Play your own multitracks in Demo Mode

KLANG:app has a built-in Demo Mode: without any KLANG hardware, the app renders a multitrack song on the device itself, so you can try immersive mixing on the couch, check a pair of in-ears, or show someone what a 3D mix does. The built-in song is “Hold On” by Simon Kempner. This page shows how to bring your own song in: a folder of audio files, one per channel, named so the app can read them, plus an optional preset with names and positions.

Works with KLANG:app on iPad, iPhone, macOS and Windows. The Android app plays the built-in song only. Short link to this page: klang.com/multitrack.

Try it first: the Count24 example

Download KLANGapp_Count24_demo_multitrack.zip (150 KB). It contains a folder Count24 with 24 mono mp3 tracks and a preset Count24.xml. Track 1 says “one”, track 2 says “two”, and so on to “twenty-four”, one after another, so in every loop of 15 seconds you hear each channel once. The preset names the channels 1 to 24 and places them 15 degrees apart around your head, channel 1 in front, counting clockwise. Use it to check a headphone, to hear what the positions do, and as the template for your own song: every file in it is named and built exactly as described below.

What a multitrack for KLANG:app looks like

One folder per song, named after the song, with one audio file per channel and (optionally) the preset:

MySong/
  MySong-01-Kick.wav
  MySong-02-Snare.wav
  MySong-03-HH.wav
  ...
  MySong-18-LeadVoc.wav
  MySong.xml          (optional preset)

The app reads everything from the file names, so the naming matters: <SongName>-<ChannelIndex>-<Label>.<ext>

• <SongName> is what appears in the song dropdown. The same for all files of the song, and no - inside it (the app cuts the name at the first dash).
• <ChannelIndex> is 01, 02, … in channel order. Always two digits: files are sorted alphabetically, and 10 would otherwise come before 2.
• <Label> is the channel name (Kick, Bass, LeadVoc). Optional, no - inside. On iPad and iPhone the app takes the channel names from here; on macOS and Windows it does not yet, there the names come from the preset (see below).
• <ext> is wav, mp3 or m4a (m4a on Apple devices only). One format per song.

Limits: up to 24 channels (a stereo file counts as two), all files the same length, 44.1 kHz recommended (other rates are resampled while playing, which costs CPU on a phone). Keep an eye on size: the app streams the whole song from storage while it plays. 24 WAV tracks of a five minute song are about 640 MB, as mp3 at 128 kbps about 115 MB.

Export the tracks from your DAW

Any DAW that renders stems works. What you need from it: one mono file per channel, all starting at the same position and having the same length, 44.1 kHz, 16 or 24 bit WAV (convert to mp3 afterwards if size matters). Bounce with the mix you want to hear as the raw source, no master bus processing. Then rename the files following the convention above; most DAWs let you set a name pattern in the render dialog, otherwise rename in the Finder or Explorer afterwards.

• Reaper: select the tracks, File > Render..., Source Stems (selected tracks), Channels Mono, Sample rate 44100, file name pattern for example MySong-$tracknumber[2]-$track.
• Logic Pro: File > Export > All Tracks as Audio Files..., then rename.
• Pro Tools: File > Bounce Mix... per track, or use the track export of your version, mono, 44.1 kHz.

Stereo sources (keys, overheads, ambience) go in as two mono files, left and right, with two channel indexes. You can link them as a stereo pair in the app afterwards, or keep them as two channels.

The preset: optional, but worth it

A song plays without a preset. You then get the raw channels: default positions, default colours, and the channel names from the file labels on iPad and iPhone (on macOS and Windows the channels keep the names of the previously loaded song, a fix is planned). When you select a song, the app also loads a preset named exactly <SongName>.xml if it finds one, and that preset carries names, colours, icons, positions, gains and groups. Two ways to get one:

Save it in the app (recommended, all platforms). Select the song, set up the mix in STAGE, FADERS and CONFIG > CHANNELS, then go to CONFIG > PRESET and save the preset under the <SongName> of your files. From then on it is loaded together with the song. To hand the song to someone else, put the preset file into the song folder; it is in the app’s Documents folder on iOS and in the Presets folder on the desktop (paths below).

Or write it by hand. The preset is plain XML. Start from Count24.xml in the example package and edit one ChannelSettings line per channel:

<ChannelSettings InputChannel="1" Index="0" Name="Kick" Icon="inst_mic" Color="ff825a24"
  Visible="1" LinkedStereoChannel="-1" R="1.00000" Theta="1.57080" Phi="0.00000"
  WidthOffset="0.00" ChannelMode="4" ChannelGaindB="0.00" Solo="0" Mute="0" GroupID="-1"/>

• InputChannel is the channel index from the file name (1-based), Index the same minus one.
• Name and Color (aarrggbb, keep ff in front) are what you see on STAGE and FADERS. Visible="1" shows the channel.
• Position in spherical coordinates, radians: Phi is the azimuth, 0 in front, negative values to the right (15 degrees right is -0.26180, 90 degrees left is 1.57080); Theta is the elevation with 1.57080 at ear level (smaller is below, larger above); R is the distance, 1.0 is the default circle. ChannelMode="4" is 3D.
• ChannelGaindB is the fader in dB. Leave the rest as in the example.

Everything a hand-written preset does not set (groups, EQs, snapshots) you can add in the app later and save again under the same name.

Copy the song to the device

Quit KLANG:app completely before you copy: the song list is read once at start, new songs appear after the next launch. Dragging files, a folder or a zip onto the app window does not import a song, the files have to be copied into the app’s folder.

iPad and iPhone

Connect the device to a computer and open the KLANG:app folder in File Sharing: Finder on macOS (device in the sidebar, tab Files, entry KLANG:app), Apple Devices or iTunes on Windows. Drop the song folder there, audio files and preset together; the app searches the folder recursively. The KLANG:app folder is not shown in the Files app on the device itself, a computer is needed.

macOS

KLANG:app runs in Apple’s app sandbox, so its Documents folder is inside the app container, not in your own Documents. In the Finder choose Go > Go to Folder... and paste:

~/Library/Containers/com.klang.klangapp2/Data/Documents

Copy the song folder there. A ready-made preset does not go next to the audio files on the desktop; it goes into the Presets folder (a preset saved from the app lands there by itself):

~/Library/Containers/com.klang.klangapp2/Data/Library/KLANGtechnologies/Presets

Windows

Copy the song folder into your Documents folder (or next to KLANGapp.exe). A ready-made preset goes into %APPDATA%\KLANGtechnologies\Presets.

Android

Not supported. The Android app plays the built-in song only.

Select the song

Start KLANG:app, choose DEMO MODE on CONFIG > CONNECT, go to STAGE or FADERS and pick your song from the Choose demo song... dropdown in the demo bar at the bottom. The song loops; the play button next to the dropdown stops and starts it. Set up the mix, then save it under the song name in CONFIG > PRESET so it comes back next time.

If something does not work

• The song is not in the dropdown: the app was running while you copied (quit and restart), the files do not share the same <SongName> before the first dash, or the extension is not wav, mp3 or m4a.
• Channels are in the wrong order: the index is not two digits.
• Channel names are wrong or from another song (macOS, Windows): no preset with the song name was found. Save one in CONFIG > PRESET, or copy yours into the Presets folder, not into the song folder.
• Fewer channels play than expected: more than 24 files, or a stereo file taking two of the 24 slots.
• Playback stutters on a phone: use mp3 or m4a instead of WAV, and 44.1 kHz.

To play multitracks into a KLANG processor instead of into the app, see Multitrack Demo with KLANG Processors.