PianoStudio is a powerful app with a rich set of features. The Help pages include all the information you'll need to understand its menus and interface, but we know you're anxious to dive in and start having fun. This chapter is designed to get you started by giving an overview of the basics: setting up a song, playing it, and making a recording. To make it easier to follow along, you may want to view this chapter in a web browser on your computer so that you can try things out on your iPhone as they're being explained. Just go to the Frontier Design Group web site and follow the links to the PianoStudio help documentation.

First, launch PianoStudio by tapping its icon. The PianoStudio interface is designed to be usable with just two thumbs while you're holding the phone in landscape mode, but you can just as easily set it down on a table and control it with your fingers.

Once PianoStudio has finished loading, hold the main menu button in the upper left (a menu will slide in from the right), and select "Songs."

The "Songs" screen will slide into view from below. From the menu on the right side of the Songs screen, select "New Song."

The song naming screen will slide into view, showing the default name "New Song." We're going to be showing you how to play the international mega-hit "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," so press the "Clear" button and type in "Twinkle" in its place. Hit "Done" to go to the main screen.

The screen now shows the new song name "Twinkle" in the middle of the Status Bar. The buttons are in the default layout (3 rows, 6 columns) with the default color (dark grey). There are several built-in layouts with different numbers and sizes of buttons, but for this example we'll stay with the defaults.

Note Button Editor

We'll start by adding some notes to some of the buttons in the top row. Tap the top button in the third column to select it. (Selection is indicated by an orange highlight around the edge of the button.) Now press the menu button at the upper left of the screen, and choose "Editor." The appearance of the editing toolbar indicates that you've switched from Play mode to Edit mode. Since no phrase or notes were previously assigned to the button we're editing, the default Note Button Editor slides into view.

The Note Button Editor lets you assign one or more notes to Note Button. The Editor shows you a one octave view of the piano keyboard. Simply tap a key to add it to the set of notes activated by the Note Button. Tap the key a second time to remove the note from the button. You can quickly scroll to different ranges of the keyboard with the scroll control located just underneath the keys. When you hold your finger on this control, it expands to the full width of the screen. Slide your finger left or right on this control to slide up and down the keyboard. Each "C" is labeled with its octave number (Middle C on the piano is C4). Each octave on the keyboard runs from a "C" to the "B" above it.

For "Twinkle" we want to assign just one note to our button: C5. Scroll the keyboard so that C5 is in view, and tap the key labeled C5 to toggle it on. You'll hear the note play. While you're in Edit mode, you can press any Note Button to hear the notes currently assigned to it. But be careful -- selecting a button makes it the active button to which changes are applied.

Let's assign a few more buttons. Tap the next button to the right of our new C5 button and use the Note Editor to add the note G5 to it. Then continue to the right, creating buttons for A5 and G5, again. Using these four Note Buttons you can tap out the first few measures of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", tapping each button twice and moving from left to right:
    C5 C5 G5 G5 A5 A5 G5 G5

So far, this is nothing we couldn't have played directly in Play mode by using the "Live Keyboard" button layout, and with less setup, too. But that's about to change. It's time to add some chords.

Chord Selector

Tap the blank Note Button at the upper left of this bank. Now tap the "Chord" button on the bottom row of the Note Button Editor. The Chord Selector slides into view. This screen lets you select from thousands of standard right-hand chords that we can place onto a Note Button.

Use the Chord Selector to select a C4 Major chord by tapping the proper values in each column (as shown in the picture). You can tap the small keyboard at the top, or slide your finger across it, to hear the notes of the chord that you are selecting. Then hit "Done" to return to the main screen. You will see that the selected Note Button is labeled with the chord name, and tapping it plays the chord.

Use the scroll control to slide down the keyboard to show C3, and add that bass note to the chord. Then, select the next button to the right for editing and add an F3 Major'' chord to it, with an added F2 note in the bass. Then tap "Done" to finish Editing and return to Play mode.

