Using the Valiha studio

The studio is the web app where you turn a recording and its lyrics into a chord chart. You upload the song, Valiha listens to it, and you get a chart with the key, the tempo, the chords on every beat and the moment each word is sung. You can fix chords, play along with the parts of the band, read the melody in sol-fa and export everything. For what Valiha is as a whole, see the overview.

Signing in and organizations

Signing in

On the Valiha home page, press Sign in if you have an account, or Get Valiha free to make one. Any page of the studio asks you to sign in first, then brings you back to it. After you sign in, the studio opens on Projects.

When you are signed in, the home page shows Open the studio and Sign out instead.

Your organizations

Every song belongs to an organization. Its members see and edit the same songs.

• The first time you sign in, Valiha makes a personal organization for you. It carries your name (or the first part of your email), you are its Owner, and its plan is Free.
• You can belong to other organizations too, for example your church or your band.
• The organization you work in is not in the address of the page. Its name shows only in the account menu.

To switch, open the account menu: the button at the bottom of the sidebar with your initial, your name and your email. The menu shows the current organization's name, then Organizations, every organization you belong to with its plan. The current one has a tick. Choose another and the studio opens its Projects.

The same menu has Settings, API (owners and admins only), Admin (the Valiha team only) and Sign out.

Under the account button, a row of four small icons switches the studio to French, switches the dark or light theme, shows What's new, and opens an email to us (Help: write to us).

Plans

An organization is on one of three plans: Free, Plus or Partner.

When a Free organization has made its 5 songs for the month, creating another one stops with "The project could not be created." and the reason from the server.

Owners and admins manage the API keys of an organization on the API page. See the API guide.

A new project in four steps

Projects lists every song of the organization, newest first, with its title, artist, key, status and when it was last updated. Three counts sit above the list: Projects, Ready (charts you can open) and In progress (queued or analyzing). The search field in the top bar, Search projects, filters the list by title or artist. While a song is queued or analyzing, the list refreshes on its own.

Press New project to start. The form shows Step 1 of 4 and a row of numbered squares: Song, Lyrics, Recording, Parts and notes. Next checks the step you leave, Back goes one step back, and you can press any step you already reached to go back to it. On the first step, Cancel returns to the projects.

Step 1, the song

Give the song a Title (the field suggests "Antsoantso") and, if you like, an Artist (marked "Optional"). Each field takes up to 200 characters. Without a title, Next stops with "Give the song a title."

You can rename the song and change the artist later on the song page.

Step 2, the lyrics

Paste the words as they are sung, one sung line per line, with an empty line between verses. The field takes up to 20,000 characters.

Next to the field, choose the Language of the lyrics: Malagasy (the default), French or English. The language picks the model that times the words, so choose the language the words are sung in. You can change it later in the Lyrics tab of the song.

The engine reads section labels and repeat marks in the lyrics. A label in square brackets on its own line starts a section. For example:

[Andininy 1]
Tompo ô, Ianao no hirako
Ianao no aiko sy fanantenako

[Fiv.]
Haleloia (x3)
Ho Anao ny voninahitra

[Andininy 2]
Ianao no mpiandry ahy
Ianao no fiarovako

[Fiv.]

Here the chart gets two verses and the chorus twice. "Haleloia (x3)" is sung three times. The last [Fiv.] has no lines, so it repeats the chorus with the same words.

Any other label, for example [Pre-chorus], is a section of the kind Part. The chart and the song map show the label you wrote, and colour the section by its kind (a Part has no colour).

More rules the engine follows:

• A number after the word is fine: [Verse 2], [Andininy 3].
• A label word alone on its line also works, without brackets: Chorus, Verse 2.
• A line sung several times ends with x2, 2x, (x3), (bis) or (ter).
• A section sung twice: [Fiv.] x2, [Fiv. x2] or [Fiv.] (bis).
• A repeat mark alone on a line, like (x2), repeats the stanza above it.
• A label with no lines under it repeats the last section with that label.
• Stanzas without a label that come back word for word are taken as the chorus, the others as verses.

The song page has buttons that insert the Malagasy tags for you. See the Lyrics tab.

