Playing your song

Tabula plays your song back in the browser using General MIDI, so you can hear an arrangement without leaving the editor. Playback honors your tempo map, repeats, alternate endings, dynamics, and techniques — it sounds the way the score reads.

The transport

The playback controls live on the right of the toolbar.

• Play / pause — the round button, or press Space.
• Stop — the square button, or press Esc. Stop returns the playhead to the start; pause leaves it where it is.
• Position — the elapsed time readout (0:00).
• Tempo (BPM) — the song’s tempo. Editing it here changes the song’s tempo for everyone.
• Lead — starts a synchronized playback session for the whole band.

Playback starts from the cursor’s position, so you can click into the middle of the song and play from there.

Loading sounds

The first time you play in a session, Tabula loads a small sound font — you’ll briefly see a percentage on the play button. It’s cached afterward, so subsequent playback starts immediately, even offline.

Follow along

Turn on Follow (in the action bar) and the view scrolls to keep the playing bar in sight as the song plays — handy for reading along or rehearsing.

Mixing while you play

The track sidebar doubles as a simple mixer. For each track you can:

• Mute (M) or Solo (S) it — solo a part to check it in isolation, or mute the click-y parts while you focus on the rhythm section.
• Adjust its volume and pan.

These settings shape what you hear on playback without touching the notes.

Want everyone to hear the same thing?

Solo playback is per-person. To play a passage for the whole band — synchronized, so everyone hears the same downbeat at the same moment — use collaborative playback.