Professional Documents
Culture Documents
User Manual
Contents
Composition View 10
Grid mode 10
Score mode 13
Files View 15
The File Menu 17
Importing a YouCompose le 24
Importing a MIDI le 28
Keyboard setup 35
Quantization 36
Record a melody 36
2
fi
fi
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Editing a movement 43
About selecting single and multiple fragments 43
Adding lyrics 56
Instrumentation 60
Composition Instructions 60
Harmonization Points 62
Editing Instrumentation 64
Special effects 72
Transposition, loop playback and part level settings with the ‘Function Selector’ 79
Settings 80
App Settings 80
Boot mode 82
Composition Settings 83
Part Settings 85
Segment Settings 90
The mixer 92
Literature 116
Contact us 116
5
fi
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Meet Aimée, your personal, artificially intelligent assistant composer, she's ready to help you compose great
music.
Whether you are a beginner or a professional composer, she will boost your creativity with her vast
knowledge of music theory and the clever use of genetic algorithms.
You give her your melodies and decide how she should handle them. Aimée then finishes your composition,
doing all the hard work that normally takes hours, but now is done in seconds.
Aimée can also compose her own melodies or even sonatas, scherzos, fugues and more ... what about a
complete symphony? You can use her compositions, or parts of them, in any way you want.
YouCompose is a great tool to create your own music for your movie, game or theater productions for
example. It's also great for songwriters but above all: it’s just fun to play with this app and enjoy its
sometimes surprising results.
Built-in instruments:
- 80 instrument definitions with their sounds are included. You'll find all regular orchestral instruments,
keyboards, organs, guitars, basses, chorus, percussion and more.
- With more than 85 predefined ensembles, you can quickly set up YouCompose for a wide variety of
instrument groups such as trios, quartets, quintets, etc., small and large orchestras or a big band.
- You create melodies using the built-in virtual keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, by entering single notes in a
grid or score editor, by importing a melody from a MIDI le or by asking Aimée to make one for you.
Aimée will then harmonize these melodies in a classical or jazz style taking into account the instruments
you selected.
- A composition can be edited in many ways. YouCompose allows you to copy, paste, move and delete
movements, segments and individual notes.
- You can ask Aimée to compose a complete 3 or 4 movement classical or jazz symphony for your
ensemble all by herself, or let her add a new movement to an existing one. She can do that based on her
own melodies or on melodies you provide.
- You can control the way she harmonizes your melodies with special instrumentation tools, by de ning
‘Composition instructions’, setting ‘Harmonization Points’ and other options, or you can also leave that
completely to Aimée.
- If you wish you can even combine classical and jazz styles within one piece.
- Special tools allow you to enter lyrics, apply melodic transformations or create dynamic e ects.
6
fi
ff
fi
YouCompose User Manual
- YouCompose is Audiobus, AudioCopy and Inter-App Audio compatible and supports background audio.
This means that you can record its audio using Audiobus, GarageBand or any other Audiobus compatible
or IAA host App. In Audiobus you will find remote triggers for reverb and output level adjustment. With
AudioCopy you can copy audio from movements, parts, segments or fragments to any other AudioCopy
compatible app.
- YouCompose is CoreMIDI compatible. This means that you can also use a MIDI keyboard, a MIDI sound
module or synth apps running on your device together with YouCompose.
- You can export audio files directly to other apps on your device. Supported audio file formats are: MIDI,
aac, m4a, aiff, caf and wav. A m4a file contains iTunes data like ‘artist’, ‘song name’ and ‘lyrics’. You can
export audio from movements, parts, segments or fragments.
- You can view your composition’s full score and the individual parts (transposed when applicable), print
them directly from YouCompose to an AirPrint compatible printer or export them to any PDF viewer like
iBooks.
- You can save compositions to your device and load them again later. Additionally, YouCompose allows
you to send and receive them from other devices running YouCompose via iCloud, email or an AirDrop
connection.
- You can share your composition with others by sending an email containing a YouCompose file, m4a
audio files, MIDI files and/or a PDF document with the full score and the individual (transposed) parts.
Several sample compositions containing well known melodies are also included in the package.
7
YouCompose User Manual
Follow the instructions and the tutorial will show you how to record a tune, add it to a movement, harmonize
it and play it.
You can also set the Tutorial Mode in the settings pane
of YouCompose in the Settings App of your device.
Have fun!
8
YouCompose User Manual
A movement has parts (they would be called ‘tracks’ in a traditional DAW) initially named after the
instruments that are assigned to them (you can change the titles if you want).
A movement must have 1 and can have up to 50 parts.
Adding notes to a movement is done by adding segments to it. Each segment has fragments, one for
each part. One of these fragments was added by the composer (bright green), the others where added by
Aimée during harmonization (dark green).
Only the memory size of your device limits the number of movements or segments you can add to a
composition.
The Composition View showing the third movement (III) of the composition with 6 parts, 4 segments and 24
(4x6) fragments.
9
YouCompose User Manual
Composition View
Grid mode
A The ‘Part headers’. Tapping a part’s instrument image will open the ‘Part
Settings’ for that part.
In every part header you see an image of the instrument that is selected for
that part, and the name of the part (iPad only).
To the left you see the ‘Range Indicator’ for that part and instrument (see
‘Part Settings’ for more info on that).
The ‘M’ and ‘S’ buttons allow you to ‘Mute’ or ‘Solo’ the sound of the part:
Tapping ‘M’ mutes the sound of this part (Alto Sax I).
Tapping ‘S’ mutes all other parts leaving only the sound of the Alto Sax I.
10
YouCompose User Manual
B The ‘Parts Manager’ ribbon has a set of buttons for each part.
The 'swap parts' buttons when tapped will swap this part with the part
above or below it.
The ‘add part’ buttons when tapped will add a new part above or
below this part. The properties for the new part are copied from the part
above the ‘add part’ button (with the exception of the upper part).
The ‘delete part’ button when tapped will remove the part with all the
fragments it contains.
D The ‘Bar Ribbon’ shows the bar numbers in your movement. Tapping on
the Bar Ribbon moves the ‘Playhead’ (see ‘E’) to the tapped bar.
E The ‘Playhead’. Its position determines where playback will start when you
tap the ‘Play’ button (see ‘I’). Its position also determines where a segment
will be split when you tap the ‘Split’ button (see ’N’).
F The ‘Files View’ button. Tapping it opens the ‘Files View’ where you can
manage your les, delete or duplicate a composition or start a new one.
(see ‘Files View’ for more on that).
Tapping the left arrow will undo your last action(s). Any undone action can
be redone by tapping the right button.
H The ‘Grid - Score’ control. At any time during editing or playback of the
current movement you can switch between the grid or score view by
tapping the appropriate button here.
Tapping the ‘Play’ button on the right will start playback beginning at the
position of the Playhead.
Tapping the ‘Rewind’ button will bring the playheads position to the start of
the movement.
When playback starts the ‘Play’ button will be grayed out and the ‘Rewind’
button will turn into the ‘Stop’ button. Tapping the ‘Stop’ button will stop
playback.
11
fi
YouCompose User Manual
K The ‘Export’ button. Tapping it will open a panel giving access to all
L The ‘Settings’ button. Tapping it will open a panel giving access to the ‘App
Settings’, ‘Composition Settings’ and ‘Composition info’. Here you will also
nd a button to quit or start ‘Tutorial Mode’.
M Shows the ‘Selected Bar’. When you tap a bar on the Composition View
this bar becomes the ‘Selected Bar’ and the ‘Edit Panel’ will be presented.
When you then enter the Note Editor for that fragment it will scroll
immediately to the Selected Bar.
12
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Score mode
With the ‘Grid - Score’ control you can toggle between Grid and Score mode. The
Composition View in Score mode has the same functions as in Grid mode with some exceptions:
Letter(s) Description
13
YouCompose User Manual
Letter(s) Description
14
YouCompose User Manual
Files View
The heart of YouCompose is ‘Files View’. Here you can find all your compositions and imported MIDI files. It
is here where you delete, duplicate, import or create new compositions. It is here where you select the
composition that you want to edit or view in Composition View.
15
YouCompose User Manual
- Airdrop RECEIVE:
You can receive compositions from other YouCompose users via
AirDrop. Please read ‘Exporting a composition to another device using
AirDrop’ elsewhere in this manual, it also describes how to receive a
composition using this button.
B Search files by entering text here. It works like a filter. Only files will be
displayed with filenames containing the search text. This works for all
folders (see ‘F’).
- Link to Apple’s App Store (if you like YouCompose then please help us
maintain YouCompose and rate the app or leave a review)
E The ‘Sort’ button determines the order in which the les are displayed.
Can be set to alphabetical (A->Z) or date-time. In the latter case the
most recently edited compositions will appear rst.
F The folder button determines what les are displayed. Can be set to
compositions, MIDI les or deleted les. The deleted les folder can
contain both compositions and MIDI les.
16
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
17
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
In the Files View tap and then to enter the ‘Add new composition’ wizard:
Step 2: Set title, composer and opus number of your new composition.
18
YouCompose User Manual
The parts shown are from the ensemble of the ‘current’ composition in Files View.
So you can set up an ensemble here by making a particular composition 'current' in Files View before
starting the wizard.
For example, you can use the buttons to swap instruments between parts.
Or you can add new parts with the buttons. Or remove parts with the buttons.
You can tap an instrument’s image to open Part Settings for that part to pick another instrument or set other
properties.
Pay attention to the ‘Range Indicators’ to the left of each instrument. They provide information about the
part’s and instrument’s ‘vocal’ range. Please read ‘Part range versus instrument range’ elsewhere in this
manual.
A quick way to set up instruments is to use a predefined ensemble. Read the chapter 'Setup a new
composition with a a predefined ensemble' below.
After you are satisfied with the instruments and parts setup you have two options:
Tap to save your new empty composition in the compositions folder and return to Files View.
Or tap to save your new empty composition in the compositions folder and immediately load
it and show the first (empty) movement in Composition View.
The new composition will become the ‘current’ composition inside the compositions folder and it will have
the typical blue background in Files View:
19
YouCompose User Manual
During the setup of a new composition (see 'Adding a new composition') you can use predefined
First, on the left, you can select the desired number of parts for your new composition. Then select a
suitable ensemble on the right.
Now tap to return to the composition setup wizard. There you can still make changes to the
ensemble before continuing.
20
fi
YouCompose User Manual
In the Files View tap and then to enter the ‘Add new composition’
wizard:
Step 2: Set title, composer and opus number of your new symphony.
21
YouCompose User Manual
The parts shown are from the ensemble of the ‘current’ composition in Files View.
So you can set up an ensemble here by making a particular composition 'current' in Files View before
starting the wizard.
For example, you can use the buttons to swap instruments between parts.
Or you can add new parts with the buttons. Or remove parts with the buttons.
You can tap an instrument’s image to open Part Settings for that part to pick another instrument or set other
properties.
Pay attention to the ‘Range Indicators’ to the left of each instrument. They provide information about the
part’s and instrument’s ‘vocal’ range. Please read ‘Part range versus instrument range’ elsewhere in this
manual.
