Pads and backing tracks (V5.x.x)

Options available for pads are 'Auto', 'Audio link file' or 'Off'. Auto uses my built in pads that match the key of the song.

The purpose of a worship pad is to add 'atmosphere' to your sound. These are particularly useful if you are playing solo, or want to 'fill out' your sound. The app has 24 free pads built in (12 major and 12 minor keys) and they follow the key of the song. For interest the built in pads have no set tempo or time signature and moves around between the root, major/minor thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths and ninths/dominant sevenths. The pad focuses on the root and will work no matter what chord you are playing in the song (as long as your remain within the specified key). A good video demonstrating the use of worship pads can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t86qp4uHBZY

Worship pads are not only used in worship - if you play a solo gig in a pub, they will really fatten up your sound!

The pads that I have created are FREE (unlike numerous others you'll find on the web) and you can record with them FREE OF CHARGE (a mention in any recording would be nice!). Each pad is about 10 minutes long and will repeat once finished. They also cross-fade as you move between songs (assuming you have set the key of the song you move to!).

You can adjust the volume and pan of the pad as desired. Be aware they are stereo pads and panning left/right will affect the sound (i.e. left channel has most of the lower register notes and the right channel has most of the higher register notes).

Clicking the save button will save the key of the song to the OpenSong file. If you later transpose the song, the key (and the pad) will automatically adjust to follow this change.

You can start the pad using the blue start button. This will hide the pop-up, but will leave the pad button highlighted at the bottom of the page. The start button then changes into a stop button.

As you move between songs the pads will cross-fade to allow a smooth transition/key change - the cross-fade by default lasts approximately 8 seconds. If you try to move too quickly through multiple songs (without waiting for the cross-fades to complete) you may run into sound glitches - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! You can adjust the cross fade time in the right hand options menu.

To stop the pad, click on the pad button and click stop. You will be told to wait while the fade-out completes (about 8 seconds). You can also quickly start or stop the pads by long pressing the pad button.

When playing a pad/backing track, you can pause/resume the playback by tapping the timer that shows at the top right of the song screen. This is useful for rehearsals.

If you'd rather use your own pads for certain keys, you can also do that. Simply copy the pad files (you'll need a separate file for each key) into the OpenSong/Pads folder. Then, from the app, open the right hand options menu and click on the Pad category. Select the 'Custom' button. This will bring up a page allowing you to specify which pad file should be used for each key. If you set this to 'Auto', the app will use the default built in pads. The app will only play standard midi (*.mid) or audio files (*.mp3, *.wav, *.ogg, *.wav).