Stackapella Open the app

Stackapella

What's new

What's changed, newest first.

  1. Stackapella is live, and open source

    Stackapella is out of beta and live at stackapella.com. Its code is open source, and its songs, courses, guides and help are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0, so you can use and adapt them with credit.

  2. Ten courses on Plus

    Ten short courses on singing skills, harmony and styles, from Vibrato and Perfect your pitch to Barbershop and tags and Yodeling. Each one's first lesson is free for everyone.

  3. Did you know?

    Many lessons now end with a short fact about singing or music, with where it comes from.

  4. Sharpen up

    In a Plus course, Sharpen up replays your weakest lessons one after another, straight to the part that's scored. Your best in each one stays.

  5. Then and now

    Each course's last lesson plays your take from its first lesson beside today's, so you can hear how far you've come. That first take is kept only on your device.

  6. Keep this as a song

    Some course finales end with Keep this as a song: your takes and the other voices become a song of your own, to play again, change and share.

  7. Every take, kept

    In the studio, each part is a short row with Solo and Mute. Tap its name for Level, Pan, Timing, Retake, Trim and its takes: every take is kept, and Use this take brings an earlier one back.

  8. Melody first

    A song now opens on the tune, the part most people know, in your own octave. Once your range is known, it opens on the part that fits you best.

  9. Game or serious

    Choose your look in Settings: game mode, with stars, combos and an arcade feel, or serious mode, a calm practice tool that shows how much was on pitch instead.

  10. Delete everything on this device

    Settings has a new This device part, where Delete everything here clears what Stackapella keeps in this browser: songs, takes, course progress and drafts. Songs backed up to your account stay there.

  11. Our accessibility statement

    Our accessibility statement says what the app does for the keyboard, screen readers, contrast and reduced motion, how we check it, and where it still falls short.

  12. The studio, redrawn

    Each part in the studio is now a compact track. Tap the circle beside a part to choose which one you record, and use S and M to solo or mute it, with a volume slider on a bigger screen. Polished is beside the red button, and Export is at the top.

  13. Sign in from your email

    Accepting an invite now sends a sign-in link to your email. The link signs you in, or makes your account if you're new and asks a bit about you first.

  14. When you were born

    Signing up asks for the month and year you were born, in place of a box saying you're 13 or over. Features for 18 and over ask once, the first time you need them.

  15. A new look for our emails

    Every email from us has a new look, with the link written out in full under the button and a line at the bottom saying who it went to and why.

  16. Part by part, or the whole song

    Opening a song in Sing asks how you want to sing it. Part by part teaches your part a phrase at a time, and The whole song is one take with the other parts playing. Each says about how long it takes, and Use this every time skips the question.

  17. Your song's own page

    Saving a song you made opens its own page. Under Pick your part, choose how many singers, then a part: each shows its range against yours, and the one that suits you is chosen first. Hear all parts plays them together.

  18. Undo a delete

    Deleting a song shows what you'd lose before you confirm, then offers Undo for a few seconds. That goes for songs you made yourself too.

  19. A few small sounds

    Stackapella plays a short sound when your stars land, when it hears your mic, and at a few special moments. They work offline too. To turn them off, open Settings, then On this device, then Sounds.

  20. Help when there's no sound

    If Find your voice hears nothing for a few seconds, it says so, shows your mic's level, and lists what to check: the input it's plugged into, the gain, and phantom power for a condenser mic.

  21. Notes you can see

    In the course, every note is a big glossy brick as long as the note, with its word inside. A long exercise scrolls past instead of squeezing its notes together.

  22. Recording, with nothing in the way

    When you record in Sing, everything else steps aside: the lane is big, the words are huge, and you see how much is on pitch so far. Start over, or Stop and keep when you're done.

  23. A user guide

    Help is now a step-by-step guide: getting started, finding your voice and the course, learning a part in Sing, recording in the studio, sharing, choir groups, Plus and Settings. It has search, and the fixes for the mic, headphones and timing.

  24. The website, redesigned

    Each feature page shows the app beside its words. A free song's page plays its first line in four voices, a shared harmony draws each part in its own colour, and on the home page you can tap a voice to bring it forward.

  25. A new home on the web

    Stackapella's own website: press Play to hear a harmony in four voices, take out any part, and see what each feature does, and what's coming.

  26. Contact us, in the app

    Settings now has Contact us. Write to us there, and it shows the details about your device that will be sent with your message before you send it.

  27. Your look follows you

    The light or dark look, colour and accent you choose now follow you between the app and this website, and your account remembers them.

  28. Better suggested harmonies

    When you make your own song, the suggested alto, tenor and bass now plan their chords for the whole song and move the way a choir arranger would write them.

  29. Four colours, light or dark

    Choose how Stackapella looks from the Theme button at the top of the home. Each colour has a dark and a light version with its own name: Stage and Spotlight, Ember and Warm, Midnight and Sky, Graphite and Paper.

  30. Sing, redesigned

    Sing your part with the words on a stage or the notes on a lane. Your voice draws as a line while you sing, and your notes light up as you hit them.