USER GUIDE

SongSheet v2.2
+ SongSheet Remote v1.0

© 2014 GHOSTDUST PTY LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

C HAPTER 1

Introduction

SongSheet and SongSheet Remote are

the apps that are designed to replace
paper for the working musician and song
writer.

This guide is for SongSheet 2.2 and

SongSheet Remote 1.0.
 The pages that follow outline the major features of SongSheet and
What SongSheet can do for SongSheet Remote and guide you in how to use these applications
to their fullest potential.
you It’s my hope that you find them useful in your musical journey.

Regards,

Gabriel

The word musician can describe a lot of different people who do

different things with music: songwriters, instrumentalists,
vocalists, band leaders, lyricists, arrangers, and more.

At some point, all these people have a need to organize their music
for projects, rehearsal, performance, or even posterity. SongSheet
and SongSheet Remote seek to satisfy these needs in simple to
use, take-anywhere applications that assist in the writing,
organizing, and performance of music.

The iPad and the iPhone provide a unique way for musicians (who
are used to paper versions of their songs) to access a technology
that substitutes for paper in both practice and feel. Need to move
a chord? Just drag it with your finger. Going on stage for a gig?
Put the iPad on a music stand and attach an iPhone to your guitar.
Many musicians use laptops or PCs to organize their music, but
for performance or sitting under a tree somewhere writing a song,
the iPad is a natural fit.

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 • The Theme Editor view allows you to modify the look and feel of
The basics SongSheet through themes. By default, SongSheet comes with
three themes installed: dark text on a light background (the
Default theme), light text on a black background (the Blackout
theme, useful for use on-stage when under lights), and one
optimized for lyrics projection on an external screen (the
Presentation theme). You can edit the default themes, create
your own, or use themes created by others.

• Should you have need to create a paper copy of a song or to send

a song as a PDF to someone who does not own SongSheet, the
Print / PDF Preview view gives you control over page-based
layout, fonts, and so on.
SongSheet
SongSheet is capable of opening any plain text, ChordPro or text-
The SongSheet application is designed to make working with song
based PDF file. Either import directly from within SongSheet from
sheets (lyrics and chords broken up into one or more stanzas;
iCloud Drive, Dropbox, or similar, or use the “Open in…” feature
sometimes known as chord charts) as simple as possible.
from within Mail or any other app.
There are two main views within the application:
It is also quite simple to share songs and set lists with other
• The Library view is where you manage your set lists and song SongSheet users – simply use the share button to send an email
collection. It is split into two panes: the left pane allows you to that contains all the song or set list data ready for import straight
list songs sorted by title or author, as well as to create and into their copy of SongSheet on their iPad.
manage set lists; the right pane lists either all songs, a filtered
SongSheet Remote
subset of songs based on search criteria, or the list of sets and
songs within a set list. As a companion to SongSheet, the Remote application runs on an
iPhone or iPod Touch (mounted directly on your guitar or other
• The Song view is for performing on stage, editing lyrics and instrument) and allows you to remotely control SongSheet on your
chords, constructing arrangements, and so on – everything to do iPad.
with an individual song.
Connect a Bluetooth foot pedal or use various gestures to send
There are also several supplementary views: commands from the SongSheet Remote app to control various
functions in SongSheet on your iPad.

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C HAPTER 2

Your song
library

• Store unlimited songs in your library

• Sort and filter to find songs
• Import new songs from iCloud Drive or
other file storage locations
• Backup all your songs
Managing songs Import a song via the document picker

SongSheet supports importing files in plain text, ChordPro

(including .dbt files from the Song Sheet 5 for Windows
application) and PDF (text-only) formats.

Note that when importing from a PDF file, SongSheet is currently

limited to extracting only the text data. If the file contains images,
or the text has been rendered by another means (e.g. vector-based
drawings rather than text data), this data will not be included in
the imported song.

Tap (the import button) to launch the document picker:

The number of songs you can store in SongSheet is limited only by
the capacity of your iPad.

Add a new song

Tap (the compose button) to add a new song. SongSheet will

create a new untitled song and open the lyrics view in edit mode.
(See the chapter on editing songs for more information.)

You can now write your own song, or copy and paste the song
lyrics and chords from the web or another source. There are
literally thousands of song sheets available online on various
websites. Simply search for “<song-name> lyrics and chords” in a
search engine and more often than not you can find what you are
after. Copy the text, switch to SongSheet, create a new song, then
paste the contents of the clipboard into the song you create. Now
you are free to edit it to get it just the way you need it. You can do
the same thing with PDF files or any other document in which you From here, choose the import source (whether iCloud, Dropbox or
can select and copy text. another storage location), navigate to the file you wish to import
and tap on it.

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You will then be presented with the import preview:

In this case illustrated above, all the lines are identified correctly.
But if they weren’t, all you’d need to do is tap on the wrongly-
You can see here how SongSheet has recognized the various parts identified line, then select the appropriate line type from the list
of the song from the input file. You can also type in a new author, on the right. You can also force SongSheet to ignore (not import) a
or specify one or more tags which can be used to easily find the line by selecting Ignore this line from the list.
song later (see the next section on image tags for more
information). Open a song from within another application

Tapping the Import button in the top-right will add the song to Another way of getting songs into SongSheet is by using the “Open
your library. Alternatively, you can tap Cancel in the top-left of the in…” option from another application. You can do this with any
screen to dismiss the import view without importing the song. plain text, ChordPro or PDF file. Select SongSheet from the list of
applications that appears. Once SongSheet opens, it will present
SongSheet tries to identify the type of each line in the song, but
the same import preview screen as described in the section above.
sometimes it gets it wrong. For example, a chord line or a stanza
name might be misidentified as lyrics. In this case, you can easily Delete a song
fix this. Tap on Line Identification or swipe the song to the left.
You will then be presented with a new view where you can To delete a song from your library you must be viewing your song
override the line types that SongSheet detected: library (by title or author) and not a set list. (If you are viewing a
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set list, you will only remove a reference to the song from that set
list rather than deleting it from your library.)

