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Answers to the questions that come up most. If yours isn't here, write to us: it's a person who replies.

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Getting started

Plug in a USB keyboard

  1. Connect the keyboard to the device, with an OTG adapter if the plug doesn't fit.
  2. Turn on the keyboard, then accept Android's request.
  3. Okyla recognises it and asks for its size, just once: it remembers it the next time you plug it in.

Play into the microphone

  1. Choose “Acoustic piano” in Settings › Basic settings, or turn on “Note detector” in Connections: both buttons are at the top of the home screen.
  2. Allow the microphone when Android asks.
  3. Place the device near the piano, in a quiet room.

Add a song

  1. In My songs, tap “Add a song”. If your list is empty, tap “Built-in songs” or “Import a MIDI file”.
  2. Choose a .mid, .midi or .kar file.
  3. Files stored in Music, Documents or Downloads show up on their own.

Using Okyla

The Channels tab of the song settings: one box per channel in the Sheet column.

Play back a song, see its sheet music

  1. In the bar on the left, tap “My songs”. Tap a song in your list, or “Add a song”: “Built-in” for the pieces included, “My files” for your own.
  2. Under “Watch”, tap “Falling notes” or “Sheet music”.
  3. Tap ▶ in the middle of the screen. To pause, tap the notes or the sheet music: the controls come back.
  4. To switch from falling notes to sheet music, tap “Score” at the end of the controls, even during playback, and “Notes” to go back.

Sheet music shows two channels by default: the melody and one accompaniment, chosen by Okyla. To see others, pause, expand the controls at the top right, tap “Song settings”, then the “Channels” tab: tick or untick each channel in the “Sheet” column. A long press keeps only that one. Your choice is remembered for this song. A piano channel can take up two staves.

The Prepare the session screen: working channel, Guided or Performance mode, tempo and volume.

Practise a song

  1. In “My songs”, tap the song, then “Practice”.
  2. The first time, “Prepare the session” opens. Choose the working channel, the one you play, then the mode: “Guided”, the song waits for you note by note; “Performance”, it plays straight through.
  3. Adjust the tempo, volume and transposition if you need to, then tap “Let's go”: a countdown, and it's your turn.
  4. To work on a passage, pause and tap the loop button, to the right of ▶. Scroll to the start of the passage and tap “Start at bar…”, then to its end and tap “End at bar…”.
  5. Play the song all the way through, from start to finish: “Session complete” sums up your right, missed and extra notes.

Your settings are remembered for this song: to change them, tap “Edit” on the session line. To leave a loop, open “My loops” again and choose “The whole song”.

An interactive tutorial: the instruction at the top, the staff in the middle, the keyboard at the bottom.

Follow an interactive tutorial

  1. In the bar on the left, tap “Practice”. The first time, “Where do you start?” asks for your starting point; with “I'm new to the piano”, the first tutorial is waiting at the top of the screen: tap “Follow the tutorial”.
  2. After that, under “Domains”, tap the button on a card, “Start” or “Continue”: it opens the domain's next step, a tutorial or an exercise. To choose for yourself, tap the card outside the button, then “Follow the tutorials” on a tutorials card.
  3. In the list, tap “Follow the tutorial” on the next one, or any tutorial to see it again.
  4. Listen to the instruction, then play: on a USB keyboard, through the microphone or on the on-screen keyboard. If you get stuck, Okyla repeats, shows the key, then plays the answer.
  5. At the top right: pause, repeat the step, skip the step, quit. Your progress is saved.

Before some exercises, the preparation screen also offers the interactive tutorials that help, under “Before you start”. A tutorial where you skip a step, or where Okyla plays the answer, stays to be followed again.

An exercise's preparation screen: the goal, Guided or Performance mode, and Start.

Do an exercise

  1. On the home screen, tap “Continue: …” on the “Learn” card to pick up where you left off, or tap “Practice” in the bar on the left.
  2. Tap “Start” or “Try again” on the current exercise, or open a domain to choose another one.
  3. The preparation screen opens: read the goal, then choose the mode, “Guided”, the piano waits for you, or “Performance” when it's offered, in tempo and unassisted. Then tap “Start”.
  4. Tap ▶ in the middle of the screen, next to “Start”: a countdown, then play.
  5. At the end, your result appears: “Next exercise” to move on, “Redo” to start over, “New sequence” to play another one.

To stop part-way, tap the staff, then the cross: the attempt counts as abandoned. “Playable with” shows which keyboards suit the exercise.

Keyboard and microphone

My keyboard isn't recognised

Check that the cable carries data (some cables only charge), that the keyboard is on and, on Android, that you accepted the permission request. Unplug it and plug it back in if needed.

Why does the app go quiet when the microphone is listening?

So that the microphone doesn’t hear Okyla playing in your place. Only the example notes of an exercise remain audible.

Do I need a piano to start?

No. The on-screen keyboard is played with your finger: enough to discover the notes and follow the tutorials.

Your songs

Where can I find MIDI files legally?

The included pieces come from the Mutopia Project and Wikimedia Commons, two sources of public-domain files. For a recent song, look for an edition sold by a sheet music publisher.

Are my files sent anywhere?

No. Okyla reads them on your device and never uploads them.

Your data

How do I delete my data?

Uninstall Okyla: everything it kept disappears from the device. Without uninstalling: Android Settings › Apps › Okyla › Storage › Clear data. There’s no account to delete.

I'm changing phones: do I keep my progress?

Yes, if Android backup is turned on: it brings back your profiles, your progress and your settings. The MIDI files you added don’t come along; keep them somewhere so you can add them again.

Does Okyla need the Internet?

No. It only uses it to send usage statistics and crash reports, and only if you accepted them. Privacy

Devices and subscription

Which devices does Okyla run on?

Android phones and tablets running Android 7.0 or later, iPhone and iPad running iOS 15 or later, in landscape mode. A tablet makes the sheet music more comfortable.

What about iPhone or iPad?

Yes: on iPhone and iPad running iOS 15 or later, you install Okyla from the App Store. A USB keyboard connects with a USB-C cable or adapter, or with Apple’s Lightning to USB adapter. Okyla on the App Store

How do I cancel the subscription?

In your device’s store, not with us. On Android: Play Store › your profile picture › Payments & subscriptions › Subscriptions › Okyla › “Cancel subscription”. On iPhone and iPad: Settings › your name › Subscriptions › Okyla › “Cancel Subscription”.

Didn't find your answer?

Write to us. Tell us your device model and, for a keyboard, its brand and model: we'll get there faster.

Write to contact@okylalabs.com