Using this device in direct sunlight, extreme heat or humidity, excessive dust or dirt,
excessive vibrations, close to magnetic or electromagnetic fields can cause
malfunctions.
Track8 follows a simple and consistent interaction model. This page explains
the core concepts β for the exhaustive, per-screen list of every control see
the Controls & Shortcuts Reference.
A red border around the screen edges means record is armed (faded) or a
take is rolling (solid). It is visible on every screen (new in v1.2.1)
While a take is rolling, actions that would break the recording (changing
BPM, switching the record domain, opening heavy screens) are refused with
an on-screen error instead of silently stopping the take (new in v1.2.1)
Long operations show a picture under the title of their overlay, so you
see what Track8 is doing without reading: a hard disk whose head follows
the progress while a file is written (export, Save WAV / MID, backup), a
floppy rising into its drive while a project loads or is saved as new,
stick-arrow-floppy for an import, two tape reels for EXPORT TO TRACK,
and a turning arrow while undo, redo or a clipboard operation runs.
Confirmations that cannot be undone (DELETE, OVERWRITE, TRUNCATE) carry
a red warning triangle beside their title. A few screens carry a picture
of what they are about: the TEMPLATES disk has a hatched sticker, the
Tape utility shows the tape as two reels, the Soundcard page a jack or
USB plug for the built-in or an external card, the MIDI Device list a DIN
socket or USB plug per device, and the AU rack its rack units
(since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
The status bar at the bottom of the Overview screens shows the active
recording mode, the overdub state and the current time/beat position.
Bars and beats are counted from 1, so the start of the tape reads
01:01 (changed in v1.2.1 β it used to read 00:01):
Screens that accept touch input show a small [TOUCH] indicator
(new in v1.2.1)
Quick Settings: touch and hold the track area of the Audio or MIDI
Overview for about a second to open a panel of the everyday toggles that
otherwise live on the Utility screen (since v1.2.2):
VIEW: MKR LEG, MOD HI, BIG TIME, SHIFT HOLD β NAVIGATION: SHIFT NAV,
TIMED JUMP, SHIFT PLAY, PASTE JMP β SOUND & RECORD: SCROLL SND, TAPE SND,
OVERDUB, FREE BAR
Touch a tile to switch it (TIMED JUMP, SHIFT PLAY and TAPE SND cycle
through their values); lit tiles are on. TIMED JUMP is greyed out while
SHIFT NAV is set to BEATS
FREE BAR is the one tile that acts instead of switching: it closes the
panel and moves the playhead to the next empty bar on the tape β the next
place to paste or record without erasing anything. See
FREE BAR. Greyed out while recording
Touch anywhere outside the tiles to close the panel. Any button or encoder
closes it as well and still does its normal job β Play plays, the screen
keys switch screens
A short tap on the tracks still does what it always did (e.g. touching a
marker edits its label), and the panel is a shortcut only: every setting
stays on the Utility screen
A USB mouse scroll wheel or a jog wheel behaves like the SCROLL
encoder in the Audio/MIDI Overview and Edit views (since v1.1.1)
Settings β Settings β Utility (new in v1.2.1) β the
classic route via the UTILITY track button still works
Master FX β Master FX β Mastering β External Inputs (External Inputs
only with an external soundcard) (new in v1.2.1)
SHIFT + Master FX β Track FX β Track FX 2 β Track Sends (Track Sends only with an
external soundcard) (new in v1.2.1); the page changes on release, so the held key can solo (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
Hold Audio + Track Button β solo/unsolo an audio track on the Audio
Overview (since v1.1.2)
Hold Midi + Track Button β solo/unsolo a MIDI track on the Midi
Overview (since v1.1.2)
Hold SHIFT + Master FX (the Track FX key) + Track Button β solo/unsolo
an audio track on Track FX, Track FX 2 and Track Sends; the SHIFT row shows
each trackβs MUTED / SOLO state (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
Hold Audio + Midi, then press a Track Button β select the same
track for both Audio and MIDI (since v1.1.3)
Hold Settings, then press Audio β open the Soundcard settings
Hold Settings, then press Midi β open the MIDI settings
Hold Loop + Cut/Copy/Paste β arrange the current loop region: all unmuted tracks (a soloed track counts as the only unmuted one), Audio + MIDI, with the Markers inside the loop
instead of marker bounds (Audio Overview since v1.2.1,
MIDI Overview since v1.2.2)
Press Loop In + Loop Out together β set the loop region to the
surrounding marker bounds; with SHIFT the punch region (since v1.2.0)
After a paste the playhead can jump to the end of the pasted region to chain
pastes into a repeating pattern β enable PASTE JMP in Utility
(since v1.2.0). Pasted/modified areas can be highlighted in orange via
MOD HI in Utility (since v1.1.4).
Jump to Tape Start β or to the first Marker, configurable via SHIFT PLAY in Utility (since v1.1.5) β or to the start marker whenever one is flagged (new in v1.2.2)
Jump one Beat or one Marker to the Left (SHIFT NAV in Utility)
Jump one Beat or one Marker to the Right (SHIFT NAV in Utility)
The Left/Right buttons also navigate the tape while on the Track FX, Master
FX and Mastering screens (new in v1.2.1).
This page is generated from the firmware source (the per-screen control description tables) and lists what every hardware control does on each screen.
Turn and Push are the two encoder actions. βShift + β¦β applies while SHIFT is held or latched. A dash (β) means the control has no separate function in that state.
These button functions apply on every screen. Screens that reassign a button list the change in their own section below.
Button
Action
Shift + Button
Audio
Audio
Audio Edit
MIDI
MIDI
MIDI Edit
Master FX
Master FX
Track FX
Settings
Settings
USB Browser
Play
Play/Pause
Jump to start
Record
Record
Undo
Loop / Loop In / Loop Out
Toggle Loop, set In / Out, hold [ + ] to set from marker bounds, hold Loop + Cut/Copy/Paste to arrange the loop region (all Tracks, Audio + MIDI + Markers)
Toggle Punch, set In / Out, hold [ + ] to set from marker bounds
Cut Point
Create Marker / remove the Marker at the playhead (locked markers are kept)
Clear all unlocked Markers
Cut / Copy / Paste
Cut, Copy, Paste selected Track
Cut, Copy all unmuted Tracks (a soloed Track counts as the only unmuted one). Paste to bounce
Clipboard track (or the WAV loaded from the USB stick) whose material is the impulse; every other track is convolved with it. Push opens the USB browser: Copy there takes a WAVβs first 5 s as the impulse
Encoder 5
End / Start
Impulse span in the source (track or file), grid steps, 10 ms .. 5 s; push to switch which end the encoder moves (Start carries the span along, or trims it from the front while End is at the end of the material)
Clipboard track (or the WAV loaded from the USB stick) whose material is the impulse; every other track is convolved with it. Push opens the USB browser: Copy there takes a WAVβs first 5 s as the impulse
Encoder 5
End / Start
Impulse span in the source (track or file), grid steps, 10 ms .. 5 s; push to switch which end the encoder moves (Start carries the span along, or trims it from the front while End is at the end of the material)
Metronome OFF / REC (only while recording) / ON, or its level. The click sound is chosen in Utility (Encoder 4)
Push to switch between metronome mode and level
Encoder 6
Recording Mode
Audio AND Midi / Audio OR Midi
Encoder 7
Change what the 1/4β Footswitch does
β
Encoder 8
Audio Mon / Midi Mon
Push to cycle. OFF / ON / PUNCH (monitor only inside the punch brackets). Audio: disable when using Speakers and a Microphone. Midi: controls input echo to Midi Out
Encoders with Shift held
Encoder
Turn
Push
Encoder 1
BPM in steps of 10
Push to switch between whole BPM and decimals
Encoder 2
Measure
Push to cycle
Encoder 3
Metronome OFF / REC (only while recording) / ON, or its level. The click sound is chosen in Utility (Encoder 4)
Push to switch between metronome mode and level
Encoder 6
Recording Mode
Audio AND Midi / Audio OR Midi
Encoder 7
Change what the 1/4β Footswitch does
β
Encoder 8
Audio Mon / Midi Mon
Push to cycle. OFF / ON / PUNCH (monitor only inside the punch brackets). Audio: disable when using Speakers and a Microphone. Midi: controls input echo to Midi Out
Metronome OFF / REC (only while recording) / ON, or its level. The click sound is chosen in Utility (Encoder 4)
Push to switch between metronome mode and level
Encoder 6
Recording Mode
Audio AND Midi / Audio OR Midi
Encoder 7
Change what the 1/4β Footswitch does
β
Encoder 8
Audio Mon / Midi Mon
Push to cycle. OFF / ON / PUNCH (monitor only inside the punch brackets). Audio: disable when using Speakers and a Microphone. Midi: controls input echo to Midi Out
Encoders with Shift held
Encoder
Turn
Push
Encoder 1
BPM in steps of 0.1
Push to switch between whole BPM and decimals
Encoder 2
Measure
Push to cycle
Encoder 3
Metronome OFF / REC (only while recording) / ON, or its level. The click sound is chosen in Utility (Encoder 4)
Push to switch between metronome mode and level
Encoder 6
Recording Mode
Audio AND Midi / Audio OR Midi
Encoder 7
Change what the 1/4β Footswitch does
β
Encoder 8
Audio Mon / Midi Mon
Push to cycle. OFF / ON / PUNCH (monitor only inside the punch brackets). Audio: disable when using Speakers and a Microphone. Midi: controls input echo to Midi Out
Metronome click sound: WOOD / BEEP / RIM / BELL / LOW, USER when bin/static/tic.wav + toc.wav are on the SSD
Push to hear it
Encoder 5
Create new Project at Startup
β
Encoder 6
Marker Legs / Modified Highlight / Scroll Sound / SHIFT Play target (overridden by a start marker: START MKR) / Paste Jump / Tape Stop Sound / Big Time
Push to cycle
Encoder 7
Theme / Shader (OFF, BLOOM, CRT, SCANLINE, SOFT, SHARP, CUSTOM when bin/static/bloom.glsl exists) / Temp (colour temperature 2500β6500 K)
Push to cycle
Encoder 8
Brightness / Standby
Push to toggle
Track buttons
Track button
Action
1
Exit to Project Settings
7
AU RACK (companion app): AUv3 plugins as outboard gear
The transport, edit, navigation and screen-select buttons have no labelled function on this screen.