A quick way to set up instruments is to use a predefined ensemble. Read the chapter 'Setup a new
composition with a a predefined ensemble' above.
After you are satisfied with the instruments and parts setup
Step 4: Set main key and chromatics. When set to ‘Random’ Aimée will select a main key herself.
22
YouCompose User Manual
Step 5: Aimée creates your desired symphony. If you wish you can playback the movements.
You can start from step 1 again by tapping ‘< Again’ but this means that this symphony will be lost.
Tap to save your new empty composition in the compositions folder and return to Files View.
Or tap to save your new empty composition in the compositions folder and immediately load
it and show the first (empty) movement in Composition View.
The new composition will become the ‘current’ composition inside the compositions folder and it will have
the typical blue background in Files View:
Please read ‘Exporting a composition to another device using AirDrop’ elsewhere in this manual, it
also describes how to receive a composition.
23
YouCompose User Manual
Importing a YouCompose le
Importing a YouCompose file is NOT initiated by YouCompose. It is initiated by tapping a YouCompose file
on your device. It is most likely that you will find these files as email attachments in emails sent to you by
other YouComposers (see ‘Exporting a YouCompose file, MIDI files and PDF document containing the score
via email’) or on an external drive like iCloud or Dropbox where you put them using the file export function
(see ‘Exporting a YouCompose file to another App’).
We will use an example with a YouCompose file on iCloud Drive. To access the file open the Files app by
tapping its icon:
Locate the YouCompose file on your iCloud Drive and tap and hold it. A menu will appear:
If you see the iCloud icon with a small downward pointing arrow at the top right of the file icon, this
means that the file is in the cloud and has not (yet) been downloaded to your device.
To import the file into YouCompose, you must first download the file.
24
fi
YouCompose User Manual
The file will be downloaded to your device and the iCloud icon will disappear.
Now when you tap and hold the file a second time the menu will be different:
25
YouCompose User Manual
The file will now be imported into the file system of YouCompose.
YouCompose will open and show you the imported file:
Locate the YouCompose file on your iCloud Drive and tap and hold it. A menu will appear:
26
YouCompose User Manual
Now tap ‘Copy’ in the upper right corner. You just imported the composition into the file system of
YouCompose. When you open it you will find your new file there:
27
YouCompose User Manual
After downloading and/or storing a MIDI file on your device tap the file to open a menu:
Notice:
Make sure the file is fully downloaded on your device before you try to
open it in YouCompose!
Make sure to move the file into the file system of YouCompose by selecting the
‘On My iPad’ -> ‘YouCompose’ -> ‘MidiFiles’ folder:
28
YouCompose User Manual
Now you will find the MIDI file in the Files View in YouCompose (see ‘Files View’ for more on that).
Tap ‘MIDI’ in the folder button to see all imported MIDI files:
29
YouCompose User Manual
Tapping this button will start the importing process of the selected MIDI file.
Step 1: Select the ensemble you want Aimée to import a melody from the MIDI file in.
The parts shown are from the ensemble of the ‘current’ composition in Files View.
So you can set up an ensemble here by making a particular composition 'current' in Files View before
starting the wizard.
For example, you can use the buttons to swap instruments between parts.
Or you can add new parts with the buttons. Or remove parts with the buttons.
You can tap an instrument’s image to open Part Settings for that part to pick another instrument.
Pay attention to the ‘Range Indicators’ to the left of each instrument. They provide information about the
part’s and instrument’s ‘vocal’ range. Keep in mind that importing a melody can be tricky. This has to do
with the ranges of note pitches inside the segments of the MIDI file and the instrument ranges of the
ensemble that you picked. They might not match and force Aimée to expand part ranges beyond
instrument ranges in some cases. Please read ‘Part range versus instrument range’ for more information.
A quick way to set up instruments is to use a predefined ensemble. Read the chapter 'Setup a new
composition with a a predefined ensemble’ to learn more about it.
30
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Step 2: Select the part that you want Aimée to import the melody in. You can force Aimée to use only a
particular part or leave the choice to her (recommended).
Step 3: Now select a track, a MIDI channel and a segment to determine which melody will be imported. You
can use the ‘Play’ button to listen to the selected track as it would sound after importing it into
YouCompose.
Aimée will treat the notes as if they were played on a keyboard, that is why three parameters are of
importance and can be set here:
- ‘With rests’. See ‘Keyboard setup’ in ‘Recording a melody and adding it to a movement’ for an
explanation of the parameter ‘Record rests’.
Use the button to listen to the result before importing the track(s).
Tap if you want Aimée to create a new composition with a first movement containing the
selected melody from this MIDI file as main source. The new composition will become the ‘current’
composition inside the compositions folder and it will have the typical blue background.
Or:
31
YouCompose User Manual
Tap to copy the segment(s) containing the imported melody to the clipboard to be
copied later into any movement of an existing composition as main source(s) (see ‘Adding notes to a
movement’ -> ‘Paste fragment’).
If necessary Aimée will expand the default vocal ranges of the parts to fit the imported melody as
mentioned in step 2.
If no key information is found for the imported MIDI track YouCompose will warn you about that:
Once you have imported a melody from a MIDI file you can always reload the same MIDI file again to
import another track because the imported file is copied to the MIDI files folder where it is at your
disposal until you delete it.
32
YouCompose User Manual
To do so tap anywhere on an empty space within a part track or, when fragments are already there on a
The buttons give you 4 different ways of adding a fragment to the selected part:
- ‘Record new’: Tapping this button will open the built-in virtual keyboard allowing you to record a melody
(see: ‘Recording a melody and adding it to a movement’).
- ‘Insert new’ (also ‘Prepend new’ or ‘Append new’ depending on the context): Opens a panel allowing you
to add a fragment with a melody created by Aimée (see: ‘Let Aimée add a melody to a movement’).
- ‘Paste fragment’ (also ‘Paste fragments’ depending on the number of fragments copied): Will add
previously copied fragment(s) from the clipboard (see: ‘Editing fragments and segments’) to the part.
Aimée will analyze the fragment(s) before it is pasted and, if necessary, transpose the notes to a nearby
key to fit it into the vocal range of the part.
With this ‘Copy-Paste’ method you can transfer fragments between parts, movements or compositions.
- ‘Insert empty’ (also ‘Prepend empty; or ‘Append empty’ depending on the context): Opens a panel
allowing you to add an empty fragment. This fragment can then be opened in the Note Editor where you
can manually add notes (see: ‘Adding notes to a movement manually’).
The fragment added using any of the 4 methods mentioned above becomes the 'Main Source' in the new
segment.
33
YouCompose User Manual
A new segment is added to your movement at the same time. The settings for this segment (like key, time
signature, tempo, harmonization style, recording settings, etc.) are copied from the segment prior to it or,
when it is the first segment in your movement, set to default values.
You can access the settings for the new segment by tapping below the panel showing
the key, time signature, tempo, quantization and tuplet settings.
See ‘Segment Settings’ to learn more about them.
To access the ‘Part Settings’ to change the Part’s instrument, its range or the MIDI out channel, tap the
instrument’s image.
See ‘Part Settings’ lo learn more about these.
The image above shows the keyboard in the scale of A major (chromatics not allowed).
As you can see, there are 5 different kinds of keys here:
- Normal playable white keys with a red dot: These are the root notes of the scale.
- Grayed out white keys: They are playable but (in this case) the pitch will be a half tone higher. For
example, if you play an F key you will hear an F# and see the F# key being played.
34
YouCompose User Manual
- Grayed out black keys: They are not playable. If you tap them, one of the white keys underneath will be
played.
By organizing the keyboard in this way it is impossible to play outside the scale while at the same time the
whole keyboard remains touch sensitive.
In the image above you also see some red keys. These keys can be played on the keyboard but they are
outside the range of the selected instrument, in this case an alto saxophone. If it is your intention to have an
alto saxophonist play this Part, you should not use these keys, or preferably: change the range setting of
this Part to match that of an alto saxophone.
Keyboard setup
Before recording a melody, consider whether and how you want to use MIDI, or the ‘Recording tempo’,
‘Record rests’ and ‘touch sensitivity’ or velocity settings.
35
YouCompose User Manual
In other words: the lower you hit a key, the louder the note will sound.
Quantization
Also pay attention to the ‘Quantization’ setting (in ‘Segment Settings’). It can be set to 1/4, 1/8 or 1/16
notes. When you listen to the metronome during recording you try to play in rhythm as good as you can, but
you will never be exact. Aimée will assist you and place the notes you play exactly to the nearest ‘quantized
position’. So, for instance, if you need 1/16 notes in your recorded melody you would have 4 positions in
one beat that Aimée can ‘quantize’ to (when tuples are not allowed). When your melody does not contain
1/16 notes, set this to 1/8 and when your melody does not contain 1/8 notes either, set the ‘Quantization’
setting to 1/4.
Record a melody
The ‘Record’ button turns into the ‘Stop’ button and you should hear the metronome, if not, check the
sound settings on your device.
Do not worry about the number of metronome ticks that you let pass at the beginning of a recording before
you hit the first key, Aimée will not include them in a recording. If you do not play a key for 11 bars,
recording will stop automatically.
You can only play one key at a time, remember: you are entering a melody only, so there is no need to play
chords.
Make sure you record at least 1 bar, otherwise Aimée will not be able to ‘quantize’ your notes properly and
will not allow a recording.
Use the keyboard slider above the keys to select another part of the keyboard.
The button turns back into the ‘Record’ button and the metronome stops.
36
YouCompose User Manual
- The melody is a mess and beyond repair: Tap ‘Record’ again and start over. Your recording will be erased.
- Your recording is not perfect but can be repaired. Tap the available Note Editor button or
. The Note Editor will be opened allowing you to edit the notes in your recording. See ‘Editing
notes and Harmonization Points with the Note Editor’.
- Your recording is ok: Tap in the upper right corner to add the recorded fragment and with it a new
segment to your current movement.
Use the ‘Keyboard setup’ panel (see above) to customise the way MIDI is used.
Make sure the ‘MIDI enabled’ switch is ON and that the correct MIDI source has been selected.
By default YouCompose will process incoming MIDI data from all channels from the source but you can
force it to process only the data from a specific channel by setting the ‘MIDI channel IN’ on the MIDI pane
of the virtual keyboard.
37
YouCompose User Manual
After tapping the ‘Prepend new’, ‘Insert new’ or the ‘Append new’ button on the Composition View (see:
‘Adding notes to a movement’), a panel will appear with the Segment Settings for a new segment:
In the 6th pane you can set the desired number of bars
for the new segment to be inserted.
Tapping gives access to advanced melody settings where you get the opportunity to directly
intervene in the operation of Aimée’s algorithms. See ‘Advanced melody settings’ below.
Adding a melody to a part in a new segment is one thing, filling in the other parts is another. Aimée has
many genetic algorithms at her disposal to achieve this. Again, you can determine how Aimée uses her
algorithms by defining 'Composition instructions' in combination with an 'Instrumentation' for the segment.
Tap , or in the upper right corner to add a fragment to the selected part with
the new melody, thus adding a new segment to the current movement.
