10. The Stage

Presets, parts and the band

The Stage has many settings; most of the time you want one of a few looks. A preset sets them all at once, the part shows one player’s track, and the band gives you drums, bass and comping to play with, all from the Stage’s ⚙.

Presets, parts and the band

Available on every platform.

Presets

Choose one in Preset. Each sets the layout, the bars a line, what the Stage shows, the header and the size together:

Every preset shows the chords (guessed where the song has none), the lyrics and the cues. A preset never changes the theme, so Stage or Daylight stays as you chose it.

The preset your settings match is ticked in the menu. Change any setting afterwards and none is ticked: the pane keeps your own. Choosing a preset is a change to the pane, not to the song, so it isn’t an undo step.

The part

Part chooses whose music the Stage reads: All Parts, or one track. With one part, the chords named from the notes are named from that part, the lyrics are its own, and Notation engraves it alone.

Notation reads one part even before you choose: the first track with notes, ticked in the menu and named on the pane bar, so its notes are large enough to read from a music stand. Choose All Parts (or All Tracks on the pane bar) to engrave every track: the notes get smaller to fit, the chords and words stay at least 14 points. The pane keeps the choice.

One fretted part with Show TAB on also puts its frets under the chords in Lines, a string a row, the ones playing lit. They’re left out where they’d be too small to read, as with fast notes at four bars a line on a phone.

The band

Band gives the song a band that plays its chords in a style: drums, a bass, and a comping part (a guitar for styles such as Rock, Country, Blues, Funk or Reggae; keys for the others). Choose a style from the list:

• If the song has no Smart Tracks yet, the three are added, each with its sound, and they play an ending as the song ends.
• If it has some, they all change to the style you chose.
• None stops every Smart Track playing. Their tracks stay, silent and empty; a style chosen after that plays on them again.

The style the band plays is ticked. Choosing one is a change to the song, and one undo step. See Smart Tracks for what the parts play and how to shape them.