01
Start with the click
Choose a tempo and time signature, press Start and adjust the sound for your setup.
02
Add only what you need
Open a guide topic for trainers, setlists, chord sheets, overlays, band sync or connected equipment.
03
Test before the performance
Check audio routing, permissions and connected hardware in the same setup you will use on stage.
Complete instructions
Complete instructions
Eight topics cover the same instructions as the app. Each topic opens into short, named sections so you can scan first and read the detail you need.
01Metronome & RhythmsSyncPulse offers a highly precise metronome from 30 to 300 BPM.
Time Signatures
Choose from standard meters (4/4, 3/4) to complex ones like 7/8 or 15/16. You can even create compound meters like 6/8 and group beats however you like (e.g., 3+3 or 2+2+2).
Subdivisions
Add clicks between the main beats. The dots under each choice preview its spacing before you select it; Swing therefore looks uneven. Common and Creative choices are both available directly in Rhythm & Meter.
02Sounds & RoutingCustomize the click to cut through the mix.
Sound Selection
Pick from 10 distinct sounds for the main beat, accents, and subdivisions independently.
Volumes
Adjust the master volume, or tweak individual beat volumes using the sliders in the Accent tab. Values above 100% boost the click and can add extra grit or distortion.
03Trainer ModeImprove your internal timing with the built-in Trainer.
Tempo Increments
Automatically increase or decrease the tempo by a set BPM every X bars. Great for pushing your speed limits.
Gap Training
Mute the click for several bars, then bring it back. If you're still on the beat when it returns, your internal clock is rock solid.
04Setlist ModePrepare your entire gig in advance.
Creating Setlists
In the Hub, setlists come first: create one or tap an existing row to open Prepare. The three-dot button at the end of a row renames or deletes that setlist, or lets you share and save it locally as CSV or Excel. The song library follows, while chord-sheet and playback preferences stay together under the collapsed Performance settings section.
Song Sections
Break songs into sections (e.g., Intro, Verse, Chorus) with automatic bar-based transitions or manual triggering. Section cards estimate their playing time; Manual sections have no fixed end, and + in a setlist total means it contains one or more of them. Queued and automatic section changes finish the outgoing beat, including its subdivisions, before applying a new time signature or count-in. Natural stops and backing-track transitions finish the final beat. The next backing track is prepared while the previous one is still playing.
Tempo curve, fermata and meter cycle
A section does not have to stay the same. Open a section and you will find three settings under the bar count. A tempo curve slows down or speeds up towards the end of the section - set the closing tempo and, if you only want the ritardando in the last few bars, over how many bars it should run; the final beat of the section is exactly the tempo you typed. A fermata holds the click on the last beat of the section until you press play again (overlay, footswitch or Start), so the band can hang on a chord. A meter cycle repeats a sequence of time signatures, one per bar - 7/8 + 4/4, for example - instead of asking you to make a separate section for every bar; the click switches on the bar line and keeps the underlying pulse the same, so the BPM number changes with the denominator while the music does not. All three travel with the song through save, copy, CSV export and import. In band mode a section falls back to its fixed tempo and time signature: a curve or cycle does not reach the other devices yet.
Stage & setlist
Use the Stage button on the standard metronome screen to open your prepared set. The main screen no longer reserves space for setup; only an active band connection appears there as a compact status. When a setlist is active, the main screen simplifies to show only what you need for the gig. Auto-advance has its own button next to the lock on the setlist screen, and it keeps working with the stage lock on. The gear next to it opens the Setlist & band hub for the rest, and that one disappears when you lock. Between songs, a striped green marker means the set continues automatically; a solid amber marker means playback pauses. While nothing is playing, a button under the song list opens the setlist for editing; it disappears as soon as the set starts. The beat bars stay small here so the song list keeps its place; switch on Big beat bars in a setlist under Display if you would rather have them grow while you play.
Moving between songs
On the setlist screen the previous/next song arrows sit either side of the START/STOP button, the same place they have in the chord-sheet view, and they are deliberately large so you can hit them without looking. They grey out at the first and last song of the set. By default the jump waits for the current bar to finish and counts you in, so the band lands together. If you would rather have the new tempo the instant you press, turn on Switch songs instantly under Setlists → Performance settings → Playback: the jump then applies straight away, on a fresh downbeat and with no count-in. Moving between sections inside a song is unchanged.
