User Guide
Table of Contents
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TapeRecord: Recording and Editing
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Pads & Keyboard: Play and Record Your Ideas
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Slices: Chop Up Your Sounds Like a Pro
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Sequencer: Build Your Beat Step by Step
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Mix & Effects: Make Your Beats Shine
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Beat History & Notepad: Save and Annotate Your Masterpieces
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Live Jamming and Performance Tips
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Troubleshooting: Fixing Common Issues
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Fun Use Cases and Inspiration
1. Overview
FingerBeat is composed by four main views:
Pads & Keyboard
Record your own sounds directly into pads. Switch between pads and keyboard at any time. This is where you Play and Record your performances into the sequencer for further editing. Change individual sounds or replace drum kits entirely in one go, access Tempo and metronome settings from here.
Live Sequencer & Mixer
What you play on the pads or keyboard appears instantly in the sequencer, where you can edit notes, adjust volumes, and tweak pattern. Perform live using the mixer to balance levels and pan sounds while changing patterns, then layer in effects per channel for richer textures. Shape your groove with pattern settings like tempo, swing, and quantization, and refine every detail until your beat is just right.
TapeRecord
TapeRecord is your built-in recording studio inside FingerBeat, capturing all 9 channels at once—your 8 pads plus any input such as the default microphone. Trim and shape your recordings into clips, then drag them directly onto pads at any moment. Add depth with Overdub and polish with Output Effects, before exporting your final creation.
Beat History
A list of your latest beats alongside pattern control and even Note Pad to write your own lyrics for each pad.
From this screen you also have access to Mic Effects,
Use the drag handles clearly marked with text [ drag ] to change view between Pads, Sequencer, TapeRecord and Beat History and so on.
2. Getting Started: Your First Beat
Welcome to FingerBeat! Let’s get you up and running with your first beat. Don’t worry — no musical experience required. FingerBeat is all about having fun experimenting.
What You’ll Need:
- An Apple iPhone or iPad
- Your voice, an instrument, or any sound you want to play with
Open the App
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Tap the FingerBeat icon to launch the app.
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You’ll see the 8 pads on Mobile. If you area on Tablet you will get the pads and sequencer grid, along with some funky-looking buttons.
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Have a look around by dragging any empty space to shift your view. These zones are also labeled as “Drag” areas .
Record Your First Sound
Let’s start by recording something simple directly into pads. Maybe a clap, a "hey!" or a random noise from your environment.
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Tap Sounds Button. Select any pad which you want to record into, then Tap "Record From Mic”.
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Make your sound! Shout, clap, or play an instrument.
For example: Say, One; Two: Three. -
Tap Stop when you’re done and preview your pad from recording.
Especially when recording performances such as singing, overdub, effects and so on..
Slice Your Sound
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Tap Slice Pad (below the sound name). Next to hold/release sound to slice sound automatically from the gaps in the audio.
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Once Auto-Sliced you may toggle Slicing between Circular (slices spread in a circle) or Pie (slices like pizza).
Sound is playable via pads at once or slice by slice via Pitch Keyboard. -
Tap Stop when you’re done.
Make a Beat
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Tap the recorded pad to preview your slices
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Exit Sound Editing Mode so you can Record a quick Performance.
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Hit Record from Pads or Keyboard, then play something
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Shift your view to sequencer on the right side to view what you have recorded
3. TapeRecord: Recording & Editing
TapeRecord records all 9 channels at once (mic + 8 pads) and lets you edit like a pro.
By default you get tape reels and typical controls alongside speed, mute, tape fx, and so on..
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Record: Tap the red Record button to start recording.
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Stop: Tap Stop once done.
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Recall/Listen: Double Tap RW [ Rewind ] button to start from the beginning then Tap Play
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Edit: Tap the Scissors icon to reveal Edit controls:
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Mark-In and Mark-Out refines your selection using both reels. We also have additional controls to lock or move loop selectionsincluding double or halve the size, ideal when making Loops!
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Tap Copy to make a Clip Copy or Cut to extract clip from the timeline
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Tap Play button on a Clip to preview sound
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You can then drag sounds into the trash, timeline, replace reels or drag directly into pads to keep creating.
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TapeRecord even has its own independent connected Notepad accesible from menu.
Try it out!
Make Loops / Sound Clips
When Editing you can either Copy or Cut selection.
Copy will clone the sound from timeline leaving the timeline untouched whereas Cut will remove sound from the timeline.
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Record a sound → edit with Mark-In/Out → Tap Copy
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Drag the clip to the timeline while waiting for more than 1 second before releasing the finger.
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A menu should appear: Select Repeat Clip + 1
( adjust number of repetitions as needed) This will loop your sound in the timeline for set times.
Touch your sound
Feel your sound like it’s 1970’s!
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Touch the reels to scratch over your beats.
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Speed Slider → Moves Forwards Faster or slower.
When slider goes over the center, it reverses and plays backwards Faster or Slower.
4. Pads & Keyboard: Play and Record Your Ideas
Pads:
Play sliced sounds by tapping pads.
Tap multiple pads for chords.
Tap Sounds to change pad sounds (recordings, library, or cloud services).
[Insert image of pads with sounds]
Keyboard:
Tap Keyboard to play sounds with pitch control.
The last touched pad’s sound appears in the keyboard.
Use + to add slices.
TapeRecord records all 9 channels at once (mic + 8 pads) and lets you edit like a pro.
By default you get tape reels and typical controls alongside speed, mute, tape fx, and so on..
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Record: Tap the red Record button to start recording.
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Stop: Tap Stop once done.
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Recall/Listen: Double Tap RW [ Rewind ] button to start from the beginning then Tap Play
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Edit: Tap the Scissors icon to reveal Edit controls:
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Mark-In and Mark-Out refines your selection using both reels. We also have additional controls to lock or move loop selectionsincluding double or halve the size, ideal when making Loops!
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Tap Copy to make a Clip Copy or Cut to extract clip from the timeline
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Tap Play button on a Clip to preview sound
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You can then drag sounds into the trash, timeline, replace reels or drag directly into pads to keep creating.
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