Changing track settings

Each track in a project contains MIDI or audio information and has a variety of settings (also called parameters) that determine how the track sounds. By changing these parameters, you can change the sound of your project. For audio tracks, you control parameters such as volume, stereo panning, and the output device that is used to produce the sound. For MIDI tracks, you control many additional parameters, including the type of instrument sound that is used to play the notes stored in the track. Both kinds of tracks contain an Automation Read button and an Automation Write button , which enable or disable automation playback and recording, respectively.

Note: You can control all sliders and knobs in the Console and Track views by clicking a control, then hover over it with the mouse and manipulate the mouse wheel. If you move the mouse cursor away from the slider or knob while using the mouse wheel, you will lose control of the slider or knob you are adjusting.

Advanced track controls

By default, track strips in the Track view show only the most important controls, while additional controls are available in the Track Inspector and Console view. By clicking the Advanced button above the track strips, you can show additional parameters directly in the track strips.

Figure 72. Use the Standard and Advanced buttons to show/hide advanced parameters in the track strips.

A. Show standard controls B. Show advanced controls

The default layout is Standard, which shows the following controls:

Mute, Solo and Arm

Input Monitoring/Echo

Edit Filter

Automation Read

Automation Write

Track Freeze

The following controls are also shown when the Advanced button is pressed:

Volume

Pan

Input Gain / Velocity offset

FX Rack

Input

Output

Sends

Bank, Patch and Channel

In order to describe all available controls, the following sections show the Advanced control layout.

Audio track parameters

The following figures show the various parameters in audio track strips. The figures are of an audio track that is located in the Track view, however most of these parameters can also be adjusted in the Console view and Track Inspector. Some parameters are only available in the Console view or Track Inspector.

Note: The following images show the Advanced track control layout. The default Standard layout only shows a subset of all available controls. For details, see Advanced track controls.

Figure 73. Audio track

Figure 74. Audio track header controls

A. Track color B. Track number C. Header icon D. Track name E. Maximize/restore F. Meter

 

Note: MSR buttons may appear in the header bar if the Track pane is wide.

Figure 75. Audio track controls.

A. Track number B. Track name C. Edit Filter D. Mute E. Automation Read F. Solo G. Automation Write H. Arm for recording I. Freeze J. Input echo K. Archive L. Expand/collapse track M. Track icon N. WAI display O. Track color P. Expand/collapse Take Lanes Q. Expand/collapse Automation Lanes R. Volume slider S. Input T. Output U. Pan slider V. FX Rack W. Meter

Figure 76. Audio track FX Rack and meter.

A. Enable/disable plug-in B. Plug-in name C. Click to insert new plug-in

Here is a summary table of the different audio track parameters and how they are used.

Table 24.  

