Welcome to the Braw Tunes User Manual

Quick Tour

Here is a quick introduction to the main features in the app. The main screens in the app are accessed using the tab bar at the bottom of the screen.

Day to day use

We think you will get the most out the app when you use it regularly. Make a habit of tapping the mic on the Play screen and leave the app running during your practice session. This will help you out by showing you music for what you are playing, as well as adding to your progress and stats.

At the end of your practice, take a minute to review your practice session listing in the Profile sessions, adding any tunes you know or are are learning to your repertoire, and weeding out any that got in by mistake.

If you have particular sets of tunes you want to practice, create a Set in the Tunes tab, add the arrangements, and you will be rewarded with being shown the next tune in the set when you practice.

Gradually create more Sets and use Collections to further organise your music library. Share Collections, Sets and Arrangements with friends to play with each other, and to expand your libraries.

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Installing and Uninstalling

Braw Tunes is only available from the Apple or Google app store. It is not possible for us to provide it outside these stores. Installing and Uninstalling is performed in the usual manner for apps.

Tip: Take care of your data

Be sure to take a backup of your data before uninstalling!

Please see the Backup and Restore section for details.

Benefits of upgrading

We allow access to as much of the app as we can for free, and hope that you will find it useful enough to upgrade and help us continue to develop it.

The free version has the following limitations, which are removed when upgrading:

Please see the Upgrading section for how to upgrade.

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Play

Tapping on the Play icon on the bottom navigation bar allows you to access the music recognition and practice tracking features.

Generally it works by listening to you as you play, then using our groundbreaking music recognition technology to detect what you are playing. If the tune is in the database, you will be shown full or partial music for what you are playing, and the tune details will be added to a log of your practice session.

Your overall practice time is also recorded, allowing you to track your weekly, monthly, and yearly progress. Of course, you can also just use the app to identify a single tune.

Tip: Make sure you set your Low A frequency

Before starting, first set your Low A (see below) so that Braw Tunes can detect what you play

To get started, tap the microphone icon. You will notice the microphone icon and another indicator on the top bar change color to red.

The app is now listening, and should be able to automatically show you the music when you play a tune. The volume indicator should light up, and as you play a known tune, the match gauge should gradually increase. There may be more than one arrangement for the tune available, so as you play, the music may chance if a better match is found to another arrangement of the same tune,

As you move to play a new tune, you should see the match gauge decrease, then after a short delay the new tune should be shown.

Tunes detected for longer than a minimum duration will be automatically added to a log of your session.

During the session, you can switch tabs using the navigation bar at the bottom and use the other features as you wish, no need to stop recording. So for example, you could open the search tab, search for some music you want to play, bring it up, and then play it, all the while still tracking your session.

Assuming you allowed permission for the app to run in the background, you can also switch to a different app while the session is active, and the microphone and music recognition will continue to run (as long as another app does not demand exclusive use of the microphone). Switch back to Braw Tunes to stop recording.

Once you are finished, tap the microphone icon again to stop recording.

Set your Low A

To get started, all you have to do is make sure you let the app know roughly what frequency the Low A of your chanter is. The app will work with practice chanters, highland pipes, and small pipes in any key.

To enter the Low A frequency, tap on the Play icon on the bottom navigation bar, then tap the Low A box at the top and enter the frequency. It does not have to be exact, just closer to your Low A than the next note up and down!

To find the frequency of your Low A, the best way is to use our Braw Bagpipe Tuner app to get a quick reading. Start the Braw Bagpipe Tuner, tap the Low A button, the tap Calibrate Now and follow the instructions. Afterwards, take a note of the result (it will be show in the Braw Bagpipe Tuner main screen on the Low A button)

Please be aware that for the detection to work well, the notes on your chanter must be reasonably in tune. Again, we would suggest our Braw Bagpipe Tuner app to help you with this.