There are two ways to delete a song from your library:

1. Use the standard swipe right-to-left gesture on the song

entry; a red Delete button will be shown. Tap the button to
permanently delete the song, or tap elsewhere to cancel.

2. Tap the Edit button at the top right of the screen. You will see
a red delete icon appear on the left of each song title. Tapping
this will present the same red Delete button mentioned above.
When you have finished deleting songs, tap the Done button.

Warning: once a song has been deleted you can’t get it

back.

Make sure you make regular backups of your song library to

provide a means of recovering songs you may have accidentally
deleted. Backing up is easy and explained in a later section.

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 As an example, you could associate “fast” songs with the rabbit,
Searching and filtering and “slow” songs with the turtle. Why have two buttons for fast
and slow? A song may be either fast or slow or neither if it is
middle of the road in tempo. These two tags can represent three
different tempos. Alternatively you may wish to mark a song as
both fast and slow if it changes in different sections. Filtering out
slow songs will show you fast songs, but also middle tempo songs
as well. Of course, you can use these tags for an entirely different
purpose if you like.

With tags like the bomb you might use it to indicate that that
particular song “is the bomb!” or you might use it to tag the duds
that you would use only as a last resort.

The final three tags have special meanings:

You can filter your library of songs by using a combination of text filters for songs that have an assigned backing track.
search and the quick and easy image tags (shown in the figure
above). The filter is available when viewing all songs in your filters for songs for which you have created an arrangement
library (sorted either by title or author), or when editing a set list. (see the section on creating arrangements for more details).

Text search
Version one users will note that the triangle tag has
When you start typing in this field the displayed list of songs will been removed and replaced with the arrangement
be filtered to show only those songs that match the entered text on
marker; the note tag has been repurposed to indicate
any of title, author, or genre.
that a song has an associated backing track.
Image Tags

Each song can be tagged with any number of predefined image is intended to be used as a temporary tag. When viewing and
tags from within the song editor (see editing image tags for paging through songs this icon is always present at the top of the
information on how to tag a song). Apart from the last three, the screen. This allows it to be quickly set or cleared with a simple tap.
meanings you personally assign to each of them is completely up This is handy when browsing through songs for the purpose of
to you. building a short-list of songs for a gig.

8
Each tag has 3 modes:

1) Inactive – the tag is ignored by the filter (the default). The tag
image appears as an outline:

2) On / Include – only show songs that have this tag set. The tag
image appears filled in:

3) Off / Exclude – only show songs that do not have this tag set.
The tag image appears filled in with an “X” superimposed:

A tap on a tag will cycle it to the next mode.

Double tapping on the last tag – the “flag” – will present a popup
menu:

This is for convenience; tapping “Remove flag from all songs” will
clear this tag from every song in your library.

Clearing the search filter

When any filter is active, a “Clear search” button appears at the

top of the library view. Tapping this will clear any entered search
text and reset all tags to their default state, resulting in all songs
being listed.
9
Backing up your library We recommend you do this regularly to avoid losing
your work.

You can send this library backup to yourself or to another

SongSheet user.

Restoring form a backup

To restore all your songs into SongSheet from a backup, forward a

previous backup to an email address that your iPad can receive.

Open the email in the iPad’s Mail application and tap on the “tap
You can backup your entire library of songs very simply. here to import” link. SongSheet will open and go to work
reimporting all your songs.
With all songs by title or author selected, tap (the share button,
at the top right of the screen), then tap Email. SongSheet will take During the import process, SongSheet will skip any duplicates: it
a moment to construct an email containing your entire library of assumes that the version in the library is the latest. If you would
songs: like the backup version of a song to replace the existing version,
you will need to delete the existing version first. It may be worth
making a backup before importing a backup if this is the case.

10
C HAPTER 3

Set lists

• Manage set lists

• Build set lists
• Share and print
 To move a set list, use the handle to drag it to its new location.
Managing set lists To delete, tap the red delete icon. A red Delete button will appear.
Tap this to confirm deletion or tap elsewhere to abort the delete.

Deleting a set list does not delete any songs from your
library.

You can also delete a set list when not in edit mode by swiping
from right-to-left across its title and tapping the red Delete button
that appears.

A set list contains one or more sets of songs that you will use at a Selecting a set list
gig or other occasion. Each set can be assigned a name, and may
contain an unlimited number of sets and songs. The same song When you tap on a set list’s name, the right-hand pane will update
can occur more than once in a set list. to show you the sets and songs that it contains.

Set lists have their own section in the Library view. If you have Simply tap on any song in the set list to view it. When viewing a
too many set lists to appear on screen at once, you can swipe to song that belongs to a set list, you can swipe left or right to page
scroll through the list. through only the songs that are included in that set list.

Create a set list If you swipe to delete a song in this view, instead of the usual
Delete button, a Remove button will show instead. Tapping this
Tap to create a new set list. A new set list entry is created at the will only remove the song entry from the current set list, and will
top of the list of existing set lists. SongSheet automatically enters not delete it from your library. This can be a handy way to remove
set list edit mode for the new set list. a song without having to enter edit mode (described in the next
section).
Move and delete set lists

To the right of the Library title (left-hand pane) is an Edit button

(this button will not appear if you have no set lists). Tap it, and
you will be presented with standard controls to reorder and delete
set list entries. Tap Done to exit set list edit mode.

12
 Sets
Building set lists A set list always contains at least one set of songs, and there is no
limit to the number of sets it may have. Each set may likewise
contain as many songs as you like.

To add a new (empty) set to your set list, tap the Add Set button at
the top left of the screen.

The Add Set button does not appear while editing the
name of the set list.

