Whether you're a worship keys player, music director, or worship leader, transitions between songs is one of the most important skills you can develop. This guide walks you through everything the Sunday Keys App's Tonic Pad feature can do, from basic key changes to fully automated section switching with Loop Connect.

What Is the Sunday Keys Tonic Pad?

The Sunday Keys App is an iPad and Mac App built specifically for worship keys players. One of its most powerful features is the Tonic Pad, an ambient drone pad that can sustain forever in any key, and has simple settings that allow you to dial in your pad for every song or moment in your worship service. Every song specific patch in Sunday Keys comes pre-loaded with a Tonic Pad preset, patch-locked to that song's key.

Technique 1: Smooth Key Change Transitions Between Songs

One of the most common challenges in a worship set is moving between songs in different keys without an awkward silence or tonal clash. Here's how to set that up in Sunday Keys. In this example, we're going from "Take You at Your Word" (in D) to "Gratitude" (in B).

1. Load both song patches into your set list. Each patch is pre-assigned a Tonic Pad preset that's patch-locked to the song's key by default.

2. Use Patch Lock to automate Tonic. On your Gratitude patch, press the patch lock button to unlock it. Then turn Tonic On, it on and re-engage the patch lock. This tells Sunday Keys to automatically start playing the Tonic Pad as soon as you change to that patch, no extra tap required.
 

3. Play out your first song, hold your final chord, and switch. As you finish Take You at Your Word, hold your last chord on the keys, press 'Next,' or tap the Gratitude patch in your Setlist, and the pad in B will begin automatically. The key change transition will happen smoothly. You can even adjust the fade timing by tapping the Tonic Pad present name opening the Tonic Pad Settings, and adjust the crossfade time.

Technique 2: Fully Automated Section Changes with Loop Connect

If your band uses tracks from the Loop Community Prime Multitrack App, you can take automation even further with Loop Connect, a feature that syncs your track playback sections directly to your Sunday Keys song sections.

How Loop Connect Works

Loop Connect lets you map the individual sections of a track (intro, verse, chorus, bridge, outro) to the corresponding snapshots in your Sunday Keys song patch. When the Prime App advances to the next song, your Patches will also automatically change in the Sunday Keys App. Plus you can automate snapshots to follow the song sections, so when the song moves to the chorus, your Sunday Keys patch automatically jumps to your chorus snapshot.

Setting Up Loop Connect: Step-by-Step

1. Make sure both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network. Sunday Keys and the Prime App need to be connected over the same local Wi-Fi for Loop Connect to work.

2. Open Sunday Keys and tap the Loop Connect icon in the top right. Follow the settings on screen to connect your Sunday Keys device to the device running the Prime App. Note, if you're having some trouble connecting, make sure that you tap the 'sync' button in the Prime App before connecting.

    
3. Confirm the connection in Prime's settings. Go to Settings → Loop Connect in Prime and confirm that Sunday Keys is connected. You'll see a sync icon appear on all connected sections when everything is talking correctly. 

4. Once connected, Map each track section to its corresponding Sunday Keys Patch section. Use the dropdown arrows to pair Intro → Intro, Verse → Verse, Chorus → Chorus, and so on. If section names don't match exactly, you can rename sections within Sunday Keys to align them.
     

5. Repeat for each song in your set. The great news: once you program this, it's saved. The next time you pull up that song, all the Loop Connect mapping is already there.

This is a game-changer for worship teams using tracks, your keys patches can now follow the song arrangement automatically, letting you stay fully engaged musically without having to take your hands off the keyboard to change patches, or tap different snapshots in Sunday Keys.

Technique 3: Per-Snapshot Tonic Pad Customization

Here's where you can really customize things with the Tonic Pad. You can assign a completely different Tonic Pad sound to each individual snapshot within a single patch.

This means your verse pad can be soft and restrained, your chorus pad can open up with shimmer and brightness, and your outro pad can settle back to something gentle, all within the same song, all switching automatically as you move between snapshots.