38
YouCompose User Manual
Tapping gives access to advanced melody settings where you get the opportunity to directly
intervene in the operation of Aimée’s melody generating algorithms:
Each pane shows a parameter that Aimée uses when she applies her genetic
algorithms to generate a melody.
Take the parameter 'Desired percentage of notes at the start of a bar'. If you want
Aimée to generate a melody whose notes are mostly (or not at all) at the beginning of
a bar, you can use this parameter.
First, set the ‘Percentage’ slider (the top one) to the desired value for your melody.
This can be a value from 0%, which means you prefer not to see any notes at the
beginning of a bar, to 100%, which means you prefer to see all notes at the beginning
of a bar.
Then use the 'Importance' slider (the bottom one) to indicate how important this
element is to your melody. When set to zero the thumbs are grayed and the
parameter is ignored by Aimée. But when it has a value and the thumbs get their
color, Aimée will consider the value when she selects one of the many melodies
generated by her while applying the algorithms.
Setting a parameter does not mean that the melody you eventually get will exactly
match the set value. Aimée will have to take into account many parameters that
sometimes even have conflicting ‘interests'.
39
YouCompose User Manual
After tapping the ‘Prepend empty’, ‘Insert empty’ or ‘Append empty’ button on the Composition View (see:
‘Adding notes to a movement’), a panel will appear with the Segment Settings for a new segment:
Tap , or in the upper right corner to add a fragment to the selected part with
the desired bar length, thus adding a new segment to your composition.
The fragment can now be opened in the Note Editor where you can manually add notes. (see: ‘Editing
notes and Harmonization Points with the Note Editor’).
40
YouCompose User Manual
Your added fragments are there (bright green) they are called ‘sources’, and importantly: the red
‘Harmonize’ button is visible in the lower right corner.
Whenever Aimée detects that the current movement was changed and needs
This means that the ‘Harmonize’ button appears not only after adding a new segment, but also, for
example, after you edit notes or change the settings of an existing segment, part, instrumentation or
composition instruction, etc.
Aimée keeps a close eye on everything and as soon as she notices that changes made by you may have
consequences for parts or even the entire composition, Aimée reports for duty and the 'Harmonize' button
will appear in the bottom right corner.
Aimée has added 5 fragments in every segment. All generated fragments are dark green or gray.
Depending on the Segment Settings for the ‘Instrumentation’ and ‘Composition instructions’ some
generated fragments contain notes while others do not. Fragments that do not hold any notes are gray.
Notice that the ‘Harmonize’ button disappeared. Since your movement does not need harmonization now,
the button is not visible.
While harmonizing the current movement Aimée first analyzes your melodies (also called sources) and tries
to make a nice harmonic progression. Taking into account the parameters set in the ‘Instrumentation’ and
‘Composition instructions’ she will then fill in the missing parts. When problems occur during harmonization
she will add them to a ‘Harmonization Report’.
42
YouCompose User Manual
Editing a movement
Selecting a single fragment is easy: Just tap short on the one you want to edit. The color of the fragment
will turn orange indicating it is selected and the single fragment editing panel will be presented:
Notice:
To single select another fragment just tap short on the other
fragment. It will at the same time deselect the previous one.
Selecting multiple fragments within one part: After selecting the first fragment tap and hold a second
fragment in that part. Both fragments will be selected, and turn orange, together with all fragments in
between. The multiple fragment editing panel will be presented:
Notice:
You can drag the multiple fragment editing panel to another
position on the screen if you want.
43
YouCompose User Manual
To expand the selection: tap and hold another fragment within the part:
Selecting multiple composer added fragments: Tap short on any fragment within the first segment to
single select it as show above. Then tap and hold another fragment in another part to multi select only the
composer added fragments:
To cancel any selection: Just tap and hold within any selected segment.
When a composer added fragment with the main source from a segment is part of the selection all
protected fragments and fragments containing secondary sources in that segment will automatically also
be selected:
44
YouCompose User Manual
Button Function
Tapping this button will open the Note Editor for the fragment. See ‘Editing notes and
Harmonization Points with the Note Editor’ to learn more about that.
Tapping this button will open a panel with the Segment Settings. See ‘Segment Settings’ to
learn more about them.
Tapping this button will change the ‘protect’ status of the segment to ‘Protected’ meaning
that Aimée will now skip this segment during the next harmonization round. The button now
shows the ‘Unprotect’ image, a lock will be placed inside the generated fragments and its
color will change a little.
Tapping the button again will reverse the above. See ‘Protecting segments against
harmonization’ to learn what this all means.
Tapping this button will copy the selected fragment to the clipboard. The fragment can now
be pasted into another part, movement or composition (see: ‘Adding notes to a
movement’).
Notice:
When copying a fragment that was added by the composer inside a protected segment
all fragments in that segment are selected and copied to the clipboard. When you
subsequently paste to the same part somewhere else Aimée will paste the whole
segment when possible. Notice that the complete protected segment is pasted only
when you paste to the same part! When pasted to a different part only the composer
added fragment is pasted.
Notice:
When copying a fragment that was added by the composer (containing the main source)
all fragments in that segment containing secondary sources are also selected and
copied to the clipboard. When you paste these in another part, Aimée will do her best to
also paste the secondary sources in a responsible way.
45
YouCompose User Manual
Button Function
When tapped from within a fragment that was added by the composer (containing the main
source): the whole segment with all its fragments will be erased. When tapped from within a
generated fragment or a fragment containing a secondary source: only those fragments will
be erased.
Tapping a ‘+’ button will open the ‘Add segment’ panel (see: ‘Adding notes to a
movement’).
Button Function
Tapping this button will copy all selected fragments to the clipboard. These fragments can
now be pasted into another part, movement or composition (see: ‘Adding notes to a
movement’).
Notice:
When copying a fragment that was added by the composer inside a protected segment
all fragments in that segment are copied to the clipboard. When this fragment is
subsequently pasted to the same part somewhere else Aimée will paste the whole
segment when possible. Notice that the complete protected segment is pasted only
when you paste to the same part! When pasted to a different part only the composer
added fragment is pasted.
Notice:
When copying a fragment that was added by the composer (containing the main source)
all fragments in that segment containing secondary sources are also selected and
copied to the clipboard. When you paste these in another part, Aimée will do her best to
also paste the secondary sources in a responsible way.
When tapped from within a fragment that was added by the composer (containing the main
source): the whole segment with all its fragments will be erased. When tapped from within a
generated fragment or a fragment containing a secondary source: only those fragments will
be erased.
46
YouCompose User Manual
Button Function
Tapping this button will change the ‘protect’ status of all selected segments to ‘Protected’
meaning that Aimée will now skip these segments during the next harmonization round.
The button now shows the ‘Unprotect’ image, a lock will be placed inside the generated
fragments and their color will change a little.
Tapping the button again will reverse the above. See ‘Protecting segments against
harmonization’ to learn what this all means.
Tapping this button will open a panel with the Segment Settings of all selected segments.
See ‘Segment Settings’ to learn more about them.
I will enable you to increase or decrease tempo or setting any parameter for all segments at
once.
Splitting or gluing can be necessary for better harmonization too. Aimée treats notes in the middle of a
fragment differently from notes at the end of a fragment.
Be aware that you can only glue two segments that have the composer added fragment in the same part
and share the same key.
To split a segment first position the Playhead at the bar where you wish to split the segment.
You will see the ‘Split’ button . Tapping the ‘Split’ button will split the segment leaving two segments
where there was previously one.
To glue two segments, position the Playhead between the two segments you want to glue.
If these segments have the composer added fragment in the same part and share the same key the ‘Glue’
button is shown. Tapping the ‘Glue’ button will glue the segments together leaving one segment where
previously there were two.
47
YouCompose User Manual
To reach the editor first select a fragment in Composition View, tap it to show the Edit panel and tap .
The Note Editor will alway open in the same display mode (Grid or Score) as in Composition View.
When opened it shows you all the individual notes in the segment. Remember that a segment contains
fragments (one for each part). One fragment always is the ‘current’ fragment, its notes are editable. It is very
easy to switch back and forth to other fragments within the editor, as will be shown below.
48
YouCompose User Manual
Tapping on the part title will open the ‘Part Settings’ for that part.
B The ‘Pitch Ribbon’ shows the pitches of the notes in the different lines in the
grid.
C The ‘Beat Ribbon’ shows the bar and beat numbers in your movement and
contains the Playhead.
The two arrows to the left and right inside the Beat ribbon allow you
to quickly scroll to the beginning or the end of the segment. Tapping these
arrows when the start or end position is already reached will switch the
editor to the previous or next segment (when available).
Tapping anywhere on the ribbon allows you to select the start position from
which playback will begin when you tap the ‘Play’ button (see ‘J').
You can reset the start position by tapping the rewind button.
Learn more about this little control in ‘The Instrumentation Menu’. below.
49
ff
YouCompose User Manual
F The ‘Editing Style Selector’ determines the way the editor will react to touches.
You can choose between 2 styles:
‘Edit notes’: Allows you to tap a note to open the ‘Note Edit Panel’. See
‘Editing a note’. It also allows you to select notes and perform actions on
these selected notes. See ‘Editing selected notes’.
‘Add notes’: Tap anywhere in the grid and a new note will be added there
unless another note already exists in that position. The velocity of the new
note will be in between its predecessor’s velocity and that of the note following
it. If no predecessor exists, the velocity will be equal to the velocity of the note
that follows. If there is no note following the new one, its velocity will equal the
velocity of its predecessor. If the new note is the first note in the fragment its
velocity will be set to the default value 80.
Notice: You can add notes beyond the last bar in the fragment. If you do,
a new bar is added to the segment automatically.
G The ‘Function Selector’. When tapped will provide you with the ‘Function
Picker’ as shown, allowing you to pick the ‘Active Function’.
Read Transposition, loop playback and part level settings with the ‘Function
Selector’ below.
Tapping the left arrow will undo your last action(s). Any undone action can be
redone by tapping the right button.
I The ‘Grid - Score’ control. At any time during editing or playback of the
segment you can switch between the grid or score view by tapping the
appropriate button here.
Tapping the ‘Play’ button on the right will start playback beginning at the
position of the Playhead.
Tapping the ‘Rewind’ button will bring the playheads position to the start of the
segment thus resetting a manually set starting position for playback if there is
one (see ‘C’).
When playback starts the ‘Play’ button will be grayed out and the ‘Rewind’
button will turn into the ‘Stop’ button. Tapping the ‘Stop’ button will stop
playback and return the playhead to the manually set position on the beats
ribbon or the start of the segment if no manually set position is available.
K The ‘Settings’ button here will give you access to the Segment Settings. See
‘Segment Settings’ for details.
L When you are done editing or adding notes, this button will take you back to
the previous screen.
50
YouCompose User Manual
M The black boxes represent notes within the range of the selected instrument.
Inside you can read the lyrics belonging to the note. The number underneath it
is its velocity. The handle at the end allows you to control the length of the
note.
N The red boxes represent notes outside the range of the selected instrument.
When there is only one selected note the ‘Single Note Edit Panel’ will be
presented.
