Bpm? We Got U.

The tempo picker shows up when you're tryna play the metronome (obvi), when you're like really holding down on that metronome live bar button, or when you're twiddlin' with tempo in the Metadata Editor inside the Song Editor. It lets you set the tempo in beats per minute (BPM). Riveting stuff, we know.

Tweakin' The Time Signature

Wanna change the time signature? Tap that bad boy in the upper left corner to summon the time signature picker. OnSong defaults to 4/4 time signature cuz apparently that's "normal" or whatever.

Pickin' Subdivisions

The metronome's all "quarter notes ftw" by default. Tap the icon in the upper right & you can cycle through subdivisions like: whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, eighth note shuffle & sixteenth notes. If you're feelin' fancy with compound time signatures (6/8, 9/8, 12/8, totes), the quarter note becomes a dotted quarter note cuz math.

Messin' with Settings

Wanna tweak the metronome's sound & look? Tap the wrench icon in the toolbar at the bottom of the menu & boom—metronome settings screen opens up. Tap Done to save your questionable choices, or tap Cancel to pretend this never happened.

Settin' The Tempo

Slide your finger left & right to turn the tempo down or up like you're adjustin' a volume knob (because that's basically what this is). Tap the left/bottom or right/top to micro-adjust by whatever beat increment you set in Quantize BPM. Default's one whole beat, but go wild.

Or—& this is kinda cool, we guess—tap the middle to tap the tempo yourself. Yeah, we know, your rhythm is prolly a lil' wonky, but the time signature gets factored in to account for compound eighth note timing situations. Whatever you tap gets rounded to your Quantize BPM setting anyway, so don't stress.

Startin' & Stoppin'

Here's the thing: tapping the live bar button should start the metronome instantly, right? So tap-and-hold it to start playin'. It's by design, peeps—the OS needs a hot sec to figure out if you're genuinely holdin' or just bein' clumsy. The tempo picker's got a play/stop button so you can start, stop, or test drive a fresh BPM whenever you want.

Messin' with Tempo Limits

You can jam the tempo anywhere from 40 to 200 BPM. Drop it below 40 & it becomes None, killin' the tempo entirely. Wanna change those min/max limits? Head to Settings » Live Settings » Metronome » Audio Settings » BPM Settings. Buckle up, it's a journey.

Let OnSong Listen for Tempo

Plot twist: the OnSong^® app can literally hear your tempo thru MIDI & your iPad's built-in mic (or whatever audio input you're rockin'). Tap the listen button on the right side of the toolbar at the bottom of the menu to start vibin'. On iPad, it says Listen for Tempo. It'll ask permission to access your mic, then it'll start listenin'. First it hunts for MIDI clock signals. If that's a no-go, it listens for beat info from whatever music's playin' nearby.

While it's listenin', the button glows & the label switches to "Listening…". It stops on its own once the tempo chills out (few seconds), or you can tap again to bail. This button's MIA if your plan's too cheap for MIDI features.