Song library
The song library holds every song on its own, independent of any setlist, so you build it once and drop songs into whichever set needs them. The list is alphabetical by default; the button next to the song count switches it to "Recently added", which is the quickest way to find back what an import just brought in. The checklist button next to Export library starts selection mode: tick as many songs as you want and remove them in one go, instead of confirming them one by one. Import and export use the same CSV/Excel table format as a setlist, with one row per section. Export library transfers song structure, tempos, timing, notes and text chord sheets; it does not contain backing tracks, PDF/image sheets or every app-only setting, so it is not a full backup. Delete all songs empties the library and asks twice, because there is no undo; your setlists keep their own copy of every song and are never touched by it. When an imported title already exists, or occurs more than once in the file, SyncPulse asks what to do with every collision: skip it, replace the earlier version, or add it as "Title (1)". Untitled songs receive unique Untitled names in CSV/Excel exports so they remain separate when imported again. Names you choose for the library are kept, including Default.
Importing songs
The upload icon in the Hub reads spreadsheets (CSV, Excel), plain-text tables (.txt), OnSong and SetlistMaker files, and MusicXML scores exported from MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale or Dorico (.musicxml and .mxl). The info button next to it offers an example Excel workbook you can save locally, fill with your own songs and import again. From a score SyncPulse takes the structure only, never the notes: one section per rehearsal mark, each with its own time signature, tempo, key and number of bars. Scores without rehearsal marks are split where the time signature changes. If SyncPulse does not recognise the column headings, it asks which column holds which value instead of refusing the file. Setlist export can share or save the same layout locally as CSV or Excel, and it re-imports unchanged.
05Chord SheetsAttach a chord sheet to any song so the setlist can be the only screen you need on stage.
Adding a Chord Sheet
In the song editor, paste or type a ChordPro-style chord sheet, or attach a PDF or one or more photos in their original layout. A song can have both text and fixed-layout versions — you choose which one to view. If the chord sheet states the title, tempo, key, time signature or sections, SyncPulse offers to fill those in for you — it always asks first, and imported sections have no fixed length.
Text vs. PDF/Images
Pasted text reflows to fit any screen and any font size — great for reading on a phone. Capo directives appear below the key; comments remain readable, and page or column breaks become compact separators. A PDF or photos keep their original layout, with pinch-to-zoom and swipe to turn pages.
Viewing During a Gig
Open a song's chord sheet from the Stage screen. The permanent panel below the sheet keeps the song, section, tempo, meter, next cue, and section progress visible without covering the sheet. As leader you can start, stop, resume, change section, and move between songs there; format, text-size, and transpose controls stay in the same panel. Swipe left or right across the sheet to move to the next or previous song. The screen stays on while the viewer is open. Prefer to start there? Turn on "Open the chord sheet when the setlist starts" under Chord sheet in the Setlist & band hub.
Following Along Automatically
Turn on "Follow the chord sheet automatically" under Chord sheet in the Setlist & band hub and a text chord sheet scrolls with your setlist. Each section's bar count decides how far the sheet travels, so it keeps pace with the tempo you are actually playing instead of a fixed speed, and the line you are on sits just below the top edge. A count-in only puts the next section in place — the sheet starts moving on the first bar you play. A section with no bar count set holds still until you move on yourself. Swipe the sheet by hand and it pauses at once, for that song only; the button in the panel resumes it and brings the sheet back to where the music is. PDF and photo chord sheets are not scrolled.
More Options
Jump to the previous/next song right from the viewer, or transpose a text chord sheet up or down. The saved file never changes, and chords are spelled to match the key you land in, so you get Bb rather than A#. When the sheet declares a key of its own and the current section has one too, the sheet is shown in the section's key, and transposing writes the new key onto that section — so the setlist, the Live screen, and your band all follow along. Without a key on either side, transposing stays a display-only offset for that song. Share a chord sheet from the song editor to back it up or send it to someone. Everything else lives together under Chord sheet in the Setlist & band hub: a text-size slider with a live sample, an optional setting that lets the PDF/photo viewer rotate to landscape on a phone, and a switch that opens the chord sheet straight away when a setlist starts.
06Band ModeOpen the band controls and pick what you are doing: "Start band session" makes this phone the leader, "Join band session" follows someone else.