Step 3, the recording

Drop the audio file on Drop the recording here, or click it to choose a file. The screen asks for an mp3, m4a, wav or flac file. The studio also takes aac, mp4, ogg, oga, opus, aif, aiff and webm files, and any file your browser marks as audio.

The size limit is shown in the drop zone: "Audio only, up to 84 MB." A larger file is refused with "This file is larger than 84 MB." A file that is not audio is refused with "This file is not audio. Choose an mp3, m4a, wav or flac file."

Once a file is in, the drop zone turns green and shows its name and size, with Click or drop to replace it and Remove. Without a file, Next stops with "Add the recording."

Step 4, parts and notes

This step chooses what Valiha makes besides the chart. The chart, the chords and the words come with every choice. You can analyze the song again later with other choices.

Parts: Valiha separates the recording into parts you can hear on their own, mute, or play along with. Choose one set.

4 parts is the default. Under 6 parts the screen adds "Downloads its model once on the engine, about 55 MB." unless the engine already has that model. The first song analysed with 6 parts takes longer while the engine downloads it.

Notes: Valiha can write what is sung as notes. Each card is on or off.

With both off, the screen says "No notes this time. The chart, the chords and the words come as always."

What the screen says when the engine is not ready:

• "This engine does not have GAME yet, so it writes the melody with its older method." You still get a melody, written with the older method.
• "This engine does not have the Choir model, so this part is skipped." You get no voices.
• "The engine is not online right now. The song waits for it, with these choices." You can still start; the song waits in the queue.

For the Valiha team only, a third group, Engine, here and in the Analyze again dialog, chooses the computer that runs the analysis: Automatic or one named engine.

For what the engines and the models are, see the engines guide.

Create and analyze

Press Create and analyze. Under the button you see "Creating the project", then "Uploading the recording, 42%" with a thin line, then "Starting the analysis". The song page opens when that is done.

If the upload stops, you see "The upload stopped. Check your connection and try again." Press Create and analyze again: the studio uses the project it already made instead of making a second one.

The recording you uploaded is kept on this device, so the player does not download it again.

Waiting for the analysis

The song page shows Valiha is listening while the analysis runs. It has:

• a line that says what the engine is doing, for example "Chords on the beat". While the song waits in the queue it says "Waiting for an engine", or the reason it waits.
• the engine's name and the progress, for example "On mac · 42%".
• a thin ink line for the progress.
• the six stages, with a tick on the ones done and a dot on the one at work.
• "This takes a few minutes. You can leave this page, the analysis goes on."
• Cancel.

Cancel stops the analysis. A song that had a chart goes back to it; a song without one shows Analyze.

If no engine is online, the song waits and the line says "No engine is online". Valiha keeps trying for about eight minutes, then the analysis fails with that message.

When an analysis fails, the page shows The analysis failed with the engine's reason in rose, or "The engine did not say why." Press Try again: it opens the Analyze again dialog with the song's last choices. See Analyze again with other options.

A song that already has a chart keeps it while a new analysis runs. The progress is then a short band above the song map, "Analyzing again." with the stage, the percentage and Cancel. A failure shows the same way above the chart, with Try again.

A project with no recording (an upload that did not finish) shows "This project has no recording yet. Add it to analyze the song." with a drop zone and Upload the recording. A project with a recording but no analysis shows Analyze.

The song page

The layout

• On the left, the song sidebar. At the top, a yellow paper note with every fact: the key written large (with its Do, for example "Do = G", when there is a melody), then Tempo, Time, Length, Language, Status and Version, and a small line with the engine and the date ("Your edit" once you changed the chart). Under the note, the tabs Chart, Lyrics, Melody, Mix and Export.
• In the middle, the title and the artist (click either to change it, Add the artist when there is none), the song map, the view tabs Chart, Sol-fa, Score and Piano roll, and the view itself.
• At the bottom, the player.
• On the right, the chord shapes when you open them with Chord shapes.

On screens narrower than 1024 px (or 1280 px while the chord shapes are open), the song sidebar moves into a drawer that Song tools opens, and the key, the tempo and the time show under the artist. Below 768 px, the chord shapes open as a sheet over the player.