Tip: Common Low A frequencies

For your reference, here are some common Low A frequencies for different chanters:
  • Highland Pipes (newer, solo/band competitions): Roughly 480 Hz or above
  • Highland Pipes (older pipes): Roughly 470 Hz
  • Highland Pipes in concert B flat: 466 Hz
  • Highland Pipes in concert A (used sometimes when playing with other instruments): 440 Hz
  • Small pipes in the key of A: 220 Hz
  • Practice chanter, large (full chanter spacing): About 220 Hz (but can vary a lot!)
  • Practice chanter, smaller: Tricky, Could be anything from 220 Hz upwards

Automatic Low A tracking

When you play, you will notice the Low A value automatically changing. Given a rough starting point, Braw Tunes is able to automatically track and adjust the value for your Low A, which helps with the music recognition.

Getting a good match

In general, matches are found by looking the melody notes and the their timing, then looking for the closest match in the database, tracking the match over time to gain confidence in the result.

There are tolerances for various differences to what is heard and the music, which should establish a match even with various differences and abilities. If you are struggling to get a match to a tune you know is in the database, here are some tips:

  • Make sure the volume bar is moving, if not see the microphone section
  • Make sure your have set the Low A to your chanter Low A
  • Make sure your chanter is reasonably in tune
  • Try to keep your blowing reasonably steady
  • Make sure your chanter is closer to the mic than your drones
  • Try to keep a steady tempo
  • Try to make sure the timing matches the music, in particular dot-cuts
  • Find the tune manually in the search tab, and confirm it is really the same arrangement as you play. If not, you can import your own arrangement!

Microphone settings

Braw Tunes requires microphone permissions for the features on the Play tab. You will be asked to grant permission for the app to access the microphone the first time you tap the microphone button on the Play tab. Management of these permissions is performed via the main Android settings. Please note that Android can automatically remove microphone permissions if you have not used an app for a while.

Braw Tunes uses the default microphone that Android indicates as the main audio source. Normally this will be the standard microphone on your device, but can also be external microphones if your device is set up to use them. Configuration and setup of external microphones is not managed by the Braw Tunes app - you need to first get these working and used as the main audio input source to your device.

Here are some quick tips to troubleshoot possible microphone issues:

  • In the Play screen, tap the microphone icon to start recording, then play your chanter for a few seconds and watch to see if the volume gauge moves. If it does not, it is likely a permissions issue, or an external microphone configuration problem
  • Make sure Braw Tunes has microphone permissions in your Android settings (sorry, there are so many versions of Android that we can't give exact instructions here, but typically open your main settings, and search for permissions)
  • Check for any external bluetooth headphones or speakers that might be connected, perhaps your device is using a microphone from them? Try turning of Bluetooth on your phone and see if switches back to your main microphone.
  • Try opening a default or well known audio recording app, and confirm that it can record as expected.
  • Try closing any other apps or system services that might be using the microphone

Identifying from recordings

It is possible to use the app to identify tunes in recordings (as opposed to you playing live). Here are some tips to help you with this:

  • You will need to set the Low A in the Play screen to that of the recording (perhaps the examples in the section above can help you with this)
  • The detection will be easiest for just pipes on their own without harmonies, but can also work for multi-instrument recordings, as long as the main melody is relatively strong compared to the backing

Tip: Braw Tunes works differently to Shazam

The well known app Shazam can give you the name of a recorded song by listening to it. It does this for published audio tracks by using a kind if digital fingerprint of the recording.

Braw Tunes works by listening to the melody that is being played, and tring to match the notes and timing to it's database of pipe tune music. This allows it to find what you are playing, rather than requiring a published recording.

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Tunes

Tapping on the Tunes icon on the bottom navigation bar allows you to manage your own Arrangements, Sets and Collections

Arrangements

The Arrangements screen shows you the individual tune arrangements you have added to your library. Arrangements listed here can come from arrangements you have manually added, or have imported as part of a BRAW share file.

Creating an Arrangement

Arrangements can be created and added to your library from this screen by pressing the + icon in the top left, which takes you to the Create new arrangement screen. From this screen, you can enter the details for the arrangement.

Tip: Arrangements can be created without a .bww file

You don't have to have a .bww file to add an arrangement, you can just add the main details like the name, time signature, tune type. This can be useful if you are creating Sets that contain tunes for which you don't have the music for yet.

