The groove editor

The groove player is a powerful LiveSet feature that lets you listen to an entire song played with a basic arrangement, either chosen from predefined styles or with a style you compose yourself using the groove editor.

To access the groove editor from a score view, display the music palette (button ), and in the style selector, choose "Custom groove...".

The groove editor then opens, using the currently selected groove as a starting point:

In this window, on the left (or at the top if the screen is small) you will find the global settings and navigation (and the settings for the currently selected track), and on the right, the sequencer.

At the bottom left, you will find the "Play" button, which lets you play the groove currently being edited in a loop (with a chord matching the key of the current song), and on the right an import button, which lets you load any existing groove into the editor so you can develop it further.

Note: Importing and editing an existing groove will only apply to the current song; the original groove will not be changed.

Basic principle

The basic principle of a groove is to loop one or more bars, while LiveSet adapts each played note to the chords in the score.

To add variations, LiveSet lets you assign different loops to each named section of a song. This means you can have different grooves for verses, choruses, bridges, etc. However, you must have at least one default groove (identified by the icon ).

A groove is made up of several tracks (one track per instrument), each with its own volume/equalisation setting.

Global settings

The left-hand part of the editor (or the top on a small screen) contains the following settings:

• The section selector: LiveSet lets you play a different groove for each named section of the song. The section identified by a star () is the default groove. To choose a section to edit, tap its name. If no customisation exists for this section yet, LiveSet prompts you to create a specific arrangement for it. 
  To start with, LiveSet copies the "default" groove, which you can then edit. If the currently selected section is not the default section, you can also use the button to delete a customisation.
   
• The quantisation selector lets you choose the "fineness" of the sequencer grid.
   
• The "swing" level (displayed only for a binary time signature) lets you turn a binary grid into a grid that tends towards a triplet feel, the basic principle of swing.
   
• The velocity selector lets you adjust the intensity of the notes you will add in the sequencer.

At the bottom of the left-hand area, you will find the reverb setting:

• The length indicates how many seconds the reverberation lasts (the decay).
• The wet/dry mix indicates the percentage by which the reverberation sound "washes out" the original sound of the instruments.

The sequencer

The right-hand part of the editor contains the different tracks of the groove (i.e. the different instruments). First, there are two special tracks:

• The drum track (where each instrument sound can be selected individually)
• The bass track

You can then add as many instrument tracks as you want using the button .

To select the instrument, click its name:

The buttons let you switch the track between two modes:

• In mode , LiveSet simply plays the chord (or the root note for the bass track), based on the chord progression. This is the simplest mode.
• In mode , you can compose the groove note by note. For instruments, LiveSet can play the basic individual notes (the root [Root], the third [3rd], the fifth [5th], or an alternative note that is part of the chord) adapted to the current chord. For example, the third will be major or minor depending on the current chord, and the fifth may be diminished or augmented if the perfect fifth does not exist in the current chord. Finally, the alternative note corresponds to the most relevant tension for the chord, typically the sixth in a sixth chord, etc.
  The last row at the bottom (Full) lets you ask LiveSet to play the entire chord.

Note that if you choose to play the entire chord and you use a guitar sound, LiveSet will play the chord like a guitarist, in a more realistic way than playing all the notes of the chord as on a keyboard.

To add a note, simply tap the desired cell in the sequencer grid. For the bass or an instrument, by then dragging to the right, you can write a longer or shorter note. LiveSet also uses the current velocity (selectable on the left) for the new note, to introduce dynamics.

At the very bottom of the sequencer area, the active bar of the loop is displayed. You can use the button to move to the next bar or to create a new bar. When creating a new bar, LiveSet offers to copy the previous bar or start from an empty one.

By clicking the left-hand bar of a track, you can select the track to display some additional global settings for it on the left (or as an overlay if the screen is small):

The following settings are then available for the current track:

• Its volume, allowing you to mix the instruments together correctly.
• A three-band equaliser, allowing you to adjust the timbre of the instrument (bass, mid, treble).
• Allow reversals of chords is a feature that lets you "centre" an instrument’s playing around a specific note, in order to keep a similar overall timbre regardless of the song key. The idea is to avoid the unpleasant "transposition" effect that can occur when all chords are played in the most basic way, in their first inversion. 
• A global octave offset, allowing you to play a sound higher or lower than its default key.

Saving grooves

Grooves are associated with the current song. If a predefined groove is selected, LiveSet simply keeps the reference to it. However, if a custom groove has been created, it is saved with the song and becomes an integral part of it, in particular:

• For exporting the song in LiveSet format, so the song can be sent to another user of the app
• For publishing the song in the public library.