Transposition

Arrr, let's face th' facts, matey. Sometimes a song be nay performed in a key that be suitable fer yer vocal range. Or perhaps playin' a song in th' key that it be written in be too difficult fer yer guitarist and they don't want t' capo. Music be best when it matches with yer talent. OnSong provides a powerful transposition engine t' make th' music match yer unique abilities and style.

How It Works

Chord charts can be expressed as text-based documents usin' th' OnSong or ChordPro file formats. These files be designed t' give musical meanin' t' characters in th' document. This allows chords t' be detected.

Transposition also requires th' key o' th' original song t' be known. Ye can declare a key usin' Metadata. If th' key o' th' song be unknown, OnSong typically uses th' first chord o' th' song as th' key. Ye can change this behavior in Settings » Menu Settings » Style Preferences » Transpose and Capo » Detect Key By.

When transposition occurs, OnSong determines th' new key and th' enharmonic preference o' transposed chords usin' th' enharmonic preference o' th' new key. Ye can change this behavior in Settings » Display Settings » Song Formattin' » Enharmonic.

Note: Transposition does nay work with externally imported documents like Word or PDF because these files be designed t' be printed and do nay carry information about chords or metadata needed fer musicians. Th' design goals o' these types o' documents be different from OnSong's text-based chord charts. Th' content written in word processin' documents be nay in a standardized format and be often proprietary in nature.

How T' Transpose

Once ye have yer song in a text-based document and chords be detected, ye can transpose usin' th' Transpose Slider found in th' Style Preferences Menu in th' Menubar. Arrr, just slide th' slider t' th' left or right t' adjust th' key. Ye can even tap on th' icons t' th' left and right t' fine-tune adjust th' key.

If ye want th' chords t' be displayed as they be written in th' Song Editor, turn off transposition usin' th' power icon t' th' right o' th' Transpose Slider found in th' Style Preferences Menu in th' Menubar.

Usin' Different Keys

Th' notion o' dynamic transposition means that ye can have one copy o' yer song and make changes in one place. However, ye may need t' have th' song available in different keys when playin' with different bands or at different venues. OnSong can use a different key fer th' song in a particular set while keepin' th' original key in th' master song list.

T' do this, turn on Separate Set/Song Styles when Addin' or Renamin' sets. This will now store changes made t' th' song when viewed in th' set t' th' set. Fer instance ye can change th' tempo, autoscroll duration, flow, and style preferences and all will be applied t' that song in th' set.