This one’s a page-turner

Drummers may not need chords and lyrics, but as Allan Leibowitz has found, many of us still need notes to help us keep track of songs at a gig.

We’ve previously referred to the OnSong app in our reviews of devices like the iRig AirTurn, but a few enhancements of the lyrics and chords software make it worthy of a stand-alone review.

What’s in the box

OnSong is a Mac/iPad/iPhone app, available through the AppStore, to display and share song data.

That description is a bit of an understatement compared to the official OnSong description as a “Swiss Army Knife of apps for musicians”.

OnSong is available as a digital download, starting with a free version. Unlike the initial one-time-fee product, OnSong 2024 is available on subscription, starting with the $4 per month Essential plan and scaling to full packages for bands so that all members can share “live” setlists and make changes in real time.

In action

I’ll be the first to admit that most of the features of OnSong 2024 are far above the pay grade of humble drummers. The functionality is heavily skewed towards guitarists and keys players who can load songs in almost any format (text, PDF , image) and make them interactive so that they can be edited, shared and automated.

If, like me, all you need is something to replace the traditional lyrics folder containing song words, drum notes and instructions with a digital version that’s easy to edit, update and scroll through, the free version won’t quite cut it.

That product will include the song viewer and the ability to import content from other apps, including websites and your Dropbox account, but has very limited editing options, so you won’t, for example, be able to edit incorrect lyrics or add another verse.

An upgrade to the ‘basic’ version (Essential) will provide a few more editing tools, but to really make the most of the capability, you will need to stump up for the $5 per month Premium offering.

Again, you’ll probably never touch most of the tools in this suite, but you will need it for some of the advanced functions which make it fully compatible with e-drums .

I’ve been using OnSong for almost a decade, mostly as an iPad song sheet for gigs. I’ve uploaded all the band’s songs – some from guitar tab documents from fellow musicians, some from lyrics copied and pasted from the Internet, others from PDFs.

My first task when loading them is to add the BPM to the onboard metronome – either by typing it in where I know what it is, or by tapping it in where the tempo is unknown. And there’s a slider to adjust the tempo. You can also select the time signature for the common (and less common – like 9/8) measures.

The library function allows you to save your songs to books (I’ve never used that) and to pull songs from the library and add them to setlists, as required – including the ability to re-order the songs once they’re assigned.

When required, it’s easy to annotate or attach sticky notes to each song – or even to add new text.

Once your setlist is ready, it is displayed on your device, starting with the first song. You can simply swipe through the songs with a finger as you need the next one, but that’s obviously not ideal if you have sticks in your hands.

Previously, you needed an external “page turner” like the iRig BlueTurn – a physical Bluetooth pedal set with which you could move forward or backward. There are also drummer-friendly versions like the AirTurn TAP which we reviewed when it was launched. And while the price of this technology has fallen dramatically to below $50, it is another piece of gear which you need to remember when you lug your kit around.

Now, MIDI is your friend, and OnSong’s advanced MIDI capability combines with the growing availability of Bluetooth on modules to allow you to select specific notes which can be allocated to various functions on the app – totally wirelessly. This is only the tip of OnSong’s MIDI iceberg, but it allows you to allocate triggers you don’t use to functions within the app. For example, you might not need the rim of your mid and low toms, so you can use one to move your pages forward and the other to go back. Or if you’re using all your drum zones, perhaps add a cheap dual-zone rubber pad and use the head for forward and the rim for back.

Overall

If you’re happy to rely on a folder and printed or hard-written song sheets, then by all means, carry on doing that.

But is you already have your repertoire stored electronically and want to replace the old folder with your iPad, then OnSong is worth considering; even more so if you use an electronic metronome of some sort.

OnSong allows you to easily build and edit setlists and display them clearly on your device. You can scroll between songs manually while you’re playing, or use MIDI signals from your e-kit page.

If your needs are fairly basic, start off with the free version and see if it suits before splurging on more bells and whistles.

If you’re in a permanent band and serious about song collaboration, then the Premium subscription includes a number of tools for real-time communication and sharing (provided your band mates also have the app). Paid subscriptions even include shared online storage via the OnSong Cloud: 2 GB of drive storage for Essential  subscribers and 5 GB for Premium subscribers.

Pricing starts at $3.99 per month or $29.99 per year for Essential, rising to $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year for Premium, while there are also plans for “friends”, “teams” or “bands”. Universities can access a Campus subscription for $900 per year, including 200 GB of OnSong Cloud drive storage.