Tempo, dynamics and swing

These shape how a section is played. They show up on the printed chart and you hear them on playback.

Song tempo

The Tempo box at the top of the song sets beats per minute for every section. It prints at the top of the chart and is what playback uses.

A different tempo for one section

Each grid has a second toolbar row. The ♩= box sets a tempo for that section only; leave it blank to follow the song. The new tempo is printed above the section on the chart, and playback changes speed there.

Dynamics

The dyn menu on the same row marks the section's volume: pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff or fff. The mark is printed under the staff, and playback gets louder or softer to match. Leave it on "dyn" for no marking.

Crescendo and decrescendo

The menu beside it adds a hairpin across the whole section: cresc < to build, dim > to back off. On playback the volume slides from the start of the section to the end, which makes a build into a chorus easy to hear.

Accents and ghosts inside a section

Single notes can be accented or ghosted too; that's done in the grid. See Painting grooves.

Swing

Swing at the top of the song is a percentage from 0 to 100. At 0 the eighths are straight. As it rises, every off-beat lands later, and at 100 it's a full triplet shuffle. Swing only changes playback; the chart still prints straight eighths, the way swing feels are usually written. Add a note such as "swing 8ths" to the section so a reader knows.