When multiple notes are selected the ‘Multiple Notes Edit Panel’ will be
presented.
Tap the note and move to change pitch or position together with all other
selected notes.
P Notes in other parts. Tapping a note of an other part causes a switch to that
fragment as ‘current’.
Q The ‘Selected Bar’. When you tap a bar on the Composition View that bar
becomes the ‘Selected Bar’. When you then enter the Note Editor for that
fragment it will scroll immediately to the Selected Bar. Also, when you select a
bar inside the Note Editor and return to the Composition View the Selected
Bar is moved in the Composition View.
R Just as on the Composition View: Whenever Aimée detects that the current
movement was changed and needs harmonization this red button will appear.
Tap it to harmonize your composition.
S The ‘Multi Note Edit Panel’. Displayed here because 3 notes were selected.
When only one note is selected the ‘Single Note Edit Panel’ would have been
presented.
Notice:
Both the Single and Multi Note Edit Panel can be dragged on the screen to
a new location when they are blocking your view.
51
YouCompose User Manual
A, C, D, E, As in Grid mode.
F, G, H, I, J,
K, L
52
YouCompose User Manual
O Selected note.
When there is only one selected note the ‘Single Note Edit Panel’ will be
presented. In addition, when the note’s length can be changed, the
‘Note Length Slider’ is presented to the right of the note.
When multiple notes are selected the ‘Multiple Notes Edit Panel’ will be
presented.
Tap the note and move to change pitch or position together with all
other selected notes.
Tapping on any staff other then the current one makes that fragment
‘current’ and its notes editable.
Q, R, S As in Grid mode.
53
YouCompose User Manual
This small control center gives you access to all the settings important for
grouping instruments and assigning a group to a 'Composition Instruction’.
Tap or to open the 'Instrumentation View' where you can group the available instruments and
assign them to a particular composition instruction.
The available composition instructions each have an button that gives access to the associated
parameters and opens the corresponding 'Composition Instruction View’.
The ‘Harmonization Points’ associated with a particular composition instruction are shown in the same
The top button always gives access to the only and always present 'Sources' composition instruction.
This allows you to define secondary sources within this segment in addition to the main source.
The (inactive) or (active) buttons allow you to mute the sound of the respective instrument
group. The notes of the muted parts will then no longer be visible in the editor.
Notice:
54
YouCompose User Manual
When no other notes are selected or just one, Tap (short) a note to select the note. The ‘Single Note Edit
Panel’ will pop up:
Button Function
Deletes the selected note.
The ‘Add lyrics’ button opens the ‘Lyrics Editor’ for the note. See ‘Adding lyrics’ below.
Selects all notes in the current fragment. As a result the ‘Single Note Edit Panel’ will
disappear and the ‘Multi Note Edit Panel’ will be presented (provided there are at least
two notes in the fragment).
Changes the pitch of the note up or down by 1 ‘tone’. How much a ‘tone’ is depends on
the ‘Key’ and ‘Chromatics’ setting of the segment (see ‘Segment Settings’).
When this setting is ‘Diatonic’ the note is moved up or down along the scale. E.g. when in
C major the note is moved from C -> D -> E -> F etc, or vice versa.
When this setting is ‘Chromatic’ then every step is a semitone.
In Score mode: Use the Note Length Slider to change the note’s length.
Notice: The length slider is hidden when the note length can’t be changed.
In Grid mode: Use the note’s handle at the end of a note to change the note’s length.
In Score mode: Tap anywhere within a selected note’s position (above or beneath the note) and move
to change pitch or position without your finger blocking your view.
55
YouCompose User Manual
Adding lyrics
After tapping the button on the ‘Note Edit Panel’ in the ‘Note Editor’, the ‘Lyrics Editor’ will open:
Notice: You can use the Lyrics Editor both in Grid and in Score mode. You can switch between the two
modes anytime during editing lyrics without a problem. If the lyrics panel blocks your view you can drag it
on the screen to an other location.
You can now type the lyrics for the current note.
Tapping will open the Lyrics Editor for the next note and so on until the last one.
Tapping will open the Lyrics Editor for the previous note and so on back to the first note in the
fragment.
While scrolling through the notes in this way you will also hear the notes. If you want to hear the current
When you are done editing lyrics tap or anywhere else on the screen to return to the Note
Editor.
56
YouCompose User Manual
When multiple notes are selected the ‘Multiple Notes Edit Panel’ will be presented:
Button Function
Deletes all selected notes.
To paste notes elsewhere (this can be done in the same segment or another
segment, movement or even in another composition):
Tap AND HOLD an empty pitch on any position to show the ‘Paste notes’ button.
Tap this button and the notes will be pasted in that position. When there is not
enough room for the copied notes, following notes will be moved foreward to make
room.
57
YouCompose User Manual
Button Function
Changes the pitch of all selected notes up or down by 1 ‘tone’. How much a ‘tone’
is depends on the ‘Key’ and ‘Chromatics’ setting of the segment (see ‘Segment
Settings’).
When this setting is ‘Diatonic’ a selected note is moved up or down along the
scale. E.g. when in C major the note is moved from C -> D -> E -> F etc, or vice
versa.
When this setting is ‘Chromatic’ then every step is a semitone.
The existing velocity range of the notes within the selection will always be
maintained. This means that the maximum increase of velocity for all notes
depends on the note with the highest velocity and, vice versa, the maximum
decrease for all notes, on the note with the lowest velocity.
Sliding to the left or right will decrease or increase the velocity of all selected
notes. The amount of change for each note depends on the position of the note
within the selection. The higher its position the higher the amount of change. The
rst selected note will not change velocity and the last note will change the most.
In Score mode: Tap anywhere within a selected note’s position (above or beneath the note) and move
to change pitch or position of all selected notes without your finger blocking your view on the notes.
58
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Inversion Before
After
Retrograde Before
After
Augmentation Before
After
Diminution Before
After
59
YouCompose User Manual
Instrumentation
Above you saw that after all the sources (melodies) have been defined, Aimée places the missing notes in
other parts during the ‘Harmonization’ process (see ‘Harmonizing your melodies’ above). But how does
Aimée know how to do that? In other words, how does Aimée know, for example, which parts/instruments
she should fill in and which not, and how does she know for each part/instrument where the notes and rests
should go and which harmonies she should use? The answer is: ‘Instrumentation’.
Within YouCompose, the instrumentation is arranged per segment. This means that each segment has its
own instrumentation definition and all necessary parameters for this are determined per segment.
These parameters are defined in 'Composition Instructions'. A segment always has at least one
composition instruction but can have (many) more. Normally, the number of composition instructions will
increase with larger ensembles.
Composition Instructions
Each segment has at least one composition instruction containing parameters that Aimée uses to determine
where exactly the notes should be in the fragments to be generated in that segment during harmonization.
- The type of composition instruction. There are four types ‘Sources’, ‘Harmonization’, ‘Parallel to
harmonization’ and ‘Parallel to part’.
- Harmonization points that indicate at which positions in time notes should be placed.
We assume a movement with 10 parts. Let's say a saxophone group in 4 parts, a string group in 4 parts and
two woodwinds, a flute and a clarinet. In our segment, the Main source (melody) is in the soprano sax.
As mentioned, every segment has at least one composition instruction, namely the ‘Sources' instruction. In
the list of parts/instruments for this composition instruction, only the soprano sax is mentioned as 'Main
source'. This one instruction is always present in every segment and therefore cannot be removed. In our
example we will not use the ‘Sources' instruction.
First we add a composition instruction with the title 'Saxes' and with the type 'Harmonization'. This type of
composition instruction will harmonize a source using the rules of the common practice period (CPP). We
make sure that the soprano sax is included in the parts list for this instruction and also add the remaining 3
saxes. So in total we have added 4 parts. That is also the maximum number for this type of composition
instruction.
60
YouCompose User Manual
Second, we add a composition instruction with the title 'Strings' and with the type 'Parallel to
harmonization'. This type of composition instruction only contains a reference to another composition
instruction of type 'Harmonization'. So there is only one candidate for this reference, namely 'Saxes'. So we
set that and add all 4 string instruments to the list of parts.
Third, we add a composition instruction with the title 'Woodwinds' and with the type 'Parallel to part'. This
type of composition instruction contains only a reference to a part that becomes the ‘source’ for all other
parts that appear in the parts list. The ‘Main source’ is automatically taken as the source, so that is the
soprano sax. In principle you can define any other part as a source, but we won't do that now. We now add
the flute and clarinet parts to the list in instruction ‘Woodwinds'.
Notice: Apart from the 'Sources' instruction, which is always in front, the composition instructions are
always placed in alphabetical order. See ‘Editing Instrumentation’ to learn more.
61
YouCompose User Manual
Harmonization Points
Harmonization points determine the positions in time where Aimée is allowed to place her notes during the
harmonization process. Each ‘Harmonization’ type composition instruction has its own set of harmonization
points.
Harmonization Points are essential elements in your composition. They determine the way Aimée
harmonizes a melodie using the rules of the common practice period (CPP). Placing them wisely is as
important as having a good melody source.
Harmonization Points can be placed on every position within a segment. You will find them inside a special
‘H’ ribbon in the Note Editor. Every composition instruction of type ‘Harmonization’ has its own ribbon with
editable harmonization points.
By default Aimée places the Harmonization Points for you. This ‘Automatic Harmonization Point
placing’ (AHPP) process can be done in different ways. You can use the ‘Composition Instruction Settings’
to tell Aimée how to do it. See ‘Composition Instruction Settings’ for details.
AHPP works well, but you get the best harmonization results if you place them yourself. Best practice
would be to let Aimée place them automatically with AHPP first, and then do the fine-tuning yourself in the
note editor.
Set Chord Set a chord yourself on this position. Pick one out of
several options from a menu.
62
YouCompose User Manual
Use When possible and necessary Aimée will fill the gap
passing between the preceding and following chord note with
notes passing notes.
Unison Aimée will add a note with the same pitch as the source
notes melody on this position. The added notes can by one or
more octaves up or down depending on the part ranges.
Anticipate Aimée will simply put a note on this position with the
notes same pitch as the note following this position.
63
YouCompose User Manual
Editing Instrumentation
What you actually see is a table with all composition instructions in a row on the x-axis and the part names
on the y-axis. Each cell in the table is a toggle button that allows you to add or remove a part to/from the
parts list in a particular composition instruction.
Apart from the 'Sources' instruction, which is always in front, the composition instructions are always
placed in alphabetical order.
You will also find a number of other buttons and labels in the view.
Everything is explained in the table below.
Element Description
The 'Improve Instrumentation' button is only visible when Aimée thinks she
can improve the current instrumentation. If you tap on it, Aimée will apply the
improvements she sees.
When you make your own instrumentation for a segment, you can safely
ignore Aimée's improvement advice and go your own way. However, it can't
hurt to see what Aimée does when she improves an instrumentation.
64
YouCompose User Manual
Element Description
The 'Restore' button will appear immediately after you make a change to the
instrumentation. By tapping the button you return the instrumentation to the
situation that was in e ect when you opened the view.