Entering and leaving edit mode You can rename the set by tapping its title and typing new text
into the field.
With a set list selected, tap the Edit button at the very top-right of
the display to enter edit mode. The screen will slide over so that You can reorder your sets by tapping the Move Up button to the
the list of sets and songs will occupy the left hand side of the right of a set name. This button only appears on the second and
screen, and a list of songs to select from will slide in from the later sets (for obvious reasons!).
right.
You can delete a set with all of its song entries by tapping the
When you have finished editing a set list, tap the Done button to Delete Set button to the left of the set name. Because a set list
the right of the set list name to return to the default library view. always contains at least one set, this button will not appear when
you only have one set.
Populating a brand new set list
Songs
When you create a new set list, SongSheet automatically selects it
and enters edit mode. The set list’s title is automatically selected, A complete list of all the songs in your library appears on the right
so that when you type on the keyboard you will be able to name of the screen when editing a set list. This list can be filtered and
your set list. Tap Done on the keyboard to dismiss it. searched in exactly the same way as the default library view. This
will make finding the song you want from hundreds of potentials
You can tap in the name / title area at the top of the screen at any fast and easy.
time to rename your set list.

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To add a song to your set list from the list on the right, just tap it.
The song will slide in from the right at the end of your set list.

To change the position of a song in the set list, use the song’s drag
handle. Songs can be moved between sets in this manner.

To remove a song from the set, tap the red delete icon to the left of
its title and then tap the Remove button that appears.

Removing a song from your set list does not remove it

from your library or any other set list. Your songs are
safe.

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 below for more information). This can also be handy as an
Sharing set lists extra backup or archive of your set lists.

3. Finally, SongSheet attaches a PDF version of the set list

entries. This can be printed out on any computer.

Printing using AirPrint

If you have a compatible AirPrint printer, you can also select the
Print option. The printed result uses exactly the same layout as
the PDF created as part of the email above.

Importing shared set lists

Do you need to get everyone in the band singing or playing from When you receive a set list shared from someone else, tap on the
the same set list? It’s as simple as sending an email or printing tap here to import link within the email. SongSheet will open and
your set list. automatically import the set list with all of its songs into your
SongSheet library.
With the set list you wish to share selected, tap (the share
button) at the top-right of the screen. You will be presented with When imported, SongSheet automatically appends the text
two options: Email or Print. “imported on <date>” to the end of the set list name.

Emailing a set list

When you choose Email, SongSheet composes a draft email for

you containing three parts:

1. The main body lists the names of each set and song within the
set list. This makes it easy for someone to copy and paste the
set list information into another document format.

2. The set list with all its sets and songs is embedded into a link
at the bottom of the email. Someone else with their own copy
of SongSheet can simply tap on this link on their iPad and
automatically import the set list with all of its songs (see

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C HAPTER 4

The song
editor

• Song metadata
• Tagging
• Lyrics entry
• Working with stanzas
• Chord entry and editing
• Key, capo, and transposing
 appropriate chord key on the top row of the keyboard. To move a
The basics of song editing chord, tap it to select it and then drag it to a new location.

You can edit a single chord in-place, or update all occurrences of a

chord by editing it in the chord palette.

You can transpose a song or set capo for guitarists with only a few
taps of the finger.

Reordering the stanzas within a song is as simple as drag-and-

drop. Individual lines can be reordered in the same way.

All these functions will be described in more detail in the sections

that follow.
Overview
To edit a song that you are viewing, tap the Edit button at the top-
right of the screen. When you are finished, tap Done.

When in edit mode, you will notice that the song title becomes
editable and all other controls in the navigation bar disappear.

Your edits are automatically saved as you go: there is no need to

explicitly save anything.

The editor allows you to enter song metadata, as well as the lyrics
and chords that make up the song.

Unlike many other applications that fulfill a similar purpose,

SongSheet doesn’t require you to use any kind of markup
language to enter chords and lyrics. The song editor and the song
viewer are the same thing – you edit your song sheets in a
WYSIWYG manner.

While editing lyrics, the on-screen keyboard is augmented with a

chord palette. To insert a chord, position the cursor and tap the

17
Song metadata and tagging
Image Tags
Note also the set of image tags, which correspond to the tags in the
search/filter bar on the library screen. Tap a tag once to set it; tap
it again to clear.

You may notice that several of the search/filter tags are not visible
here. The flag tag appears on the navigation bar when viewing a
song (near the top-right of the screen). It is intended to be used as
a temporary tag allowing you to mark songs as you page through
them. The final two ( and ) indicate whether a song has an
associated backing track or arrangement and are set automatically
by SongSheet.

You can show or hide the metadata panel while editing a song by
tapping (the show/hide button). The last state you set is
remembered by the application. If you hide the metadata panel
and then edit another song, the metadata will be hidden by default
for that song, too.

Song Metadata
You can add author, year published/written, license number (e.g.
CCLI), copyright information and genre to each song. Simply tap
on the field and enter the appropriate text.

Notes
If you swipe from right-to-left over the song metadata area you
will reveal a second page that allows you to enter various notes
about a song. Swipe from left-to-right to return to the first page of
metadata.

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 2. Transpose to key – all chords within the song (as well as the
Key, capo and transposing chord palette) will be transposed to the new key.

Note that the ability to set or transpose the key is also available
during perform mode, i.e. when not editing the song.

For guitarists, you can also set a capo for a song. Doing this also
updates all chords within the song to reflect the new value. Just
tap on the capo field and select a new value from the menu:

By default, when you first create a song it is assigned the key of C.

When you set a new capo, SongSheet will update all the chords in
You can change the song’s key by tapping on the song’s current the song to match. Tap again and set No capo to return all chords
key. The key editor popover will be shown: to normal.

The capo field will be hidden from view when viewing a song (i.e.
not in edit mode) and no capo is set.