Multi allows to record more than 1 Track at a time
β
Encoder 5
Hybrid: MON plays the mix on the headphone out, FULL also offers the built-in inputs
β
Encoder 6
Fallback to 44.1k
Degrades audio
Encoder 7
Some Interfaces might need a higher Buffer
β
Track buttons
Track button
Action
1
Exit to Project Settings
The transport, edit, navigation and screen-select buttons have no labelled function on this screen.
Screens not listed here (project save/rename/import dialogs, audio I/O mapping pages, MIDI mapping pages, firmware update) use the standard controls shown on screen.
Press any encoder to cycle through the encoder modes:
VOLUME β level (per track)
PAN β stereo position (per track)
SCROLL β timeline navigation (Encoder 2 sets the scroll increment β the same encoder as the grid on Audio Edit and MIDI Edit, so one external knob serves all four screens (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT); it was Encoder 1 up to v1.2.3 β, Encoder 8 scrolls, Encoder 3 β MOVE MARKER, Encoder 5 β SPLICE, Encoder 7 zooms the timeline 0.25x to 4x (since v1.2.2)). While SCROLL is active, the beat ruler shows the scroll increment as shorter ticks between the beats, like the grid on Audio Edit (since v1.2.2)
REC OFFSET β per-track record offset, 0 to -50 ms (since v1.1.4)
Return Mix and Return Vol (Encoder 5 and 6 on external soundcards up to v1.2.3) are INS MIX and INS RETURN on the Track FX 2 page now (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
+ push Encoder 8 β Redo
Hold while turning for fine-grained value changes (since v1.1.4)
Press again while on the Audio Overview to switch to the Track Mixer (new in v1.2.1)
+ β Audio Edit. The edit view opens on the parameter you last adjusted with an encoder β turn a Volume/Pan/Send encoder, then + to edit its automation directly (new in v1.2.1)
The tape is 3 hours long β the longest a WAV file can be. The end is
drawn like the start: the beat ruler and the track lanes stop there, on
both overviews.
Playback and recording stop when the playhead reaches the end
(END OF TAPE); a locate never goes past it, and loop and punch points
stay inside it
Anything written past the end is cut off: a paste, a
long import, a recording,
or the tail a SPLICE insert pushes over the edge (CLIPPED AT TAPE END).
Undo of a clipped SPLICE brings the cut tail back
Long pastes, cuts, clears, undos and redos β anything over a minute of
audio β show their progress as a percentage bar while the tape is rewritten
Open up blank bars at the playhead, or remove bars so everything after closes the gap β the two things a razor blade does on real tape. One splice moves everything behind the splice point: all 8 audio tracks with their automation, all MIDI tracks, and the markers, loop and punch points.
Select the SCROLL encoder mode. Encoder 5 becomes SPLICE
Turn Encoder 5 clockwise to stage blank time at the playhead, one SCROLL step per click (SCROLL at 1/4 β 4 clicks = 1 bar). Turn counter-clockwise to stage a removal instead
The overview previews the result while you stage: everything behind the splice point is drawn where it will end up β waveforms, MIDI, markers, loop and punch points. An insert shows the blank bars as a highlighted band, a removal shows the tail pulled up to a cut line at the splice point. The encoder label shows the amount, e.g. +1 bar / -2 beats
Push Encoder 5 to apply. A SPLICE 0%β¦100% overlay locks the controls while the tape is rewritten. It shows a time estimate and how much tape is being moved: everything behind the splice point has to be rewritten on every track, so the more tape follows the splice point, the longer it takes (a few seconds per minute of tail on 8 tracks)
Any button press discards the staged splice β PLAY included β and so does turning Encoder 2 (grid) or Encoder 8 (scroll), switching screens, changing the encoder mode, Undo/Redo, a live recording, or turning the amount back to 0. Only Encoder 5 itself and SHIFT leave it alone. Nothing on the tape changes until you push, and there is no audible preview: the drawing is the preview
The splice point is the playhead position at the first click. To splice somewhere else, scroll there (which discards the staged amount) and stage again
Markers move with the tape β locked markers and tempo/signature markers too, so the bar/beat readout behind the splice stays what it was. Markers inside a removed span are deleted; loop and punch points inside it collapse to the splice point
A removal is limited to 1:30 of tape per splice (the removed audio of all 8 tracks stays on the Undo stack, like a Cut). A removal that would swallow a tempo or signature marker is refused β move the playhead past it or remove the variation first
An insert that pushes audio past the end of the tape (3 hours) cuts that audio off (CLIPPED AT TAPE END); Undo brings it back (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
Audio automation: an insert opens a gap that plays at the fader value; a removal lets the neighbouring points interpolate across the seam. MIDI CC / pitch-bend / aftertouch set inside a removed span carry their last value over to the splice point
Undo reverts a splice completely β audio, automation, MIDI, and since v1.2.2 also the markers, loop and punch points β from either screen (UNDO SPLICE n%); Redo re-applies it
The same SPLICE encoder is on the MIDI Overview and does exactly the same thing from there
Reposition a marker without recreating it β its label, colour, lock, βΆ start flag, tempo / time signature change and MIDI event all travel with it. Made for adjusting section starts and pre-rolls after the fact (#315).
Select the SCROLL encoder mode and put the playhead on a marker (the one a Marker press would toggle β jump there with SHIFT + β β). Encoder 3 reads MOVE <name>; it stays blank while the playhead is not on a marker
Turn Encoder 3 clockwise to stage a move later, counter-clockwise earlier, one SCROLL step per click (SCROLL at 1/4 β 4 clicks = 1 bar). The label shows the staged amount
The overview previews the result while you stage: the marker is drawn where it will land, its old place stays as a muted ghost, and MOVE <name> +2 beats - PUSH to apply sits next to it. The playhead rides along with the marker, so it never leaves the screen however far you carry it β set SCROLL to a bar for long trips. Turning back onto the original place clears the staged move and brings the playhead back with the marker
Push Encoder 3 to apply. The playhead stays on the marker at its new place, so you can nudge it again or press Play to hear the new section start right away
Any other input discards the staged move β a button press, turning another encoder, scrolling, switching screens or encoder modes, Undo / Redo, a live recording. The one exception is Encoder 2: changing the SCROLL step keeps the staged move, so you can travel in bars and land in sixteenths
The lock does not stop a move: like a SPLICE, a staged-and-pushed move is a deliberate edit, while the lock guards against accidental deletion. Tempo / signature and MIDI-event markers move too β moving a tempo marker moves the grid, MIDI and metronome behind it with it
Other markers are no obstacle while turning β moving past them reorders the sections. Landing exactly on another marker is settled at push, the way a LOOP Paste treats its destination: an unlocked marker there is replaced (Undo brings it back), a locked, tempo or MIDI-event marker refuses the push (locked marker there) and keeps the staged move, so one more click past it is all it takes. Nothing moves before the tape start
Undo puts the marker back (UNDO Marker Move); Redo moves it again. The playhead goes with it both ways, like every other Undo lands on what changed, so Encoder 3 keeps reading MOVE <name> and you can stage the next try straight away
Looking for room to paste or record without erasing anything? FREE BAR moves the playhead to the next empty bar, so you do not have to scroll for it (#323).