The notes inside any source fragment, be it main or secondary, will not be
altered by Aimée during the harmonization process. A secondary source
can also be a source for other composition instructions within a segment, as
you see here.
The label of the part that contains the ‘Main source’. It is always automatically
assigned to the composition instruction 'Sources' and often serves as source
for other composition instructions.
The label of a part that does not (yet) have an assignment in one of the
composition instructions.
Tap this button and you will be prompted to enter a title for the new instruction
and then it will be added. Note: The composition instructions are always
placed in alphabetical order in the list (except for the rst 'Sources'
instruction).
65
ff
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Element Description
The gray buttons represent unassigned parts for the composition instruction.
Tap it to include that part in the parts list for that instruction.
Since Aimée maintains the internal integrity and coherence between the
composition instructions after every change, adding a part may have
consequences for this instruction or other instructions.
The button with the asterisk in the middle is a special one although the
functionality is no di erent. This asterisk was placed there by Aimée when you
added a new segment to the movement. To make it easy for the composer,
Aimée then also adds a number of composition instructions in which she
indicates, with the asterisks, what the candidate parts are for each speci c
instruction. Aimée uses this information in auto-composing. You don't have to
stick to that.
The text in the button indicates the role the part has within the instruction.
There are many di erent roles that a part can ful ll. Within a composition
instruction of the 'Harmonization' type, for example, there are four roles that
have to do with harmonization: Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. Which part
gets which role is determined by Aimée, in this case on the basis of the ranges
of the di erent instruments.
Since Aimée maintains the internal integrity and coherence between the
composition instructions after every change, removing a part may have
consequences for this instruction or other instructions.
Tap this button to exit the view. If you work on an iPad, you can also tap
anywhere next to the view to close it.
Every time you add or remove a part, Aimée checks the internal integrity of each composition instruction
and the interrelationship between the composition instructions. When you add a part, for example, this can
result in Aimée removing a part elsewhere, because otherwise the integrity of the composition instruction is
not guaranteed. It is therefore advisable to first remove parts that are no longer desired before adding
a new one.
66
ff
ff
ff
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Tapping from the ‘Instrumentation View’ or from the 'Instrumentation Menu’ in the ‘Note Editor’ will
open the ‘Composition Instruction View’. There are four types of composition instructions, each with its own
parameters and settings: ‘Sources’, ‘Harmonization’, ‘Parallel to harmonization’ and ‘Parallel to part’.
Setting Description
Copy lyrics to This setting is only important if you added lyrics to your main source.
secondary sources
If ON, Aimée will copy the lyrics from the main source to all secondary
sources during harmonization. No notes inside the secondary sources are
altered or added, only the lyrics are copied.
67
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
Title The title for this composition instruction.
Changing the title may change the order of the composition instructions within
the instrumentation view as they are listed in alphabetical order.
Composition Select a type for the instruction. You can choose from 3 types: ‘Harmonization’
Instruction type (selected here), ‘Parallel to harmonization’, ‘Parallel to part’.
Harmonization Style Can be set to 'Automatic', 'Classical' or 'Jazz' and determines the style Aimée
uses when harmonizing this composition instruction in this segment.
Harmonization Here you can try and set alternative harmonizations named ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ or ‘D’.
alternative The number of alternatives depends on the number of parts to be harmonized.
There will always be two alternatives (‘A’ and ‘B’) for 2 part harmonization, three
for 3 part harmonization and four for 4 part harmonization.
There is no way of knowing beforehand what an alternative will look like so you
will have to try and rate it yourself. Sometimes alternative ‘B’ is more to your
liking in segment 1 and alternative ‘C’ in segment 2. Sometimes, especially in
short segments, there is no di erence between the alternatives at all.
68
ff
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
Automatic This parameter determines how Aimée will set Harmonization Points
Harmonization Point automatically. (See ‘Harmonization Point types’ to learn more about
placing harmonization points)
Tap it if you want to restore the automatic setting, however if you do, your
editing of Harmonization Points that you did in the note editor will then be lost.
Alternative key Set an alternative key just for the harmonization of the parts in this composition
instruction. When set to 'Automatic', the segment setting for 'Key' is adopted.
See ‘Segment Settings’.
Once a segment contains notes, the keys that do not contain one of these notes
are disabled leaving the key(s) that contain(s) all notes in the segment.
Combine repeating This setting determines whether repeating notes within the selected time span in
notes in generated the generated fragments during harmonization, are combined into one note.
fragments
Copy lyrics to This setting is only important if you added lyrics to your main source.
generated fragments
If ON, Aimée will copy the lyrics to all parts associated with this composition
instruction during harmonization. She will repeat notes with lyrics, if necessary,
on positions where there are no Harmonization Points.
69
ff
ff
ff
YouCompose User Manual
Every beat A Harmonization Point will be placed on every beat of every bar.
Every note A Harmonization Point will be placed on every position where a note in the
source melody is.
Polyphonic 2 Harmonization Points of type 'Change Chord' AND type 'Insert rests' will
be placed according to the rhythmic pattern of the source melody shifted
backwards by 1/2 or one bar (depending on the length of the segment).
Polyphonic 3 Harmonization Points of type 'Change Chord' and type 'Insert rests' will
be placed according to the rhythmic pattern of the source melody in the
PRIOR segment. When set to the rst segment (no prior segment
available) ‘Polyphonic 2’ setting is taken.
Anticipate Harmonization Points of type 'Change Chord' AND type 'Insert rests' will
be placed anticipating the melodic pattern.
Repeat rst, 2 or 4 bar(s) The pattern of Harmonization Points in the rst one, two or four bar(s) is
repeated in all following bars. Harmonization Points within the rst bar(s)
can be edited by the composer without canceling the Automatic
Harmonization Point placing process. If you do, the new pattern is
instantly updated inside the following bars.
Fill pattern 1/4, 1/8 or 1/16 You will find an explanation of ‘Fill pattern’ in a separate table below.
See 'Fill pattern examples’.
Notice: The last bar in a melody may be treated differently with some settings.
70
fi
fi
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
On 1 and 3
71
YouCompose User Manual
Special effects
In addition to AHPP, you can also choose to add a so-called 'Special effect'. This is best illustrated with an
example:
72
ff
YouCompose User Manual
73
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
Title The title for this composition instruction.
Composition Instruction type Select a type for the instruction. You can choose from 3 types:
‘Harmonization’, ‘Parallel to harmonization’ (selected here),
‘Parallel to part’.
Copy lyrics to generated This setting is only important if you added lyrics to your main source.
fragments
If ON, Aimée will copy the lyrics to all parts associated with this
composition instruction during harmonization.
74
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
Title The title for this composition instruction.
Changing the title may change the order of the composition instructions within
the instrumentation view as they are listed in alphabetical order.
Composition Select a type for the instruction. You can choose from 3 types: ‘Harmonization’,
Instruction type ‘Parallel to harmonization’, ‘Parallel to part’ (selected here).
Copy lyrics to This setting is only important if you added lyrics to your main source.
generated notes
If ON, Aimée will copy the lyrics to all parts associated with this composition
instruction during harmonization.
75
YouCompose User Manual
If the ‘Automatic Harmonization Point placing’ (AHPP) setting is still active for a composition instruction
when you start editing, you will be prompted with a dialog box asking you if you want it to be turned off for
this composition instruction, otherwise you will not be able to edit them yourself.
Notice: If you want to restore AHPP after editing the Harmonization Points, you can do so in the
‘Composition Instruction Settings’, however if you do, your own editing of harmonization points will then be
lost for this composition instruction.
Tap and hold a position on the ‘H’ ribbon to hear the current chord on that position arpeggiated.
No editing will take place if you do this.
Tap and move a harmonization point to alter its position on the ‘H’ ribbon. When multiple points are
selected you can also tap and move them together along the ‘H’ ribbon when space is available.
To select multiple harmonization points or positions make sure at least one is already selected and then
tap AND HOLD a second point or position. This point or position will also be selected. You now have two
selected points or positions. Now tap AND HOLD a third point or position. This point or position will also
be selected together with all positions in between it and the already selected positions. The points and
positions will all turn orange to indicate that they are selected and the content of the Harmonization Point
Editor will change accordingly.
When more than one positions on the ‘H’ ribbon are selected you can add or remove a single point or
position to or from the selection by tapping it.
In the lower left corner of the Harmonization Point Editor you will find the ‘Select all’ button. This button
toggles between 3 functions. The active function depends on the points and positions already selected.
Button Description
The ‘Only select points’ function will be active when one or more (but not all)
harmonization points AND a few empty positions are selected (orange). Tapping the
button will remove the empty positions from the selection leaving only the selected
actual harmonization points.
The content of the Harmonization Point Editor will change accordingly.
Tapping the ‘Select all points’ button will select all actual harmonization points.
The content of the Harmonization Point Editor will change accordingly.
Tapping the ‘Select all positions’ button will select all positions with or without an
actual harmonization point.
The content of the Harmonization Point Editor will change accordingly.
76
YouCompose User Manual
The title bar gives some information about the selected position.
It tells you the current chord and its inversion in the right corner.
When more than one positions are selected the title bar will tell
you how many positions are selected.
For every harmonization point type (see above) you will find a
button with its symbol and a short description.
Tap a button to set its type for all selected positions.
Tapping ‘Set Chord’ will open a menu from which you can pick a
chord that you want Aimée to respect on the selected positions
during harmonization.
like this .
To remove the selected harmonization points tap this ‘delete’
button.
The ‘Select all’ button in the lower left corner is treated above. See ‘About selecting single and multiple
Harmonization Points’.
To paste these harmonization points elsewhere (this can be done in the same segment or another
segment, movement or even in another composition): Make sure the Harmonization Point Editor is hidden
and Tap AND HOLD on any position in the ‘H’ ribbon to show the button. Tap this button
and the points will be pasted in that position. When there is not enough room for the copied points,
following points will be moved forward to make room.
77
YouCompose User Manual
Notice: Transformations can only be applied when you select one continuous block of positions in the
‘H’ ribbon with at least two harmonization points.
After
Augmentation Before
After
Diminution Before
After
Changes made in generated fragments however will be lost when you ask Aimée to harmonize your
composition again, because the first thing Aimée does when harmonizing your composition is to discard all
previously generated fragments. As a result, your changes will be lost UNLESS you protect them.
Edit Panel will be presented. Now tap . The button will change into the ‘Unprotect’ button and
78
YouCompose User Manual
a lock symbol will be placed inside the generated fragments, indicating that the segment is now protected,
and its color will change from green to brown.
Now when you re-harmonize your composition Aimée will not discard the fragments in this segment and
skip the segment during harmonization.
Tapping the button again will reverse the above and the segment will no longer be protected against
harmonization.
Loop playback This function presents a switch that determines playback mode.
Playback will always start with the rst note on the left side of the
screen or from a manually set position.
When set to ON playback will stop after the last note visible in the
screen and playback will be repeated.
When set to OFF playback will stop after the last note in the fragment.
Playback Parts This function presents two speaker buttons. The left speaker button
Level other reduces the audio output level of the other parts, the right speaker
Parts button increases it.