In a song, the studio's own sidebar folds into a column of icons. Hover it to slide it open. The panel button in the top bar, or Ctrl+B (Cmd+B on a Mac), keeps it open or folds it again, and the studio remembers your choice.

A new song with no chart opens on the Lyrics tab.

The chart

The chart shows the lyrics with the chords over the syllable they land on, section by section. Chords are handwritten in blue. While the song plays, the chord sounding now is lit on a yellow wash, the line being sung keeps its ink and the other lines go soft. The chart follows the music, unless you scrolled in the last 3 seconds.

A chord the engine is not sure of is yellow with a dashed underline. A chord you fixed is green. A chord set to no chord reads N.C.

Chords to check

The Chart tab of the sidebar counts the chords the engine is less than 50% sure of and that nobody fixed: "3 chords to check" (or "1 chord to check"). Each press goes to the next one in the chart and flashes it. With none, it says "All chords look sure".

Fixing a chord

Click a chord on the chart. A panel opens with:

• the chord, its time and how sure the engine is, for example "0:42, 64% sure", or "fixed by you".
• Play from here and Loop this.
• Chord: the engine's other candidates with their percentages. Click one to use it.
• Bass note heard: the root, and the bass notes the engine heard, to make a slash chord such as D/F#. Shown when the song has bass information and the depth is not Simple.
• No chord here, to remove the chord.
• Undo my fix, on a chord you fixed.

A fix covers every beat of that chord. The Chart tab shows Undo my fixes (n) to remove all your fixes at once; n counts chords, not beats.

Transposing

In the Chart tab, Key has a ♭ button (Down a semitone) and a ♯ button (Up a semitone). The key badge between them shows the key you play in and the shift, for example "A +2". Click the badge to go back to the original key. The shift stays within half an octave: one more step past +5 turns into -6.

Transposing moves the chord names, the key on the note, the chord shapes, the Do of the melody, the chart exports, the MIDI files and the score and sol-fa PDFs. The sol-fa names of the notes never change.

Chord names and notation

Also in the Chart tab:

A new chart starts at Standard, Every change, C D E, the original key, slash chords on.

With Nashville numbers the chord names do not depend on the key, so transposing changes only the key. A minor song is numbered from its relative major: in A minor, Am is 6m.

Saving your changes

Every change to the chart saves by itself a moment later: fixes, depth, frequency, notation, key and slash chords. The view tabs show Saving, then Saved. If a save fails you see "Could not save." with Try again. If you close the tab with an edit not yet sent, the browser asks first.

Your first change on a chart from the engine makes a new version (for example v2 on the note, with "Your edit" in its foot line). Later changes update that version.

The Lyrics tab

• Language of the lyrics: Malagasy, French or English. It saves at once.
• A yellow note: "The chart follows the lyrics of the last analysis. After you change them, analyze the song again so the new words are timed."
• Tag buttons that insert at the cursor: [Andininy] (inserts [Andininy 1]), [Fiv.] and [Pont] go on a line of their own after an empty line; x2 and (bis) go at the end of the current line.
• The lyrics, then Save the lyrics and Analyze again. Analyze again waits until the lyrics are saved.
• Replace the recording, for a song that has one and no analysis at work: "The chart stays until you analyze the new recording." Drop the new file, press Upload the recording, or Keep this one to cancel. Then: "The new recording is in. Analyze again to time the chart to it."

The song map and loops

The song map stays at the top while the chart scrolls. It shows the sections in colour along the song (intro and outro violet, verse blue, chorus yellow, bridge rose, instrumental green), the waveform, the chord changes and the playhead.

• Click the map to go to that moment.
• Drag across the map to loop a stretch. The loop snaps to the beats.
• Click a section name above the map to loop that section.
• Hover a section heading in the chart and press its Loop button.
• Press L to loop the section at the playhead.

While a loop is set, the player shows its range, for example "0:42 to 1:05". Click it, or press Escape, to stop looping.

Playing from a chord

Click a chord in the chart, then Play from here: the song plays from just before that chord. Loop this loops that chord, at least 2 seconds.

