# Songen for iPhone guide

Generate an idea, shape its notes and sound, build an arrangement, and export from Songen on iPhone or iPad.

Platform: iOS / iPadOS
Reviewed: 2026-10-25
Canonical: https://songen.app/guide/iphone/

## Quick start

1. **Pick a genre.** Open **Create**, tap **Style**, and choose a genre you like.
2. **Generate a loop.** Tap **Generate**, then listen. Generate again to try another idea.
3. **Make it yours.** Once you like the loop, you can change its instruments, edit its notes, turn it into a full song, or export it. Tap **Keep** if you want to find it later in Library.

**What next?** [Change instruments](#change-instruments-and-mix-the-loop) · [Edit notes](#edit-individual-notes-in-the-piano-roll) · [Turn it into a song](#turn-loops-into-a-song) · [Export your music](#export-midi-audio-or-stems)

## Find your way around

The current iPhone interface has two main tabs: **Create** and **Library**. These instructions also apply to the current iPad interface.

A **loop** contains lead, chords, bass, and drums. A **project** can contain several loops and a song arrangement. An **arrangement section** chooses a loop, how often it repeats, and which parts play.

| Control | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Create** | Generates and auditions new musical ideas. |
| **Style** | Chooses genres and generation constraints. |
| **Generate** | Creates a new idea. In full-song mode, it becomes **Generate Song**. |
| **Keep** | Keeps the current project in Library. |
| **Shape** | Opens **Notes**, **Sound**, and **Feel** for the current loop. |
| **Project overview** | Shows the project's loops and arrangement. |
| **Library** | Finds kept projects and playlists. |
| **Export** | Shares MIDI or audio files. |

This guide covers the current Create/Shape/Library interface, not the older selectable layouts. The Mac app has a different timeline, recording, and plugin workflow: see the [Mac guide](/guide/).

## Generate and keep your first loop

**Start here:** **Create**.

1. Tap the style chip to open **Style**.
2. Choose a genre. Use search if you know its name.
3. Tap the generate action in Style or return to Create and tap **Generate**.
4. Play the result. Generate again if you want a different idea.
5. When you hear something worth developing, tap **Keep**. It appears in **Library → Projects**.
6. Tap **Shape** to change the current loop without starting over.

**Result:** Keep marks the project for your library. It is different from Export, which creates files for use outside Songen. Recent projects can appear in Create, but use Keep for ideas you intend to return to.

If the button says **Generate Song**, full-song generation is enabled. Change **Style → Advanced → Generate full songs** when you want new ideas to be loops instead.

## Choose genres and generation rules

**Start here:** **Create → Style**.

Choose a named style for a direct starting point. Turn on **Blend** to combine genres rather than selecting just one.

Open **Advanced** for more control:

- **Lock key:** keep newly generated ideas in a chosen root and major/minor mode.
- **Lock tempo:** keep newly generated ideas at one BPM.
- **Chords → Auto:** follow the selected style's progressions.
- **Chords → Fixed:** use progressions from a selected genre.
- **Chords → Custom:** open **Edit custom progression** to supply your own harmony.
- **Tracks to generate:** turn parts off to generate only the roles you need. At least one remains on.
- **Generate full songs:** make each Generate produce an arrangement rather than a single loop.
- **Genre mode → Per track:** give individual roles different styles.
- **Genre mode → Blender:** combine up to six genres with weighted influences and per-track mutes.

These controls govern generation. To alter the tempo or key of the loop already loaded, use **Shape → Feel**.

## Regenerate only part of a loop

**Start here:** **Shape → Notes**.

1. Choose **4×4** for four equal time segments, or **Chords** for sections whose widths follow the chord durations.
2. Find the row for the part you want to change: lead, chords, bass, or drums.
3. Tap the cell for the part and time span you want to regenerate.
4. Listen and tap again for another variation. The other cells are preserved.

**A tap generates immediately.** To open tools instead, long-press a cell. Its menu includes **Piano Roll**, **Copy**, **Paste** when compatible material is available, and **Clear**. Pitched parts also have octave actions. The track's three-dot menu offers whole-track actions, including **Piano Roll** and **Clear Track**.