Notice: When in Grid mode, notes in other parts become invisible when
the output level for other parts is reduced to zero.
79
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Settings
YouCompose has many settings panes that allow you to set its parameters.
Therefore, it is good to be aware that settings come in 4 levels:
- App level
- Composition level
- Part level
- Segment level
When a settings panel is opened, the title at the top will always indicate the level type.
In the paragraphs below you will find descriptions of the settings of each level separately.
App Settings
Tap from the Composition View and then the menu item :
Setting Description
Your name Enter your name here. YouCompose will use this name as ‘default’
composer when you start an empty composition. Your name will be printed
on the score.
Preferred music style De nes your default harmonization style when starting a new composition.
This setting is only used to set the initial style, it does not mean that you are
restricted to it inside a composition, you can always use both styles at any
time.
80
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
Chord names style Determines the way chords are displayed throughout the app. It can be set
to ‘Relative’ where chords are de ned by their degree inside their scale (I, ii,
iii, IV, V7 etc.) or ‘Absolute’ where the chords are named after the pitch of
the root note (D, E7, F#m7 etc.)
User interface theme Pick what you like best, ‘Light’ or ‘Dark’.
Toolbar Composition View Determines the text shown in the Composition View toolbar (iPad only). Can
shows be set to display the composition title, the le name or information about the
segment the playhead is currently in (when no segments are present the
text ‘YouCompose’ will be displayed).
MIDI enabled If you want to use a MIDI keyboard, sound module or another app with
Background Audio, you must turn this MIDI enable switch ON, otherwise
YouCompose will ignore incoming MIDI data and not send any.
The Core MIDI compatible devices that YouCompose found are listed in the
box below .
If you do not use MIDI devices turn the switch to OFF for better
performance of the App.
When the ‘MIDI enabled’ switch is set to ‘OFF’ (disabling MIDI in and out) a
‘MIDI panic’ procedure is initiated sending a MIDI off signal for all notes to
all connected MIDI destinations.
The MIDI enable switch can also be found in the virtual keyboard settings
and on the mixer. See ‘Recording a melody and adding it to a movement’
and ‘The Mixer’.
MIDI on the network If you also want to connect YouCompose with device via your network, you
must turn this ‘MIDI on the network’ switch to ON.
MIDI le export - Spacing This setting is important if you wish to export MIDI les from YouCompose
repeating notes: to other apps. Please read ‘Exporting MIDI’ below, there you will nd the
‘Spacing repeating notes’ explained.
81
fi
ff
fi
fi
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Some settings can also be accessed by running Apple’s iOS Settings app on your device.
Apart from the settings you will also find the version
number of the app, information about the literature
used by Aimée and acknowledgements about used
third party resources.
Boot mode
The 'Boot mode' setting deserves special attention.
When the app is started, YouCompose will normally immediately load the last 'current' composition or open
the Files view if that was what you ended up with when you closed the app. In exceptional cases, for
example if the last 'current' composition has not been saved correctly or completely, YouCompose may not
start properly.
You can then use this setting to force YouCompose to boot with an empty new composition in the Main
view. After that all your compositions are accessible in Files view as normal.
To carry out this procedure, select 'Open with new empty composition' in the app settings under 'Boot
mode'. Then restart YouCompose. First make sure that YouCompose was completely closed!
This action is one-time, i.e. YouCompose immediately resets the 'Boot mode' to 'None' after startup, so
that the app starts again as it should the next time.
82
YouCompose User Manual
Composition Settings
Tap from the Composition View and then the menu item :
Setting Description
Composition title Here you can enter the title for your composition.
Opus number Can be set to any number or ‘none’. The opus number will be
printed on the coversheet of the score’s PDF document.
The opus number will be automatically increased each time
this composer produces a new composition.
Display bar number every x bars Can be set in the range from 3 to 10. It a ects the numbering
of bars in the ‘Bar Ribbon’ on the Composition View and in the
score.
83
fi
fi
ff
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
Full score part notation When the score is shown or printed for a single part, it is
always written transposed for the instrument.
Precise Simplified
Page-size (PDF) Can be set to ‘Letter’, ‘Legal’, ‘A3’ or ‘A4’. If you want to print
the score make sure you have the right page dimensions set
here.
Sta -size (PDF) This determines the height of the sta s in the PDF with the
score that can be generated and printed.
Sta -size can be set separately for the full score and the parts.
Include Composition info (PDF) Determines whether information about the composition, its
movements and parts is included in the PDF with the score, or
not.
84
ff
ff
fi
ff
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Part Settings
The ‘Part Settings’ can be accessed from the Composition View. Tapping the part’s title or image in the
‘Part header’ will open the Part Settings for that part.
Unless you changed it, the part’s title is identical to the name of the instrument assigned to it.
Setting Description
Part title Enter the part title here. It will be shown in the ‘Part header’ on the Composition
View and be used in the score.
If Part title is left empty, the instrument name will be displayed automatically.
85
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
Instrument Select an instrument for this Part with the ‘Instrument Picker’ by tapping its
image in the right region of the Instrument Picker. Tapping the category icons in
the left region of the Instrument Picker will scroll the right region to the rst
instrument in the selected category.
Tap on the instrument’s image to hear it. Above the image you will nd the
instrument’s range and the instrument’s written transposition (number of
semitones relative to the sound of the instrument).
A special ‘instrument’ is the ‘None (sound o )’ setting, the only instrument in the
rst category ‘No sound’. It allows you to mute the internal sound of the part. If
MIDI is enabled (see App Settings) this ‘instrument’ is replaced with the ‘Only
MIDI’ instrument. See ‘Muting a Part’s internal sound’ below.
Highest possible note Set this to the highest note you want to allow for this part, which is the upper
for this Part limit of the part’s range.
If the part’s range differs from the range of the assigned instrument you will
notice warnings.
See ‘Part range versus instrument range’ for an explanation.
Lowest possible note Set this to the lowest note you want to allow for this part, which is the lower limit
for this Part of the part’s range.
If the part’s range differs from the range of the assigned instrument you will
notice warnings.
See ‘Part range versus instrument range’ for an explanation.
MIDI channel OUT If MIDI enabled is ON, YouCompose will output MIDI notes to this channel
during playback for this part.
Output level Use this slider to adjust the audio output level of this part to bring it into balance
with the other parts.
When MIDI is enabled (see App settings) AND the slider is set to zero, the part
will only output MIDI data while the part’s internal sound is muted.
See ‘Muting a Part’s internal sound’ below.
- By setting the ‘Output level’ of the part to zero. Part and instrument ranges and properties are maintained.
- By selecting the ‘None (sound off)’ or ‘Only MIDI’ (which symbol is presented to you depends on the ‘MIDI
enabled’ setting in ‘App Settings’) from the Instrument Picker. Part and instrument ranges are set to
maximum range.
Depending on the ‘MIDI enabled’ setting in ‘App Settings’ the following symbol is presented in the ‘Part
headers’ in Composition View:
86
fi
ff
fi
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
or
Make sure ‘MIDI enabled’ in ‘App Settings’ is ON and the MIDI channel for the selected Part is mapped to
an external instrument, otherwise you will not hear the notes in the Part.
You can set the part range, but you can not set the instrument range. The instrument range obviously is a
property of the instrument, you can only change that by selecting a different instrument.
There are several reasons for you to limit the part range though. First, limiting the choices for Aimée during
harmonization might improve the composition. Secondly you might be writing a part for a musician that is
not (yet) able to use the instrument’s full range.
We would like to distinguish between four situations to explain how YouCompose treats the ‘range issues':
1. The part range is equal to or smaller than the ‘best sounding’ instrument range.
This is the ideal situation. You will see a green message in Part Settings.
On the Composition View in the Part header for the part you will see a green band in the ‘Range Indicator’:
The position and height of the gray band indicates the maximum range of
the instrument and gives some information about the range of the
instrument in relation to a possible full range from C1 to C8.
The part range is shown in green inside the gray band because it is identical
to or smaller than the ‘best sounding’ range of the instrument.
87
YouCompose User Manual
The position and height of the gray band gives some information about the
range of the instrument in relation to a possible full range from C1 to C8.
The part range is not shown because it is identical to the instrument range.
3. The part range is (partly or completely) outside the range of the instrument.
This is not an ideal situation. A part might contain notes that can not be played on the selected instrument.
If you are engaged in producing electronic music, that's no problem, but YouCompose will present you with
some red warnings in Part Settings.
On the Composition View, in the ‘Range Indicator’ the part range is colored red:
The highest possible note for this part is above the upper limit of the instrument’s
range.
The lowest possible note for this part is beneath the lower limit of the instrument’s
range.
Both lowest and highest notes are outside the instrument’s range.
88
YouCompose User Manual
4. The part range is completely inside the range of the instrument but outside the ‘best sounding’
range.
This is not a problem and sometimes even desirable, as mentioned above, but YouCompose will present
you with a blue message in Part Settings.
On the Composition View, in the ‘Range Indicator’ the part range is colored blue:
The highest possible note for this part is beneath the upper limit of the
instrument’s range.
Both lowest and highest notes are within the instrument’s range AND the part
range is smaller.
YouCompose offers you some functions to easily adjust the part range(s):
If the part range is completely inside the range of the instrument but outside the
best sounding range, this button is visible. Tap it and the part range will be set to
the instrument’s maximum range.
If the part range is equal to the maximum range of an instrument, this button is
visible. Tap it and Aimée will try to set the part range to the instrument’s best
sounding range.
Tapping this button will restore the part range to its original values.
89
YouCompose User Manual
Segment Settings
The ‘Segment Settings’ can be accessed from the Composition View by tapping on a fragment.
The ‘Edit Panel’ will open, now tap and you will see the Segment Settings for the selected segment.
Notice:
Some Segment Settings will also be presented to
you when you add a new segment to the current
movement, see ‘Let Aimée add a melody to a
movement’ and ‘Adding notes to a movement
manually’.
Notice:
Segment settings can also be accessed from the
Note Editor en the virtual keyboard.
Notice:
To the right of the segment title, the duration of
the segment is displayed in min:sec.
Notice:
Some parameters are not allowed in combination
with each other. For example, a X:5 tuplet with a
X/4 time signature. Therefore, some options are
grayed out.
Setting Description
Segment title You can enter a title for the segment here.
Once a segment contains notes some keys may be grayed out and disabled,
as in the above image. The reason is that there are notes in the segment that
do not t into the scales of these disabled keys.
Notice: The key set here may be overruled by an ‘alternative key’ in one or
more Composition Instructions. See ‘Harmonization composition
instruction’.
90
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
Diatonic Chromatic When set to Diatonic Aimée will use only notes in the diatonic scales for the
melody in this segment.
If style is set to ‘Classical’ this also applies to the other harmonized voices.
If style is set to ‘Jazz’ the harmonized voices will always be allowed to have
notes from a chromatic scale.
When set to Chromatic Aimée will use all notes in the chromatic scales in all
voices for all styles.
Keyless notation Applies to notation in the score. When set to ON the key of the segment will
not be indicated by accidentals at the beginning of a system. Instead all
notes will be notated with their accidentals.