The player at the bottom has Play and Pause, the chord sounding now and the next one ("then G"), the position slider with the time, the loop range, and Mix, which opens the Mix tab.

Keyboard shortcuts

The player keys do nothing while you hold Ctrl, Cmd or Alt.

Chord shapes for guitar and keyboard

Press Chord shapes in the header to open the panel; press it again or close the panel to hide it. With no choice made, it opens by itself on screens 1440 px and wider. The studio remembers whether you keep it open.

• Instrument: Guitar or Keyboard. The studio remembers your choice.
• Now playing: the chord sounding now, large, with how to play it, and Next, the chord after it, small.
• Guitar: the strings upright with low E on the left, the fret number at the top, x for a string not played and o for an open one, barres and finger numbers. Shape 1 of 3 with Previous shape and Next shape.
• Keyboard: the left hand bass in yellow, the right hand chord in blue, the note names under the keys. The voicings are Right hand, root position, Right hand, 1st inversion, and so on, with Previous voicing and Next voicing.
• In this song: every chord of the song in the order it first comes. Click one to see it.
• Click a shape to hear it.

The shapes follow the transposition and the notation of the chart. A shape you pick for a chord is kept while the page is open, even if you close the panel.

When the player cannot play

The Mix tab

The Mix tab plays the parts the song was analysed with: 2, 4 or 6. Each part has its name, a small waveform, M (mute), S (solo) and a volume slider. Solo one or more parts to hear only those.

The full recording plays at once. The parts load when you open the Mix tab or when your mix is not the plain one; until then you see "Loading the parts, 60%" and the Mix button shows the percentage. If they do not load, the tab says "The parts did not load." with Try again. A song without parts says "Analyze again to hear each part on its own".

Presets set the whole mix at once. The tab offers only the presets that fit the song's parts.

Your mix is kept in this browser for each song, so it is there the next time you open the song.

The Melody tab

The Melody tab shows the notes Valiha wrote from the voice: the main melody (GAME) and, if you asked for it, every voice (the Choir model, experimental).

At the top: "The melody the voice sings, in tonic sol-fa. The Sol-fa and Score views of the song show it." Then the facts: Key (for example "Do = G"), Time, Notes (how many), Model (GAME, or Older method when the engine did not have GAME), Range (for example d₁ to s) and Voices (for example "812 notes").

What you see and hear

Under See and hear:

• Notes: Melody, All voices or Both, when the song has both. This chooses what the Piano roll shows and what the synth plays.
• Hear the notes: "A soft synth plays the notes with the song." It starts off. It turns on by itself the first time you open the Piano roll, unless you already chose here.
• Balance: a slider between Recording and Notes, shown while the notes play with the song.
• Listen to: Full song (your own mix), Voice only (the vocals part alone) or Notes only (the synth alone, the recording silent). Voice only needs the parts: without a vocals part the tab says "Voice only needs the parts of the song. Analyze it again to get them."
• Voices played: All, as soft chords, Top voice or Bottom voice, when the voices play.

The tab keeps these choices while you move between tabs.

When a model did not run

• "GAME was not on the engine, so the older method wrote this melody." with Analyze again with GAME.
• "This analysis has no melody from GAME." with Analyze again with GAME.
• "This analysis did not listen for every voice." or "The Choir model could not run for this analysis." with Analyze again with the Choir model.

These buttons open the Analyze again dialog with that model switched on. A song with no notes at all says "Analyze again to write the melody".

At the bottom of the tab: Download (the MIDI and PDF files, see Export), and the sol-fa as text with Download .txt and Copy.

The Sol-fa, Score and Piano roll views

Choose them in the view tabs above the chart.