Parameter	What it means
Number	A sequential track number used for reference.
Name	A name that you assign the track for easy reference. Note that if you do not assign a name to a track, the default name is the track number. This track number will change if you change the order of your tracks.
Mute	When enabled, mutes the track.
Solo	When enabled, solos the track.
Arm	When enabled, arms the track for audio recording.
Input Echo	Turns input monitoring on or off.
Archive	The track is not played, and you must stop playback to re-enable it. Archived tracks do not tax your CPU during playback so they can be used to store alternate takes.
Automation Read and Write buttons	Enable/disable automation playback and recording, respectively.
Peak value	Displays the Peak value, which is the amplitude of the latest audio peak in the track.
Expand/collapse Take Lanes	Hides or shows Take lanes.
Expand/collapse Automation Lanes	Hides or shows Automation lanes.
Expand/collapse	Expands the track to show more controls, or collapses the track to only show the header bar.
Edit Filter	Specify which data type the global tools should operate on.
Vol (volume)	The current volume level for the track, ranging from -INF (silent) to +6 dB (maximum volume).
Pan	The stereo distribution of the output, ranging from 100% left (hard left) to 100% right (hard right); a value of “C” indicates sound that is centered left-to-right. On stereo tracks, pan acts as balance.
Trim (volume trim) (Track Inspector and Console view only)	Volume Trim is a pre-fader control which allows the fine tuning of a single track’s volume. For example, let’s say you have four tracks, three tracks have their volume fader set to 0 dB while the fourth track’s fader is set to +10 dB. You want to group the faders and do a slow fade out, but the slightly higher level of the fourth track causes its volume to be higher in relation to the other tracks towards the end of the fade out. To balance the fader levels, reduce the fader level for the fourth track to 0 dB and raise the Volume Trim value for that track to +10 dB. The resulting volume levels for the project are the same, but now you can group the faders and perform a fade out with no track standing out disproportionately at the end of the fade out.
Input	The input source for the track, used in recording
Output	The output bus through which the track is played
Send Enable (Track Inspector and Console view only)	Activates a send module, which sends a copy of the track signal to a bus.
Send Level (Track Inspector and Console view only)	Controls volume of audio data sent by this send module.
Send Pan (Track Inspector and Console view only)	Adjusts the send pan setting.
Send Pre/Post switch (Track Inspector and Console view only)	Pre (pre-fader) means that the Send signal goes to the bus prior to the track’s volume fader; post means the Send signal goes to the bus after the volume fader.
Send destination (Track Inspector and Console view only)	Displays name of bus that the Send is sending data to.
Mono/Stereo (Track Inspector and Console view only)	A switch that determines whether a track’s signal enters an effect or chain of effects as mono or stereo, regardless of the nature of the track.
Phase In/Out (Track Inspector and Console view only)	A switch that inverts the phase of the track.
FX Rack	The patch point for a track’s plug-ins or soft synths.
Meters	The recording and playback levels are displayed in the Playback and Record meters.
WAI display	Shows a color-coded bar if the track is being controlled by a control surface.
Track color	Opens the Track Color palette, where you can specify a custom color for each track.

For more information about audio track controls in the Track Inspector, see Audio track controls.

For more information about audio track controls in the Console view, see Audio track controls.

MIDI track parameters

The following pictures illustrate MIDI track parameters:

Note: The following images show the Advanced track control layout. The default Standard layout only shows a subset of all available controls. For details, see Advanced track controls.

Figure 77. MIDI track header controls.

A. Track color B. Track number C. Header icon D. Track name E. Maximize/restore F. Meter

 

Note: MSR buttons may appear in the header bar if the Track pane is wide.

Figure 78. MIDI track controls.

A. Track number B. Track name C. Edit Filter D. Mute E. Automation Read F. Solo G. Automation Write H. Arm for recording I. Input echo J. Archive K. Expand/collapse track L. Track icon M. WAI display N. Track color O. Expand/collapse Take Lanes P. Expand/collapse Automation Lanes Q. Volume slider R. Input S. Channel T. Patch U. Velocity+ V. Output W. Bank X. Pan slider Y. FX Rack Z. Meter

Here is a summary table of the different MIDI track parameters and how they are used:

Table 25.  