Tap the various buttons to set the required key. When done, you
have two options:

1. Set key only – you might use this when you have pasted in a
song that is set in a key other than C and you wish to update
the key to reflect the current version of the song.

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 A wide range of values can be set for the time signature by tapping
Tempo and time signature the current value and selecting new values from the popover that
appears:

Although SongSheet does not (yet) include a built-in metronome,

you can still set a desired tempo and time signature for the song.

Tempo

By default the tempo is set to 120 when a song is created.

Tapping on the bpm field will show the following control:

Use the slider to set the new tempo, and tap away from the control
when done to hide it again. Valid values range from a minimum of
40 to a maximum of 200.

Time signature

By default, the time signature is set to 4/4.

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Working with lyrics
To change the label, tap it and select a new value from the popup
menu that appears. Select Custom… to enter any name you wish
for the stanza in the popover that appears:

Entering and selecting text

The editor is like any text editor you are used to on the iPad, with Rearranging lines and stanzas
a few customizations to optimize it for lyrics and chord entry.
During the creative song-writing process you may want to change
Tapping once anywhere within the lyrics sets the cursor position the order of stanzas or lines within the song. This is accomplished
to that point. If you double tap on a word the entire word will be through drag-and-drop.
selected. A triple tap will select an entire line.
To grab a line to move it, touch and hold just to the left of the
Once you have a selection, drag handles will appear allowing you beginning of the line. The line should highlight, and you can then
to refine the selection. move it up or down and drop it at the new location.

Standard actions such as cut, copy, paste, etc, can be performed

on selected text via the popup menu.

Stanzas

Song lyrics are typically split into one or more stanzas. Because of
this, when you leave a blank line between lines of text SongSheet Similarly, to move a stanza, touch and hold on the stanza name.
automatically recognizes your intent to create a new stanza and The stanza will highlight, and you can then move it up or down
assigns it a Verse label by default. through the song and drop it at a new location.

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Short stanza labels

By default, SongSheet shows the full name of the stanza in the left
margin. To change this, tap (the settings button). In the
settings view that appears, set Use Abbreviated Stanza Labels to
the on position. Now the stanza names will be abbreviated and the
left margin will shrink to allow more space for lyrics and chords:

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 When there are too many chords to fit on the screen, the palette
Working with chords becomes scrollable: swipe left or right to view all of the chords you
have available.

Add a chord to the palette

If you need to insert a chord into your song that you don’t have
available on the palette, tap the + button at the far right of the
chord palette. SongSheet will show you a popover in which you
can quickly set up your chord:

The chord palette

Once you have set all the parameters for your chord, tap Create
chord to add it to the keyboard.

To create a chord that the standard chord editor does not cater
While editing lyrics, a chord palette is added to the on-screen for, tap Custom… You will be presented with a dialog in which you
keyboard. To insert a chord at the current cursor position, tap a can enter whatever you want:
chord on the palette.

The chord palette is visible even when you are using an external
keyboard. In this case it will be docked at the very bottom of the
screen.

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Editing the chord palette
If you double tap a chord in the palette, a menu will be shown:

Slide your finger left or right to choose a new position for the
chord within the palette, then let go when you are done.

Working with chords in the song

Select Delete to remove the chord from the palette. If the chord is
used in the song, every occurrence of it will be removed. Tap a chord to select it. A drag handle and an edit menu will
appear:
To edit a palette chord, select Edit… SongSheet presents the chord
editor for that chord:

If you touch and hold the chord’s selection drag handle, you will
be able to drag it to a new location within the song.

To edit the chord, tap Edit… You will be presented with the chord
editor. Set the required parameters for the chord and tap Apply
changes to commit the new version of the chord (or tap elsewhere
If you tap Apply changes the chord will be updated, including all
to cancel). If the new version of the chord doesn’t exist on the
occurrences of the chord within the song. If you don’t want to
palette it will automatically be added.
make any changes, just tap outside the chord editor and it will be
dismissed.

You can also rearrange the chords within the palette. Touch and
hold a chord button, and it will pop up slightly to indicate it is
ready to be moved:

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C HAPTER 5

Performing

• Using SongSheet on stage

• Auto scroll your songs
• Use backing tracks
• Construct and use arrangements
• Remote control
• Show lyrics on an external display
 Finally, to maximize screen real estate for your song, you can
Introduction toggle the navigation bar on and off by tapping with two fingers
anywhere over your song.

The timeline controller

At the bottom of the screen you will notice another region

reserved for what we call the timeline controller. This is the area
in which you configure arrangements, auto scroll and backing
tracks. By default nothing is configured for a song and it looks like
this:

Basic usage
You can tap on the button at the far right to select between the
In the following sections various features are described that allow various modes outlined in the following sections.
you to be as hands-off the iPad as possible. However, it is worth
first going over a few basics. If you don’t need this controller, you can hide it. Starting from the
very left side of the screen, swipe to the right and the controller
First, you can simply swipe between your songs. Swipe from right will be hidden.
to left to go to the next song in your set list (or library). Swipe in
the opposite direction to go to the previous song. To show the controller again, swipe in from the right edge of the
screen.

When editing a song, auto scrolling or playing a Remote control

backing track, SongSheet will not allow you to swipe to
If you pair a Bluetooth foot pedal controller to SongSheet, you can
the next or previous song.
use it to step through the stanzas or switch between songs.
Additionally, with SongSheet Remote on your iPhone or iPod
Secondly, if you tap on a stanza it will highlight and SongSheet Touch, you gain the ability to remotely control SongSheet with
will automatically scroll the screen if necessary to ensure the configurable gestures.
entire stanza is visible.

26
 • Blackout: light text on a black background. This is intended for a
Customizing appearance dimly lit stage environment.

• Presentation: large white text on a dark blue background. This is

Themes the default theme for lyrics shown on an external display.
Themes will be discussed in detail in their own chapter, but it
worth highlighting how themes are intended to aid the performing
musician.

