Key and Tempo

Notes: below, when you see "⌘", on Mac think "Command", and on Windows think "Control". When you see "⇧", think "Shift".

While a song is playing you can press "⌘ - [" or "⌘ - ]" to lower or raise the key, respectively. Or press "⌘ - \" to re-set it to the original key. This does not affect the tempo.

Also, you can press "⌘⇧ - [" or "⌘⇧ - ]" to slow down or speed up the tempo, respectively. Or, press "⌘⇧ - \" to reset it to the original tempo. This does not affect the key.

These items are also available under the Controls menu.

You can adjust key and tempo on any song (or group of songs) that is not playing by changing it directly in the browser window. The Sort Column for "Key Adjust" or "Tempo" must be showing to be able to change them.

Fine Key Adjustment in Cents

Is the song's key actually not in tune with your correctly tuned instrument? You can adjust the Key in "cents", or "hundredths of a half-step". To do so, show the "Cents" Sort Column, and edit it directly in the browser window. One half step (semitone) is 100 cents, so for example to pitch it down 1/4 step, enter -50. The valid range is -1200 to 1200. Even if you adjust the cents, you can still use the "Key Adjust" as usual, but "Original Key" (Key Adjust of 0) will be relative to your "Cents" offset.

Here you can learn how to hide or show Sort Columns.

Pro version only

If the song belongs to a singer, then that setting will be remembered permanently. You can also set the key via the popup menu listed with the song itself.

Mac Only: High Quality Key Changing

If you have a mac, and you've bought and installed the Waves Sound Shifter plugin, kJams will use that automatically for it's Key changing. Note that if you use that, tempo changing is not enabled (the controls will work but they do nothing). You can turn OFF the use of this plugin by editing your prefs file and setting "Use Wave SoundShifter for key changes (no tempo changing)" to "false"