Touch and hold the track area (about a second) to open Quick Settings, then touch FREE BAR. The panel closes, the playhead jumps and FREE BAR / BAR 17 shows where it landed. The jump is immediate, stopped or playing
A bar is free when, from its bar line for one full bar, all 8 audio tracks stay below -40 dB and no MIDI note sounds on any MIDI track β a note held over from an earlier bar counts. Hiss and room tone under -40 dB count as empty, and so does the very end of a fade-out; MIDI CCs and automation are not looked at
Bars follow the grid you see: tempo and time signature changes on Markers are taken into account
Mutes and solos are ignored β a muted trackβs material is still material, and the point is never to land on any
The target is the start of the next gap. If the playhead already stands in a free bar, the rest of that gap is skipped, so touching FREE BAR again walks from gap to gap instead of creeping one bar forward
Behind the last audio and the last MIDI note everything is free, so the last stop is always the first bar line after your material. From there on, TAPE IS FREE FROM HERE appears and nothing moves
Touch the stereo input meter to cycle between three recording modes:
AUDIO: Default. Records audio only, no automation
A+A: Records audio and live automation
ATM: Records automation only, no audio
In A+A and ATM mode the overview draws automation lines for the currently selected encoder mode (Volume, Pan). While recording is running, turning a trackβs encoder writes its moves into that trackβs automation lane.
In ATM mode every track records β turning any trackβs encoder writes into its lane, no track selection or arming needed; in A+A mode automation is only written for the tracks being recorded (new in v1.2.1)
A recorded automation pass undoes as a single step, however many tracks and parameters were ridden (new in v1.2.1)
The Track Mixer can arm an automation pass directly: pressing there switches to ATM automatically (new in v1.2.1)
Recording behavior:
Recording keeps running when switching views (except Settings / USB Browser)
A running recording is indicated by a red border around the screen edges; actions that would silently stop it show an error instead (new in v1.2.1)
Touch the overdub indicator to quickly toggle Overdub (since v1.1.4)
+ while recording stops playback, undoes the take and moves the playhead back to where the recording started β instant retake (new in v1.2.1)
Record multiple takes of the same section and pick the best one:
Tip β rehearse the punch: set AUDIO MON (or MIDI MON) to PUNCH in the Project Settings and the input is only audible while the playhead is inside the punch brackets β even with punch recording off. What you hear on a rehearsal pass is exactly what a recorded pass will sound like (new in v1.2.1).
Set a Punch In region (best inside a Loop region so the playhead cycles automatically)
Start playback β each pass through the punch region records a take; the take row appears at the bottom
Stop and press a Track Button to audition a take (you can also switch takes during playback)
To commit, select the take and exit Punch ( + )
Pressing while auditioning keeps the selected take and resumes recording more passes
Notes:
Works for non-Overdub audio recordings only
Up to 8 takes; take 9 overwrites take 1
+ Track Button still mutes, + Track Button still solos during a take session
Stitch the best pieces of several takes into one β the best word or phrase out of each vocal take:
After the passes, press to set a comp marker at the playhead. While a take session is live and you are listening (or the transport is stopped), the marker button sets comp markers instead of tape markers. Press it again near a comp marker to remove it; clears them all
The screen dims down to the takeβs track and region and the tape markers hide. Comp markers split the region into sections, each labelled with the take it plays
Move the playhead into a section and press a Track Button: the take is picked for that section only. The take row highlights the take of the section under the playhead
Commit as usual β exit Punch ( + ), or to keep the comp and record more passes. The sections are stitched together with a short crossfade (10 ms) at every comp marker: what you hear while auditioning is exactly what lands on tape
Notes:
Comp markers belong to the take session: they are not saved with the project and go away when the session ends
Setting a comp marker starts the audition, just like pressing a take button: the next Play compares takes instead of recording another pass. records more passes; the markers stay, and every section starts out on the new take
Up to 31 comp markers (32 sections)
One Undo after committing still restores the audio from before the session
The level meters read peak in 8 bars of 6 dB each, counted from the red end of the scale. Quieter bars stay lit as the level rises, so the last lit bar is the reading. The per-track meters run bottom-to-top; the stereo -IN- and -OUT- meters run outwards from their label:
Touch and hold the track area (about a second) to open the Quick Settings panel β MKR LEG, MOD HI, BIG TIME, SHIFT HOLD, SHIFT NAV, TIMED JUMP, SHIFT PLAY, PASTE JMP, SCROLL SND, TAPE SND, OVERDUB and the FREE BAR locate, without leaving the overview; see Touch (since v1.2.2)
Touch the time / beat readout (anywhere from T 00:00 over the streaming indicator to B 01:01) to toggle BIG TIME β a big, translucent overlay on the left half of the screen, readable from across the room: the time / bar-beat readout plus the name of the marker the playhead is in, the next one, and a progress bar with a bars:beats countdown to it β name your markers after chords or song sections and read the changes while playing. The setting is global and shows on both overviews (since v1.2.2) β the same setting as BIG TIME on the Utility screen
Markers can be given textual labels (e.g. βVerseβ, βChorusβ)
A label that starts with a number from 1 to 8 (1 Verse, 2. Chorus) makes the marker a locator: the Locate 1 β¦ Locate 8 button actions of MIDI Remote Control jump straight to it from a pad controller (since v1.2.2)
Markers snap to 1/4 notes β use the Audio Edit view for finer cut/copy/paste work (since v1.1.4)
Touch marker to edit label
Everything in the marker edit screen β label, lock, start flag, colour, tempo / time signature and MIDI events β is written together when you press APPLY; the key lights up while something is pending, and EXIT discards all of it (before v1.2.2 the button read SET LABEL and the lock took effect immediately)
MOVE MARKER (Encoder 3 in SCROLL mode) repositions the marker under the playhead by SCROLL steps, with everything it carries (new in v1.2.2)
A SPLICE moves markers with the tape β locked and tempo markers included β and deletes the markers inside a removed span. Undo of the splice brings them back (new in v1.2.2)
In the marker edit screen you can:
Lock / Unlock marker - Locked markers are shown with an * and cannot be deleted β neither by clear all Markers () nor by pressing the Marker button next to them; a press near a locked marker shows MARKER LOCKED and changes nothing. Unlock the marker here first to delete it (since v1.1.2; true lock against the Marker button new in v1.2.2)
Make it the start marker β the βstart from hereβ point for repeated takes: while a marker carries the flag, always locates to it, whatever SHIFT PLAY in Utility is set to (the setting shows START MKR meanwhile). Push Encoder 8 to switch the flag button from the lock to βΆ (START ON / START OFF), then turn Encoder 8 up for on, down for off β or touch the button to toggle it; push again to return to the lock (like every other push-cycled encoder: push picks the function, turn sets it). Only one marker can be the start marker β flagging another one moves the flag. The start marker shows a βΆ in its head; deleting it hands back to the setting (new in v1.2.2)
Change BPM and Time Signature at the marker position (since v1.1.3)
Applies to all content after the marker, or until the next marker with a tempo change
Also affects existing MIDI notes, MIDI Clock and the Metronome
Markers that change the tempo or time signature (or send MIDI events) are always considered locked β to delete one, switch that change off first
FIT β find the tempo of an off-grid recording (since v1.2.2): set a marker on a downbeat and another one a few downbeats later, then edit the first marker. Hold and the BPM slot turns into FIT 4 BARS = 97.3 BPM: turn Encoder 1 to say how many bars lie between the two markers (1β64; set the time signature on Encoders 2/3 first), push Encoder 1 to take that tempo β the tempo / time signature change switches on and the BPM keeps one decimal. APPLY writes it and moves the second marker onto the downbeat of bar N + 1, so it stays where you placed it by ear. The audio is not stretched; only the grid, MIDI, clock and metronome follow. Shows NO NEXT MKR on the last marker and OUT OF RANGE when the bar count gives a tempo outside 30β360 BPM
Send MIDI events to external gear when the playhead crosses the
marker (new in v1.2.1):
Encoder 4 picks what Encoders 5/6 edit: - (no MIDI event β turning
back to - clears it), TRANS or PROG. A marker sends one or the
other β setting one clears the other
TRANS β Encoder 5: --- / START / STOP. Sends MIDI Start or
Stop at the marker, e.g. to kick a drum machineβs pattern in at the
chorus or stop an external sequencer for a breakdown. Only while Track8
is MIDI Clock Master; independent of the TRANSPORT send setting.
