Help with Stave

What Stave is

Stave listens to a recording and writes down what was played. Tab for guitar and bass, notes for piano, violin and voice, a grid for drums, and the chords over the top. Then you can slow it down without the pitch dropping, loop the bar you keep fluffing, fix anything it got wrong, and take it away as a PDF, MusicXML or MIDI file.

Bring a recording from your phone, or tap Play something now and play into the microphone. Your first song needs no account.

It gets things wrong sometimes. Notes it isn't sure about are drawn faint. Trust your ears over the tab.

It's taking a while

The listening happens on Stave's server, not on your phone, so you need a connection and it takes a moment. Roughly:

• A 30 second clip of one instrument: about a minute.
• A full song with singing or a band behind it: a few minutes. Stave has to pull your instrument out of the mix before it can listen properly, and that is the slow part.
• If other people are uploading at the same moment, it waits its turn and says so.

If the recording is just you, set On the recording to Just me before you upload. It skips the slow part and can save minutes.

Once the upload has gone through you can leave the screen. The song turns up on your shelf when it's done.

It says nothing was heard

The recording was silent or very quiet. Check the right file was picked, or record again with the phone closer.

The microphone isn't working

Stave only asks for the microphone when you record. If you said no the first time, turn it back on:

• iPhone: Settings, Stave, Microphone.
• Android: Settings, Apps, Stave, Permissions, Microphone.

What can I bring in?

Most audio and video files, up to 10 minutes. Stave doesn't fetch anything from streaming services or video sites. If it's a video you made, save it to your phone first and bring it in from Photos or Files.

Getting a cleaner tab

A noisy recording transcribes worse. Stave writes down what it hears, so anything else in the room ends up in the tab or hides the notes you wanted. What helps most:

• Hold the phone close to the instrument, pointing at it.
• A quiet room. TV off, nobody talking over it.
• One instrument at a time if you can.
• Single notes and fingerpicking come out best. Strumming comes out rougher, and a busy full-band mix roughest of all.
• Say what's on the recording under On the recording, and pick the right instrument before you upload.

Faint notes are guesses. Open the song, tap Set up, then Fix it up to change notes, bars and chord names. Your fixes carry through to every export.

My songs aren't on my other phone

Without an account, a song belongs to the phone that made it. Make an account (More, then Account) and your songs follow you to anything you sign in on. Songs you made before signing up move into the account with you.

I've forgotten my password

On the sign in screen, tap Forgotten your password? Stave sends one email with a link that works once. If it hasn't arrived in a few minutes, check your spam folder, then get in touch.

Exporting a song

1. Open the song.
2. Tap Share on the bar along the bottom.
3. Pick a format: a PDF of the tab, the notation, a lead sheet or just the chords; MusicXML for notation software; MIDI for any music app; plain text tab; ABC; or JSON with everything Stave worked out.
4. Send it to another app, or save it to Files.

You can set the format you usually want under More, then Account, so it's already picked next time.

Sharing a link instead lets anyone who has the link read the written-out song. The recording does not go with it. Turn sharing off and the link stops working straight away.

Deleting your account and your data

You can close your Stave account yourself, at any time, and it takes everything with it.

What goes

Every song on the account, with its recording, its tab and any share link, which stops working at once. Your email address, your name if you gave one, your password hash and your settings. It can't be undone.

What stays

An anonymous count of uploads that were turned away for being over the free limit, with no name or email on it. That is what stops the free songs being reset by closing one account and opening another.

One song at a time

To delete a single song, open it, tap Set up and then Delete this song at the bottom. The recording, the tab and any share link go with it.

Songs made without an account

These belong to the phone that made them, and only that phone can delete them. Delete them in the app before you delete the app. Once the app is gone there is no way left to tell which songs were yours.

The full detail of what Stave keeps and for how long is on the privacy page.

Getting a copy of your data

Every song can be exported from its own page (see Exporting a song). JSON is the fullest: every note, chord and beat Stave worked out, and your fixes. The recording you brought in is the one on your phone; Stave's copy is only there to play back alongside the tab.

For anything else Stave holds about you, email support@playstave.app from the address on your account and we'll send it.

Something of yours was shared without asking

If a Stave share link shows a song that belongs to you, email support@playstave.app with the link and we'll look at it promptly. More under Copyright and takedowns.

Copyright and takedowns

Stave is for recordings you made, or have permission to use. It doesn't search for, download or supply any music: you bring the file. What it writes from someone else's song is for your own learning, practice and teaching. The terms say the rest.

If you hold the rights to something on Stave and it shouldn't be there, email support@playstave.app with "Copyright" in the subject: who you are, the work that is yours, the share link or enough to find it, that you believe in good faith the use is not allowed, that what you send is accurate, and your name. We reply within two working days, turn the link off or take the song down when a notice is complete, tell the person whose song it is, and keep a record. The whole process, including how to answer a takedown, is on the copyright page.

Contact

support@playstave.app

Say which phone you're on, roughly when it happened, and the name of the song if it's about one. Never send your password. Nobody at Stave will ever ask for it.