong will mark the set to be expired after a certain period of time. This allows the set to be removed from the user's list, avoiding clutter and potential distribution of copyrighted works.
  • Loan Shared Songs If turned on, songs shared wirelessly will be loaned. This means they appear in a set, but will not appear in the recipient's all songs list to avoid clutter and illegal distribution issues.
  • Use my songs in OnCue When sharing songs wirelessly with OnCue, OnSong will send a copy of the song to all the recipients to be displayed on-screen. If your team already has versions of the song they would rather use, have them turn on this option. OnSong will attempt to find the song in their library first and if not found, use the sent song.
  • CCLI License # lets your set your organization's license number for output on screen, PDF and projection.

Social

This section customizes the web page that OnSong generates to share chord charts. This information includes:

  • Organization is the name of the the organization to name on the web page. For instance, you can make this your name, or your church or company
  • Website is the website of the organization you mention above. The created web page will feature a link to this website.

Song Reporting

You can control how song reporting works from this settings screen. It includes the following options:

Enable Reporting

This controls if reporting is currently active. This is the same as the switch in the Song Reporting screen.

Report use

This is used to customize the amount of time that OnSong waits before reporting usage.

Show Reports

This allows you to determine the period of time for each report. Options include Weekly (default), Monthly and Yearly.

Page Layout

The page layout section gives you control over how your chord chart is outputted for printing and PDF export. It can also make changes to how the chord chart appears on-screen. This section has the following settings:

  • Paper Size This is the size of paper to use for output. You can choose from US and European sizes such as Letter, Legal, Tabloid, A4 and A3.
  • Paper Orientation You can determine if the song sheet is output in portrait or landscape.
  • Left Margin This is the width of the left margin.
  • Right Margin This is the width of the right margin.
  • Top Margin This is the width of the top margin.
  • Bottom Margin This is the width of the bottom margin.
  • Add Page Numbers This setting, if turned on, will output page numbers when printing or exporting PDF.

Sticky Notes

The sticky notes section lets you adjust the default color and font of sticky notes applied to your chord charts. This includes the following settings:

  • Note Font Family This is the font that is used for text in notes. You can choose from Marker, Chalkboard and Helvetica.
  • Note Paper Color This is the color of sticky notes by default. Choose from popular sticky note colors.
  • Note Opacity This is the default opacity of the note. use the slider to choose between 25% and 100% opacity.
  • Note Size This is the default size the note. use the slider to choose between small and large notes.

Sound

The sound section lets you configure how sounds are played in OnSong. It includes the follow sections:

  • Sounds Effects Turning this setting off will not play any sound effects for user actions such as flipping pages or starring or unstarring songs. Turn this off if you use another app that needs to play sound in the background.
  • iTunes Suggestions Use this setting to turn off iTunes suggestions when viewing the playback menu.

Chord Playback

Chord playback options control how chords are played back to you in OnSong. In order to support chord playback, you will need to download one or more Sound Banks. The following are options you can adjust:

Play Chords When Tapped

Turning this option on will play the chords when they are tapped on the chord chart instead of opening the chord inspector. This is a fun way to hear how a song sounds by just tapping your music.

Playback Arpeggio

This controls how the chord is played. You can choose from the following options:

  • Strum Down plays the chord from the lowest pitch string to the highest
  • Strum Up plays the chord from the highest pitch string to the lowest
  • Picked Descending plays each string in turn starting from the highest to the lowest
  • Picked Ascending plays each string in turn starting from the lowest to the highest
  • Picked Randomly plays each string in turn in random order
  • All alternates between all variations (default)

Playback Duration

This controls how fast or slow the chord is played. Options include:

  • Immediate plays all strings all at once
  • Fast plays strings rather quickly
  • Normal plays strings casually so each note is heard
  • Slow plays strings slowly

Foot Pedal Control

The foot pedal control section lets you configure your foot pedal for use with OnSong. Use these settings to get hands-free paging to work for you:

  • Pedal Setup allows you to configure the type of pedal to use when connecting to OnSong as well as map keyboard input to pedals.
  • Pedal 1-4 sets the actions when pressing foot pedal 1-4. Pedal 1 is typically the up arrow key, pedal 2 is typically the down arrow key, pedal 3 is typically the right arrow key and pedal 4 is typically the left arrow key.
  • Scrolling Behavior allows you to configure how OnSong scrolls when the scroll action is performed
  • Forward Pedal Triggers allows you to configure OnSong to perform an action the first time the forward pedal (scroll down) action is performed on a new song. This allows a single foot pedal to do more than one task.