With CLOCK on, the message is aligned to the next clock tick like
Track8βs own transport
PROG β Encoder 5: channel (CH 1β¦16, starts on the selected MIDI
trackβs channel), Encoder 6: PROG 1β¦128 (turn below 1 β ---
removes the program change); push Encoder 6 to switch Encoder 6 to
BANK 1β¦128 (Bank Select MSB). One event per marker; use two markers
for two devices or for a program change plus a transport command
Program changes are caught up: on play start, locate and loop wrap
the latest program change at or before the playhead is re-sent per
channel, so a synth is in the right patch when you start mid-song.
Transport events fire only when the marker is actually crossed
Markers with MIDI events show an M on the marker head and count as
locked, like tempo / signature markers β set the event back to - to
delete the marker (since v1.2.2)
Colour-code the marker with Encoder 7 (COLOR) β turn to cycle
through the regular marker colour plus red, yellow, green, cyan, blue,
purple, pink and white; push to go back to the regular colour. The
COLOR label is drawn in the selected colour as a preview. The marker
head, its label background and its marker leg all follow, which makes
sections easy to tell apart when scrolling a long project (new in v1.2.1)
UTILITY β MKR LEG draws a vertical line under each marker for easier visual reference (since v1.1.4)
Press + together to snap the Loop region to the surrounding marker bounds; with held the Punch region is set instead (since v1.2.0)
Cut/Copy/Paste ( / / ) always effects the area between two Markers
Hold + Cut/Copy/Paste to arrange the current Loop region β all unmuted tracks, audio and MIDI, with the Markers inside the loop β see Arrange Audio, MIDI and Markers together with LOOP (since v1.2.2; in v1.2.1 this took the loop region of the selected track only)
Only unmuted tracks are included in Cut/Copy All Operations ( / )
A soloed track counts as the only unmuted one: solo a track and the multi-track Cut/Copy takes just that track, no matter how the other Mutes are set (since v1.2.2)- The Clipboard is kept in Memory, and will be cleared when shutting down the device
Touch the clipboard indicator to open the Audio Clipboard Modifier and process the clipboard content
Hold and press / / to run the operation on both the audio and the MIDI side at once, over the Loop region β and with the Markers inside it (since v1.2.2). Use it to move whole song sections β a verse, a chorus β without leaving half the arrangement behind: set the loop around the section, LOOP + Copy, move the playhead, LOOP + Paste, and it arrives with its Markers, tempo changes and MIDI events in place, nothing to re-enter by hand.
The Loop region is used on both sides β set it by hand, or snap it to the surrounding Marker bounds with + together. The loop on/off state is left as it was
Like / , only unmuted tracks are included β on the audio side and the MIDI side, each judged by its own mutes. To arrange a single track, mute the others β or solo it: a soloed track counts as the only unmuted one on its side (since v1.2.2)
Paste puts every copied track back on its own track β also when only a single track was copied. There is no bouncing here: the multi-track clipboard keeps its layout on both sides
Paste replaces the destination on both sides for the length of the copied loop: every copied track is written back β the audio is overwritten and the MIDI events in that span are cleared before the clipboard is written, so nothing of the old section bleeds into the new one. A track that was silent in the copied section comes out silent at the destination too, on the MIDI side as on the audio side (since v1.2.2); before, a MIDI track without events in the section left the destinationβs events in place. Tracks that were muted at copy time are not part of the section and are left alone
To clear or copy one track over the loop region and leave the Markers alone β e.g. to remove a lead that runs through twenty chord Markers β take the loop into Region Editing: Audio Edit, Track Button 7, push SLIDE (Encoder 4), Cut (since v1.2.2)
Mute every track, audio and MIDI, and LOOP + Copy/Paste moves just the Markers of a section β Undo takes them back like any other LOOP Paste (since v1.2.2)
Both clipboards are used, so LOOP + Cut/Copy replaces whatever was in them
Keep held to chain operations: Copy, move the playhead, Paste, all in one grip
Each action confirms on screen: Copy Loop: Audio + MIDI + Markers, Cut Loop: Audio + MIDI + Markers, Paste Audio + MIDI + Markers. When Mutes leave audio tracks out of the section, the overlay counts what is actually taken β Copy Loop: 7/8 Tracks + MIDI + Markers, or No Audio (muted) when every audio track is muted β so a track skipped as muted shows up right at the Copy, not later as a hole in the Paste
The Markers inside the loop travel with the section. A Marker region can never contain Markers (it ends at the next one); a loop can span as many as you like
Cut/Copy stores every Marker inside the loop β label, colour, lock, tempo / time signature change, MIDI events β with its distance to the loop start in real time, so a tempo change inside the section still lines up with the pasted audio
A Marker sitting exactly on the loop end bracket counts as part of the section and travels too. Pasting puts it right on the destinationβs end bracket β unless a Marker already sits there, which keeps its place. Cut never deletes it: a Marker on the end bracket just as much marks the start of the section behind the loop, which a Cut leaves untouched (since v1.2.2)
Paste replaces the unlocked Markers in the destination span, the same way it replaces the audio and MIDI there. Locked Markers and Markers with a tempo / signature change or a MIDI event stay put β a paste is no way around the lock; a pasted Marker that would land exactly on one of them is skipped
Cut removes the unlocked Markers inside the loop; locked ones stay. Markers behind the loop are not moved (Cut clears the region, it does not close the gap β use SPLICE for that)
The βΆ start flag is never copied β there is only one start marker per project and it stays where it is
Only LOOP + Cut/Copy fills the Marker clipboard; every other Cut/Copy and a sample import replace it, so a later LOOP + Paste never pairs fresh audio with another sectionβs Markers
One Undo reverts both halves. After a LOOP Cut or Paste, a plain Undo (Record) takes the audio and the MIDI side back β Markers included β from either screen, and shows UNDO Audio + MIDI. Redo (push Encoder 8) restores both the same way (since v1.2.1)
This holds as long as the LOOP edit is the newest thing on both sides. Edit one domain on its own afterwards and Undo stays per-domain: on that domainβs screen it reverts the newer edit first β the LOOP edit underneath is only covered up, not lost: undo that edit and the following Undo pairs both domains again. On the other screen it reverts that sideβs half on its own, and from then on the two halves are undone and redone independently
It also holds for a section without MIDI events, or without audio: both sides keep an entry for every LOOP Paste, even one that had nothing to write on that side (shown as UNDO Loop Paste when undone on its own) (since v1.2.2)
Once the two halves have come apart, the Markers go back with whichever half is undone first, and return with whichever half is redone first (since v1.2.2)
v1.2.1 introduced this as + Cut/Copy/Paste over the Marker region, next to a single-track LOOP + Cut/Copy. Both are replaced by LOOP + Cut/Copy/Paste: the Marker region can never carry Markers, and the two-button chord was awkward to hold. Plain Cut/Copy/Paste still works between Markers, per track and per domain
The clipboard can hold 12 minutes of audio in total (since v1.2.1). This has the following implications on the Workflow:
At most 12 minutes of audio can be Cut/Copied
If you Cut/Copy Multiple tracks, the sum canβt be greater than 12 minutes
Cut/Copy 8 tracks β The area can be 1.5 minutes long
Workflow helpers:
UTILITY β PASTE JMP: when enabled, Paste moves the playhead to the end of the pasted region, so you can quickly fill the tape with a repeating pattern (since v1.2.0)
UTILITY β MOD HI: highlights all modified (pasted/cut) areas in orange until the next clipboard operation or view switch (since v1.1.4)
During multi-take recording nothing is highlighted while the takes are still open β a pass stopped half way no longer leaves its span painted through take switching and comping. The kept take is highlighted once the session ends with punch off (since v1.2.2)
UTILITY β MKR LEG: marker legs stop at the track area, like the waveform, so the input/output meters and I/O indicators stay clear of them (since v1.2.2)
Every Cut/Copy/Paste confirms with a short overlay, e.g. COPY / Copy all tracks to Clipboard or PASTE / Paste to Track 3: Drums. For long operations the overlay stays up and locks the controls until the audio is safely written to disk, then lingers a moment as the same confirmation (new in v1.2.1)
The bounce confirmation (Bounce 7 Tracks to Track 1) counts the tracks the Clipboard actually holds β what the mixdown really mixes β not the tracks currently unmuted in the Mixer (since v1.2.2; before, muting or unmuting between Copy and Paste made the count wrong)
For Audio there is an Undo Stack of 12 minutes (since v1.2.1).