You can now play a fuller version of "Twinkle" using two fingers or thumbs. Use your left digit to play the chords, once every two beats, and the right digit to play the melody, each note twice, once a beat. The pattern is like this:
   Right:  C5 C5 G5 G5 A5 A5 G5 G5
   Left:   C4Maj C4Maj F3Maj C4Maj
It is sounding much better now, especially if you keep a finger down on the chord button while both beats of the melody are played.

It's time to add chords and notes to the second row of buttons. Tap a button on the second row and then select "Editor" from the main menu. The Note Button Editor again appears, but in a slightly different position which lets you tap the buttons on the second row, but they are partially covered by the editor. You can still work with them, but what if you want to see exactly what all of the buttons look like, or you want to select a button on the first row? It is time to use the "Grabber!"

The Grabber serves two purposes. By holding a finger on it, you can slide the editing toolbar up and down, revealing different buttons that you can audition or select without leaving the editor. Second, you can tap the Grabber to slide the entire toolbar off and on screen, enabling you to view all of the buttons at once. With the toolbar hidden, it's easy to select any button, and then pop the toolbar back onto the screen again to edit the button. It's also ideal for rearranging buttons: simply drag and drop a button on top of another to swap their positions within the bank.

Use the methods already described to add four single-note buttons, and two chords: a G3 7' chord and a C4 Major chord, as shown in this picture. You can now play the first row's chords and melody followed by the second row's using this pattern:
First Line
   Right:  C5 C5 G5 G5 A5 A5 G5 G5
   Left:   C4Maj C4Maj F3Maj C4Maj
Second Line
   Right:  F5 F5 E5 E5 D5 D5 C5 C5
   Left:   G3-7' C4Maj G3-7' C4Maj

Before we get to another key feature, Phrase Buttons, fill the first four buttons of the bottom row with copies of existing chords as shown in this picture.

Phrase Buttons

A Phrase Button is similar to a Note Button, but instead of playing a fixed set of notes, a Phrase Button plays a series of notes over time. Phrases are short (at most 4 measures long) but they are very useful for playing melodies and chord progressions that are too complicated to play reliably with an on-screen keyboard. Phrase Buttons also look different than Note Buttons. They have angled corners rather than curved corners. There is plenty more to say about Phrase Buttons and a whole chapter covers them in detail.

To add a simple melody for the bottom row, select the bottom right button and bring up the editor. On the bottom row of the editor is a control that sets a button to be either a Note Button (mini keyboard pressed) or a Phrase Button (icon with green note events pressed). Tap the Phrase Button icon to convert the button to phrase mode. The piano keyboard disappears and is replaced with an overview of the button's phrase (currently empty).

Now let's edit our phrase. Tap where it says "Tap to Edit" to bring up the Phrase Editor. The phrase we want is two bars long, with four beats per bar, and you'll need to adjust the Phrase Settings for these values. In the Phrase Editor, hold the upper left menu button. The Phrase Editor menu will slide in from the right. Select the Settings item and the Phrase Settings screen will slide in from the bottom.

For now, just adjust the controls on the Phrase Settings screen to match this picture. The phrase will have two bars, with four beats in every bar, and will have one subdivision per beat. The phrase will not need to loop, and will sound fine at a tempo of 100 beats per minute. Press "Done" in the upper right to return to the Phrase Editor.

The Phrase Editor displays each note in the phrase as a small green block on the touch screen. The vertical position of the block controls the pitch of the note, while the horizontal position determines when the note plays. The length of the block is adjustable, and controls the duration of the note. At the far left of the screen is a small keyboard view that you can drag and flick to reach all the notes of the keyboard. Similarly, dark grey strip across the bottom of the screeen is another scroll control that you can drag and flick to navigate to all the beats of the phrase.

Scroll the editor to show most of the 5th octave. Then tap in the main part of the screen to enter notes. Don't worry if you miss the note you wanted. You can put your finger on an existing note and drag it up and down, left and right, to the location you want. Start by entering a pair of G5 notes followed by a pair of F5 notes.