Copy/paste keeps drum material on drum rows and pitched material on pitched rows. Use the genre palette on the Notes screen to choose the style for further regeneration.

## Edit individual notes in the piano roll

**Start here:** **Shape → Notes → long-press a cell → Piano Roll**, or the track's three-dot menu → **Piano Roll**.

1. Choose the track at the top of the piano roll.
2. In **Draw**, tap empty space to add a note. Tap a note to select it, drag to move it, and use its handle to resize it.
3. In **Select**, select the notes you want to change together. **All** selects the track's notes. Use the selection actions for operations such as deleting or changing octaves.
4. Open the velocity control to change the selected notes' strength.
5. Use pinch zoom or the zoom buttons to make small notes easier to work with.
6. Use the top undo/redo controls if a note edit does not work out.

For drums, the lanes represent drum sounds. In the drum drawing view, tap an empty position to add a hit and tap an existing hit to remove it.

**Regen** is a separate mode for replacing a time range. Set the range, drag its handles to resize it, and tap **Regenerate**. The repeat button auditions that range. This changes the notes in the chosen range; it does not merely select them.

## Change instruments and mix the loop

**Start here:** **Shape → Sound**.

1. Open the channel for the part you want to change.
2. Choose its instrument or sound and adjust the channel controls.
3. Adjust the available effects and track levels while listening to the loop.
4. Use the sound locks when you want to preserve sounds during further generation.

Changing a sound keeps the musical role distinct from its notes: the same melody can play through a different instrument. Regenerating a cell in Notes changes the musical pattern instead.

The Sound tab uses the iPhone app's built-in mixer and sounds. The Mac guide's Audio Unit hosting and audio-track recording instructions do not apply here.

## Change tempo, key, swing, and humanize

**Start here:** **Shape → Feel**.

1. Use **Tempo** to change the loaded project's BPM.
2. Use **Key** to transpose the pitched musical parts.
3. In **Groove**, choose which tracks the feel controls affect.
4. Adjust **Swing** and choose an **8th** or **16th** swing division.
5. Adjust **Humanize** for variation in the performance.

Listen after each change, especially when combining swing and humanize. These controls shape the existing music. **Style → Advanced → Lock key / Lock tempo** instead constrains future generated ideas.

## Extend or crop a loop

**Start here:** **Shape → Notes → Extend & Crop**.

To make the loop longer:

1. Select **Extend**.
2. Choose **2x** to repeat it as it is, or **Generate** to double it with a variation.
3. Audition the extension. Generate another candidate if needed.
4. Tap **Keep Extension** to commit it, or discard the candidate with the cancel control.

To keep a shorter portion:

1. Select **Crop**.
2. Adjust the crop selection to the portion you want to keep.
3. Tap **Crop Loop**.
4. Use the editor's undo/redo buttons if you want to revise the change.

Extending a loop changes the loop material. Repeating an arrangement section changes how many times the same loop plays in the song.

## Add another loop to a project

**Start here:** the project overview sheet. You can open a kept project from Library, or tap the project overview at the top of Shape.

1. In **Loops**, tap **Add loop**.
2. Create enters **New Section** mode. Generate candidates while the project's key and tempo stay fixed.
3. Tap **Generate** to try another candidate.
4. Tap **Add to Project** when you find one you want.

**Result:** the new loop joins the existing project, rather than replacing it with an unrelated project. Tap a loop disc in the project sheet to load that loop for shaping. Cancel New Section mode if you decide not to add one.

## Turn loops into a song

**Start here:** the project overview sheet's **Arrangement** area.

If there is no arrangement, tap that area to open the build choices:

- **Auto-arrange for a length:** choose a target time, then tap **Build … song**. The available range is 30 seconds to 5 minutes.
- **Generate a structure:** build a song shape using the project's loops.
- **Just repeat the loop:** repeat the current idea out to 16 bars.
- Use the manual arrangement option to start laying out sections yourself.

Use **Play Loop** to audition the current loop or **Play Song** to hear the arrangement. These modes change what plays; they do not create a new loop.

To refine the song, open **Arrangement** and select a section:

1. Choose which **Loop** it uses.
2. Set **Repeats**.
3. Set track mutes and octave choices for that section.
4. Use **Cut** to trim beats from a track in that section.
5. Use the section actions to add, duplicate, remove, or move sections as needed.