Every audio operation (record, cut, paste, nudge, automation edit) moves the previous audio on the Undo stack
As the Stack is capped at 12 minutes, older Undo steps get discarded
As the Undo Stack has the same size as the Cut/Copy Limit, you can always undo once
Undo moves the playhead to the start of the undone region (new in v1.2.1)
Undo and Redo confirm what they touched with a short overlay, e.g. UNDO Track 3: Drums, UNDO all tracks, REDO Automation (new in v1.2.1)
In two low-memory situations the device frees history early β always with an on-screen message: CLIPBOARD CLEARED and UNDO HISTORY TRIMMED (new in v1.2.1)
Open Audio Edit with + . The view opens on the parameter you last adjusted with an encoder anywhere in the audio views β turn a control, then jump straight to editing its automation (new in v1.2.1).
Scroll resolution β push to switch between Grid and ms steps. In Grid mode the beat ruler shows sub-beat grid steps as shorter ticks; in ms mode only beats and bars are drawn (since v1.2.2)
4
Value / automation at playhead (see below) β push starts an LFO on the lane; SLIDE in Edit mode (push: selection = Loop region), Nudge in Nudge mode (push: confirm)
5
Start of Edit/Nudge region β push to set Start to playhead (since v1.1.2)
6
End of Edit/Nudge region β push to set End to playhead. Selects the FX parameter in TrackFX/Return mode
7
Zoom (0.25x β 2048x)
8
Scroll timeline β push to move the Edit/Nudge region to the playhead
Return: INS MIX / INS RETURN, the insert faders of the Track FX 2 page (external soundcards). INS RETURN runs from -24 to +24 dB (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
Push Encoder 4 on any automation lane (Volume, Pan, TrackFX, Return) to generate a tempo-synced LFO into the region between the surrounding Markers. The LFO is written into the lane while you dial it in, so you see it in the lane and hear it during playback right away.
Encoder
Turn
Push
4
LFO shape: SINE, TRI, SAW DN, SAW UP, SQUARE, S&H
Commit and leave LFO mode
5
RATE β one cycle per note value, same ladder as GRID (up to 4 whole notes); starts at the current GRID
Shift the phase by 90Β°
6
DEPTH 0β100 %, or DELTA -100 to +100 % after a push ( = 1 % steps)
Toggle Encoder 6 between DEPTH and DELTA
The laneβs value at the region start is the LFOβs resting level; set it with Encoder 4 before pushing, or shift it afterwards with DELTA, which moves the whole LFO up or down by up to half the laneβs range
Volume and INS RETURN dip down from that level (100 % reaches silence on Volume and -24 dB on INS RETURN), every other lane swings around it, TrackFX frequencies, Q and times in octaves rather than Hz
Every shape except SAW UP starts at the resting level, so a volume LFO begins at full level; SAW UP swells up from the trough. On the lanes that swing around the resting level (Pan, TrackFX, INS MIX) every shape with a centre crossing starts there: SINE, TRI and SAW UP rise first, SAW DN falls first; SQUARE and S&H begin at the top
Automation that was in the region is replaced; automation outside it is untouched, and the lane returns to the resting level at the region end. The region is its own section of the lane: automation before or after it is not connected to the LFO β between them the lane reads the fader, exactly as after clearing a region between markers (since v1.2.2)
Anything other than turning the LFO encoders commits the LFO: moving the playhead, Play, touching the lane, zooming, changing the track or lane, leaving the screen, and UNDO itself (which then undoes the LFO)
Selectively delete automation points with + touchscreen β this simplifies the curve without creating holes
Clear automation between the surrounding Markers with + the Track Button of the selected mode (new in v1.2.1 β previously this cleared the whole lane):
Volume: + Track Button 1
Pan: + Track Button 2
TrackFX: + Track Button 3 β only clears the currently selected TrackFX parameter
Return: + Track Button 4 β only clears the currently selected Return parameter
With no markers set, the clear extends over the whole tape
The cleared region becomes a hole: it reads the trackβs base value
SLIDE (Encoder 4): moves Start and End together in GRID / JUMP increments, keeping the region length (new in v1.2.1)
Selection = Loop (since v1.2.2): push SLIDE (Encoder 4) to set START / END to the current Loop region β SELECTION = LOOP confirms it, and the playhead jumps to the new START so the selection is on screen (not while recording). Use it to edit one track over a long stretch without touching the Markers: set the loop around the part on the overview (it can span as many Markers as you like), open Audio Edit, Track Button 7, push SLIDE, Cut. Unlike LOOP + Cut on the overview, only the selected track is cleared and every Marker stays where it is. With no loop set the push shows NO LOOP REGION and changes nothing; the loop on/off state does not matter
Selection off (since v1.2.2): press Track Button 7 again while in Region Editing to switch the selection off β the track draws all bright inside the usual EDIT frame, START / END read -, playback runs past the End and + Play is the plain transport jump again, so you can review an edit in context without leaving the view. The region is kept: turning START, END or SLIDE brings it back exactly as it was (the first click only restores it), pushing START / END brings it back with that end on the playhead, and pressing Track Button 7 once more toggles it on. Cut / Copy show NO SELECTION while it is off. Entering Region Editing or the screen always starts with the selection on
+ moves the playhead to the Start of the selection; playback stops at the End unless LOOP is enabled or the selection is switched off (since v1.2.0)
Modification highlights (UTILITY β MOD HI) are also shown in this view (since v1.1.5)
The Clipboard Modifier (introduced in v1.1.3) is a small self-contained editor that works on the audio clipboard instead of the tape. Copy audio, mangle it, audition it, then paste the result β the tape stays untouched until you paste.
The screen is marked with an orange border so it canβt be confused with the regular Audio Edit view.
Enter by touching the clipboard indicator on the Audio Overview or Audio Edit screen after a Cut/Copy
Not available for a long file imported from the stick (LONG IMPORT - NO MODIFIER, (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)): such a clipboard refers to the file instead of holding the audio β paste it and edit on the tape
Or from Audio Edit: Track Button 6 CLIPMOD opens the modifier; + Track Button 6 COPY > CLIP copies the current selection and opens the modifier in one step (since v1.1.5)
Multi-track clipboards open with all copied tracks included β every edit is applied to all of them
Exit via any view button (e.g. or )
The modifier remembers the page and group you last worked in and reopens there (new in v1.2.1, pages (since v1.2.2)); all parameters start neutral on each visit
It also remembers the encoder 1 resolution β the GRID division, or JUMP mode and its millisecond step β so switching to the overview or wave edit screen and back no longer resets it to 1/4 (new in v1.2.1)
Important
Clipboard edits have no undo. If you donβt like a result, Copy the audio again for a fresh clipboard.
GRID β step size for Start/End/Scroll. Push to toggle JUMP mode (free millisecond steps instead of the musical grid). The groupsβ rate and time encoders follow it, see Free rates and times
2
START of the edit region β push to set Start to the playhead
3
END of the edit region β push to set End to the playhead
4β6
Parameters of the selected group (see below)
7
Zoom (0.25x β 2048x)
8
Scroll / move the playhead
All edits apply to the region between START and END β by default the whole clipboard. Hold while turning a parameter encoder for fine steps.
Every group encoder that holds a note value β GRAINSIZE / RATE, the RATE of the four MOD LFOs and of CHORUS / FLANGE / PHASER, DELAY / PINGPONGTIME, STRETCHWINDOW, FREEZELENGTH and BLURTIME β follows Encoder 1:
On the GRID it steps through the note values, now from 1/64 up to four whole notes (4/1), so a slow sweep is reachable without leaving the tempo
Push Encoder 1 into JUMP mode and the same encoders become free of the tempo: a rate reads in Hz (0.05Hzβ20.0Hz, a 20 s sweep at the slow end β the chorus at a tenth of a hertz the VOICE effects wanted), a time in ms (1.00msβ20.00s). They step in thirds of an octave like the FILTER cutoffs, a twelfth with . The engines keep their own limits (a delay of at most 2 s, a blur of about a second)
The push itself changes nothing you hear: the first click converts the value. In JUMP mode a note value turns into its time at the session tempo and steps on from there; back on the GRID a free value snaps to the next note value in the direction you turn
A free value stays as it is when the tempo changes, a note value follows the tempo. Until it is turned on the GRID again, a free value keeps showing its Hz or ms, whichever mode Encoder 1 is in, so you can see it is not synced
Hold and the first three encoders become the tuning settings that the SPRAY, RESO, TUNE, TUNED, COMB and HARMONY groups read. They are settings, not edits: they persist like GRID, have no APPLY, and turning them never discards a groupβs un-applied changes. The pushes keep their normal jobs.