Parameter	What it means
Track number	A sequential track number used for reference
Track name	A name that you assign the track for easy reference. Note that if you do not assign a name to a track, the default name is the track number. This track number will change if you change the order of your tracks.
Mute	When enabled, mutes the track
Solo	When enabled, solos the track
Arm	When enabled, arms the track for MIDI recording.
Input Echo	Controls whether the track will echo MIDI data or not.
Archive	The track is not played, and you must stop playback to re-enable it. Archived tracks do not tax your CPU during playback so they can be used to store alternate takes.
Automation Read and Write buttons	Enable/disable automation playback and recording, respectively
Expand/collapse Take Lanes	Hides or shows Take lanes.
Expand/collapse Automation Lanes	Hides or shows Automation lanes.
Expand/collapse	Expands the track to show more controls, or collapses the track to only show the header bar.
Edit Filter	Specify which data type the global tools should operate on.
Vol (volume)	The current volume level for the track, ranging from 0 (silent) to 127 (maximum volume).
Pan	The stereo distribution of the output, ranging from 100% left (hard left) to 100% right (hard right); a value of “C” indicates sound that is centered left-to-right.
Velocity trim (Track Inspector and Console view only)	The change in velocity (volume) that will be applied to notes in this track on playback; ranges from –127 to +127
Input	The input source for the track, used in recording
Output	The output device through which the track is played
Ch (channel) (Track Inspector and Console view only)	The MIDI channel through which the notes will be played
Bank (Track Inspector and Console view only)	The set of patch names available for the track
Patch (Track Inspector and Console view only)	The instrument sound that will be used for playback.
Time+ (Track Inspector only)	An offset applied to the start time of the events in the track
Key+ (Track Inspector only)	The number of steps by which the notes in the track are transposed on playback (e.g., 12 to transpose up one octave)
Chorus (Track Inspector only)	Adds MIDI chorus effect to the track
Reverb (Track Inspector only)	Adds MIDI reverb effect to the track
Snap to Scale scale type (Track Inspector only)	Displays current scale for Snap to Scale feature
Snap to Scale root note (Track Inspector only)	Displays root note of current Snap to Scale scale
Snap to Scale on/off (Track Inspector only)	Turns Snap to Scale feature on or off
WAI display	Shows a color-coded bar if the track is being controlled by a control surface.
Track color	Opens the Track Color palette, where you can specify a custom color for each track.

For more information about MIDI track controls in the Track Inspector, see MIDI track and Instrument track controls.

For more information about MIDI track controls in the Console view, see MIDI track controls.

To change a track name

1.	Double-click on the current track name.

2.	Enter the new track name.

3.	Press ENTER.

The default track names (Track 1, Track 2, etc.) are not actually names, but placeholders until you name a track. If you reorder the tracks these placeholders change.

You can rearrange and resize the panes in the Track view as shown in the following table.

Table 26.  

To do this	Do this
Change the width of the Track pane and Bus pane	Drag the divider that separates the Track pane from the Clips panes to the left or right
Change the height of the Mains/Buses pane	Drag the divider that separates the Track and Clip panes from the Bus pane up or down

The following table shows how to customize the appearance of tracks in the Track pane.

Table 27.  

To do this	Do this
Expand/collapse a track	Click the Expand/collapse button in the track
Change the height of a track using splitter bars	Move the cursor over the gap below a track until the cursor looks like this . Click and drag until the track is the size you want.
Lock or unlock the height of a track	Right-click an empty area in the track’s controls and choose Lock Height from the menu.

Changing track settings in the Track pane

You can change the values in the Track pane in a number of ways:

Table 28.  

Control	How to change the setting
Volume and Pan	Click on the control and move your cursor left or right to adjust values, or press ENTER and type a value.
Input and Output	Click on the black arrow on the right of the control and select a driver from the menu that appears, or double-click on the control and select a driver from the menu.
Buttons	Click to enable or disable

You can also edit Track properties in the Track Inspector. To show or hide the Inspector, select Views > Inspector or press the I key.

Note: By default, the Track Inspector is shown in narrow mode, which is the width of a single channel strip. To make the Track Inspector wider, drag the vertical splitter bar to the right. The Track Inspector will also temporarily increase in width, if necessary, if you click the Clip or Track buttons to show the Clip Properties or Track Properties inspectors.

Figure 79. The Track Inspector

You can change the value of a track parameter for several tracks at once by using Quick Groups:

To adjust the same control in all tracks, hold down the CTRL key and adjust a control in a non-selected track.

To adjust the same control in all selected tracks of the same type, hold down the CTRL key and adjust a control in any selected channel strip.

For example, to assign a group of tracks to the same output, select the tracks you want to assign, then hold down the CTRL key and assign the Output control in any selected track. All selected tracks will be assigned to the same output.

All track parameters are saved with a Music Creator project. However, if you export a project to a standard MIDI File, several of the parameters (Key+, Vel+, Time+, and Chan) are applied to the MIDI data as the file is being exported. Other parameters, including Input, Output, Mute, Solo, and Archive, are lost when you export the project to a MIDI file. The following sections contain more information about many of the parameters in the Track view. For more information about the track inputs and the track Arm button, see Preparing to record.