Tip: Creating your own .bww files can be easier than you might think

You can use notation software, write the files yourself, or engage someone to transcribe the music for you. See the Creating .bww files section for more information

If you do have a .bww file, you can tap the LOAD BWW button to load it, and you will see a preview of the sheet music, as well as the other details extracted from the file. It is worth checking the details to make sure they are correct, as different authors of bww files use different fields for things like tune name, type etc.

Tip: Supported .bww file features

The .bww file must contain a single arrangement, and Piobaireachd files are not supported yet (we intend to support these in the future)

If you wish to allow your .bww file to be considered for indexing and inclusion in the main database, make sure the "Allow the .bww file to be indexed for the main database" box is ticked. This will send the file to us, and we will consider adding it when we update our database. In general, the more files that are indexed, the more useful the database will be. Files added this way will be considered copyright by default, unless we are sure otherwise.

For any .bww file you add, you will be able to see the full music (without blurring) for it. If you add a .bww file that matches the music for one in the main database, and that file is marked copyright in the main database, you will "unlock" the music for this arrangement and be able to see the full music for it.

Press the tick button once you are done, and your arrangement will be added. Once added, it will be available from the Search screen, and you will be able to add it to Sets. If you added a .bww file with it, it will also be available for music recognition when you use the Play screen.

Under the hood, you have created a unique ID for your arrangement, which is used when adding to Sets, and when sharing. If you update the arrangement, the most recent version of it will be used in any Sets, and also when you share it, making it easy to make sure you and others are using the most up to date version.

Editing an arrangement

Once added, you can edit all the details for an arrangement by tapping on it from the Arrangements screen, and you will be presented with the same fields to edit that you used when creating the arrangement.

Removing an arrangement

You can remove an arrangement by swiping left on it from the Arrangements screen, and confirming when prompted.

Removing an arrangement is treated a little differently to removing a Set or Collection. If you have added the arrangement to a Set, the set will still have the tune name listed in the Set, but will not be able to show the full details of your arrangement, and when viewing the set you will see and indication that the arrangement is missing. If another arrangement for with the same tune name exists, Braw Tunes will do it's best to show that in it's place.

Sharing an arrangement

To share an individual arrangement, you can tap on it from the Arrangements screen, then tap the share icon in the edit screen.

This will create a .braw share file that you can then share (for example, by email).

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Sets

A Set is an ordered list of Arrangements. An example might be one of your pipe band marching sets, or perhaps your competition March, Strathspey and Reel for this year.

The Sets screen lets you easily create and manage your own Sets.

Tip: Sets are used to display the name and start of the next tune

Once a Set is created, it automatically can be used when you use the Play screen to show you the beginning of the next tune, and also generally when viewing the music for a tune in the Set, which can be very handy!

You can also tap on the Set to manually view it, and when you tap the first tune in the set, you will be shown the next arrangement at the bottom of the music screen. Tapping on the music for the Next arrangement will then show the next arrangement, giving you a quick way to change music to the next tune.

Creating a Set

Tap the + icon in the Sets screen, and you will be taken to the "Create new Set" screen.

Give the set a title, and optionally a description, then add arrangements to you set by tapping the + icon next to "Tunes", then searching for and tapping on the arrangement you want to add.

If you want to add an arrangement of a tune that is not in the database, you can first add the arrangement from the Tunes->Arrangements screen. You add an arrangement with just the Name and other details, you don't have to have a .bww file to do this.

You can reorder the arrangements in the Set by dragging them, and can remove them by swiping left.

Press the tick button once you are done, and your Set will be added. Once added, it will be available from the Sets screen, and you will be able to add it to Collections.

Under the hood, you have created a unique ID for your Set, which is used when adding to Collections, and when sharing. If you update the Set, the most recent version of it will be used in any Collections it is in, and also when you share it, making it easy to make sure you and others are using the most up to date version.

Editing a Set

To edit a Set, tap on it from the Sets screen, then tap the edit icon in the top bar, and you will be presented with the same fields to edit that you used when creating the Set.

Removing a Set

You can remove an Set by swiping left on it from the Sets screen, and confirming when prompted.

If you have added the Set to any Collections, the Set will be removed from the Collections.

Sharing an Set

To share a Set, you can tap on it from the Sets screen, then tap the share icon in the Set screen.