When using two pedals, OnSong uses Pedal 1 and Pedal 3 to control up and down scrolling. When using four pedals, Pedal 2 and Pedal 4 are right and left arrows.

Pedal Setup

The pedal setup screen is used to configure the type of foot pedal as well as provide advanced mapping functionality using the following options:

  • Pedal Type sets the type of pedal to use. Options include:
    • None turns off foot pedal functionality.
    • Automatic uses the up/down and left/right arrow keys requiring no additional mapping of key commands to pedals. This is the default selection.
    • Manual uses the up/down arrows as well as any other text value. Use this with the mapping fields below to map text values to pedal numbers.
  • Pedal 1 specifies the text to detect for triggering the first pedal. Use UP_ARROW or DOWN_ARROW to map the up and down arrows.
  • Pedal 2 specifies the text to detect for triggering the second pedal. Use UP_ARROW or DOWN_ARROW to map the up and down arrows.
  • Pedal 3 specifies the text to detect for triggering the third pedal. Use UP_ARROW or DOWN_ARROW to map the up and down arrows.
  • Pedal 4 specifies the text to detect for triggering the fourth pedal. Use UP_ARROW or DOWN_ARROW to map the up and down arrows.

Pedal Actions

Each foot pedal can perform one of the following momentary actions:

  • None no action is performed
  • Scroll Up scrolls the page up by 75% of the screen height. This can be configured in Scroll Amount in settings.
  • Scroll Down scrolls the page down by 75% of the screen height. This can be configured in Scroll Amount in settings.
  • Next Song goes directly to the next song in the set.
  • Previous Song goes directly to the previous song in the set.
  • Next Slide advances lyrics projection to the next section of the song..
  • Previous Slide returns lyrics projection to the previous slide.
  • Show/Hide Menubar shows or hides the menubar.
  • Show Songs List shows the songs menu (note the songs menu cannot be hidden again when using a wireless foot pedal that emulates a keyboard because it receives the input of the keyboard at this point)
  • Scroll Faster speeds up the autoscroll by reducing the duration of the song by 30 seconds.
  • Scroll Slower slows down the autoscroll by increasing the duration of the song by 30 seconds.
  • Toggle Audio starts and stops playback of the associated backing track.
  • Toggle Autoscroll starts or stops the page from autoscrolling..
  • Toggle Capo toggles capo adjustment on the song.
  • Toggle Low Light Mode turns low light mode on and off.
  • Toggle Metronome starts or stops the metronome at the tempo set for the current song.
  • Tap For Tempo allows you to tap to set the tempo.
  • Tempo Up increases the tempo of the current song by one BPM.
  • Tempo Down decreases the tempo of the current song by one BPM.
  • Transpose Up transposes the song up a half step.
  • Transpose Down transposes the song down a half step.
  • Volume Up increases the volume of the device output by 10%.
  • Volume Down decreases the volume of the device output by 10%.

Scrolling Behavior

The scrolling behavior panel allows you to determine how scrolling is performed in OnSong when foot pedals are triggered, or when a navigation zone is touched. It has the following options:

  • Pedal Behavior Use this setting to control what happens when you tap on a pedal to navigate back and forth through the set. You may choose from the following options:
    • Scroll Page scrolls a percentage of the screen height down the page, moving to the next page page when the bottom is reached
    • Jump To Section scrolls the song by section. Puts each section of the song into view as scrolled, moving to the next or previous song when no more sections are encountered
    • Jump to Page goes directly to the next or previous page without scrolling vertically
  • Scroll Amount This setting is used to determine how much the page scrolls when tapped. The default value is 75% of the page is scrolled.
  • Scroll Speed This setting controls how fast scrolling occurs when the screen is tapped, or a foot pedal is pressed. This does not effect autoscroll speed.