Quantization Can be set to 1/4, 1/8 or 1/16 notes. It represents the shortest possible note
in the segment or, in other words, the length of one ‘position’ in the segment.
Allowed tuplets If you want to use tuplets in the segment, choose the tuplet you want to
allow here. A tuplet is represented in a ratio. For example, 7:4 means that 7
notes can be placed where there would normally be 4. 'Triplets' are displayed
with a ratio of 3:2 (3 over 2), for example.
Harmonization Style Can be set to ‘Classical’ or ‘Jazz’ and determines the style used by Aimée
when harmonizing this segment.
Notice: The style set here may be overruled by the style setting in one or
more Composition Instructions. See ‘Harmonization composition
instruction’.
Tapping this button gives you access to the instrumentation settings of the
segment. See 'Editing Instrumentation’.
Swing level Determines how much ‘swing’ is applied to 1/8 notes in segments with jazz
(Jazz only) style harmonization. Only 1/8 notes are a ected. When 1/16 notes are
present within a beat there will be no swing in that beat.
Swing level can be set from 1:1 straight (no swing) to 3:1 hard swing.
Default value is 2:1 ‘triplets’ swing.
91
ff
YouCompose User Manual
The mixer
The Mixer View gives you access to all sound and MIDI settings in one place.
Tap from the Composition View and then the menu item :
The mixer shows a pane for each part with all sound and MIDI settings that are possible for that part. The
same settings can also be found separately in the Part settings for each part (see 'Part Settings').
Note the settings above in the example for Part 1 and Part 2. Both are 'MIDI out only', but Part 1 lacks the
'Part level' setting. The reason for this lies in the different 'instrument' choice between the parts. Part 1 has
instrument ‘No sound’ and Part 2 has ‘Oboe’. See 'Muting a Part’s internal sound’ in ‘Part Settings’ above
to learn more about the difference.
In addition to the settings for each part, you will find three panes on the right with general settings for MIDI,
reverb and global audio output to and from your device (Main).
Setting Description
Device volume The system output volume of your device can be set here.
OUT LEVEL Use this slider to adjust the audio output level of YouCompose to bring it
into balance with other sound sources on your device. This setting does not
a ect the overall system output volume, only that of YouCompose.
Reverb Settings Three sliders (‘Reverb level’, ‘Room size’ and ‘Distance’) enable you to
create the right spatial ambience for your audio.
92
ff
ff
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
MIDI enabled If you want to use a MIDI keyboard, sound module or another app with
Background Audio, you must turn this MIDI enable switch ON, otherwise
YouCompose will ignore incoming MIDI data and not send any.
When the ‘MIDI enabled’ switch is set to ‘OFF’ (disabling MIDI in and out) a
‘MIDI panic’ procedure is initiated sending a MIDI off signal for all notes to
all connected MIDI destinations.
The MIDI enable switch can also be found in the virtual keyboard and the
app settings’. See ‘Recording a melody and adding it to a movement’ and
‘App settings’.
MIDI network If you also want to connect YouCompose with device via your network, you
must turn this ‘MIDI on the network’ switch to ON.
MIDI ch. IN YouCompose will process incoming MIDI data from the channel(s) set here.
It can be set to ‘All’ but you can force YouCompose to process only the data
from a specific channel by setting this to a number.
The MIDI channel IN setting can also be found on the virtual keyboard. See
‘Recording a melody and adding it to a movement’.
When a composition is saved all audio and MIDI related settings for each part are saved with it.
Also saved with a composition are the reverb settings and the main ‘OUT LEVEL’.
93
YouCompose User Manual
The ‘Movement Selector’ in the toolbar indicates which movement is currently displayed (I, II, III, IV etc.).
Tapping this button gives you the option to switch to another movement making that one ‘current’ and
showing its content in the Composition View.
The ‘Movement Manager’ gives you top level control over the movements in your composition. With it you
can swap movements within the composition, copy them, delete them or add new ones.
To access the ‘Movement Manager’ tap the Movement Selector from the Composition View and
then :
Button Function
Copies the entire movement to the clipboard. You can now use the ‘Paste’ button
within the Movement Manager to make a copy of this movement in a free position.
You can use this copy-paste function to transfer a movement from one composition
to another.
94
YouCompose User Manual
Button Function
Takes you back to the Composition View with this movement as ‘current’ movement.
Removes the entire movement. Movements that follow the deleted movement will ll
in the gap.
Causes the movement to swap its position with the one following it.
If you are happy with the changes you have made, tap this button in the toolbar. You
will return to the Composition View where you will see the changes applied.
Tapping this button in the toolbar will take you back to the Composition View. No
changes will be made to your composition.
95
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Tap the Movement Selector in the toolbar of the Composition View, then
to open the Movement Manager.
You will find the button in the ‘Free’ position after the last movement.
When you select ‘Empty movement' you can add it directly using the button that will then
appear. You can also choose to have Aimée compose a movement for you. In that case, a next step is
necessary to tell Aimée how to do that. First select which type of movement Aimée should compose, there
are 6 options:
96
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
Style Determines the harmonization style for all segments in the new movement,
can be:
- Classical
- Jazz
Main key When set to ‘Random’ Aimée will choose a main key when composing from
scratch or it will be taken from the existing material.
Diatonic When set to ‘Diatonic’ Aimée will use only notes in the diatonic scales for the
or melodies.
Chromatic If style is set to ‘Classical’ this also applies to the other voices.
If style is set to ‘Jazz’ the generated harmonized parts will always be allowed to
have notes from a chromatic scale.
When set to ‘Chromatic’ Aimée will use all notes in the chromatic scales in all
parts for all styles.
Create from scratch Determines how Aimée will make her melodies. She can create them herself
or ‘from scratch’ or she can try to use existing melodies that are already there in
Use existing material your composition.
See ‘How does Aimée use existing material while composing a movement?’
for more information (just below here).
97
YouCompose User Manual
Setting Description
Mood The Mood setting can be set to:
- Lethargic
- Sad
- Relaxed
- Positive
- Happy
- Energetic
This setting is taken into account by Aimée while making the melodies for you.
Now tap . Aimée will load the new movement into the composition in its designated position and
return control to the Movement Manager. There its melodies (sources) are harmonized by her.
You can continue creating movements after that.
Tapping will take you back to the Movement Manager without adding a new movement.
If suitable fragments are available Aimée will examine them starting with the rst suitable fragment in the
movement previous to the movement you are composing. This does not mean that a melody found there
can always be used by Aimée as a new source because there can be other reasons for her not to use it, for
instance when its range is too large, its key does not t your ‘Main key’ selection or there is a ‘chromatics’
problem.
Notice: If you select ‘Random’ for ‘Main key’ the key of the rst suitable fragment will be set as ‘Main key’.
When Aimée is not able to use any of the existing melodies she will display an alert box with the most
probable cause and create her own sources instead.
98
fi
fi
fi
ffi
YouCompose User Manual
For those who use ‘Audiobus’ or ‘Audiobus Remote’ here are some specifics:
YouCompose acts as an input app in Audiobus. In Audiobus and Audiobus Remote it offers the standard
‘Play/Stop’ and ‘Rewind’ buttons. The Rewind button is not disabled during playback, you can engage it at
any time.
Additionally in Audiobus Remote YouCompose offers 4 remote triggers that allow you to adjust the reverb
and output levels:
The Reverb - and + and Level - and + buttons will be disabled when their limits are reached.
Notice:
The output level can not be reduced to zero, there will always be a minimum audible level.
99
YouCompose User Manual
Using AudioCopy
AudioCopy by Retronyms inc offers a way to copy paste audio from one compatible app into another. When
you have the AudioCopy app installed on your device all copied sounds are gathered there in a nice list. In
AudioCopy you can edit the sounds and upload them to SoundCloud. This manual is not going to explain
how the AudioCopy app works. If you want more information google ‘AudioCopy’ and you will find all you
need. For (audio)copying and pasting to work you do not need the app as the example that follows will
show you.
As an example we will show you how to (audio)copy a segment from YouCompose and paste it in
GarageBand:
Now select the part and/or segment you want to copy (here we will take all parts from segment 1).
If necessary you can adjust the audio output level to make sure the audio is not too soft or loud.
If you plan on using the audio file as a loop in another app, make sure 'Export as loop' is selected,
otherwise select 'Export as song', in which case a fading reverb at the end of the recording will be added.
Now tap : :
The Audio Export panel will disappear and you will hear the music being recorded by YouCompose and a
dialog box will be presented indicating its progress:
100
YouCompose User Manual
Open Garageband and open one of your songs. Make sure Tracks view is open. Move the playhead to the
point where you want the audio to start. Tap the track where you want to paste the audio:
You can also tap an empty area of Tracks view, then tap Paste. In this case the audio file is pasted into a
new empty track.
101
YouCompose User Manual
As an example we will show you how to record a movement from YouCompose to GarageBand:
First open GarageBand and start a new song. Look for ‘Inter-App Audio apps’ in
‘Instruments’, it looks like this:
Tap it.
Make sure ‘Instruments’ is selected, you will see the icons of all IAA compatible
‘Generator’ apps on your device. One of them is YouCompose:
This panel serves as a remote control of the host App, in this case GarageBand. You can drag this panel to
any other location within the screen if it gets in your way.
Now tap the GarageBand icon in the remote control. You will return to GarageBand in the ‘Audio Recorder’:
102
YouCompose User Manual
Now tap the YouCompose icon next to the jack plug on the left.
It will bring you back in YouCompose.
Make sure you have the movement you want to record as ‘current movement’ in the Composition View of
YouCompose and the playhead is in the right position.
You may hear GarageBand’s metronome, wait until you see the time
GarageBand is now recording YouCompose’s audio output. During recording you can switch between
YouCompose and GarageBand tapping the icons as many times as you like to monitor the process.
When playback in YouCompose is finished tap the stop button . GarageBand stops recording.
Now tap the GarageBand icon to switch to GarageBand to see the result:
103
YouCompose User Manual
And there you have your audio track with your movement’s audio ready to be processed further in
GarageBand.
If your recording turns out to be too loud (or soft) you can adjust the
‘Output level’ in the small remote control panel in YouCompose before
recording the movement again.
104
YouCompose User Manual
If you want you can select a part and/or segment from the current movement, otherwise the entire
movement (All parts - All segments) will be exported.
Now select the file type for your audio file that you need:
105
fi
fi
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Exporting MIDI.
A MIDI file can have one of two types ‘0’ or ‘1’, use the selector to pick one:
Type 0: Contains one track with all meta data and channel events.
Type 1: Contains multiple tracks. The first track, the ‘tempo track’ does not contain notes. All parts have
their own track with all channel events. Parts (tracks) that do not contain notes are skipped.
If you added lyrics in the Note Editor they will be contained in the MIDI file.
When the harmonization style ‘Jazz’ is used in your movement or selected part, segment or fragment, you
have the option to have swing included (or not) in the MIDI file:
When the MIDI file is intended for playback or electronic music production you should include swing but
when you intend to use it in a score editor you should not.