By default SongSheet ships with three themes already installed:

• Default: black text on a light background, intended for use in a

brightly lit area.

To change the current theme, tap (the theme selector button)

on the navigation bar and pick a new theme from the popup
menu.

Quick font size changes

Although normally set in the theme editor, you can increase or

decrease the size of lyrics and chords using a pinch gesture in the
song view. (This feature can be turned off in the SongSheet

27
settings, accessible by tapping (the settings button) on the
navigation bar.)

Chord style

Also available within the settings popover is the ability to change

the style in which chords are displayed.

To use a Jazz style chord notation, turn the Use Jazz chord
notation setting on. Turn the setting off to return to normal.

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Auto scroll Configuring auto scroll

To specify that a song will use auto scroll, tap the mode select icon
on the timeline controller at the bottom of the screen, then select
Auto Scroll from the popup menu:

Auto scroll in an application like SongSheet needs to be a little

more intelligent than just “start scrolling when I hit play, and
scroll for x duration”. If you have an extended intro, you don’t You will be presented with an interface that looks like this:
want your lyrics disappearing off the top of the screen before you
start singing; likewise with an outro: you need the last line to be
visible before you launch into that last flourish. Additionally, the
rate at which you perform the song isn’t necessarily the same
From left to right you will find:
every time.
• Play/pause button: tap to start/stop scrolling. (This button can
However, a few things are known: approximately how long (give
be moved to behind the song view; see below for more
or take a small amount) the song should take to perform, and how
information.)
much of the song is visible at any given time on the screen. With
these two pieces of information, SongSheet is able to calculate an • Elapsed time
optimal wait time at the beginning and end of the song, and thus
the appropriate speed at which to scroll the lyrics. • Visual progress indicator: this consists of a current time marker,
as well as a shaded section that represents the visible portion of
the song. You can use this to “scrub” through the song:

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• Remaining time: tap this to select an auto scroll duration: In this mode, when you tap the song, auto scroll will begin. The
button will change to a pause button and then fade out so it is out
of the way. Even though it is no longer visible, tapping the song
again will pause the scrolling and redisplay the button.

• Mode select button: tap for a menu to switch to another timeline

mode.

Manually repositioning during auto scroll

When you scrub across the timeline or tap to set a position, the
song will scroll in order to track your movement. Likewise, if you
manually scroll the song up/down, the progress indicator (and
To return the play button to its “normal” position, tap and hold on
elapsed time) on the timeline will move.
the song and it will return to the timeline controller.
If you have a Bluetooth foot pedal connected, you can also tap it to
scroll the song up or down by a small amount.

The whole song as a play/pause button

If you wish, you can drag the play/pause button to the song view,
making the whole song a tappable button to start and stop auto
scroll.

To do this, tap and hold the play/pause button until it “pops up” a
little. Then drag it to the song until a larger play button appears,
then let go.

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Arrangements Creating an arrangement

In order to add an arrangement to a song, tap the mode select icon

on the timeline controller at the bottom of the screen, then select
Arrangement from the popup menu:

A song in SongSheet consists of one or more stanzas. For example,

a song might have three verses, a chorus (repeated after each
verse), and a bridge. Rather than write out the whole song long- Initially the arrangement is empty, and the user interface should
hand, you can create an arrangement that lists the stanzas in the look like this:
order you want them. Using a Bluetooth foot pedal, you can then
step through the arrangement in the order you have specified.

You can also create a separate arrangement to go with a backing

track. This will be discussed in the next section. On the left, taking up most of the width, is the arrangement view.
Next to that is the Edit button – tap this to toggle arrangement
editing mode on or off. Finally the mode selection button’s icon is
an arrangement marker, reflecting the current timeline mode.

Let’s assume that the song for which you are creating an
arrangement has the following stanzas: Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2,
Verse 3, Verse 4. The arrangement we will create is a simple one,
alternating each verse with the chorus.

To begin with, tap the Edit button to enter edit mode. In edit
mode, if we tap a stanza within the song, a corresponding marker
is inserted into the arrangement. So, since we wish our

31
arrangement to start with Verse 1, tap it. A marker is inserted into
the arrangement and it should now look like the following:

You can also tap on any marker in the arrangement and the
corresponding stanza will be highlighted.

You will notice that the inserted marker is labeled with a reference Editing an arrangement
to the stanza to which it belongs.
It is very easy to alter an arrangement. Tap the Edit button again
Next is the chorus. After tapping the chorus, a corresponding to re-enter edit mode. Now you can insert new markers, delete
marker is inserted: existing markers, or reorder the markers.

Inserting a marker
Let’s say we want to begin the song with the chorus, too. Since we
Continue tapping each verse followed by the chorus to insert the will be inserting the new marker at the very beginning of the song,
rest of the markers. When you are finished, tap Done to exit edit first make the first marker the current one by tapping on it.
mode. The arrangement now looks like this:
Assuming we are in edit mode, all you need to do now is tap the
chorus within the song, and a marker corresponding to it will be
inserted before the selected marker.

Stepping through the arrangement Deleting a marker

When you tap a marker in edit mode, a popup menu will appear
Once you have created an arrangement, you can use it to step with the option to delete the marker:
through a song using a Bluetooth foot pedal, an external keyboard
or the SongSheet Remote application running on an iPhone or
iPod Touch.

For example, using a Bluetooth foot pedal, when you tap the pedal If you tap Delete, the marker will be removed and the remaining
corresponding with the next stanza command (see the section on markers will expand to fill the space left behind.
Bluetooth pedals for more information), the arrangement will
move to the next marker and highlight and scroll to the
appropriate stanza in the song.

