Lyrics
Stage Traxx provides a powerful lyrics system designed for live performance. You can display lyrics with chord symbols, apply text formatting using simplified markdown syntax, enable automatic scrolling during playback, and embed MIDI commands for precise control of external devices.
Lyrics Editor
The lyrics editor provides a full-featured text editing environment with syntax highlighting for formatting tags, chords, timestamps, and MIDI commands.
The navigation bar includes undo and redo buttons. The preview toggle and More Options menu are described below.
Preview
Toggle between the editor and preview mode to see how your lyrics will appear during playback. The preview displays lyrics exactly as they render in the content area, including formatting and chord positioning. During playback, the preview supports autoscroll, making it useful for quickly validating formatting and scroll timing.
More Options Menu
The more options menu provides access to import and export functions, as well as tools for resetting lyrics and clearing time codes.
Import Lyrics
Import lyrics from various file formats:
- Plain text (.txt)
- ChordPro (.cho, .pro) — limited feature support
- PDF (.pdf)
- Word documents (.doc, .docx) — iOS only
- RTF documents (.rtf)
Note
Only the plain text content is imported — formatting from the original file is not preserved. If you need to retain formatting, use a PDF file for your song instead of text-based lyrics.
Share Lyrics As
Export your lyrics in different formats:
- Email: Creates a new email with the raw lyrics including all tags
- Text File: Saves the raw lyrics to a text file
- Rendered PDF: Exports a PDF that looks exactly like the preview
Reset Lyrics
Reverts the lyrics to their state when the editor was opened, discarding all changes.
Clear Timecode
Removes all time-code tags from the lyrics.
Toolbar
The toolbar provides quick access to common editing functions (from left to right):
- Brackets: Inserts square brackets and places the cursor between them
- Learn MIDI: Opens the MIDI learn dialog, which captures incoming MIDI commands and inserts them as tags. During playback, it continuously adds timed MIDI messages. Tap the stop button to close the dialog.
- Play/Stop: Controls playback for timing your edits
- Waveform: Shows the audio waveform with regions for seeking within the song
- Playback Time: Displays the current playback position
- Add Timecode: Inserts a time-code tag at the cursor position
Note
Audio regions are ignored during playback in the editor. Playback always runs linearly from start to end.
Context Menus
Select text and long-press (or right-click with a mouse) to open the context menu. The menu provides formatting options for the selected text. Additional options appear based on context:
- Seek To Timestamp: When the cursor is within a timestamp tag, seeks the player to that time
- Send MIDI: When the cursor is within a MIDI tag, sends the MIDI command
Keyboard Shortcuts
A physical keyboard is recommended for efficient lyrics editing. The following shortcuts are available:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Cmd+B | Format selected text bold |
| Cmd+I | Format selected text italic |
| Cmd+U | Format selected text underline |
| Cmd+Shift+Space | Start/stop playback |
| Cmd+Shift+T | Insert timecode at cursor |
| Cmd+Shift+M | Learn MIDI at cursor |
| Cmd+Shift+B | Insert brackets at cursor |
| Cmd+Ctrl+1 | Toggle text color to red |
| Cmd+Ctrl+2 | Toggle text color to orange |
| Cmd+Ctrl+3 | Toggle text color to yellow |
| Cmd+Ctrl+4 | Toggle text color to green |
| Cmd+Ctrl+5 | Toggle text color to teal blue |
| Cmd+Ctrl+6 | Toggle text color to blue |
| Cmd+Ctrl+7 | Toggle text color to purple |
| Cmd+Ctrl+8 | Toggle text color to pink |
Text Formatting
Stage Traxx uses a simplified markdown syntax for formatting lyrics. You can write tags directly in the editor, or select text and apply formatting using the context menu, keyboard shortcuts, or the formatting buttons above the keyboard.
Warning
Formatting tags cannot span multiple lines. Each tag must start and end on the same line.
Headings
Use hash # characters at the start of a line to create headings. Three levels are supported:
Example
# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3
Bold
Wrap text in single asterisks * to make it bold:
Example
*bold text*
Italic
Wrap text in single underscores _ to make it italic:
Example
_italic text_
Underline
Wrap text in single plus signs + to underline text:
Example
+underlined text+
Colors
Use the color tag to apply colors to text. The tag format is {c:COLOR}text{c}.
Supported colors: red, orange, yellow, green, tealblue, blue, purple, pink
Example
{c:red}This text is red{c}
{c:blue}This text is blue{c}
Comments
Lines starting with a semicolon ; are treated as comments and will not be displayed in the content area. Use comments to add notes or temporarily hide sections.
Example
; This line won't be displayed