Documentation

Practice by keyboard.

Concerto Shed is built for focused, repeatable practice: isolate the part, loop the phrase, slow it down, and transcribe what your ear cannot catch yet.

Workflow

From file to phrase.

Load a song

Drop in an audio file or use ⌘O. Concerto Shed keeps the work local on your Mac.

Find the hard part

Use the waveform, arrow-key seeking, and speed controls to get the section under your fingers.

Loop it precisely

Mark loop boundaries with I and O, shift the loop with Option-arrow, then slow it down without changing pitch.

Transcribe when needed

Create notation from the active loop, tap the grid with J, and record drum voices from the keyboard.

Keybinds

Keep your hands on the kit.

Most shortcuts are single-key commands when you are not typing in a field. Transcription keys take priority while the transcription tool is open, so drum hits do not accidentally control playback.

Transport & library

Space

Play or pause playback

⌘.

Stop playback

⌘←

Return to the beginning

←

Seek backward 1 second

→

Seek forward 1 second

Shift←

Seek backward 5 seconds

Shift→

Seek forward 5 seconds

Home

Jump to start

End

Jump to end

⌘O

Import an audio file

⌘R

Rename the selected song

⌘ShiftM

Show or hide the stem mixer

Looping, speed, and notation

L

Toggle the loop region

I

Set loop start at the playhead

O

Set loop end at the playhead

OptionL

Clear the loop

Option←

Shift loop backward 1 second

Option→

Shift loop forward 1 second

[

Slow playback by 5%

]

Speed playback by 5%

\

Reset playback speed to 100%

N

Create notation from the current loop

Metronome

M

Toggle the metronome

T

Tap tempo

OptionD

Set the downbeat at the playhead

A

Open or close metronome alignment mode

←→

In alignment mode, nudge by 1 ms

Shift←→

In alignment mode, nudge by 10 ms

[]

In alignment mode, change the beat count

ReturnEsc

Exit alignment mode

Transcription recording

R

Start or stop transcription recording

P

Play or stop the captured pattern

1

Set recording mode to Add

2

Set recording mode to Replace

J

Tap the timing grid while recording

Z

Kick

X

Snare

C

Closed hi-hat

V

Open hi-hat

B

Ride

N

Crash

A

High tom

S

Mid tom

D

Floor tom

⌘S

Save or update the pattern

⌘ShiftS

Save the current pass as a pattern

⌘Delete

Clear the transcription session

⌘T

Add a tag to the loaded pattern

⌘W

Close the transcription tool

Editing selected transcription notes

←→

Move the selected note earlier or later by one grid step

↑↓

Move the selected note to the previous or next drum voice

Delete

Delete the selected note

Esc

Deselect the current note

Woodshed tips

Make the loop smaller than your ego wants.

Start slow: drop speed with [ until the phrase feels boring, then climb back up.
Align the click: tap tempo with T, set the downbeat, then use alignment mode for small nudges.
Capture only what matters: use N on the current loop when a fill or groove needs notation.