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Moving a marker
If you tap and hold on a marker, you will notice that all the other
markers will fade out. This indicates that you can now drag the
marker to a new location:

Slide your finger right or left to reposition the marker. When you
let go, the markers will snap to their new order:

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 auto scroll or a backing track already configured, this control will
Backing tracks look like the following image:

Two options for backing tracks are available: Backing track with
Sometimes you might want to play along to a backing track: either
auto scroll and Backing track with arrangement. Tapping either
live, or in rehearsals when you are learning a new song. You can
of these will present an interface to select any track from your
choose any song from your iPad’s music library as a backing track
iPad’s music library.
in SongSheet.

In the library view, you can filter for all songs that have
You can not choose a song that is not on your iPad. That
an associated backing track by tapping the Note icon to
is, any iCloud-only songs will not be listed when you try
highlight it.
to select a backing track.

With a track selected, the control at the bottom of the screen will
When performing, you can either have your lyric text auto scroll
switch to the backing track playback view.
over the duration of the song, or you can program a custom
arrangement that will have each stanza highlighted at the If you selected Backing track with auto scroll the view will look
matching time in the track. like this:

Selecting a backing track

In the controller at the bottom of the screen (swipe from the right
edge of the screen to show it if it is hidden), tap the mode select
button in the bottom-right. When you don’t have an arrangement,
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If you selected Backing track with arrangement this view will
contain extra controls for editing a time-based arrangement:

The default scale lets you choose a rate between 0.5x to 1.5x
normal. You can also go slower and faster than these limits by
If you tap the mode button now, you will notice an info button on
tapping the turtle or rabbit icons at either end of the scale.
the right-hand side of the selected mode:
The whole song as a play / pause button

Just as with the auto scroll mode, you can drag the play button
into the center of the screen in order to tell SongSheet you wish to
tap on the song itself to play or pause the backing track.

Backing track with auto scroll

You may notice that apart from the normal music playback
controls, the timeline itself looks similar to the one you use for
auto scroll without a backing track:
Tapping this will present a view showing you the currently
selected track, with options to Clear the selected track or Select a
new track.

Altering the playback rate The auto scroll duration is simply the length of the backing track
you selected.
You can change the rate at which the backing track plays without
altering its pitch. This is great for hearing and practicing all those If you tap the play button, the track will begin playing and the
tricky parts! You can also use this to experiment with tempo for lyrics will begin to scroll. Tap pause to stop the track playing. You
your own live version of the song. can also scrub through the track. The displayed portion of your
lyrics will smoothly update to match the current playback
Tap the elapsed time/speed indicator just to the right of the play/ position.
pause button:

35
Backing track with arrangement If you tap delete, the previous marker will extend its length to fill
the gap created by deleting the marker.
You can also create an arrangement to use with a backing track.
This is especially useful if you use the backing track in a live Changing the start time of a marker
performance: you can program each stanza change to precisely Each arrangement marker is time-based. If you touch and hold a
match the backing track, and SongSheet will automatically marker in order to drag it, moving it affects the start time for that
highlight each stanza for you as it is reached. If you have an marker:
external display connected (via cable or AirPlay mirroring), each
stanza will also be automatically displayed there as well (see the
section on external displays for more information).
When you finish dragging, instead of the markers rearranging
When you first choose to use an arrangement with a backing
themselves (as with arrangements without backing tracks), the
track, it copies the arrangement (if any) you may have created
length of time each stanza is displayed alters to take into account
without a backing track.
the marker’s new start time:

From then on, any changes you make are independent of the other
Inserting a new marker
arrangement.
To insert a new marker, either let the song play, or alternatively
To enter arrangement edit mode, tap the Edit button at the right scrub to the point in the song at which you wish to insert the new
of the arrangement. When editing, the interface changes slightly: marker:
the Edit button becomes Done (tap this to exit edit mode), and the
mode select button is disabled.

Deleting a marker
Then, tap on the stanza in your lyrics. SongSheet will insert a new
Tap an arrangement marker. The scrubber will cue to the
marker for that stanza at the current track location:
beginning point of that marker, and you will also be presented
with the option to delete that marker:

36
 Alternatively, for more flexibility, use the free SongSheet Remote
Bluetooth pedals app on your iPhone or iPod Touch.


SongSheet includes basic support for Bluetooth pedals such as the

AirTurn BT-105.

Bluetooth pedals are seen by iOS as a keyboard with only a few

keys. For example, the 4-pedal AirTurn sends key strokes for
cursor up, down, left and right. SongSheet interprets these as
previous stanza, next stanza, previous song and next song,
respectively.

This means that you can accomplish the same thing via an
ordinary external keyboard using the cursor keys.

See the documentation for your particular pedal in order to pair

and connect it to your iPad. Once connected, assuming it sends
up/down/left/right key strokes, it should work with SongSheet
out of the box.

Future versions of SongSheet will include the ability to configure

the actions that are triggered by each pedal press.

37
SongSheet Remote Configuring the Remote

Using taps, swipes or a Bluetooth foot pedal, you can wirelessly

send any of a number of commands to SongSheet. On the
Remote’s Connect screen, tap to enter the configuration view.

Available commands
You can configure any supported gesture or pedal to send any one
of the following commands:

• From the top – SongSheet scrolls to the top of the song.

• Next Stanza – the next stanza (regardless of type) is highlighted.

When using an arrangement, the next stanza is the next in the
SongSheet Remote is a free app available on the App Store for arrangement, not necessarily the next in the song.
your iPhone or iPod Touch. It is designed to make controlling
SongSheet on your iPad easier while you are performing. • Previous Stanza – the previous stanza (regardless of type) is
highlighted. When using an arrangement, the previous stanza is
There exists on the market a number of solutions to mount your the previous in the arrangement, not necessarily the previous in
iPhone directly on your guitar or other musical instrument. the song.
Interacting with the device in this position is easier than having to
awkwardly reach out to tap the screen of an iPad mounted on a • Next Chorus –  behaves like Next Stanza but only selects a
music stand in front of you. stanza marked as Chorus (if present).