1β4 octaves above ROOT (RESO band range, SPRAY transposition range)
3
ROOT
C1βC6, the key of the RESO bank, TUNE, the TUNED sieve and the COMB note (SPRAY and HARMONY transpose relative to the materialβs own pitch and ignore it)
The groups are organised in pages (since v1.2.2). + Track Button 1β7 selects a page, Track Buttons 1β7 select a group on the current page, and Track Button 8 stays APPLY. While is held the track-button row shows the page names (the current page lit, the others muted, undefined pages blank); release it and the row shows the current pageβs groups again. The current page is always shown at the top left of the waveform area, below GRID, as [EDIT], [GRAIN], [MOD] or [FX].
Each group puts its parameters on Encoders 4/5/6. Switching page or group (or re-pressing the current group) discards any un-applied settings of the current group.
+ Button
Page
Contents
1
EDIT
the original modifier: VOLUME β¦ FILTER (CRUSH moved to DIST), plus TUNE
2
GRAIN
rhythmic granular resynthesis and a tuned resonator
3
MOD
LFOs printed over the region
4
FX
printed delay / reverb, loop tools
5
DIST
crush, colour, tape, amp, wavefolder, ring modulator
PAN: a balance on the clipβs existing stereo pair β panning right attenuates the left channel and leaves the right untouched (and vice versa). A clip recorded into one input only lives on one side, so panning it towards the silent side fades it out rather than moving it across.
FADE: negative values = fade-in, positive = fade-out. Values up to Β±100 use an equal-power curve; beyond Β±100 the curve gets steeper, up to Β±200 (since v1.2.0)
SHUFFLE / STUTTER (since v1.2.2): while un-applied, the divisions are drawn over the waveform β thin lines with the source slice number for each SHUFFLE slice, dashed lines at each STUTTER repeat. Lines that would sit closer than a few pixels are left out; zoom in to see them
SPEED / WARP respect the 12-minute clipboard limit across all copied tracks combined β the encoder simply stops at the last value that still fits (new in v1.2.1)
Automation copied along with the clip follows a length change: after an APPLY that resizes the clip (SPEED, WARP, CROP), pasting places the automation over the new length rather than the original one
CROP needs no parameters: set START/END (or SLIDE the region), then APPLY to discard everything outside it (since v1.2.0)
PITCH bends the pitch smoothly from FROM at the regionβs Start to TO at its End without changing the length (the same engine as REPITCH). A bend that resolves to the original pitch is TO = 0; one that drifts away is FROM = 0; FROM = TO is a static repitch. CURVE shapes the ramp: LIN is a straight line, positive values start slow and finish fast, negative values start fast and finish slow. Hold for 0.1 st steps
FILTER runs one filter node over the region and sweeps its cutoff from START to END (interpolated in octaves, so a sweep sounds even across the spectrum). START = END gives a static filter. The cutoff encoders step in thirds of an octave ( = a twelfth); push Encoder 6 to cycle the type LP β HP β BP. A low-pass with both ends at 20 kHz, or a high-pass with both at 20 Hz, is βopenβ and does nothing; cycling the type moves any open cutoff to the new typeβs open end (1 kHz for BP, which has no open position)
A static setting in one press: pushing FROM / START copies the other endβs value onto it, pushing TO / END does the reverse β so dial a sweep, then push the end you want to keep and the whole region gets that value
While a PITCH or FILTER setting is un-applied, the sweep is traced as a line over the waveform (0 st on the centre line for PITCH; 20 Hz at the bottom to 20 kHz at the top for FILTER)
On a multi-track clipboard, APPLY shows its progress per track (βTrack 3/8β) (new in v1.2.1)
TUNE is pitch correction: the regionβs pitch is tracked and pulled to the nearest note of SCALE / ROOT (CHROMA for a plain chromatic tuner). AMOUNT is how much of the distance is corrected, SPEED how fast the correction follows a new note β 0 snaps hard (the robotic effect), 200 ms glides and keeps vibrato. RANGE tells the tracker what to expect: BASS (30β300 Hz), VOICE (70β1000 Hz) or HIGH (200β3000 Hz). While un-applied the tracked pitch is drawn over the region in the waveform colour and the corrected pitch in the accent colour, Β±12 semitones around the materialβs median note; silence and noise leave gaps and are left alone. TUNE is monophonic: chords and mixes have no single pitch to track and come out mangled. Large corrections move the formants with the pitch (chipmunk on octave jumps); within a semitone this is inaudible. Rendered in the background like the SPECTR groups, so [RENDER] shows while it computes
Rhythmic granular resynthesis: the region is re-read as a stream of short grains on the musical grid.
Button
Group
Encoder 4
Encoder 5
Encoder 6
1
GRAIN
SIZE (grain length, note value 4/1β1/64, or ms in JUMP mode)
RATE (grain onset interval, note value, or Hz in JUMP mode)
CONTOUR (-100 ramp down Β· SINE Β· +100 ramp up), push to toggle FOLLOW / HOLD
2
SPRAY (grains follow GRID)
POSITION (0β100 %, read-position scatter), push to re-roll
PITCH (0β100 %, chance of a scale-degree transposition)
REVERSE (0β100 %, chance of a backwards grain)
3
RESO
SLOPE (LP -100 Β· BP Β· HP +100)
DECAY (0β100, ring time)
MIX (0β100 %) β the wet is level-matched to the dry (since v1.2.3)
Notes:
GRAIN and SPRAY have no neutral setting, so you hear them as soon as the group is selected (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT; before, they stayed silent until the first encoder turn β the same now holds for FREEZE, BLUR, PEAKS and CONVOLVE, whose encoders show a working setting from the start). Re-pressing the group button puts the defaults back. WRITE BACK treats such a group as untouched until you turn one of its encoders. With RATE shorter than SIZE the grains overlap into a dense texture, with RATE longer than SIZE they gate the region rhythmically. FOLLOW reads each grain where it sounds, so the arrangement is kept but re-articulated; HOLD reads every grain from the region start, freezing that instant into a sustained texture
SPRAY runs the same scheduler with grains one GRID step long, back to back (or one JUMP step in JUMP mode), and adds randomness per grain; change GRID on Encoder 1 to change the grain size. Transpositions are drawn from the SCALE / SPAN tuning settings, relative to the grainβs own pitch. The random pattern is fixed by a seed, so what you audition is what APPLY prints; push Encoder 4 for a new roll
While GRAIN or SPRAY is un-applied the grains are drawn over the waveform as window-shaped outlines on a dark backing, so they read over a waveform of the same colour: their width is SIZE, their spacing RATE, their shape CONTOUR. A transposed grain sits higher or lower (0 st on the centre line, like the PITCH line), a reversed grain shows its contour mirrored, and when a grain reads from somewhere other than where it sounds (POSITION, HOLD) a thin line leads to its read position at the bottom of the waveform
RESO is a bank of resonant filters tuned to the notes of SCALE across SPAN octaves above ROOT (at most 24 bands). The root sits in the centre and the following bands alternate left and right, so a chord spreads across the stereo field; the wet signal is lifted with DECAY and soft-clipped, so a narrow, long-ringing band comes out loud rather than thin. While un-applied the bankβs frequency response is drawn as a graph in a dark strip along the bottom of the waveform: one peak per band on a log frequency axis that spans the bank with an octave to spare on each side, DECAY narrowing the peaks, SLOPE growing a shelf on the side each band lets through, the root bandβs note name under its peak (every bandβs while there are few). The graph sits over the region while the region is wide enough, else across the whole screen. Fed a drum loop it produces a pitched, plucked version of the groove; fed a pad it rings as a chord. SLOPE morphs every band from low-pass through band-pass to high-pass, DECAY sets how long the bands ring. The ring-out continues past END into the rest of the clip (up to 6 s) and is cut at the clip end
One LFO per group, printed over the region. All four share the same encoder layout.
