Playing together

When you’re going over an arrangement together, everyone pressing play on their own gets you a wall of slightly-out-of-sync audio. Playing together fixes that: one person leads, and everyone who joins hears the leader’s playback in lockstep — the same downbeat at the same instant, the same loop, the same speed.

Nobody is pulled in. A bandmate who has the song open keeps their own playback until they choose to join.

Starting a session

When a bandmate has the song open, Play together appears next to their avatars at the top of the editor. Open it to see who’s here, then choose Start playing together. You lead the session you started.

You don’t have to wait for anyone: start one from ⇄, just left of the play button, or from the command palette. While a session is running, ⇄ stays filled in with a count of who’s in, and its menu holds Pass the lead and End (or Leave). Bandmates who open the song afterwards are offered Join.

While a session is running, a Playing together bar sits across the top of the editor. It shows who’s leading, who has joined, and the session’s loop and speed.

Joining

When someone else is leading, you’ll see Sam is leading · Join next to the avatars (on a phone, in a strip across the top of the editor), and a dot pulses on ⇄ beside the play button — Join is in its menu too. Joining hands your play and stop to the leader: playback jumps to wherever they are, including partway through the song, and follows them from there. Your own play, stop, Space and Esc step aside while you’re in the session.

You can still edit while you listen — only playback is shared.

Choose Leave in the session bar to get your own playback back. Whatever is playing keeps playing, at your own speed.

Leading

As the leader, your play, pause, stop and playhead drive everyone in the session. When you press play, Tabula runs a brief shared count-in so everyone’s playhead is in position, and then everyone starts on the same beat — the first notes land together, not staggered by whoever’s connection is fastest.

Your loop and practice speed belong to the session too. Loop a few bars or drop the speed to 75% and everyone in the session hears the same thing; the session bar shows both. Members can’t change them while they’re in the session, and get their own speed back when they leave.

To hand over, choose Pass lead in the session bar and pick someone who has joined. They take over from where you are, and you stay in the session as a member. Nobody can take the lead from you — it’s only ever passed.

End for everyone closes the session. Everyone keeps the song open; their playback stops.

If you just leave — close the tab or open another song — the session carries on: the lead passes to someone who joined. Whoever gets the lead is told who it came from and why, in the session bar.

Good to know

• One session runs on a song at a time. If one’s already going, you’ll be offered Join rather than Play together.
• Playing together shares the beat, not your mix: everyone keeps their own mute, solo, volume and pan. Nothing about a session is saved into the song.
• It keeps everyone in rehearsal-grade sync — tight enough to follow a part together, not a substitute for being in the same room.
• If the leader drops out without warning (a crash or a lost connection), someone who joined takes over the lead after a few seconds, and playback carries on. The session only ends if nobody is left in it.
• It builds on ordinary playback: the sound font, tempo map and repeats all still apply on each person’s machine.