The home
The home is where Stab starts: the song you worked on last, the ways to bring a song in, your songs on shelves (each with a + card to start a new one), and the demos. From a song, Home (⇧⌘H)Home (Ctrl+Shift+H)Home brings you back to it.
The home
Available on every platform.
At the top, the home’s bar holds the wordmark, a search field (⌘FCtrl+F; in a narrow window, a shorter box or a ⌕ button, whose field opens over the menus) that finds your songs, the demos and the Learn Stab videos as you type, the free songs’ pill when there’s something to say (below), Sound Library, ? (Help, Alt+H or ⌥H on a Mac: Stab Help, Learn Stab, the Welcome Tour, About Stab and Acknowledgements, as in the Help menu over a song; see Finding help), the gear (Settings), and your account: your face once you’re signed in to Stab Cloud, Sign In otherwise. Your face’s menu has Account…, Your Name and Colour…, Open Invite Link…, Download All, Purchases…, Settings… (Settings, at General) and Sign Out; deleting the account is in Settings › Account (the menu’s Account… opens it) (see Accounts). With Stab unlocked or Stab Cloud, your face wears a brass ring.
Then, from the top down:
- Continue. The song you worked on last (the one you last opened or saved: a copy made with Duplicate waits until you open it): its cover, large, beside when you last changed it, what it is (its key, tempo, time signature, how many bars and how long) and its tracks. Continue (↩)ContinueOpen opens it. Its line says where you left it: the bar, or the bars you looped and at what speed (“Bar 1–4 looped at 75 % · yesterday”), and it opens there, the loop on at that speed; Open at the start, beside it, opens it at the first bar, the loop off (its bars kept) and at 100 %. A song that has become shorter since, changed on another device, opens at its last bar. The first time, before you have a song, Start here stands in its place, with Open a Demo (the Welcome demo). Beside it, the Play Together and Stab Cloud cards (below).
- Bring a Song In. A card for each way a song comes in, each opening its own dialog: see Bringing a song in, below.
- Invitations. Signed in, while someone has invited you to a song, a shelf of its own: who, which song and as what, with Accept and Decline, and ⋯ for Report… and Block…. A song you accept goes first in Shared with Me, marked New until you open it. See Shared songs.
- Shelves. Your songs, newest first: the ten you changed last on each shelf. Signed in, Shared with Me holds songs others share with you and Stab Cloud your cloud songs and Stab Cloud your songs; On this MacOn this PC holds the songs kept on this device.on the web, songs are all in Stab Cloud. Each shelf of your own starts with a + card that sets up a new song there (see New songs); a shelf with nothing on it yet shows that card and a line, after the shelves that have songs. After them (on the Mac, the iPad, Windows and the web, beside Continue), a small Play Together card (host a song, or join with a code: see Joining) and a Stab Cloud card: your plan, one line (whether your songs are up to date, or what needs you, in brass), the storage used, and Details for everything else; or Sign In (see Accounts). If a Stab Cloud subscription has ended, its line says so, and Details says on which day the cloud songs past 3 will be deleted and which 3 stay, with Download All (see Download All); Subscribe stays on the card. After your songs, Opened Files holds the files you opened from outside your library (see Opened Files). Then Demos (see The demos).
- Learn Stab. Short videos of what Stab does, each with Try It to do it for real, and how many you’ve watched (“3 of 6 watched”). They come after the shelves and the demos. Hide puts them away; Learn Stab shows them again. See Finding help.
- At the foot, quiet buttons for what’s there: Published and Collections (signed in, see Collections), and Recently Deleted (see Recently Deleted).
Every song shows its cover, a picture Stab draws each time the song is saved (while it’s open, at most once a minute, and again when you close it), the same on every device: its first page as printed (with its title) for a song last saved in the Score, or brought in from printed music or MusicXML; its first rows on paper for a chord chart; otherwise its first bars as Stab shows them, each track’s notes with their frets, the drums as dots and the sections named. A song that has no cover yet (not saved since, or still on its way from Stab Cloud) shows its name, large, on a colour of its own.
A song’s card says what matters about it in one line under its name: two versions to choose between, people asking to join it, a session playing it (“Live: Anna, Ben”, with their faces), that it’s open on another device, whose it is and your part in it (“Anna · Can Edit”), or when it was changed. A brass dot before the name means it’s open in a window here. In its top corners: New, Can View or Read only on the left, and on the right only while it isn’t up to date, whether it’s going up, coming down, waiting for a connection, or has a newer version from another device.
More › at the end of a shelf’s heading shows every song on it, with a search field of its own: what you type finds songs on that shelf by name. ‹ Home goes back.
