1. Where Settings Live
Settings are accessed from the tray drawer — swipe from the right edge of any screen and tap Settings at the bottom. The settings screen shows collapsible sections. Changes are local until you tap SAVE at the top — if you leave without saving, your changes are discarded.
2. Project & Workflow
1 / 5 / 10 / 15 / 30 minutes. How often your project is automatically saved. Shorter intervals mean less work lost if the app closes unexpectedly. Longer intervals save battery. The default (5 min) is a good balance.
1 / 5 / 10 / 25 / 50. How many previous auto-saves to keep. Higher numbers use more storage but let you go further back. If you're experimenting heavily, keep more versions.
24h / 48h / 72h / 1 week. How long after a crash ESSNCE will offer to restore your work. If you open the app after a crash within this window, you'll see a recovery dialog.
Default BPM: The tempo for new projects. 120 is standard. Set it to your preferred working tempo so every new project starts at the right speed.
Master volume: Global volume offset (in dB). -6dB is the default — this leaves headroom for mixing. If everything sounds quiet, bring this up to 0dB.
Export normalise: When on, exported audio is peak-normalised to this level (default -3dB). This means your export will be as loud as possible without clipping. If you're sending tracks to a mixing engineer, turn this off — they want the raw levels.
30s / 60s / 2 min / 5 min / 10 min. The maximum length of the editor timeline. Shorter lengths use less memory. If your track is running long, increase this.
3. Storage
Storage used: Read-only display of how much space ESSNCE is using (projects, samples, exports, cache).
Clean exports after: Off / 7d / 30d / 90d. Automatically delete exported files older than this. Your exported WAVs and MP3s — not your projects or samples.
Auto-delete temp: Remove temporary files when ESSNCE closes. Temporary files are created during audio processing (stem separation, time stretching, rendering). Keeping them makes repeat operations faster but uses space.
Clean exports now: Immediate cleanup button. Tap this if you've exported a lot and want to free up space.
Clean temp now: Immediate temp file cleanup.
4. Theme
AOTP (default — dark with orange accents), AKAI_M10 (vintage hardware look), and more. Theme presets change the entire colour palette of the app. Try a few — you might find one that reduces eye strain for long sessions.
Mode: DARK / LIGHT. Overrides the preset's brightness. Dark mode is essential for late-night producing. Light mode is better in direct sunlight.
5. Audio Output
Bluetooth routing: Ask / Bluetooth / Speaker. Controls which output device ESSNCE uses when Bluetooth is connected. "Ask" prompts you each time. "Bluetooth" forces output to Bluetooth even if there's latency. "Speaker" ignores Bluetooth and plays through the phone speaker — useful when Bluetooth headphones have too much delay for live playing.
6. MIDI
Enable/disable MIDI input per screen (Sampler, Drum, Compose). If you use the same MIDI controller for multiple purposes, gate MIDI to only the screen you're working on. Otherwise, pressing a key might trigger a sampler pad AND a drum step AND a notation note simultaneously.
MIDI profiles: Per-device. Save a MIDI mapping for each controller. When you plug in your Akai, it loads your Akai mapping. When you plug in your Arturia, it loads that mapping.
MIDI clock: When enabled, ESSNCE follows tempo from an external device. When disabled, ESSNCE uses its own tempo. If you're syncing with hardware or another app, enable this.
BLE MIDI auto-reconnect: Bluetooth MIDI devices automatically reconnect when powered on. No need to pair each time.
Record mode: OFF / STEP / LIVE. STEP records notes quantized to the grid. LIVE records with your exact timing (micro-timing offsets preserved).
Quantize: Default quantize value for MIDI recording.
MIDI channel: Which MIDI channel ESSNCE listens on. 1-16. Set to "All" to receive from any channel.
Velocity scale: Multiplies incoming MIDI velocity. 100% = no change. 50% = half as loud. 200% = twice as loud. Use this if your controller is too sensitive or not sensitive enough.
7. Lite Mode
Lite Mode disables the heavier AI-powered features: stem separation, pattern generation, find similar, auto-classify, and kit cohesion. Enable this on older or lower-end devices.
When your device has less than 192MB of available memory, ESSNCE shows a banner suggesting you enable Lite Mode. The app will still work — it just skips the ML features that need significant RAM.
8. Haptic Feedback
Global toggle. When off, no haptic feedback anywhere.
Intensity: SUBTLE / MODERATE / STRONG. How strong the vibration is. Subtle gives light clicks — you barely notice them but they add physicality. Strong gives pronounced buzzes — satisfying for drum pad hits.
Per-screen overrides: Enable or disable haptics per screen. You might want haptics on the Sampler (pad hits feel more physical) but off on the Editor (no haptics while arranging).
9. Account
Log in / Create account: An account lets you sync settings, report issues, and access features that need identity (like feature requests). It's optional — you can use every music-making feature without one.
Link Google account: Add Google sign-in to an existing email account.
Update profile: Change your name, email, or birthday.
Sign out / Delete account: Sign out clears local session. Delete account is permanent and removes your data.
10. Diagnostics (for troubleshooting)
Log user actions: Records which buttons you tap. Helps the developers understand how people use the app.
Log audio engine: OFF / ERRORS / VERBOSE. VERBOSE records every audio event — useful if you're working with the developers to debug a sound issue. Leave on ERRORS for normal use.
Log crashes: Send crash reports to help fix bugs.
Send error reports: Manually send recent logs when you encounter a problem. Useful when you can reproduce a bug — reproduce it, then send the logs.
11. Save Locations
ESSNCE uses Android's Storage Access Framework for file operations. You can set default save folders for:
Samples: Where imported and recorded samples are stored.
Instruments: Where synth presets and sample instruments are saved.
Sequences: Where drum pattern exports land.
Melodies: Where notation exports go.
12. Suggestions to Try
- Set auto-save to 1 minute when you're doing delicate sound design — you never lose more than 60 seconds of work even if the app crashes.
- Switch the theme to AKAI_M10. The vintage cream-and-red palette feels completely different — some people find it less fatiguing for long sessions.
- If you use Bluetooth headphones for casual listening but wired for production, set Bluetooth routing to "Ask." You'll never accidentally route low-latency audio through high-latency Bluetooth.
- Set up a MIDI profile for each controller you own. Map pads for finger drumming on the Sampler screen, keys for playing notes on Compose, and knobs for filter sweeps.
- Enable Lite Mode if you notice the app getting warm or slow. Your battery will last longer and you probably won't miss the ML features during a focused production session.
Settings are per-device. If you sign into your account on a new phone, you'll need to configure settings there too. Account sync for settings is on the roadmap.