This will create a .braw share file that you can then share (for example, by email). The .braw file will contain all the most recent versions for the arrangements in the Set, allowing you to share multiple arrangements in a single file, and being sure they are all the most up to date versions.

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Collections

A Collection is an ordered list of Sets. Examples might be a collection that contains all your band's standard sets, a collection that has all the competition sets for this year, or it could even represent the categories and tunes in a published book.

The Collections screen lets you easily create and manage your own Collections. Once a Collection is created, it automatically can be used when you use the Play screen to show you the beginning of the next tune in the next Set, which can be very handy!

You can tap on the Collection to manually view it, which will show you the Sets in the collection. Tapping on the Set will show you the Set, and from there you can drill further down to each arrangement.

Creating a Collection

Tap the + icon in the Collections screen, and you will be taken to the "Create new Collection" screen.

Give the collection a title, and optionally a description, then add sets to you collection by tapping the + icon next to "Sets", then searching for and tapping on the set you want to add.

If you want to add a Set that does not exist yet, you will need to first add it from the Sets screen (just save your collection and come back again once you have created your Sets)

You can reorder the sets in the collection by dragging them, and can remove them by swiping left.

Press the tick button once you are done, and your Collection will be added. Once added, it will be available from the Collections screen.

Under the hood, you have created a unique ID for your Collection, which is used when when sharing. If you update the Collection when you share it, making it easy to make sure you and others are using the most up to date version.

Editing a Collection

To edit a Collection, tap on it from the Collections screen, then tap the edit icon in the top bar, and you will be presented with the same fields to edit that you used when creating the Collection.

Removing a Collection

You can remove an Collection by swiping left on it from the Collections screen, and confirming when prompted.

Sharing an Collection

To share a Collection, you can tap on it from the Collections screen, then tap the share icon in the Collection screen.

This will create a .braw share file that you can then share (for example, by email). The .braw file will contain all the most recent versions for all the Sets and Arrangements in the Collection, allowing you to share multiple Sets and Arrangements in a single file, and being sure they are all the most up to date versions.

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Importing

Tapping on Import allows you to import files to add to your library. Two file formats are supported, .bww (Bagpipe Music Writer) files, and .braw (Braw Tunes) files

When you tap Import, you will be presented with the option to choose the file to import

Tip: Finding your files to import

When someone shares a file with you, try to save them in a well known location on your device that you can find again easily from your devices file browser, such as your Downloads folder

Once you pick the file, what happens next will depend on whether it was a .bww file, or a .braw file

Importing a .braw share file

A .braw share file can contain a single Arrangement, a Set of arrangements, or a Collection of sets of arrangements, making it a convenient way to share multiple tunes.

Once you select the .braw share file, all the Collections, Sets, and Arrangement will automatically be added or updated to your library. You can then access them from the Tunes screen and other areas of Braw Tunes.

Tip: .braw shares help you keep your music up to date

One of the benefits of using a .braw share file, is that it can help you keep your library up to date with your tutor or your Pipe Major.

For example, lets say your Pipe Major has created a new Set with some custom arrangements and has shared it with you. When you first import the Set, the Set will become available to you, and the custom arrangements will be added also. If we then imagine later, the Pipe Major decides to update the Set, perhaps changing the order of the tunes, and updating one of the arrangements to change a couple of notes and some timing. They can now share the Set to you again, and when you import it, your existing set and arrangements will be updated.

In comparison, normally if you share a music file, there is no easy way of telling if it is a new arrangement or set, or if it is an update, and if it is an update, which is the most recent, meaning you can end up with lots of these files, and a very difficult job trying to organise things.

Importing a .bww share file

Importing a .bww file will take you to the "Create new arrangement" screen.

Please see the Create arrangement section for further details, or the Creating .bww files section if you would like to know how to create your own music files.

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Profile

Tapping on the Profile icon on the bottom navigation bar allows access to your personal progress, stats, and settings

Stats box

The Stats box gives a quick summary of some of your stats. Tap the box for more details.

Top tunes box

The Top tunes box gives you a quick listing of the tunes you play the most often. Tap the box for more details.