A song’s card has a menu of its own (right-click, or a long press on touch screens): see Your songs.
| Command | Keys | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Home | ⇧⌘H | the Window menu |
| Continue | ↩ | the home › Continue |
| Command | Keys | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Ctrl+Shift+H | the File menu; the title bar’s Home button |
| Continue | the home › Continue |
| Command | Keys | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Home | the Session menu; the phone’s ‹ | |
| Open | the home › Continue |
Bringing a song in
Under Continue, Bring a Song In has a card for each way a song can come in on the web: Ask the Assistant, Import a File and A YouTube Video (photos of printed music and recordings are read in Stab on a Mac, a PC, an iPhone, an iPad and Android). Each opens a dialog that says what it does first:
- Ask the Assistant (signed in): say what you’d like to play, or start from one of the examples. Signed in, its card says your balance under its name (1,412 credits, or Not enough for a new song). The dialog shows the job and what it costs in credits before anything is sent; Compose opens a new song with the Assistant at work on it, as if you’d typed the words in its pane. The first time, the Assistant’s consent comes first, then signing in or credits if they’re needed. See The Assistant.
- Take a Picture (with an iPhone or iPad nearby): photograph each page of printed music in order; the song opens beside its pages, read into notes. See Photos of music.
- Photos or PDF: pages you already have, in their order, read into a song you can name.
- Import a File: choose a Guitar Pro (3 to 8), MIDI, MusicXML or iReal Pro file, a PDF, or a recording to play along with; it’s copied in, the original never changed.
- Transcribe Audio: choose a recording or Record… one, and Stab writes it out as tab for a guitar or a bass, optionally taking the part out of a band’s mix first, and finds the beats and the chords. The recording stays in the song under the tab. See Write Tab from Audio.
- Video or YouTube: a video file, or a YouTube link,A YouTube Video: a YouTube linkA Video: a video file to play along with in the song’s Video pane, the bars pinned to its beats.
New songs and templates
Available on every platform.
Each shelf of your own (Stab Cloud, and this device’s) (Stab Cloud’s, signed in) starts with a + card. It opens New Song setup for a song on that shelf:
- Name, if you’d like one now.
- Start from: Last Time (the setup you made last on this device) first, then the built-in templates: Guitar, Band, Bass, Drums, Piano, Chord Chart (the song’s chords to write, with a band to play them: it starts with four chords in its key, twice, so the band plays at once) and Empty (one you hid in Settings isn’t offered). Then Yours: your own song templates, this device’s and, signed in, Stab Cloud’s in Stab Cloud. A template fills in the rows below; change anything before Create. One of yours starts the song from the template, with its sounds, buses and, unless you switch Sections, as empty bars off, its sections, then makes what you changed: a removed instrument isn’t there, a renamed one, another capo or tuning, an added one, and the key, tempo and time signature you chose. Manage in Settings… opens Settings › Templates & Presets.
- Instruments: each with its sound and, for a guitar or a bass, its tuning and capo. Add Instrument adds another. An instrument’s ⋯ menu has Change Sound…, Duplicate (a copy of it right after it, with the same sound, tuning and capo; not for Chords or the Smart band, which a song has once) and Remove.
- Song: the key, the tempo (or Tap it), the time signature, and for a Chord Chart the style its band plays. With one of your templates that has sections, Sections, as empty bars (on) keeps them in the new song, the bars between them empty; off, the song starts with none.
Create opens the new song. The + card says what you set up last: its template’s name (“Set up · last: Band”), or its instruments when you changed them (“Set up · last: Guitar and Bass”); its menu (a right-click) makes the last setup at once, or a template, built-in or yours, as it comes.
| Command | Keys | Where |
|---|---|---|
| New Song… | ⌘N | the File menu; the home |
| New Song as Last Time | ⇧⌘N | the File menu; the home |
Not on Mac: New from Template.
| Command | Keys | Where |
|---|---|---|
| New Song… | Ctrl+N | the File menu; the home |
| New Song as Last Time | Ctrl+Shift+N | the File menu; the home |
Not on Windows: New from Template.
| Command | Keys | Where |
|---|---|---|
| New Song… | the home | |
| New Song as Last Time | the home |
Not on Web: New from Template.
Opened Files
Available on Mac and Windows. Not on Web.
This isn’t on Web.
Opened Files is a shelf of files that stay where they are: the Guitar Pro, MusicXML and MIDI files you opened from File Explorerthe Finder or Open…, and the songs of a folder you brought in that didn’t come in as songs of your own. Nothing is copied: each card points to its file in its folder, and its line says which folder (“In “Tabs””). The last one you opened comes first. The shelf shows only once it has files. A file you rename or move to another folder on the same disk keeps its card, which follows it.
A file on it opens read only, as any file from outside your library does: play it, loop it, look at it in every pane, print it and export it. The strip at the top says so, with Keep in My Songs, which makes it one of your songs, to edit and practise, and takes it off the shelf (the file itself stays in its folder). Without a licence or Stab Cloud it becomes one of your three free songs; with all three used, Keep in My Songs shows your choices and the file stays on the shelf.
A card’s menu (right-click or Control-click) has Open, Keep in My Songs, Show in File ExplorerShow in Finder and Remove from Opened Files, which takes it off the shelf and leaves the file alone. A file that has been moved or renamed, or is on a drive that isn’t connected, says Moved or renamed in the warning colour; opening it asks whether to remove it. Stab never removes one by itself, so a drive plugged back in brings its files back.