Open the band controls and pick what you are doing: "Start band session" makes this phone the leader, "Join band session" follows someone else. Starting a session listens for a couple of seconds first: if another phone is already leading, you join as a follower and are asked whether you really want to take over, so a band never ends up on two tempos at once. That is the whole setup — the connection is chosen for you, and Advanced sync is only there if you want to switch to Bluetooth or check the network. Everyone needs the same SyncPulse version; the band panel warns about mixed versions. Pressing play on a follower never takes the lead while someone else is broadcasting — it just starts you on the band's tempo, and a short message tells you so. To take over, use "Lead the band".
Ableton Link (Wi-Fi)
Sync tempo and phase with other Link-enabled apps on the same Wi-Fi network automatically.
Will this network work?
While you are joining, the band panel shows one honest status: it says "Looking for leader…" for twelve seconds and only then offers Bluetooth instead. The network check lives under Advanced sync and appears only when Ableton Link is the route; open Diagnose there for VPN, guest-network, IP and subnet details. Silence on the network while another musician runs SyncPulse usually means the network blocks device-to-device traffic; use Bluetooth or a phone hotspot instead. No internet is needed.
Bluetooth Sync
One leader broadcasts tempo, meter, and setlist progress to multiple followers up to 20m away—no Wi-Fi needed.
What you see while following
A follower mirrors the leader, not its own set. Under the tempo you get the song and section the leader is on, with the next one right below it, in the same size and position the leader sees them. The tempo controls (slider, TAP and count-in) are hidden while you follow, because the leader owns the tempo; the beat bars stay full size. Before anyone starts, that area is deliberately empty — you are only shown a song once the leader is actually sending one. The next cue follows the queued repeat, jump or stop chosen by the leader. An upcoming pause or fermata is shown as Stop instead of promising the next section. Count-ins also follow the leader when the tempo or time signature changes within a song. Selecting another song while paused updates the title and tempo sent to band followers. Use the current app version on all band devices for aligned natural stops. Manual Stop remains immediate.
Setlist mirror
While following, tap the band hint in the Setlist & Band hub to see the leader's full setlist live, with the current song and the section they are on highlighted. It's read-only and never saved on your device — you can't edit, jump, or import it. Over Bluetooth, this works reliably for setlists up to about 10 songs; use Ableton Link (Wi-Fi) for bigger ones.
Chord Sheets While Following
If the leader has a chord sheet for the current song, an icon appears in the follower setlist view to open it. A pasted/typed chord sheet syncs automatically — nothing to do. A PDF or photos are never sent over the connection; pick the same file on your own device once and it is recognized automatically from then on. The permanent panel shows the leader's song, section, tempo, meter, and next cue, but never leader transport. You can close the viewer, switch between received text and a locally linked PDF or photo, and change text size. Whenever the sheet is shown in another key, you see the same chords the leader does, with the transposition offset shown in the panel.
07Display & OverlayCustomize what you see on the screen.
Overlay Styles
Choose from Dot, Edge, Bars, Screen, Pendulum, and Circle. Each choice shows a miniature preview in your beat colors. The overlay can float over other apps such as sheet-music readers.
Opacity & Size
Tweak the overlay opacity so it's not distracting, and adjust the size of the setlist title bar to fit your screen perfectly.
Keeping the screen on
Keep screen on (Settings, General) stops your display from timing out and locking while the metronome or a setlist is running, which is what you want on stage or at rehearsal. It only holds the screen awake while a session is actually running; once you stop, the phone sleeps on its normal schedule. Simply being in a band session does not count as running: a phone that is waiting for the leader sleeps normally and wakes the moment the leader starts. It is on by default.
08Permissions ExplainedSyncPulse asks for access only when you use the related feature:
Notifications & Foreground Service
Keeps the metronome running in the background so it doesn't stop when you lock your screen.
Draw Over Other Apps
Allows the visual metronome (strobe/dot) to float over your sheet music apps.
Bluetooth / Nearby Devices
Required for connecting to Bluetooth foot pedals and syncing with band members.
Battery Optimization
By excluding SyncPulse from battery saving, you prevent Android from randomly killing the audio engine during a long set.
Diagnostics
Settings > Timing keeps one line for each of your last ten sessions: playing time, audio dropouts, late beats and jitter. That is where you check the morning after a gig whether the click really faltered. "Share diagnostics" sends that overview as plain text - counters, app version and device model only, never your setlists, songs or files.
Instruction source: the current English Android app resources.
Contact
Ask a question or share feedback
Use the secure form below. For a technical issue, include your Android version, app version and the steps that led to it.
Prefer email? Write directly to info@syncpulse.band.