How to Customize Tonic Pad Per Snapshot

1. Open your song patch and navigate to a snapshot. 
   

2. Open the snapshot's custom settings. Long Press (Two Finger Click on Mac) one of the snapshots and tap 'customize.'

3. Enable "Use Custom Settings"  and at the bottom, toggle on "Snapshot Adjusts Tonic Pad." You can also set how long you want the transition to take (e.g., 1 bar). 

4. Repeat for every snapshot you want to customize.

 
 
5. Save after every single change. This is critical, if you don't save after each adjustment, your settings won't stick. Get into the habit of saving immediately after changing any snapshot parameter.

Example: Building a Dynamic Arc Through a Song

Here's how you might set up a four-snapshot arc using the Tonic Pad:
  

• Down snapshot: Choose a mellow preset (like "Heavenly Shimmer") and pull the brightness down. 
• Medium snapshot: Same base preset, but bring brightness and shimmer up slightly.
• Big snapshot: Swap one of the four pad layers to a bright pad. Push the high shimmer up. Increase overall volume slightly.
• Outro/Underscoring snapshot: Return to settings similar to the Down snapshot, mellow and warm.

  
The Tonic Pad has four independent layers you can mix and match, giving you extensive control over texture, brightness, shimmer intensity, and volume, all per snapshot.

Bonus Tip: Playing Minor Pads with Tonic

By default, the Tonic Pad plays a major tonality. But if your song is in a minor key or you want a darker, more contemplative texture, Sunday Keys supports minor pad voicings.

How to Set Up a Minor Tonic Pad
   

1. Open your Tonic Pad settings for the patch.
2. Select a voice within the pad (each Tonic preset has multiple voices that can each play a different role).
3. Change one of the voices to Minor.
4. You can also set voices to play different registers: mid, low, high, or different octaves. You can even trigger seconds or melodic intervals for a richer sound.

Having just one voice playing the minor third while others play a neutral texture can give you that minor feel without it feeling overly dramatic, a subtle but effective tool.

Pro Tips for Worship Keys Players Using Sunday Keys Tonic

• New Tonic presets are added monthly for everyone with an active Sunday Keys license. Check the Sound Download Manager in the App for new Presets and Sounds added at the beginning of every month, they can spark new creative ideas for your set.
• Name your snapshots clearly, Down, Medium, Big, Outro, Underscoring, or use song sections, Intro, Verse, Big Chorus, Down Bridge, etc.  
• Save, Save, Save! Every time you make a snapshot change make sure to save before changing your snapshot! 
• Loop Connect mapping persists, once you set it up for a song, it's always there the next time you add that song to your setlist. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Loop Connect integration with Sunday Keys work with any track app?

Loop Connect is currently only available for the Loop Community Prime Multitrack App for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Remember, both devices need to be on the same Wi-Fi network.

Does Loop Connect only work with Song Specific Patches?

Nope, you can use Loop Connect to automate snapshot transition for any Patch, including custom user Patches.

Can I use the Tonic Pad with Custom patches, not just Song Specific ones?

Yes, all patches in Sunday Keys can take advantage of the full Tonic Pad Player including Patch Lock and per-snapshot customization.

What happens if my song section names in Prime don't match Sunday Keys?

You can rename snapshots inside Sunday Keys to match your track layout, just long press (two finger click on Mac) the snapshot and select 'Rename.'

Is the minor pad option available on all Tonic presets?

Yes, the minor voice option is available across all Tonic presets in the App. You can even save custom user presets if you dial in the perfect minor Pad to use it again for in a different setlist. 

Summary

The Sunday Keys Tonic Pad is power tool for worship keys players. Whether you're using it for simple key-change transitions, automating section changes via Loop Connect, sculpting a dynamic arc through a song with per-snapshot customization, or setting the mood for a minor-key song, Tonic is built to serve the actual demands for a live worship environment.