Harmodus Piano · Manual

1

Interactive Tutorial

Learning the Basics

When you launch the app, an interactive tutorial will guide you through the main features using pulsing rings on the screen. You'll learn how to hide/show the keyboard by swiping, use the play panel features (such as Sustain, Tuning, and Transpose), and operate the metronome. You can safely experiment during the tutorial, or tap Skip Tutorial to exit at any time.

2

Screen Layout & Basic Operations

Three Screen Modes

The app provides three distinct layouts to suit your playing style. You can seamlessly transition between them by swiping up or down on the top half of the screen (the non-keyboard area):

Chord View: Displays the currently detected chord name and its component notes in a large, easy-to-read font.
Split Keyboard: The standard mode with controls and settings on top, and the keyboard on the bottom.
Full-screen Keyboard: Hides all controls to maximize the screen area dedicated to the keys. Perfect for performance.

Quick Hide/Show

Double-tap the top half of the screen to instantly hide or show the keyboard. If you are in full-screen mode, you can return to the previous mode by swiping down from the very top edge of the screen or tapping the '✕' button.

3

Keyboard Controls & Settings

Scrolling the Keyboard

Drag the horizontal slider located directly above the keys to smoothly scroll left or right across the octaves.

Damper Pedal

When the 'Piano' instrument is selected, a waveform icon appears on the left side of the control bar. Tapping this pedal adds natural acoustic resonance and sustains your notes even after you lift your fingers, replicating the right pedal of an acoustic piano.

Keyboard Settings (Gear Icon)

Tap the gear icon on the control bar to open the dedicated keyboard settings panel:

Zoom: Use the − and + buttons to widen or narrow the keys to your preferred size.
Label: Toggle the display of note names directly on the white keys.
Notation Styles: Choose from 8 different naming systems. This immediately updates how every key is labeled:

English (C D E)

Deutsch (C D E … H)

Solfège (Do Re Mi)

Français (Do Ré Mi)

Português (Dó Ré Mi)

Japanese (ハニホ)

Sargam (Sa Re Ga)

Chinese (上尺工)

4

Tuning Systems & Sound

Instruments

Select from 18 meticulously tuned sound sources:

Piano

Sine (Pure Tone)

Triangle

Sawtooth

Square

Organ

Clarinet

Oboe

Flute

Violin

Cello

Trumpet

Horn

Trombone

Warm Pad

Synth Brass

Saw Lead

Square Lead

Transpose

Shift the pitch of the entire keyboard from -12 semitones (one octave down) to +12 semitones (one octave up).

Tuning Selection (Equal vs Just)

Equal Temperament: The standard tuning used on modern pianos. It sounds equally in tune across all keys, but the intervals are slightly compromised.
Just Intonation (Major/Minor): The defining feature of Harmodus Piano. When you play a chord, the app instantly detects its root note and perfectly calculates the mathematical frequency ratios for every note. This creates a purely harmonious, beating-free sound. You can manually toggle between Major and Minor pure intonation based on the context of your song.

Sustain Latch

Tap the 'Sustain' button in the chord view to act as a latch. Any keys you press will hold infinitely even after you release your fingers. The sustained keys will remain highlighted. To stop a specific note, simply tap that individual key again to release it. This is incredibly useful for analyzing chord structures and listening to pure intonation without holding your hands on the screen.

5

Advanced Metronome

Tempo Controls

Numpad: Tap the BPM number to open a numpad for exact data entry.
Fine Tuning: Tap or hold the − and + buttons to smoothly decrease or increase the BPM.
Tap Tempo: Tap the large circular area in the center in time with your desired rhythm, and the app will automatically calculate and set the BPM.

Time Signature & Transport

Time Signature: Combine the numerator (1 to 16 beats) and denominator (2, 4, 8, 16) to create any custom meter.
Count-In: Enable count-in to play an empty measure of preparatory clicks before the main counter starts.
Auto Stop: Set a specific number of bars. The metronome will automatically stop once it reaches that duration.

Subdivision Mixer

The metronome features a powerful 6-track mixer. You can independently adjust the volume slider for each subdivision, or tap the speaker icon below the slider to quickly mute it.

Accent: Volume of the first beat of the bar.
Quarter, Eighth, 16th: Standard subdivisions.
Triplet: 3-note groupings.
n-tuplet: A highly customizable track where you can set 'n' from 2 up to 16. It also supports spanning tuplets over two beats (e.g., a half-note triplet).

Sound & Visual Options

Click Tones: Tap the settings icon in the metronome to change the actual sound of each mixer track. Options include High, Mid, Low, Tap, Tick, and Bell.
Visible / Audible: You can choose to have the metronome emit sound (Audible), display a flashing visual ring on the screen edge (Visible), or both simultaneously.

6

Chord Recognition & Notation

Dynamic Detection

As you press keys (or hold them via Sustain), the app instantaneously analyzes the combination of notes to determine the chord structure (e.g., Cmaj7, Dm9, Gsus4).

Chord Notation Customization

Navigate to the main App Settings (via the side menu or top gear icon when available) to change how chords are displayed:

Accidental Preference: Instruct the app to prioritize Sharp (♯) or Flat (♭) nomenclature for the root notes.
Root Note Language: Choose the language used for the root letter of the chord. You can independently set this to English (C), German (C or H), or Solfège (Do).

7

MIDI & Global App Settings

External MIDI Keyboards

Harmodus Piano fully supports external MIDI controllers via Bluetooth or cable. Playing your physical keyboard perfectly triggers the in-app sound engine, the dynamic chord detection, and the Just Intonation tuning algorithms. Active devices are listed in Settings ▸ MIDI.

Reference Pitch

Tune the master frequency of the app anywhere between 390 Hz and 470 Hz (in 1 Hz increments) using the stepper or slider. For convenience, 12 presets are available:

A=392 Hz

A=415 Hz

A=430 Hz

A=432 Hz

A=438 Hz

A=440 Hz (Standard)

A=441 Hz

A=442 Hz

A=443 Hz

A=444 Hz

A=446 Hz

A=466 Hz

Appearance & Customization

Theme: Force the app into Light mode, Dark mode, or have it follow your device's System setting.
Accent Color: Select from 10 preset colors (Blue, Indigo, Purple, Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Teal, Cyan) or tap the Color Picker to choose from 16 million custom colors. The app remembers your 4 most recently used custom colors for quick switching.

Languages

By default, the app matches your iOS system language. You can override this and manually select from 34 supported languages, including English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese, Hindi, Turkish, Indonesian, Dutch, Polish, Thai, Vietnamese, Swedish, and Ukrainian.