In the project overview, tapping an arrangement section jumps playback there; long-pressing opens its editing workflow. Section-level changes let a verse be quieter than a chorus without requiring a completely different starting loop.

## Organize projects and playlists

**Start here:** **Library**.

1. Open **Projects** to find music you kept. Search by name and use the list/grid control if you prefer a different view.
2. Tap a project to open its overview. Use its play control to audition it.
3. Rename a loaded project by tapping its name in Create, or edit the name in its project sheet.
4. Use **Duplicate Project** in the project sheet when you want an independent version before making major changes.
5. In **Playlists**, create a **New playlist**. Long-press a project in Library to add it to a playlist.

**Remove from Library** and **Delete** are different actions. Removing a kept item from Library changes its library status; Delete removes the project and its loops and asks for confirmation. Do not use Delete when you only want to remove an item from a playlist.

## Export MIDI, audio, or stems

**Requires:** a loaded project and Premium for export.

1. Tap **Export** in Create or the project sheet.
2. If the project has an arrangement, choose **Full Song** or **One Loop**. Select the loop when exporting just one.
3. Enable audio, MIDI, or both. At least one format must be enabled.
4. Open the audio **Settings** to choose **m4a** or **wav**. Enable **Track Stems** for separate audio tracks; drum mute options let you omit particular drum parts.
5. Open the MIDI **Settings** to choose its layout and **Drum Mapping**. Enable **Separated Drum Tracks** if your destination needs separate drum parts.
6. Tap **Export … Files**. Audio renders in real time; let the export finish.
7. Use the iOS share sheet to save the files to Files or send them to another app.

**MIDI** preserves note information for editing or playing through another instrument. It does not carry Songen's instrument sound or effects. **Audio** preserves what the track sounds like. Use stems when you want to mix parts separately elsewhere.

Keeping a project in Library does not export files. An export is not an editable Songen project backup.

## Know which app to use

| Task | On iPhone / iPad |
| --- | --- |
| Generate lead, chords, bass, and drums | Use Create and Style. |
| Change individual notes or regenerate a range | Use Shape → Notes → Piano Roll. |
| Change sounds, mix parts, or shape groove | Use Shape → Sound or Feel. |
| Combine loops into a song | Use the project sheet and Arrangement. |
| Record vocals, guitar, or a hardware MIDI performance into DAW tracks | Use Songen for Mac. These are not part of the current iPhone workflow. |
| Host third-party Audio Unit instruments and effects | Use Songen for Mac. |
| Open a Mac .songen project package | Do not assume cross-platform project compatibility. Transfer audio or MIDI files instead. |

Generation runs on the device and works offline. Premium purchase and restoration need a connection. One Apple Premium entitlement can cover Mac, iPhone, and iPad, but the interfaces and capabilities differ.

## Troubleshoot common problems

| Problem | Check |
| --- | --- |
| Generate makes a whole song when I want a loop. | Turn off **Style → Advanced → Generate full songs**. |
| A cell changes when I only wanted its tools. | Tapping regenerates. Long-press the cell or open the track's three-dot menu. |
| All new ideas have the same tempo or key. | Check the locks in **Style → Advanced**. New Section mode also keeps the project's key and tempo. |
| I cannot find the idea I liked. | Check Create's recent projects. Tap **Keep** to put an idea in Library for later. |
| I hear a loop instead of the full arrangement. | Select **Play Song** in the project overview. |
| I hear only part of the piano roll. | Check whether **Regen** range looping is enabled. |
| My new loop did not join the project. | Use **Add loop**, generate in New Section mode, then tap **Add to Project**. |
| Export is unavailable. | Load a project, enable at least one export format, and check Premium access. |
| Export takes as long as the music. | iPhone audio export runs in real time. Stems can require several passes. |
| MIDI sounds different in another app. | MIDI transfers notes, not Songen's instruments or effects. Use audio for the same sound. |

When asking for help, include **iPhone or iPad**, the screen name, whether you are working on a loop or a full song, and the result you expected. A screenshot showing Create or Shape helps distinguish the current interface from an older layout.