38
• Previous Chorus – behaves like Previous Stanza but only selects Connecting the Remote to SongSheet
a stanza marked as Chorus (if present).
To make a connection between SongSheet and the Remote app for
• Bridge – jumps to the stanza marked Bridge, if present. the first time, follow the following procedure:

• Play / Pause – if a song is configured with auto scroll or a 1. Make sure either Bluetooth or wireless networking is turned on
backing track, this command will start or stop scrolling/playing. on both devices in order for them to communicate. You do not
need to be connected to a WiFi network in order for a
• Next Song – SongSheet will scroll to the next song in the set list
connection to be made between your devices.
or library.
2. Launch SongSheet on your iPad and the Remote app on your
• Previous Song –  SongSheet will scroll to the previous song in
iPhone or iPod Touch.
the set list or library.
3. The default screen for the Remote app is the connection screen.
Gestures: Taps and swipes
In SongSheet, you need to navigate to a song in a set list, and
We have tried to keep the set of supported gestures as simple as then tap to display the connection popover. SongSheet should
possible in order to minimize the risk of accidentally triggering the now discover the Remote app:
wrong command.

For this reason, swipe gestures are based on orientation not

direction. That is, a horizontal swipe works either right-to-left or
left-to-right – these are treated as the same gesture.

Bluetooth Pedals
Rather than pairing your AirTurn BT-105 or other Bluetooth-
based foot pedal to your iPad and SongSheet, consider pairing it to
your iPhone running SongSheet Remote instead. This has several
advantages:

• The pedal, which actually emulates a keyboard, won’t interfere

with the iPad’s software keyboard

• SongSheet has hard-coded commands for each pedal; the

Remote app lets you configure each pedal to send any of the
supported commands.

39
4. After the Remote is discovered by SongSheet, tap to send a 6. To disconnect, open the connection popover in SongSheet and
connection invitation. The Remote app will present the tap on the phone image. Alternatively, in the Remote app tap
invitation with the instruction to tap to accept: and hold for several seconds until you are returned to the
connection screen.

Once a connection is successfully made, the two devices are

considered to be paired. The next time SongSheet is launched, it
will search for the Remote for about two minutes before giving up.
After this time you will need to manually connect using the
procedure outlined above.

5. Once connected, the Remote will automatically transition to the

Send Commands view which, by design, is almost entirely black.
Send commands to SongSheet using the configured gestures or
a Bluetooth foot pedal. A brief acknowledgement of the
command will appear on the screen before fading away.

40
 If you tap on a highlighted stanza, it will be unhighlighted, and the
External displays external display will go blank.

Cable connection - HDMI, VGA, etc

Alternatively, you can directly connect your iPad to an external
screen using an adapter. For example, you can use Apple’s
Lightning to HDMI adapter to connect your iPad to a screen using
the HDMI technology.

Once connected it behaves exactly the same as the AirPlay

connection described above: highlighted stanzas are displayed
whole on the external display.

SongSheet can display your lyrics (a single stanza at a time) on an External display preview
external display connected to your iPad. It can do this either via
On your iPad’s screen you can preview what is shown on the
cable (e.g. HDMI or VGA) or using AirPlay mirroring.
external display. With a song visible, tap (the external display
You could use this for prompting other musicians or singers on preview button). A preview window will appear and float above
stage, or for audience participation (e.g. congregational singing). your lyrics. You can drag this window around and resize it, and
close it by tapping the X icon in the top right.
Setting up

AirPlay
In order to use AirPlay to display your lyrics, you must have an
AppleTV or other AirPlay receiver on the same local area network
as your iPad.

Connect to your AirPlay device as normal, making sure mirroring

is turned on.

Now, whenever a stanza is highlighted on your iPad (e.g. when

following an arrangement, or because you tapped on the stanza),
just that stanza (without any chords) will automatically be
displayed on the external screen as well.

41
In addition to showing you a live preview of what appears on the for situations such as training sessions. To enable this, bring up
external display, this window provides you with a few extra the settings window and switch Demo mode to on. Now
controls you will see underneath the preview: everything you do in SongSheet on your iPad will be reflected on
the external display.

From left to right, these controls are:

• Black out: immediately turns the external display black.

• Background only: the external display will be blanked to the

background color of the currently chosen external display
theme.

• Select/use image: allows you to select an image from your iPad’s

photo library in order to use as a background on your external
display.

• Select theme: the external display theme is set independently to

that of the iPad’s display. Typically for an external display you
would create a theme with a very large lyric font to make your
lyrics readable from a distance. SongSheet will automatically
reduce the font size in order to ensure that the entire stanza is
visible.

Mirroring the display

SongSheet has a “demo” mode that allows you to mirror exactly

what you see on screen on the external display. This is intended
42
C HAPTER 6

Print and
share songs

• Print wirelessly via AirPrint

• Control print layout
• Email a song as PDF
• Use AirDrop to send a PDF to a nearby
device
• Share songs with other SongSheet users
 From left to right, the options are:
Print and PDF • Paper size: this defaults to Letter in the US, and A4 in most
other countries. Tap this to choose between alternative paper
sizes. Note that when printing if the actual paper size is
different, SongSheet will automatically scale to match the real
paper size.

• Paper orientation: allows selection between Portrait and

Landscape orientations. By default Portrait is selected.

• Page margins: in countries that use the Imperial measurement

system (e.g. the US) this value will be in inches, otherwise you
can select between predefined values measured in millimeters.
Introduction
• Lyrics font: tap this to select a font in which to typeset the song
SongSheet can print your songs wirelessly via AirPrint. lyrics.
Alternatively, you can create a PDF version of a song to open in
another app on your iPad, or send to someone via email or • Lyrics font size: select from a list of predefined font sizes,
AirDrop. measured in points.

