Read The Bleepin’ Manual
Boom. Locked In.
Zomgish Translation
ZOMG, everything in music needs a beat, y'all. The click, the groove, the delay slap, the wobbly tremolo thing, the arpeggio whatevs — OnSong's got your back with this magical shared beat clock that's basically a know-it-all about tempo, time signature, and where you are in the bar. Beat Sync is the glue that keeps multiple thingies synchronized so you don't sound like a hot mess express.
One Tempo, One Overlord Clock
There's like, ONE clock runnin' the whole shizzle. It knows three things: the tempo, the time signature, & where you're at in the measure — which beat, which tiny subdivision. Usually the beat clock gets its tempo from whatever song you're playin', but it can also get bossy from other stuff. Like:
- Song Tempo is the most basic way to set tempo & time signature when nothin' else is screamin' louder.
- Ableton Link lets you plug OnSong into other apps or gear so OnSong stays locked in beat & phase with Ableton, a metronome app, or some fancy wrist gadget.
- MIDI Clock can now tell the difference between a regular beat & a downbeat & use that to update the tempo. Srsly.
- Backing Tracks get analyzed when you play 'em through the AuxDock to figure out their beat grid, tempo-shiftin' as needed throughout the track.
Follow The Rhythm, Minion
Everything in the OnSong® app now bows to the beat clock. Whoever starts first gets to call the downbeat. For example, you fire up the metronome? Boom, downbeat heard, everything else falls in line. If you're gettin' beat & phase info from Ableton Link or MIDI Clock, the metronome kicks in on the next beat & aligns to the clock. First one in wins, everybody else scrambles to catch up.
Metronome
This is the most obvious place the beat clock does its thing, count-in & all.
AuxDock Atmosphere
This cranks out a sonic canvas that can start, stop & change — all synced to the current beat. Fancy, right?
AuxDock Pedalboard
What if your guitar pedals could actually stay in sync with literally every moment of the song? The AuxDock has timed pedals with time parameters set to musical subdivisions. Quarter notes, dotted eighths, whatever — & they follow tempo changes on: - Delay - Tremolo - Phaser - Wah
AuxDock Chordboard
Let literally anyone play chords in the song. It's got an arpeggiator & strum system. Beat Sync makes sure each chord change & note lands exactly when it should, not whenever your clumsy fingers decide.
AuxDock Drum Rack
A full-on drum machine that ensures grooves, fills & endings land where you'd expect rather than wherever you tapped like a caffeinated squirrel.
AuxDock Virtual Instrument
It's a guitar that can strum or pick the chords in your song. Beat Sync keeps it all timed right instead of playin' whenever you randomly touch it.
The clock only ticks when somethin' is actually listenin'. No ghost clocks here, bestie.
Dynamic Tempo & Meter Chaos
Songs don't gotta stay at one tempo anymore. Each section can have its own vibe & the beat clock updates when you switch sections:
- {tempo: 72} cranks the tempo to the new BPM number.
- {time: 6/8} switches the time signature to 6/8. The new meter starts fresh on a downbeat, not halfway through a bar like a chaotic disaster.
- {ramp: 4} glides from current tempo to new tempo over a buncha measures, beats, or seconds instead of a jarring flip. Type just a number? That's beats. Type somethin' like 1,2 & it's a measure & two beats. Throw an "s" on the end like 2s & it's seconds, no tempo math required.
These are LIVE changes, not edits, y'all! They shift the tempo of everything without breakin' the song's original tempo data.
Turn Beat Sync On (If You Can Figure It Out)
Beat Sync pops up wherever it matters, as a tiny blinky LED with the BPM next to it. The LED pulses on the beat, so you can see at a glance that sync is actually on & what tempo you're rollin' at.
Tap it to toggle sync for that surface. When you do, a lil' chip floats in the dock — if it's armed, it offers Ableton Link… as the way to share tempo with other gear, or it confirms that beat sync got disarmed & is now totally off.
When It Actually Matters
When the metronome counts you in, beat-synced instruments stay quiet through the count-in & start on the actual first downbeat. They don't play along with the count, they don't come in late — the first beat is pre-scheduled so it lands exactly where it should. Magic. Or science. Whatever.
Why It Doesn't Get All Drifty
Two things do basically all the heavy liftin', & it's worth knowin' cuz it explains why beat-synced audio in OnSong® stays locked where other apps go all wobbly.
The clock's grid is anchored to your device's monotonic hardware clock, not some wimpy repeatin' timer. A timer gets a lil' error every tick & it adds up; an anchored grid calculates exactly when each beat should happen, so beat ten thousand is just as accurate as beat one. Math is wild.
Beat-synced audio gets scheduled way ahead of time instead of playin' when the tick shows up. The clock knows exactly when an upcoming beat will drop, so a drum hit gets handed to the audio engine in advance with that timestamp. If the app gets busy for a sec, the audio's already scheduled & still lands perfectly. Boom.
If somethin' sounds drifty, check if Sync is actually ON — an effect with Sync OFF runs on its own speed knob, which is legit & looks identical from across the stage, so easy mistake.