What if you go to move an existing note, but miss it and end up creating a new one? No worries. You may have noticed that the most recently selected note stays highlighted in bright green. This note can be deleted using the button with the X" icon in the lower left.

Drag the bottom strip to the left to reveal the four beats of the second bar (marked 2:1 through 2:4). Add a pair of E5 notes followed by a single D5 note. With one finger on the D5 note, put another finger on the screen and move it to the left to stretch out the note, or vertically to change its volume. With a little experimenting you will see how to stretch it to be two beats long, covering the 2:3 and 2:4 beats. The whole of this phrase has now been entered. You can hear it play by tapping the Play button at the top next to the Done button. A white vertical timeline shows the current position within the phrase.

If a phrase contains some notes that aren't visible because they're scrolled off the screen, you can view the entire phrase by holding the menu button and selecting "Zoom Out." You'll see all 88 notes' worth of pitch from top to bottom, and the entire phrase from left to right, with bars marked with thick vertical blue lines and other beats marked with thin blue lines. Here, too, you can tap the Play button to hear the phrase play. You can also reposition the "zoom in" area in this mode. Simply drag the light-background highlighted area to the part of the phrase you want to see. When you release your finger, the Phrase Editor will zoom in to the selected area.

Press the Done button to return to the main screen with the Phrase overview showing. You can hold your finger on the Phrase Button in the lower left to hear it play. Note that a white timeline marches across the phrase overview while it plays, as does a small white "spark" across the top edge of the Phrase Button itself.

You can now play the whole song using this pattern:
First Line
   Right:  C5 C5 G5 G5 A5 A5 G5 G5
   Left:   C4Maj C4Maj F3Maj C4Maj
Second Line
   Right:  F5 F5 E5 E5 D5 D5 C5 C5
   Left:   G3-7' C4Maj G3-7' C4Maj
Third Line
   Right:  Phrase-Button----------
   Left:   C4Maj F3Maj C4Maj G3-7'
Third Line Again
   Right:  Phrase-Button----------
   Left:   C4Maj F3Maj C4Maj G3-7'
First Line Again
   Right:  C5 C5 G5 G5 A5 A5 G5 G5
   Left:   C4Maj C4Maj F3Maj C4Maj
Second Line Again
   Right:  F5 F5 E5 E5 D5 D5 C5 C5
   Left:   G3-7' C4Maj G3-7' C4Maj

Recording

PianoStudio lets you record your song, using multiple passes if you wish to more easily create complex songs. It offers one level of recording undo, a metronome, and lets you change the tempo at any time, even after your recording is finished.

When you hold a finger or a thumb on the Recorder menu button in the upper right of the main screen (it looks like a cassette tape), the Recorder menu slides in to view from the left edge. From top to bottom, the Recorder menu features:

• Bar:Beat time display
• Return To Start and Go To End buttons
• Previous/Next Bar buttons
• Play and Record buttons
• Click on/off (the audible metronome)
• Erase and Undo / Redo buttons
• Settings button to go to the Record Settings screen

Recording is simple: press the Record button, wait four "count-in" beats, then start performing. While you record, the bar:beat display on the left of the Status Bar will update in red, and a visual metronome with move back and forth with the beat. When you're finished, press the Pause button in the upper right of the screen, which will stop the recording and restore the cassette icon. Use the Recorder menu to Return To Start and then to Play what you just recorded.

Once you have a recording, you can add more to it. Just hit the Record button again and play more notes as you listen to the previous recording. Press the Pause button when you are done with that record pass. Press Undo if you don't like what you just recorded, or Erase if you want to start all over again.

If the "Animate Button Playback" switch is on in the Settings Global tab, then when you play a recording blue dots will appear on the buttons as they were touched during the recording. This can be a very useful way of learning a song.

Next Steps

This chapter provides a quick tour of the basics, but there's much more information in the Help chapters to help you master the power of PianoStudio. As a next step, we suggest that you check out these chapters:

• Overview


• Tips & Tricks

However you explore it, whatever you do with it, we hope you enjoy using PianoStudio!

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