Place notes

Tap an empty square to place a tile. Each row is one note, and each square lasts a quarter of a beat.

On instrument and sound effect parts, drag right as you place a tile to make it longer, or pull a tile's dark right edge afterwards. Drum kit tiles are always one square.

Drag a tile to move it. Tap a tile to remove it. Undo takes back your last change. On a touchscreen, scroll the grid by dragging the bar numbers or the row names.

Change loudness (dynamics)

Under Tile loudness, pick a level from pp (very soft) to ff (very loud). The tiles you place next use that level.

To change tiles that are already placed, press Apply to tiles I tap, tap or drag across them, then press Done. The deeper a tile's color, the louder it plays.

Part volume makes the whole open part louder or quieter against the others.

Change tempo

The Tempo slider at the top sets the speed the song starts at, from 40 to 255 beats per minute. You can also type a number.

To change speed partway through, open the Overall tab and tap a beat in the bar numbers, or press Add a tempo change, then set its speed. Tap a tempo change to move or remove it.

Change length and beats per bar

Open Menu. Under Song, Bars sets how long the song is, from 1 to 120 bars, and Beats per bar sets how many beats are in each bar, from 1 to 32. The line under the title shows what the song is set to.

When you change beats per bar, tiles keep their place in time and only the bar lines move. The song cannot be made shorter than its last tile, so clear those tiles first.

Loop a section

The Loops strip runs along the bottom of the grid. Tap it under a bar to loop that bar, and drag right as you do to cover more bars. Drag a loop to move it, or drag either end to change its length.

The song plays into a loop and goes round it. A new loop goes round forever, so the song never leaves it. To move on instead, tap the loop, turn off Forever and set how many times it plays. A song can have several loops, one after another.

Change octave

Higher notes are further up the grid and lower notes further down. The bold C rows mark where each octave starts.

Octaves with no tiles fold into thin strips marked +. Tap a strip to open that octave. An open octave with no tiles shows − beside its lowest note: tap that to fold it away again. If the open octaves still do not fit your screen, the rows get shorter to make room.

To move a whole part, press Up or Down beside Octave. Every tile in the open part moves by one octave. A button is unavailable when a tile would go past the notes the instrument can play.

Change instrument

Open a part's tab and choose from the Instrument list: keyboards, strings, plucked strings, brass and woodwinds. A percussion part has a Percussion list instead: drum kits and sound effects.

You hear a short preview, the tab takes the new name, and the grid shows the notes that instrument can play. Tiles outside its range move by whole octaves.

Work on separate parts

Each tab is one part of the song. Tap a tab to see and change only that part.

To add a part, press + at the end of the tabs and choose New instrument or New percussion. A song can have up to 8 parts. To remove a part, press the × on its tab. Undo brings it back.

Play all plays every part together. The button beside it plays only the open part, and Clear part empties it.

Overall, the first tab, shows every part on one grid, each in the color on its tab. Tap a tile there to jump to its part.

Watch the song

Watch swaps the grid for the note wheel and plays the whole song. The wheel has twelve spokes, one for each note from C round to B. A note lights up on its spoke while it plays, whatever octave it is in: low notes sit near the middle and high notes toward the edge.

Each part plays in the color on its tab, and its name lights up underneath while it is playing. Notes that sound together are joined into a shape. Drums pulse in the middle and around the rim. A thin ring closes in on a note just before it starts.

The wheel takes the look of the theme you have chosen. Back to the grid returns to writing.

Themes and display

Menu holds the themes, the song's bars and beats per bar, and switches for showing note letters on the side, note letters on the grid, and colors on the side.