The demos
Available on every platform.
The demos are finished songs in many styles (rock, metal, jazz, bossa nova, chiptune, flamenco and more), each with its own tracks and sounds. They’re a quick way to hear what Stab plays and to see how a song is built. A few say how they were made, on their card: “Built from the funk recipe”, for instance, is a song the Assistant’s funk recipe builds, the starting point it works from when you ask for a song in that style.
The Demos shelf is at the bottom of the home; More › shows them all. Selecting one opens it read only, as Welcome is: play it, look around every pane, print or export it. Keep in My Songs, on the strip at the top of the song, makes it one of your songs, to edit and practise; without a licence or Stab Cloud it becomes one of your three free songs.Selecting one opens it to try, as Welcome is: change anything, and nothing is saved or counted unless you keep it in Stab Cloud when you leave it. With no songs yet, Open a Demo on the Start here card opens Welcome. New from Demo in the File menu makes a song of a demo at once, named after it, in your songs (it counts as one of yours, so at three free songs it shows your choices instead).
| Command | Keys | Where |
|---|---|---|
| New from Demo | the File menu; the home |
| Command | Keys | Where |
|---|---|---|
| New from Demo | the File menu |
| Command | Keys | Where |
|---|---|---|
| New from Demo | the home |
The Welcome demo
Available on every platform.
The first time you open Stab, the Welcome to Stab sheet offers three ways to start. Write a riff makes your first song, My First Riff, at once: one guitar in 4/4 at 100 bpm (one of your 3 free songs without a licence or Stab Cloud), the caret on the low E at bar 1. A card at the bottom right takes you through three steps and ticks each one as you do it: type 0, then → and 3, then → and 5, and Space plays it back. The song is saved as you go. Once it plays, the card offers Hear and practise, the next Learn Stab tutorial, and a note says the song is in My Songs. Bring in your files opens Import a File for a Guitar Pro (3 to 8), MusicXML or MIDI file; dropping files or a folder from the FinderFile Explorer onto the sheet does the same. Play a demo opens Funk Groove read only, as Welcome is. Write a riff is the one ringed: ReturnEnter chooses it, and Esc opens Welcome. The sheet’s foot says where you stand: your 3 free songs and Enter Licence Key…, your licence, or Stab Cloud; Stab Cloud is optional, with Sign In for an account you already have. The sheet shows once. Welcome Tour, in the Help menuthe Help menu or the home’s Help button (?), shows the welcome tour whenever you want it: what Stab does, a slide at a time (writing, bringing music in, practising, playing together and Stab Cloud, with its price and Subscribe on the last slide), ending with Open a Demo, New Song and Import….
The first time you open Stabvisit, a short welcome tour shows what it does, a slide at a time: writing, bringing music in, practising, playing together and Stab Cloud. Skip leaves it at any point. The last slide is Stab Cloud’s: what it is and its price, Subscribe, and I have an account: Sign In if you have one already. It ends with three ways in: Open a Demo opens a song called Welcome, New Song starts one from the Guitar template (one of your 3 free songs without a licence or Stab Cloud), and Import…Open… brings in a file of yours. Open a Demo is the one ringed: Return, Esc and closing the tour choose it. Skipping it opens Welcome. Welcome Tour, in the Help menuthe Help menu or the home’s Help button (?), shows the tour again.
?intent=learn, write, band, read or look) opens a song for that choice instead, with a card that says what to try.Welcome is a demo, and it opens read only: every pane and view works, it plays, prints and exports, and nothing about it counts toward your free songs. Under its title, the window says Demo · read only, and a strip under the title bar says what it is and holds its one button (“Read only: changes here aren’t kept. Play, loop and look around; keep this demo to edit and practise it: one of your 3 free songs.”, Keep in My Songs).A strip under the title bar says what it is and holds its one button (“Read only: changes here aren’t kept. Play, loop and look around; keep this demo to edit and practise it: one of your 3 free songs.”, Keep in My Songs). A card over the song shows how to play it and see it other ways. You can loop a passage in it; the first time you do, a note at the foot of the pane says “Changes here aren’t kept”, with Keep, and closing it drops the loop without asking.
Keep in My Songs (or Save (⌘S)Save (Ctrl+S)Save (not on Web)) makes it one of your songs, to edit and practise: a note in the corner says so (“Kept in My Songs. 2 of 3 free songs left.”), and the strip goes. Without a licence or Stab Cloud, it becomes one of your three free songs; at three, the strip says your free songs are used, and Keep in My Songs shows your choices, with Show My Songs to delete a song and make room.
On the web, Welcome is a demo to try: every pane and tool works, and you can change anything, but nothing is kept. A line beside its title says so: “Demo: not saved unless you keep it”.
When you leave it after changing it (closing it or going home), Stab asks whether to keep your changes:
- Keep It in Stab Cloud makes it one of your songs in Stab Cloud (signing in first, if you aren’t). Without Stab Cloud, it counts as one of your three free cloud songs.
- Don’t Keep closes it and keeps nothing.
If you didn’t change it, nothing is asked.