Forward Pedal Triggers

When pressing the forward pedal, another action can be performed first before scrolling of the song begins. You may choose from the following options:

  • None no event is triggered
  • Audio Track starts playing a backing track associated with the chord chart
  • Metronome starts playing the metronome at the tempo associated with the chord chart.

Metronome

The metronome settings allows you to customize how the metronome works. It contains the following options:

  • Sound This determines the sound that the metronome makes when activated. You can choose from:
    • Wood Block sounds like a wood block being tapped with subtle differences in up and down beats
    • Light Tap sounds like a more subtle tapping with pitch change for up and down beats
    • Bass Drum with Snare plays a bass drum for each down beat and includes a snare hit for the up beat
    • Bass Drum with Crash plays a bass drum for each down beat and includes a cymbal crash hit for the up beat
    • None turns off sounds for the metronome
  • Up Beat Color OnSong flashes the main menu bar in time with the metronome for cases when you can't hear the metronome, or need to use it in a live scenario. You can set the color of the up beat from this setting. You can also turn the blink off.
  • Down Beat Color OnSong flashes the main menu bar in time with the metronome for cases when you can't hear the metronome, or need to use it in a live scenario. You can set the color of the down beat from this setting. You can also turn the blink off.
  • Default BPM The default BPM is used when no other tempo is known. This is the default metronome speed for songs that do not have a tempo set.

External Video

This section provides settings for changing how OnSong sends video to an external source. Settings include:

  • Use HD Mirroring Newer devices such as the iPad 2 support screen mirroring. This places what you see on your iPad screen onto the external video device. By default, OnSong will override screen mirroring and take over the external screen. Turning this option on will prevent OnSong from overriding the mirroring function found on newer devices.
  • Screen Orientation The screen orientation setting is used when viewing chord charts on an external monitor. The default setting is "Same" which keeps the screen in the same orientation as the device. You can also set this to a specific orientation. This is useful if you have a monitor on stage in the vertical or portrait position and want to maintain that while being free to adjust the orientation of the device.
  • Screen Resolution OnSong attempts to discover the highest resolution available on the connect device. In the event that you want to set another resolution, choose it here from a list of common resolutions.

If you are interested in using AirPlay to wirelessly stream your OnSong external video to a device such as an AppleTV, you will need to enable the AirPlay device from your iPad's multitasking tray. To enable AirPlay, make sure your AppleTV or other AirPlay device is enabled. Next, double-press the iPad's home button to bring up the multitasking tray. Swipe to the left to reveal audio controls including volume, song playback controls and screen brightness. Tap on the AirPlay selection icon and choose the device. You will also need to turn on mirroring on that device to enable video. If you do not have a mirroring option, you cannot stream video from your device. This is only available on iPad 2 and newer devices.

Debug

The debug section provides tools that can be used when trying to troubleshoot a problem. You should only use these if you are fully aware of what they do. These settings include:

  • Retrieve Help File Turning this setting off will not check OnSong servers for updated help files when the application is opened.
  • Forget Last Song Turning this setting on will cause OnSong to forget the last set and song that was opened. This can be used to solve issue where a song causes OnSong to crash and you can't open OnSong because of it. Toggle this switch to "On" and reopen OnSong. The switch automatically goes back to "Off" once the songs and set are forgotten.
  • Reset Settings In some cases, you may find that there are issues with OnSong. You can reset your settings to default settings by turning on this option and launching OnSong. This will overwrite any user settings you have including Dropbox credentials.
  • Reset Help File In the rare event that your help file becomes corrupted, turn this switch on and restart OnSong. Your help file will be deleted and a new one retrieved from the OnSong servers.
  • Purge Database Turning this setting to "On" will reset the database to the factory setting when OnSong is launched. Your current database will be backed up and stored in iTunes file sharing. You can restore to this database by importing it.