Sessions box

The Sessions box gives you some details on the sessions you have created (by tapping the mic on the Play screen). Tap on the box for more details

In the Sessions screen you will see a listing of every session you have created. Tapping on the session will give you the full details of that session

Managing Sessions and your Stats

Sessions are used to help build your stats, but sometimes you may want to tidy things up.

You can remove a whole session by swiping it to the left. Be aware this is permanent, and it will be also be removed from your stats.

You can also prune some of the tunes in a Session, which can be worth doing to keep your top tunes list in order. To do this, open the session, and you can swipe left to remove any tune you think was there by mistake. It will also be removed from your stats.

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Your repertoire

When ever you view the music view for an arrangement, you will see an R icon to the right of the tune name. Tapping on this lets you quickly tag the arrangement as one your are learning (L), in your repertoire (R), or back again to not tagged (empty R)

Tagging arrangements in this way lets you quickly build a list of the tunes you know and the ones you are learning, and allows you to find and identify these tunes quickly(for example, filtering by these tags in the Search screen)

Tagging arrangements also means they are recorded in your stats. It can be gratifying to see your repertoire grow!

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Creating .bww files

If there is a tune that is not in the database, or perhaps you want to use a different arrangement of a tune, you can do this by creating and importing a .bww (Bagpipe Music Writer) file.

There are various ways to create these files. Here are some options, from the easiest first, down to the most technical.

Professional typesetting

Some Piper's offer a service where they will create a .bww file for you from various source, like a copy of the sheet music, or even from an audio recording. They tend to be very helpful, produce a high quality result, and are relatively inexpensive.

From our own experience, we can recommend the following:

If you offer typesetting services, please get in touch with us to be listed here.

Use bagpipe notation software

There are various high quality bagpipe notation software products available, that let you easily write out your music, often with some form of drag and drop for the notes, and usually offer the option to export it to .bww format.

Here are the notation software products and services we are aware of (alphabetical order). As these are external products, we can't keep fully up to date with what features they offer, so you should check with them if they support .bww export before using for that purpose.

Please let us know if there are any other products that could be added to this list.

Write it by hand

It's very efficient, and not as difficult as you might think to get started, especially if you use the many existing files as an example!

We would recommend purchasing Bagpipe Music Writer GOLD, as it comes with a high quality manual explaining the format.

Ask the online piping community

Piper's are generally a helpful bunch, and there are many out there who are experts in creating .bww files. You can try asking online in such places as bagpipe chat forums, Facebook groups, reddit, discord, and similar places.

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Tune database

The arrangements in the tune database come from a wide variety of sources. Over time we intend to curate this database to gradually improve and quantify both the musical arrangements themselves, and their related data (like composer information). For now, it would be fair to say that the overall quality varies quite widely.

With bagpipe music, we often want to know that an arrangement corresponds to a particular book or known source. For arrangements that we have reviewed in depth, and can say for sure they come from a commonly known or respected source, and that they are a good representation of that source (i.e. they are generally correct), we categorise them as Verified. It is our aim to steadily increase the number of Verified arrangements.

Helping to improve and expand the database

You can help improve and expand the database in various ways:

  • If you notice a mistake in and arrangement, either in the music, or the associated data, then let us know the details
  • You can submit new arrangements to the database. These could be arrangements for tunes not yet in the database, or could be new arrangements for existing tunes.
  • You can also contact us via email with details on an arrangement you would like to see added.
  • An automatic way to send us an arrangement is to import the .bww file for it, and ensure the box "Allow .bww file to be indexed for the main database" is ticked when you save it. This will automatically be sent to us to be considered for inclusion in the main database.
  • By default, tunes added to the main database will be considered copyright, until we can confirm the composer, arranger and license details, so any information you can provide in this regard would help a lot.
  • If you are a composer, we would love to hear from you to help make sure your music is properly represented.

Billing and unlocking

If you have questions or problems relating to billing or unlocking the app after purchases, we provide detailed help for you here.

In general:

How to upgrade

  • Tap the Profile tab on the bottom navigation bar
  • Tap the cog icon near the top left of the profile picture to access the Menu
  • Tap on "Upgrade to premium" near the top of the Menu screen

The purchase and management of your upgrade is fully handled by the Google or Apple app store (depending on your platform).

