The Pitch Shifty Thing

Let's face facts. Sometimes a song is written in a key that makes your voice sound like a dying walrus. Or maybe your guitarist is too lazy to use a capo & suddenly everyone's got a problem. Music's way better when it actually matches what you can do. OnSong's got this bonkers transposition engine that'll make the chords bend to your will (& your limited range). ZOMG, finally.

How It Works (AKA The Bleepin' Magic)

Chord charts are basically text documents using the OnSong or ChordPro formats. Thrilling, we know. These files are designed so the app can actually figure out what chords you're lookin' at. That's how transposition even happens in the first place.

Transposition also needs to know the original key. You can tell OnSong using Metadata. If OnSong has no clue what key you're in (because you didn't label it, whoops), it just guesses the first chord. You can change this totally nonsense default in Settings » Burger Menu Settings » Vibe Check » Transpose & Capo Stuff » How We Guess the Key.

When you transpose, OnSong figures out the new key & whether chords should look sharp or flat. Fancy. You can tinker with this in Settings » What It Looks Like Settings » Song Looky-Loo » Sharp? Flat? Why Not Both?.

Note: Transposition is basically useless with stuff you stole from the internet like Word docs or PDF files because those are designed to look pretty on a printer, not to have actual chord data. They're proprietary messes with no standardization whatsoever & frankly, they don't deserve transposition. Real musicians use OnSong's format. Just sayin'.

How To Transpose (The Fun Part)

OK so you've got your song in a proper text-based format & OnSong's picked up the chords. Now go find the Transpose Slider chillin' in the Vibe Menu up in that Top Bar Thing. Drag it left or right like you're mixing a smoothie. Or tap the buttons on the sides if you're feeling all precise & whatnot.

If you wanna see the chords exactly as they're written (for some reason), kill transposition by hittin' the power button next to the Transpose Slider in the Vibe Menu in the Top Bar Thing.

Playing in Different Keys (The Band Politics Move)

Here's the thing: you can keep ONE copy of your song & transpose it on the fly. But sometimes you need the same song in different keys for different bands or different gigs. (Yeah, you're that versatile. Or desperate. Both?) OnSong lets you store a different key just for that set, while the original stays put in your library.

To do this magic trick, flip on Separate Set/Song Vibes when you're Adding or Renaming sets. Now changes you make to a song in a set stay only in that set. You can tweak the tempo, autoscroll speed, song flow, & vibes & they'll all stick to that version. One master song, infinite band-specific drama averted. You're welcome.