If no apps can be found to open the resulting MIDI file you will be notified by YouCompose, otherwise a
dialog box will appear showing you the apps that can open or process the MIDI file.
Simply tap on the app of your choice. This app will run and start opening the file. How an app opens a file is
up to that app, YouCompose does not have any control over that.
106
f
fi
fi
fi
YouCompose User Manual
Now why is ‘spacing’ between repeating notes within a MIDI file important?
This has everything to do with timing. All notes in a MIDI file are defined by a ‘Note On’ event at a certain
moment followed by a ‘Note Off’ event some moments later. When a note is immediately followed by the
same note (on the same MIDI channel) the ‘Note Off’ event of the first note and the ‘Note On’ event of the
second basically are at the same moment. When the exported MIDI file is played these two events are sent
to a device where the are processed. Sometimes the ‘Note On’ event of the second note is processed
before the ‘Note Off’ event of the first, immediately killing the second note. To prevent this from happening
there should be a small gap between the notes, a short time between the ‘Note Off’ event of the first and
the ‘Note On’ event of the second repeating note. This is called ‘spacing repeating notes’. YouCompose
allows you to set this little time interval to ‘Minimal’ or ‘Maximal’, ‘Minimal’ being one ‘delta time tick’,
‘Maximal’ being a gap of up to 40 milliseconds when possible.
Be aware that spacing is is only applied to repeating notes on the same MIDI channel.
Exporting audio.
If necessary you can adjust the audio output level to make sure the audio is not to soft or loud.
When you intend to use the audio file as a loop in an other app make sure ‘Export as loop’ is selected,
otherwise select ‘Export as song’ in which case a decaying reverb at the end is included in the recording.
If no apps can be found to open the resulting audio file you will be notified by YouCompose, otherwise a
dialog box will appear showing you the apps that can open or process the audio file.
Simply tap on the app of your choice. This app will run and start opening the file. How an app opens a file is
up to that app, YouCompose does not have any control over that.
107
YouCompose User Manual
Tap in the toolbar of the Composition View, then , the ‘Email Composition’
panel opens:
Tapping in the ‘Email Composition’ panel will open the ‘Composition Settings’ enabling you to set
parameters for the score.
If the receiver of your message also has YouCompose installed on his or her device you can include the
YouCompose file. The receiver can import this file into YouCompose, see ‘Importing a YouCompose file’.
Now decide which additional document(s) you want to include in your message, an m4a audio file or a
MIDI file for each movement or a PDF file containing the score or all. The m4a files will contain iTunes data
‘album’, ‘album artist’, ‘artist’, ‘composer‘ (if defined), ‘user comment‘ with the date and time of the
108
YouCompose User Manual
exported file, ‘song name’, ‘genre’, ‘track’ numbers, ‘lyrics‘ (when present) and the YouCompose icon as
artwork. The PDF will contain the full score and the scores of all 4 (transposed) parts. The MIDI file will be of
type 1 containing multiple tracks (a ‘tempo track’ plus one track for each part).
When the harmonization style ‘Jazz’ is used in your composition you have the option to have swing
included (or not) in the MIDI files. When the MIDI files are intended for playback or electronic music
production you should include swing but when the receiver intends to use them in a score editor you should
not.
Tap ‘Send email’. Your standard email client will now open with the composed email. There you can send it
the way you‘re used to sending an email.
If no apps can be found to open this file you will be notified by YouCompose, otherwise a dialog box will
appear showing you the apps that accept files.
Simply tap on the app of your choice. This app will run and start opening the file. How an app opens this file
is up to that app, YouCompose does not have any control over that.
Exporting a YouCompose file would be useless without an import function. So there is one. See
‘Importing a YouCompose file’ to learn about it.
109
fi
YouCompose User Manual
We will assume that you, the composer, wish to send the composition to a musician or to a group of
musicians. You are the ‘sender’ and the musicians are all ‘receiver’.
2
Tap Tap
3 The ‘AirDrop SEND’ panel will appear and The ‘AirDrop RECEIVE’ panel will appear and
your device will immediately search for other your device will immediately wait for a sender to
nearby devices: connect:
5 The nearby-search-panel will change: You will be asked to accept the connection with
the composer:
110
YouCompose User Manual
11 You’re done.
Now tap to save the received
For iPad users: tap anywhere on the screen composition in the compositions folder.
to return to the Composition View
You will return to the Files View and find the
newly received composition as ‘current’ with
For iPhone users: tap in the upper the typical blue background:
right corner.
111
YouCompose User Manual
Print score
The score, consisting of a full score and all the individual parts will be opened in Apple’s standard PDF
reader.
Tap in the upper right corner to access any one of your AirPrint compatible printers or to export the
score to other applications like iBooks.
Setting parameters like print quality, page size, orientation and staff size can be done in
‘Composition Settings’.
112
YouCompose User Manual
- First open the sample composition ‘Happy Birthday to You’ that came with YouCompose from Files View.
- Look for the third fragment in the first part, it should be called ‘Enter name’.
- Tap the 7th bar (which is the second bar in the fragment) and open the ‘Note Editor’ for this fragment.
- There are 2 notes in the bar nr. 7, tap on the first one to open the ‘Note Edit Panel’.
Now think about the name of the birthday boy or girl and how you would sing his or her name within the
two notes in bar 7.
- Change the name of the third fragment into something different from ‘Enter name’ since it will appear in
the score as a segment title.
- We will assume that you know who is visiting the birthday boy or girl on that special day. If you know the
names of four friends that are good singers you could enter their names as ‘Part title’. Their names would
then appear as singers for the parts in the PDF-score.
- Now send an email containing both a MIDI file and the score.
113
YouCompose User Manual
What applies to pictures also applies to music. Aimée herself cannot claim any copyrights on the music she
produces. There's good news for YouCompose users: Aimée doesn't claim it either.
But what about the creator of Aimée, Wout. He has copyright on Aimée, but can he have copyright on the
music composed by Aimée? After all, there are a lot of creative hours in the programming of Aimée and as
far as we know Wout is human.
Legally, this has not been established unambiguously because there is no case law on this (yet). But there is
good news for users of YouCompose and Aimée: Wout, as the author and owner of Aimée, will not claim
any copyrights on Aimée's music.
Who is left then? Well, you! As a user of YouCompose, and therefore of Aimée, you can
claim copyrights to the music composed by Aimée. After all, it happened on your initiative and you chose
the parameters. There is always a 'human' component here. You used Aimée, to a greater or lesser extent,
as a tool in writing your music in the same way a photographer uses his camera or a keyboardist uses his
synthesizer.
But is the latter correct? Is Aimée comparable to a camera or a synthesizer? When granting a copyright
claim, the USCO places great emphasis on the fact that a work of art must be the product of human
creativity. When a person uses a camera or a synthesizer this is not disputed, but does that also apply to
Aimée?
This is not yet clear in a legal sense. The coming years will show what level of human input is sufficient for
the USCO, or another agency that deals with it, to assign the copyright to the produced artworks to the AI
user.
For now, in any case, as far as Wout is concerned, you own the copyrights to the music that was composed
on your initiative by Aimée on your computer, iPhone or iPad.
During one of the many test runs of YouCompose at Elstar’s YC Labs, Aimée came up with the following
melody:
114
YouCompose User Manual
You may recognise in this melody a resemblance to Beethoven's 5th symphony. Now Beethoven can no
longer claim copyrights on his music because he passed away more than 70 years ago, but suppose he
didn't and Beethoven still had copyrights on his music.
Beethoven could challenge your copyright claim for this composition, although Aimée composed the above
piece for you completely autonomously and without knowledge of Beethoven's music.
There is one more aspect that is important. For this we return to the above-mentioned
'Creativity Machine' by Stephen Thaler. This makes use of 'machine learning'.
This means that the AI, before it is able to create something itself, is 'trained' on the basis of existing works
of art by one or more authors, the so-called 'data'. Many contemporary creative AI systems work in this
way.
Recently, there has been increasing resistance to this in the creative community.
Artists worry that their works, which are sometimes difficult to create, will be used as data in 'machine
learning' AI systems that then create new works that are suspiciously similar to their creations.
Two aspects related to intellectual property and copyrights play a role here.
Regarding the first point: many AI makers who build systems based on existing artworks invoke the
principle of 'fair use' of copyrighted material. Human artists would therefore do well to indicate for each
work whether or not it may be used as 'data' in machine learning systems. When an artist or composer
explicitly forbids this, I think there is no longer any question of 'fair use', but as I said, this is nowhere laid
down in a legal sense.
As for the second point: Any work of art, whether man-made or machine-made, can infringe on someone
else's rights. So anyone can dispute the copyrights of an AI-produced work for whatever reason. A judge
will ultimately have to determine whether the claim is successful.
What about Aimée and the 'data' she uses? Well, Aimée does use data, but not existing music. Aimée's
data consists of music-theoretical knowledge about melody formation, harmonization, instrumentation etc.
brought together in an expert system. Wout added his own knowledge and consulted well-known sources
that are included in a bibliography that you can find below (see ‘Literature’) and although the books in the
list are of course copyrighted, the knowledge described in them is not. Combining this knowledge with
genetic algorithms creates a personal Aimée style, so that you can recognise Aimée's compositions as you
often can with other composers. Aimée can do her work without using copyrighted sources and is thus a
truly autonomous composer.
It may be different if you, as a user of YouCompose, use Aimée as an assistant and have a piece composed
based on pre-existing and possibly copyrighted melodies. In that case, the work created by Aimée may also
infringe someone else's rights. Keep that in mind.
Summarising:
The basic principle is that you, as a user of YouCompose, own the copyrights of the music produced by
Aimée on your computer, iPhone or iPad. Neither Aimée nor Wout can or will contest your rights. Aimée
herself does not use copyrighted material of others.
It is possible that the result of Aimée's efforts infringes other people's rights. This could be coincidental or
the result of the fact that you put Aimée to work on the basis of melodies that are protected by copyright.
115
YouCompose User Manual
Literature
Aimée was inspired by the following books:
- Benjamin Dale, Gordon Jacob & Hugo Anson: Harmony, Counterpoint & Improvisation Book 1 & 2.
(Novello 1940)
- Arnold Schoenberg: Fundamentals of musical composition. (Faber and Faber London Boston 1990) ISBN:
0571092764
- Arnold Schoenberg: Structural Functions of Harmony. (Faber and Faber London 1999) ISBN: 0571196578
- Alfred Mann: The Study of Counterpoint: From Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus Ad Parnassum. (W.W. Norton
and Company New York London 1971) ISBN: 0393002772
- Alfred Mann: The Study of Fugue. (Dover publications New York 1987) ISBN: 0486254399
- Samuel Adler: The study of Orchestration third edition. (W.W. Norton & Company New York London 1989)
ISBN: 0-393-97572-X
- Elaine Gould: Behind Bars. (Faber Music Ltd London 2011) ISBN 0571514561
Hardware requirements
YouCompose can be installed on any device running Apple’s iOS 14 or higher.
Contact us
Visit us on Facebook and please, if you like YouCompose don’t forget to ‘like’
YouCompose:
https://www.facebook.com/Ucompose
https://youcompose.com/contact
116