It is not possible to upgrade the app outside the app stores, this being a restriction imposed on us by the app stores.

The payment methods and details are entirely managed by the app stores, please see their support section for any issues in this regard.

Restoring a previous purchase

Your purchase is tied to the app store account you used to make the purchase. For the app to unlock you must be logged into the app store on your device with the same account you originally used to purchase the app. After this, the app should automatically unlock.

  • Open the Play Store app, and confirm that you can see the purchase listed in your purchase history
  • Open the app, and it should then automatically unlock
  • If you still have problems, try clearing the Cache on the Play store app, then reboot your device

Transferring between Apple and Google

Technically Google and Apple do not support sharing purchases between their respective stores, and do not permit us to unlock our apps outside their stores.

However, we do have a limited number of promo codes at our disposal, so if you wish to run the app on a different platform to which you purchased it on, please contact us. If we can, we will issue you a promo code to unlock the app on the new platform (and in the worst case, you may have to wait some time for more codes to be issued to us).

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Backup and restore

We recommend you keep your data safe by creating regular backups. These backups can be restored in the case where you want to reinstall the app, and can also be used to move your data to another device.

To create or restore a backup, tap the cog icon to open the Menu, then tap the Backup Restore option.

Backups include all your Session data, as well as Collections, Sets, and Arrangements you have added or imported.

Backups are produce as a single .btb file, and you should make sure to save this file somewhere safe.

Restoring a backup completely replaces any existing data with what is in the backup.

Tip: Uninstalling deletes your data

Be sure to take a backup of your data before uninstalling!

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why is some of the music blurred?

The music is copyright. Note that you will have full access to files your import yourself, and music that is public domain. See the Copyright section for more details.

I have bought the core feature upgrade, but have problems getting the app to unlock

Please see the Billing and unlocking section for detailed instructions on how to solve any issues related to unlocking, multiple devices, and billing

I have bought the core feature upgrade, can I use it on multiple devices?

Yes. Please see the Billing and unlocking section for more details

I have bought the core feature upgrade, but have changed between Apple and Google devices. Can I still use my purchase?

Yes, though you need to get in touch with us. Please see the Billing and unlocking section for more details

Appendix

Glossary

Arrangement
An Arrangement (sometimes called a Setting) is a very specific version of a particular Tune.
Collection
A Collection is an ordered list of Sets. Examples might be a collection that contains all your band's standard sets, a collection that has all the competition sets for this year, or it could even represent the categories and tunes in a published book.
Bagpipe Music Writer file format
Bagpipe Music Writer was the original music writing software released by Robert MacNeil Musicworks in 1999. This software defined an easy to use Bagpipe Music Writer text format to allow the quick notation of bagpipe music, which was enthusiastically adopted by the piping community, with many thousands of bagpipe tunes being written in the .bmw and .bww formats. This app supports the import of Bagpipe Music Writer format tunes.
.braw file
A .braw file is file format used by Braw Tunes to share one or more Collections, Sets, and Arrangements. You can create a .braw file to easily share parts of you library with others.
.btb file
A .btb file is file format used by Braw Tunes when you back up your data. You can create and restore these backups from the menu in the Profile screen.
.bww file
A .bww file is a a tune written in the Bagpipe Music Writer text file format. You can import these files to this app. The .bww format is a slightly more recent and improved version of the original .bmw file format.
.bmw file
A .bmw file is a a tune written in the Bagpipe Music Writer text file format. You can import these files to this app. The .bmw format was the very first file Bagpipe Music Writer format, and was superseded by the more recent and improved .bww format.
Session
A Session is a period of time between when you tapped the listen button on the play screen, and when you tapped it again. During this time period, the app was listening for recognisable tunes, and will log which tunes were played. Sessions are used to help build your progress and stats.
Set
A Set is an ordered list of Arrangements. An example might be one of your pipe band marching sets, or perhaps your competition March, Strathspey and Reel for this year.
Tune
A tune is a recognisably distinct melody. A tune can have many different Arrangements, which may have small or large differences in the exact notes, time signature, timing, and gracing.
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