A practice companion
Play along, and
leave the turns to us.
Keep your audio and metronome on the same screen as your score.
Save where the page needs to move in one song. Once those timings are prepared, you can play along to the recording without reaching for the screen at every turn.
Keep one song ready for the next practice¶
A reference recording in a player, a score in another app, and a tempo written elsewhere can make each rehearsal start with the same search. In Viewer, you can choose the recording and tempo for a song and return to that preparation next time.
If your score already opens, add only what this practice needs:
- Play along to a recording: import an audio file, then select it for the song in Item Settings. Open the song and check that the intended recording plays.
- Practise to a click: set the song’s BPM and meter, then turn on the metronome. A recording is not required.
- Check a starting note: open the simple piano keyboard over the score. You can also connect a MIDI keyboard.
A local MP4 or MOV lesson or live-recording file can be used as the song’s audio source too, without extracting its sound first. This is file import, not playback from a streaming-service link.
Changes to a reused song also affect other setlists using it. For a different preparation just for this performance, duplicate the song before editing.
Try one page turn before preparing the whole piece¶
Choose a song with at least two pages. First decide what the turns should follow: the actual playback time of a recording, or the metronome’s measures and beats. For the latter, set BPM and meter before recording turn positions.
- In the song’s Item Settings, choose the score and page range. Add the recording if you are using one, and create or choose the automatic-turn setting, called Timeline in the app.
- Open the score and play from the beginning. At one page boundary, record the time and destination using the timeline controls. See Score Viewer and Timeline Cue Details for the controls.
- Play that passage again. Check that the next page appears before you need its first note. Adjust that one cue if it is early or late.
That completes a small trial. Add the other turns only after it works for your score and playing tempo. The automatic-page-turn guide brings the preparation and troubleshooting routes together.
Automatic turns follow the times and tempo changes you prepare. They do not listen to your playing and follow an unplanned pause or tempo change.
A repeat is a destination, not just the next page¶
For a repeat, D.S., or Coda, choose the page or scroll position you need at that point in the performance. A turn can move backwards or skip pages. You can also prepare mid-song tempo changes and a ritardando, so a metronome-based timeline reflects the planned musical structure.
Check the jump and the page after it during rehearsal. A recording with a different repeat or tempo needs its own timing check.
MusicXML and MEI can prepare the starting point¶
When you create a new song from MusicXML (.musicxml / .xml / .mxl) or MEI (.mei), Viewer automatically sets the length, tempo, meter, and unambiguous page turns and repeat destinations it can read. Unreadable values and ambiguous routes are not guessed; they are named in the completion notice, so check the result in Item Settings and the cue list.
This preparation follows the score, not the timing of a recorded performance. When playing along to a recording, check and adjust the turns against that playback.
With MusicXML, choose the full score or your part when multiple candidates are available, and add another part later. MEI supports a single-movement full score, without part extraction. Once imported, both open as ordinary scores and support transposition and source-file updates.
After revising the source, update the score, then review and apply changes for each song that will use it. Annotations and adjusted cues keep their saved page numbers and positions, so check their alignment with the new score before performing. Languages and scripts in MusicXML and MEI scores explains which text uses the bundled fonts.
Compare with PDF and check import limits
Hear the count when the click is hard to follow¶
A voice count can mark the start of a song or a passage where the band needs a cue. Choose a count-in in the song’s Voice Count settings; use the detailed settings only if you need particular measures and counting patterns. Voice Count requires the metronome to be on.
Voice and click have separate volume controls in Mixer Settings. Listen to the intended count-in before rehearsal, then balance them to suit the room. For an audience feed without the count, see two separate audio feeds.
If the practice stops here¶
| What happened | First route |
|---|---|
| Audio plays but the page does not move | Automatic-page-turn guide: check that this song has a timeline and the display follows it |
| The page moves but you hear no sound | Mixer Settings: check playback, source mute/volume, and destination |
| Every turn is displaced against the recording | Item Settings: check Audio Start Timing; adjust individual cues if only one turn is wrong |
| A call or another app interrupted playback | Mixer Settings: distinguish a solo/parent pause from audio loss on a following Viewer |
To prepare another piece, return to Scores & Setlists. For other symptoms, use the manual’s problem finder.