Both of these scenarios are accomplished through the Print / PDF • Lyrics line spacing: tapping this will present a slider control
Preview screen. You can access this by tapping (the Share which allows setting the line spacing for lyrics and chords.
button) in the song view, then Print / PDF from the popup menu.
• Chord font: tap this to select a font in which to typeset chords.
Controlling the print layout
• Chord font size: select from a list of predefined font sizes,
Across the bottom of the Print Preview screen is the print toolbar. measured in points.
As you change the various parameters the preview is automatically
• Display/hide chords: tap to toggle between On (show chords
updated. SongSheet also remembers your selections so the next
within the song) and Off (lyrics without chords).
time you print you don’t need to set everything up again.
Printing to an AirPrint printer

Assuming there is an AirPrint printer available on your network,

tap (the Share button) at the top-right of the screen to show the
44
share popover, then select the Print option. Select your printer
and printing options, and then tap Print in the popover in order to
print out the song.

Sharing a PDF version of your song

An alternative to directly printing your song via AirPrint is to

create a PDF version. Tap (the Share button) and select an
option from the popover:

• AirDrop – send the PDF wirelessly to a nearby iOS device. The

destination must have AirDrop turned on for this to work.

• Mail – email the song as a PDF attachment. Enter a recipient in

the To: field and tap Send to email the song.

• Open in… –  Open the generated PDF in another app on your

iPad.

45
 If they do not own SongSheet, then we suggest you use AirDrop or
Share with other email to send them the song as a PDF, using the procedure
described in the Print and PDF section.
SongSheet users

SongSheet facilitates easy sharing of individual songs within your

library to other SongSheet users.

When viewing a song, tap (the Share button) in the top-right,

then tap Email.

Note that the option to email your song will only appear
if your iPad has at least one email account configured.

SongSheet will present you with a mail compose window, in which

the song you have selected is embedded within a link.

Specify a recipient in the To: field, then tap Send. The recipient
should open the email on their iPad, and then simply tap the link
within the email to import the song directly into their copy of
SongSheet: it will be added to their library.

46
C HAPTER 7

Themes

• Easily switch between themes

• Create new themes
• Edit existing themes
• Share your themes via email
 library view. So where possible, we have tried to make the
Customising SongSheet luminosity and hue of the application consistent wherever you are.

Choosing a Theme

You can quickly switch themes at any time by tapping (the

select theme button) at the top of the screen. A popup menu will
appear listing the available themes. Simply tap the theme you
want to switch to.

It is easy to change the look and feel of SongSheet with respect to

fonts and colors. Each set of font and color combinations that you
create is called a theme.

You have control over: If you are using an external screen, you can choose a separate
theme for that. See the section on external displays for more
• lyric font, size and color
information.
• chord font, size and color
• lyric line spacing Sharing a Theme
• background color
• (optional) background pattern Just like songs and set lists, themes can be shared via email. In the
theme editor view, tap the share icon and select Email. SongSheet
Although these choices are most clearly seen in the song view, will embed the theme in an email that you can send to another
they affect the look and feel of the whole application. For example, SongSheet user. All they need to do is tap on the link within the
tappable buttons follow the selected chord color. Labels follow the email to immediately install the theme into their copy of
lyric color. The song background color is used across the interface. SongSheet.
The reason for this is simple. Your iPad is a light source. Imagine
being suddenly bathed in soft green light under blackout
conditions because you just wanted to take a quick look at the

48
 If you wish to delete a theme, swipe from right-to-left across the
The theme editor theme name and a Delete button will appear. Tap the button to
permanently delete the theme.

Layout of the theme editor

Displaying the theme editor

In order to edit themes, first tap on (the theme selector button)

to show the select theme popover. In the top right is an Edit
button. If you tap on that you will be taken to the theme editor,
with the current theme selected for editing.

The theme editor is broken into two panels. The left panel lists all
the themes currently installed, while the right panel allows you to
edit the currently selected theme.

Selecting, creating and deleting themes

In the left-hand panel, tap on a theme name to select it. The theme
editor (described below) on the right will show the new theme.

To create a new theme, tap the + button at the top-left of the

screen. Initially, the new theme is simply a copy of the last
selected theme. This is for convenience to give you a starting point
for your new theme.

49
From top to bottom, the theme editor presents the following When dragging each of these controls you can move your finger
controls: further away from the color sample in order to have a much finer
degree of control.
• Text field allowing you to edit the theme name.

• Share button: tap this for the option to email the selected theme. Move your finger further away for more accurate
control.
• Done button: tap to return to the last view.

• Lyrics preview window: as you change fonts, colors, etc, this will
automatically update to give you an idea how songs will look. Lyrics and chord fonts, sizes

• Line spacing slider: drag left or right to decrease or increase line Tapping on either the Lyrics or Chords buttons will show a
spacing. popover allowing you to select a new font:

• Lyrics, chords and background editors: allows you to set font,

font size, font color, background color and background pattern.
(See below for more information on each of these topics.)

You do not need to explicitly save your changes - SongSheet does

this automatically.

Selecting colors for lyrics, chords and background

Each color selector has a color sample surrounded by three

controls: H (hue), S (saturation), and V (value, or brightness):

As you browse through the fonts, you can tap on any font and the
lyrics preview will immediately update to reflect your choice. Note
that the popover does not automatically dismiss, allowing you to
quickly preview a bunch of different fonts. When you are satisfied
with your selection, simply tap elsewhere on the display to dismiss
the popover.

50
To change the font size, tap the + or - buttons on either side of the
Lyrics or Chords buttons. This will increase or decrease the font
size, respectively.

Background patterns

Tapping the Background button displays a popover which shows a

selection of built-in textures you can use as a background to your
lyrics:

The top-most selection represents a blank background. Scroll

through the patterns and tap on one to select it. Tap anywhere else
on the screen to dismiss the popover.

51