Three free songs

Every tool in Stab works before you buy it, on three songs of your own. This page says what counts as one, what happens at three and past three, and how a licence and Stab Cloud change it.

Three free songs

Available on every platform.

Songs of your own

Your songs are counted by what’s there, not by what you edit or open:

the songs on this device (in your library folder) (in your library folder), and
your own songs in Stab Cloud, when you’re signed in, including the ones in Stab Cloud’s Trash until it’s emptied.

They’re counted together: two songs on this device and one in Stab Cloud make three. Signing out doesn’t make room: Stab remembers how many cloud songs your account holds. Keep on this MacKeep on this PCKeep on this Mac (not on Web), on a cloud song’s menu on the home, moves it here and counts it once: without a licence or Stab Cloud it leaves Stab Cloud for good rather than going to its Trash (Stab asks first, since its version history goes with it).

These never count:

Songs shared with you. Someone else’s song stays as its owner shared it, whatever your own count.
The demos, Welcome and Songbook pieces, until you keep one.
A song you join in Play Together. It’s the host’s song; joining is never limited.
Songs moved to the Trash in the Finder. Songs moved to the Recycle Bin. Songs on your devices: on the web, only your Stab Cloud songs count.

The pill in the home’s bar says where you are: “2 free songs left”, “3 of 3 free songs used”, or “Read only · Unlock”. Select it to see your choices. Unlocked, there’s no pill: your account’s face wears a brass ring.

Two ways to unlock

Stab offers two ways on, side by side, and either one unlocks it: Own Stab, a one-time purchase for the Mac and Windows for this platform, with as many songs as you like, offline, no account needed (Buy Stab); or Stab Cloud, a subscription with everything in Stab plus your songs on every device and the web, sharing and Publish (Subscribe). Its Yearly | Monthly switch starts on Yearly, marked “Best value” when it is. Have both and they work together. Under the two, Compare plans sets them out row by row. Along the bottom, Restore Purchases (Enter Licence Key… on a computer) brings back what you’ve bought, and Show My Songs and Not Now are on the right. Learn More shows what Stab Cloud adds, its price and its terms, without a connection. Under the offers, wherever Stab Cloud is sold, are how it renews and where to cancel it, and links to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.

What’s offered follows what you hold. If you already own Stab, only Stab Cloud is offered, as Add Stab Cloud. With Stab Cloud, its status is shown, and owning Stab is one quiet line, Own Stab too, for using Stab offline if the subscription ends. With both, there’s nothing to choose: Settings › Purchases shows them. After Stab Cloud ends, both ways come back, with Renew on Stab Cloud’s card. Signed out, Subscribe asks for your account in the same place: sign in, or make one with your email (Stab Cloud is for people 15 and over).

At three

With three songs of your own, everything still works on them. Adding a fourth isn’t possible until you choose: a new song, an import, Duplicate, keeping a demo or a file, or keeping a copy after Play Together each shows your choices instead, starting with “Your 3 free songs are used”, before any setup, file picker, camera or recording. The home says so before you start: each shelf’s + card shows a lock with “3 of 3 free songs used” and “Unlock Stab for more”“Stab Cloud for more”, and the Bring a Song In cards wear a small lock. Songs in Stab Cloud’s Trash count until they’re deleted for good, and the card says how many (“· 1 in the trash”). When some are there, your choices say so too (“Your plan’s 3 songs are used, 2 of them in the trash”) (“2 of your songs are in Stab Cloud’s trash, and count until it’s emptied: empty the trash to make room.”) and offer Show Recently Deleted: Delete Now on a song, or Delete All, frees its place at once (Stab asks first), and you can add a song straight away. You can also delete one of your songs to make room: the card opens again at once.

Past three: read only

You can end up with more than three without adding them here: signing in to Stab Cloud on a device that already has songs, a library from an older version of Stab, a Stab Cloud subscription that ended, or signing out of Stab Cloud while subscribed. Then Stab is read only on every song until you unlock Stab, subscribe to Stab Cloud, or delete songs to get back to three. Nothing is lost, and editing comes back by itself as soon as one of those happens.

Read only means:

every song still opens, in every view; it plays from any point at its written tempo and key, with the count-in and the metronome;
it prints, and exports to every format (Guitar Pro, MIDI, MusicXML, audio, PDF), with nothing asked: exports are never held;
no edits, no changes to the sound or the mix, and no practice tools: the loop, practice speed and the speed trainer, playing in another key, Wait for Me, Listen, Follow Me, playlists and practice steps.

The first edit or practice tool you try in a song shows your choices. After that, in the same song, a try only says “Read only for now” at the foot of the pane, with Choose… to show them again.