Button
Group
Encoder 4
Encoder 5
Encoder 6
1
VOL LFO (tremolo)
RATE (note value 4/1β1/64, or Hz in JUMP mode)
DEPTH (0β100 %)
SHAPE (SINE, TRI, SAW DN, SAW UP, SQUARE, S&H), push to advance the phase by 90Β°
2
PAN LFO (auto-pan)
RATE
DEPTH
SHAPE
3
PITCH LFO (vibrato, Β±12 st at 100 %)
RATE
DEPTH
SHAPE
4
FILT LFO (auto-wah)
RATE
DEPTH (-100 to 100 %): positive closes a low-pass from 20 kHz by up to 8 octaves, negative opens a high-pass from 20 Hz by up to 8 octaves
SHAPE
Notes:
DEPTH 0 is neutral. Every shape starts unmodulated at the regionβs Start: on VOL LFO and FILT LFO the wave dips from the top (SAW UP is the one swell that starts at the bottom); on PAN LFO and PITCH LFO it starts at the centre, SINE / TRI / SAW UP moving right / up first and SAW DN left / down first (SQUARE and S&H have no centre to start from and begin at the top). Pushing SHAPE advances the phase by 90Β°, so on PAN / PITCH one push starts at the peak, two at the centre falling, three at the trough. While a setting is un-applied the LFO is traced over the waveform at its actual DEPTH: VOL LFO as the gain from the top, PAN LFO and PITCH LFO around the centre line, FILT LFO as the cutoff on the filter scale (low-pass dipping from the top, high-pass rising from the bottom)
FILT LFO shows LP or HP in front of its DEPTH value so the sign is readable at a glance
A SQUARE on VOL LFO at 1/8 is a trance gate, a SAW DN at 1/4 a pump, S&H on PITCH LFO a random pitch pattern
SOURCE (a track of the clipboard, or a WAV from the USB stick; push opens the USB browser)
END Β· START (push to switch; the impulse span, 10 msβ5 s)
MIX (0β100 %, 50 to start) Β· TILT (-100β100, push to switch)
Notes:
REVERB is the Master FX reverb with the same four programs β MODERN (the dense plate the group started with), HALL, AMBIENCE and GATED β and the same parameters: SIZE, DAMP, WIDTH, PREDEL and, for GATED, GATE. The ^ in the encoderβs corner marks the pushes, as elsewhere on the screen (SIZE cycles the program, Encoder 5 cycles its parameter).
DELAY / PINGPONG / REVERB are printed into the clip: inside the region MIX crossfades the dry signal with the effect, and the tail keeps running past END on top of the rest of the clip (up to 6 s, cut at the clip end). A printed tail can be reversed, granulated or resonated afterwards. The delay time is capped at 2 s
While un-applied, DELAY / PINGPONG mark each repeat above the waveform (fading with FEEDBACK; PINGPONG alternates top and bottom for left and right) and REVERB draws its decay envelope over the region: as tall as MIX at START, falling away over the tailβs length
CONVOLVE switches Encoder 1 to JUMP mode (millisecond steps) when you select it and puts the previous mode back when you select another group β an impulse span has nothing to do with bars. Push Encoder 1 to get the GRID back while in the group (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
CONVOLVE uses one track of the clipboard as an impulse response for all the others: copy several tracks (a drum hit, a chord, a room on one of them), choose that track with SOURCE, and every other track in the clipboard is convolved with the part of it between START and END β a snare through a piano chord, a voice through a reversed cymbal, a guitar through a recorded room. The span starts at the regionβs START and is one second long until you move it: Encoder 5 moves END by grid steps (or JUMP steps), its push switches the encoder to START, which carries the whole span along; the span is at most 5 s. MIX blends each result with that trackβs own dry signal (50 % to start), and the push of Encoder 6 switches the encoder to TILT, which darkens (negative) or brightens (positive) the impulse. While CONVOLVE is the selected group the source track is never part of the audition, whatever MIX says, so you hear only the convolved tracks; APPLY leaves the source track as it is. With a single track in the clipboard there is nothing to convolve: the group says so on the waveform and SOURCE shows 1 TRACK. Each convolved track is level-matched to its own dry signal β measured once the impulse has fully built up β so a long, dense or tonal impulse does not jump in volume even at MIX 100 %. CONVOLVE is rendered in the background like LOOP and the SPECTR groups; like them it stops at the regionβs END (set END past the material to keep the tail). While un-applied, dashed lines mark the impulse span on the waveform with the impulseβs own outline between them, as tall as MIX at its loudest point, and the source track is drawn dimmed with a SRC tag at its left edge (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT; before, a generic decay curve stood in for the impulse)
The impulse can also be a WAV file from the USB stick (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT): push Encoder 4 (SOURCE) and the USB Browser opens in impulse mode β browse and preview as usual, then press Copy on a WAV or AIFF file and you are back in the modifier with that fileβs first 5 s as the impulse (SOURCE shows its name; Track 1 at the root of the stick goes back without a file). With a file as the impulse every track of the clipboard is convolved, so a single copied track works too β a guitar through a real room recording, a drum loop through a sampled spring. START / END then move inside the file β the whole file is the impulse to start with, and since END sits at the fileβs end, START moves alone and trims the impulse from the front (the same holds for a track whose END is at the clipβs end; elsewhere START carries the span along as usual). The outline is drawn from the regionβs START. Every file you load this way stays in SOURCEβs ring below the clipboardβs tracks for as long as the modifier is open, newest first and up to eight (loading a ninth drops the oldest), so you can A/B impulses by turning SOURCE: down past the first track reaches the file you loaded last, further down the earlier ones, and each file keeps its own START / END. Loading a file that is already in the ring moves it to the front instead of adding it twice. With several files the SOURCE value shows the position after the name (ROOM 2/3). Leaving the modifier forgets the files. The file is read at any sample rate and converted; longer files are simply cut after 5 s.
ROTATE turns the region cyclically by grid steps (or JUMP steps in JUMP mode) so another beat lands on its start. XFADE smooths the loop seam: it blends the audio that follows END into the regionβs start (or, when END is the clip end, the audio before START into the regionβs end; with neither available it fades both ends). LAYER stacks the region onto itself every grid step, wrapping around the region, with a decaying level β a circular canon. LOOP is rendered in the background like the SPECTR groups ([RENDER] shows while it computes, the audition and the waveform switch to the result when it is ready; since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT). The waveform then shows the result of all three tools (turned, seamed and stacked, exactly as APPLY will print it); a dashed line marks the ROTATE seam, XFADE draws its crossfade curves over the seam span, and LAYER marks each tap with a fading marker
Everything that bends the waveform itself. CRUSH (from the EDIT page) and COLOR (from the FX page) live here now.
Button
Group
Encoder 4
Encoder 5
Encoder 6
1
CRUSH
BIT (32 down to 1 bit, relative to the clipβs own peak level)
SAMPLE (1xβ32x rate reduction)
β
2
COLOR
DRIVE (0β100, tape saturation)
TILT (-100 drive the lows β¦ +100 drive the highs)
COMP (0β100, one-knob compression), push to cycle the TILT crossover LOW (80 Hz) / MID (650 Hz) / HIGH (2.5 kHz)
3
TAPE
DRIVE (0β100)
DENSITY (0β100)
MIX (0β100 %)
4
AMP
GAIN (0β100, up to +30 dB), push to cycle the model CLEAN / CRUNCH / FUZZ / METAL
TONE (-100 dark β¦ +100 bright)
CAB (0β100, speaker low-pass)
5
FOLD
FOLD (0β100)
SYMMETRY (-100 β¦ +100)
SMOOTH (0 triangle β¦ 100 sine)
6
RING
FREQ (20 Hzβ2 kHz)
MIX (0β100 %)
WAVE (SINE / SQUARE / TRI)
Notes:
CRUSHβs BIT grid spans the clipβs own peak level, not full scale (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT): at 1 bit the loud half of the clip becomes full-height blocks and the quiet half silence, whatever level the clip was recorded at; before, anything under -6 dBFS vanished at 1 bit and a quiet clip crushed to nothing. Each track in the clipboard is crushed against its own peak. SAMPLE holds the crushed value, so the audition is exactly what APPLY prints
TAPE is the mastering tape saturator from the Master FX, printed into the clip, but let off the leash: DRIVE also pushes up to 12 dB of extra gain into the tape and above 50 blends in a second saturation pass, so DRIVE 100 is a fuzz rather than a polish. DENSITY is the tapeβs thickness control, MIX blends the saturated signal with the dry one
AMP is a small amp chain: TONE shapes the sound before the stages (negative closes a low-pass, positive lifts the presence), GAIN drives the stages, CAB closes a 12 dB/octave speaker low-pass from fully open to 2.5 kHz. CLEAN is one soft stage, CRUNCH two asymmetric stages with a coupling filter between them, FUZZ a biased hard clip into a soft stage, METAL a tight high-pass into two hard stages with the mids scooped
FOLD is a wavefolder: FOLD drives the signal into the folder (up to 16x), SYMMETRY offsets it so even harmonics appear, SMOOTH morphs the folds from triangle (buzzy) to sine (round)
AMP and FOLD hold the level: their output is matched to the inputβs envelope, so GAIN and FOLD add harmonics rather than volume and the result pastes back onto the tape at the level it was copied
RING multiplies the region with a carrier at FREQ: low carriers tremble, higher ones produce the metallic sidebands ring modulation is known for. FREQ steps in thirds of an octave ( = a twelfth). The carrier is locked to the regionβs Start, so audition and APPLY sound the same
While a TAPE, AMP, FOLD or RING setting is un-applied the waveform shows the distorted result; after a change it fills in from the playhead outward over a fraction of a second (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
Everything on this page works on the spectrum of the region, frame by frame, and is the experimental end of the modifier. It is where sounds are turned into textures.
