Cadence / Songwriting resources
Save the sound. Keep the idea with it.
A useful sample is more than a file. Keep the sound, its source and what you want to do with it together, ready for your next production session.
Available now for iPhone, iPad and Android.
Build a personal sound library on your phone
Use Production notes to collect sounds and the ideas attached to them: a room texture, a rhythmic detail, a recorded instrument or a reference you want to revisit. A note can hold several sounds with individual captions, so you can remember why each recording mattered.
Treat it as a music production notebook: collect the audio, organise the ideas and keep the source close to the sound. Start with files you can access and use. Cadence does not supply a royalty-free sample catalogue or grant rights to imported material.
These controls follow the current Cadence app source, checked 23 October 2026. Availability and menu placement depend on your installed version. If a named control is missing, check for an update or contact support.
From an audio or video file to a production note
- In the Library, choose New → Production note. Name it after the session, project or type of sound.
- Open Add sound to bring in a supported video or audio file. You can also share a file into Cadence from another app when its share menu supports that file.
- Listen to the imported sound and add a caption: what it is, where it came from and how you might use it. Keep a source or permission reference when relevant.
- Choose the useful range, then open the sound’s actions and select Export sample. Use Export original audio when you want the original recording instead.
- Save the exported files and import the audio into your production session. Audition it in the destination DAW before relying on it in the arrangement.
Find the Production note controls. For a sung or spoken lyric rather than a sound collection, follow the voice-memo transcription workflow.
A caption that will still make sense next week
Try this structure for an original recording:
Sound: spoon tapping an empty mug.
Useful moment: the short ring after the second hit.
Production idea: a quiet accent before the chorus.
Source: my own recording; keep the unedited original.
Separate what you heard from what you plan to do. A caption such as “try under the snare” helps you resume the idea without committing to an effect or tempo before hearing the whole track.
Take the sounds into your DAW
A sample export is useful for a selected sound; a demo or aligned-stem export serves a different job. Keep the original capture as well as the edited sample. Name exports so that you can distinguish the source, range and version when reopening a session.
Local audio needs its own backup. Having the note available on another device does not by itself prove that every sound file transferred. Confirm that the exported audio plays before removing an original.
Common questions
Can I save sounds from a video in Cadence?
Use Add sound with a supported video file or share a supported file into Cadence. Import depends on the source app, file and installed version; a webpage link is not the same as a local video file.
Can I use Cadence as a sample library?
Production notes let you collect sounds with written context and per-sound captions, then export a useful sample for a production session. This is a personal collection workflow, not a supplied catalogue of licensed samples.
How do I export a sound for another DAW?
Open the sound’s actions and choose Export sample for the selected range or Export original audio for the original recording. Save the output, import it into your DAW and check playback.
Keep writing in Cadence
Keep lyrics, rhyme ideas, beats and takes together as your song develops.
Available now for iPhone, iPad and Android.