A strip at the top of the song says so, with a lock: “Read only: 5 songs of your own, 3 free. Choose a way on, or delete 2 songs.”, with Show My Songs and Choose… at its end. Show My Songs takes you to your songs on this device to delete some; the paywall has it too.

Songs that aren’t yours yet

A demo, Welcome, a Songbook piece, a file opened from outside your songs (from the Finder, or dropped on a song’s window) (from File Explorer, or dropped on a song) and a share link open read only, with the strip at the top saying what they are, and a lock with “Read only” (“Demo · read only” for a demo) after the song’s name in the title bar, and a brass lock with “Read only” (“Demo · read only” for a demo) after the song’s name in the title bar. You can loop a passage in one to go over it (select its notes and choose Loop Selection (⌘L)Loop Selection (Ctrl+L)Loop Selection (Ctrl+L (⌘L on a Mac)), or drag across the ruler); the other practice tools wait until you keep it (their items in the Transport menu stay available, and choosing one asks, as its key does). The strip leads with “Read only: changes here aren’t kept.”, then says what the song is and the way on. The first time you change something that works but isn’t kept (a loop), a note at the foot of the pane says “Changes here aren’t kept”, with Keep, once in that song. Without a licence or Stab Cloud, an edit you try in one (a fret typed, a note written, a note deleted, a track muted or soloed, a fader or pan moved) isn’t made: the first time it shows your choices, and after that, in the same song, it says “Read only · Keep to edit” at the foot of the pane, with Keep, which keeps it as Keep in My Songs does (with three songs of your own already, Keep shows your choices). Past three songs of your own, it says “Read only for now”, with Choose…. Keep in My Songs (Duplicate to My Songs for a share link), or Save (⌘S)Save (Ctrl+S)Save (not on Web) makes it one of your songs, to edit and practise; without a licence or Stab Cloud it becomes one of your three. With three songs of your own already, the strip says your three free songs are used and still offers Keep in My Songs: choosing it shows your choices, the two ways to unlock, with Show My Songs to delete a song and make room. With a licence or Stab Cloud, such a song is still read only until you keep it, but it practises, and keeping it is free of any count. An edit you try in it then says “Read only · Keep to edit” at the foot of the pane, with Keep, which keeps it as Keep in My Songs does; after the first time, a try only flashes it briefly. Your first change to the speed, the key, a loop, Practice…, a playlist or Speed Steps says “Changes here aren’t kept”, with Keep, once in that song; closing it drops them without asking, unless you made a playlist or Speed Steps in it: then Stab asks whether to keep your changes (Keep in My Songs, Don’t Keep or Cancel).

The web is different. It keeps no songs of its own, so a demo or a file you drop on it opens to try: edit it freely, and Keep It saves it in Stab Cloud with your changes, where it counts as one of your songs. Nothing you try is kept unless you keep it. The web counts only your Stab Cloud songs, and a free account holds three of them. In the apps, demos and files open read only until you keep them.

A licence or Stab Cloud

Either one lifts the limit; they work together:

Unlocking Stab (a one-time purchase: one desktop licence for Mac and Windows) lets you have as many songs as you like on your devices, offline. It doesn’t change Stab Cloud’s limits: a free account still keeps three songs in Stab Cloud.
Stab Cloud (a subscription) has no song limit on any device, and keeps your songs in the cloud, on every device.

Either one also lets a Play Together session you host take up to seven people; free, it takes one. See Hosting.

See Licences and Stab Cloud plans.

When Stab Cloud ends

If a Stab Cloud subscription ends (cancelled, not renewed, refunded, or a gift over), free Stab keeps three cloud songs: the three you changed most recently. The others stay read only and can be downloaded for 14 days (the home’s Stab Cloud card says the day and offers Download All), then they’re deleted. You get an email when it ends and another three days before the deletion, each listing the three that stay. Songs in Stab Cloud’s Trash count and go first. Subscribing again before the 14 days are up keeps everything.

To keep a cloud song before then, use Keep on this MacKeep on this PCKeep on this Mac (not on Web) on its menu on the home: it moves to this device, out of Stab Cloud.

Songs saved on your devices aren’t affected by a subscription ending, though past three songs of your own Stab is read only until you choose.

Inactive accounts

A free Stab Cloud account that isn’t used for 12 months (no sign-in, and Stab Cloud not used from any device) is deleted with its cloud songs. You get an email a month before and another a week before; signing in at any time before then keeps it. An account with Stab Cloud running, or holding credits you bought for the Assistant, isn’t deleted this way. Songs on your devices aren’t affected, and Stab works without an account.