• Sol-fa: the melody in tonic sol-fa, the way Malagasy hymn sheets write it, with the Do and the meter on top and the section names of the chart. Each bar has the chords on top, the notes in the middle and the words under them. The bar being played is lit and stays in view. Click a note or its word to go there; click elsewhere in a bar to go to the bar.
• Score: a lead sheet on a staff, the chords over it, the words under it. The bar being played has a yellow wash. Click a note to go there. While the score is drawn you see "Drawing the score".
• Piano roll: a row for every semitone, named in sol-fa and by note name, the melody in ink and every voice in soft blue (fainter where the voice is quieter). The sections run over the notes and the words under them. The playhead moves and the view follows it; if you move away while it plays, Follow the music brings it back. Zoom with Zoom in and Zoom out. Click a note to hear it and go there, drag to move along the song.

While the song is stopped, a click on a note also sounds it.

Export

The Export tab has the chart files, and the melody files when the song has notes. The chart files use the chart as you see it now: its chord names, notation and key, even if the last save has not finished. The studio's own settings lines are left out.

Under the buttons, ChordPro, as it is saved shows the ChordPro text with the chords picked out.

The ChordPro file has the title, the key, the tempo and the time, then each section with its label (verse, chorus and bridge as ChordPro sections, other labelled sections as a comment line), with the chords in square brackets before the syllable they land on.

The MIDI files have the song's tempo and meter. The notes keep their times in the recording, so the file lines up with the audio in any sequencer. They follow the transposition.

The three PDFs are A4, dark on white whatever theme you use, with the title on the first page and page numbers at the foot:

• PDF of the score: the lead sheet as the Score view draws it, with "Do = G, 4/4" under the title, a staff line at a time.
• PDF of the sol-fa: the sol-fa text in a fixed width font, so the notes stay over their words, with the Do and the meter at the top and a new page before a section that would not fit.
• PDF of the roll: the notes as a piano roll, 10 seconds a row, one row a semitone named in sol-fa and in letters, the bars, the sections over each row and the words under it, the melody in ink and the voices in soft blue. It is always in the song's own key.

A button says Making the PDF while it works. If a file cannot be made, the tab says "The PDF could not be made. Try again."

For the file formats in detail, see the formats guide.

At the bottom of the Export tab, Delete this project asks "Delete this project?" and explains that the song, its recording and its chart will be deleted and that this cannot be undone. Delete the project confirms.

Analyze again with other options

Analyze again opens a dialog with the same Parts and Notes choices as the new project form: "Choose the parts and the notes for this analysis. The chart you have stays until the new one is in." Press Start, or Cancel.

You reach it from:

• Analyze again in the Lyrics tab, after you change the lyrics, the language or the recording.
• Analyze on a song that was never analysed.
• Try again after a failure.
• Analyze again with GAME or Analyze again with the Choir model in the Melody tab.

The dialog opens on the song's last choices, or with the missing model switched on when you come from the Melody tab. Your choices become the song's choices for next time.

The new analysis makes a new chart with the default settings (Standard, Every change, C D E, the original key). Your fixes on the old chart do not carry over. The new parts and notes replace the old ones.

Files kept on this device and Settings

The studio keeps the audio of the songs you open in your browser: the recording and its parts. A song you open again plays at once and downloads nothing.

• The recording you upload is kept right away.
• The player shows "Saving the recording on this device, 30%" on its top line while it downloads. If you press Play before the file is in, it may say "Starting once the recording is in, 80%".
• A download that stops keeps what came, and the next one fetches only the rest.
• The studio keeps at most about 1 GB, and never more than half the space the browser gives the site. When it is full, the songs opened longest ago go first.
• With your browser's data saver on, or for an mp3 or aac recording in a browser that plays it as it arrives, nothing downloads before you press Play.
• Sign out clears everything kept on the device.

Settings shows:

• Organization: Name, Identifier, Your role and Plan. The page says it is read only for now.
• Members, see below.
• This device: Audio saved on this device, for example "120 MB, 4 songs", or "Nothing yet". The line under it says "Songs you open are kept here, so they play again without a download." Clear removes it all.

A browser that cannot keep audio (an old Safari, some private windows) shows "This browser cannot keep audio, so songs download each time."

Members

Members in the sidebar opens the members part of the Settings page: "People who can open and edit the projects of this organization." The table shows each person's Email, Role (Owner, Admin or Member) and the date they Joined, with You next to your own email.

The list is read only. You cannot invite or remove people from the studio yet.