Enabling Crossfade
iTunes Media Liabilities
OnSong can crossfade
iTunes Media Library tracks by playing them inside of OnSong using its own player. However, if OnSong has to resort to playing the track using the built-in Music app, it cannot crossfade, but rather fades out the playing track and fades in the one in queue. This can happen if the tracks contain digital rights management (DRM), or if the tracks are streamed from Apple Music or iTunes in the Cloud. When this is the case, the
iTunes Media Library does not provide OnSong with a file that it can play. Instead, OnSong must queue the track to play in the built-in Music app which lacks the ability to crossfade or pan tracks.
Since most tracks no longer contain digital rights management (DRM), the solution is to make sure that your tracks are downloaded to your device. To do this, go into the Music app, locate the track, and then tap on the cloud with a down arrow icon to the right of the track. OnSong should then be able to play back the track with its own audio player.
Choosing the Player
There are some reasons why you wouldn't want OnSong to play back your
iTunes Media Library tracks. First of all, tracks played through OnSong do not follow custom volume levels, trimming, sound check, or equalization that you may have applied in iTunes, or in the iOS settings screen. By default, OnSong will attempt to play
iTunes Media Library tracks in OnSong. If you want to change this behavior, tap on the gear icon in the
Menubar to open the
Utilities Menu and then choose
Settings. Open
Live Settings on the left and
Audio Playback on the right. Locate the
Play iTunes Backing Tracks option in the iTunes section. You can then choose "In Music" instead of "In OnSong" to force tracks to play in the built-in Music app.
Streaming
Aside from solving issues with crossfading, downloading tracks for offline playback is a smart move. Streamed tracks are subject to network conditions. If you're going to stream tracks from Apple or Spotify, you can experience trouble if the venue does not have a solid network connection, or if the wireless environment is swamped with extra connections when the audience enters the performance space. This can cause the network to perform poorly which will result in dropped audio as iOS struggles to fill buffers in time to handle changing network conditions.
Facing Audio Interface issues
You may face another issue if you use an audio interface in combination with
iTunes Media Library tracks played through the built-in Music app. For instance, if you connect your device directly to a small PA sound system via a Lightning cable, or if you are using an audio interface to convert the digital audio into XLR or instrument line out you may notice that you no longer have control of system volume on your iOS device. This is because iOS allows the connected audio interface to manage the volume instead of the iPhone or iPad. When OnSong attempts to crossfade audio played through the built-in Music app, it can only change the system volume. Because the audio interface commandeers control of volume, there is no means for OnSong to crossfade. Not all audio interfaces do this, but it's something that could cause issues. Again, if you choose to play tracks through OnSong and download those DRM-free tracks to your device through the Music app, you should not experience this issue.