Button
Group
Encoder 4
Encoder 5
Encoder 6
1
STRETCH
FACTOR (1xβ64x)
WINDOW (note value 4/1β1/64, or ms in JUMP mode)
ORIGIN (0β100 %), push to take the playhead
2
FREEZE
POINT (0β100 %), push to take the playhead
LENGTH (note value 1/64β4/1, or ms in JUMP mode; one step further down = TO END)
BLUR (0β100)
3
BLUR
TIME (note value, or ms in JUMP mode)
FREQ (0β100)
MIX (0β100 %)
4
GATE
THRESH (-60β0 dB), push to cycle KEEP / RESIDUE
SMOOTH (0β100)
MIX (0β100 %)
5
TUNED
WIDTH (5β50 cents, steps of 2)
DEPTH (0β100 %)
MIX (0β100 %)
6
SHIFT
SHIFT (-2000β+2000 Hz)
MIX (0β100 %)
FEEDBK (0β90)
7
PEAKS
PEAKS (1β64)
DECAY (0β100)
MIX (0β100 %)
Notes:
STRETCH is a Paulstretch in place: the region is stretched by FACTOR and cut back to its own length, so it ends up holding the first 1/FACTOR of the source, smeared into a texture. ORIGIN chooses where in the region that source starts (it wraps around the region), WINDOW sets the grain: short windows keep some rhythm and sound grainy, long ones are smooth and cloud-like. FACTOR 1 = off
FREEZE holds the instant at POINT for LENGTH β a spectral freeze. LENGTH steps through the note values like GRID (turn up for shorter), or free milliseconds in JUMP mode; one step down past the longest value is TO END, which holds the instant to the end of the region. BLUR 0 loops that instant as it is (a static, buzzing hold), 100 randomises the phases into a smooth cloud. The material before POINT, and after the held length, stays as it was, with a short crossfade at both ends
BLUR smears the spectrum: TIME averages each moment with its neighbours (up to about a second each way), so attacks turn into swells and notes bleed into each other; FREQ smears across frequency, blurring pitch into noise. What is silent stays silent
GATE is a spectral gate: every frequency bin below THRESH (0 dB = a full-scale sine) is removed, so KEEP cleans a sound down to its loud partials. RESIDUE keeps exactly what KEEP throws away β the quiet ghost of a sound, the breath under a voice. SMOOTH slows how fast each bin opens and closes
TUNED is a scale sieve: it keeps only the frequencies within WIDTH cents of a note of SCALE / ROOT (in every octave), eases out over another WIDTH, and attenuates everything else by DEPTH β so narrow widths leave thin, pure tones and 50 lets the sieve just touch the neighbouring notes. Unlike RESO it adds no ringing β it is RESOβs transparent sibling, and tunes noise and drums to a key
SHIFT is a frequency shifter (not a pitch shifter): every partial moves by the same number of Hz, so harmonic sounds turn into bells and metal, and a few Hz make a slow, phasing detune. The encoder steps finer near zero. FEEDBK re-shifts the delayed output, the barber-pole effect
PEAKS keeps only the PEAKS loudest partials of every instant and removes the rest β a sinusoidal reduction that turns anything into a thin, pure, slightly ghostly version of itself. DECAY lets a partial that just dropped out ring on
Note
The SPECTR groups (and HARMONY on the VOICE page, TUNE, and LOOP and CONVOLVE on the FX page) are rendered, not played live: about a tenth of a second after you stop turning an encoder the region is rendered in the background, in one-second pieces starting at the playhead and running ahead of it (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT; before, the whole region was rendered first). [RENDER] shows top right while the piece under the playhead is still computing. The audition fades from the previous result (or the dry clip) to the new one as soon as that piece is ready, so a long region answers as fast as a short one, and a jump of the playhead renders from the new place. The waveform shows the rendered result where a piece has been rendered and the dry clip elsewhere; while the audition stands still, the part on screen fills in. APPLY uses exactly the same rendering, so what you auditioned is what is printed. The audio never stutters because of a render: where no piece is ready yet the dry clip plays.
Everything that adds or reshapes copies of the voice.
Button
Group
Encoder 4
Encoder 5
Encoder 6
1
CHORUS
RATE (note value, or Hz in JUMP mode)
DEPTH (0β100)
MIX (0β100 %), push to cycle 2 / 3 / 4 voices
2
FLANGE
RATE
DEPTH (0β100)
FEEDBK (-95β+95)
3
PHASER
RATE
DEPTH (0β100), push to cycle 4 / 8 / 12 stages
FEEDBK (-95β+95)
4
COMB
NOTE (scale degrees from ROOT, -24β+24)
FEEDBK (-95β+95)
MIX (0β100 %)
5
FORMANT
SHIFT (Β±12 st)
MIX (0β100 %)
β
6
HARMONY
INTERVAL (-7β+7 scale degrees)
DETUNE (Β±50 cents)
MIX (0β100 %)
7
WIDTH
SPREAD (0β100)
DELAY (0β30 ms)
β
Notes:
CHORUS, FLANGE and PHASER sweep with a tempo-synced RATE like the MOD page LFOs, locked to START, so the audition and APPLY sound the same; in JUMP mode the RATE is a free Hz value down to 0.05Hz, the slow drift a chorus or phaser usually wants (see Free rates and times). CHORUS stacks two to four detuned copies around 20 ms; FLANGE sweeps one short tap (0.5β7.5 ms) with feedback, PHASER sweeps a cascade of allpass stages over four octaves. Negative FEEDBK inverts the feedback for a hollower tone. While un-applied the sweep is traced over the region, as tall as DEPTH
COMB is a feedback comb tuned to a note of SCALE / ROOT (NOTE counts scale degrees, the resulting note is shown): it rings the region at that pitchβs harmonics. Negative FEEDBK puts the peaks on the odd harmonics of the note an octave down. The wet signal is held at the inputβs level, like AMP / FOLD / RESO, so FEEDBK adds resonance rather than volume. The comb rings out past END
FORMANT shifts the formants β the resonances that give a voice or instrument its character β without changing the pitch: up for a smaller, brighter body, down for a larger, darker one. Rendered like the SPECTR groups
HARMONY layers a pitch-shifted copy at INTERVAL scale degrees above or below (SCALE decides what a degree is; ROOT is ignored, the interval is relative to the material) with DETUNE in cents; MIX is the level of the added voice. Rendered like the SPECTR groups
WIDTH spreads the stereo image: SPREAD widens the side signal (up to 3x) and, so that a mono take widens too, blends a short delayed copy of the mid in as side (pseudo-stereo, which colours the tone a little); DELAY delays the right channel by a few milliseconds (a Haas delay). Turning either while the audition runs glides to the new setting instead of jumping
plays the clipboard (not the tape), including all pending, un-applied settings β tweak while it plays
jumps the playhead to START without toggling playback (a running audition restarts from there). Pressed again while the playhead sits on START β or has just restarted from it β it jumps to the start of the clip, so two presses review the whole clip after editing a section (since v1.2.2)
/ move the playhead by the GRID / JUMP step
toggles looped playback
/ set the loop points to the playhead
Press + together to snap the loop to the current START/END region (new in v1.2.1)
Looped audition dips briefly (about 5 ms each side) through the loop point so the wrap never clicks; this is audition only β APPLY and the paste use the region exactly as it is (since v1.2.2)
Tape playback is silenced while the modifier is open; it resumes when you leave the screen
The beat ruler ends with the audio tape at 3 hours (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT), where playback stops (see
the end of the tape); MIDI notes past it are
kept but never reached.
Track8 aims to make MIDI routing as simple as possible. Instead of listing all connected MIDI devices Track8 introduces a Track to MIDI Channel mapping.
Each track = one MIDI output channel
MIDI input β always routed to active track
It does not matter on which MIDI Channel incoming notes/CCs are
Channel Information of incoming MIDI signals is discarded and always routed to the selected Track
Devices flagged as control surface in UTILITY β MIDI β DEVICE are the exception: their CCs drive MIDI Remote Control instead of being recorded (since v1.1.4).
Companion app: a track also plays into every plugin slot of the rack whose receive channel matches the trackβs channel, and MIDI a plugin emits follows the rule above β channel discarded, recorded on the selected track (since v1.2.3).
Channels already used by another track are skipped
Playback stops while changing channels
After channel 16 the encoder reaches every device flagged MPE on the DEVICE screen (MPE Osmose): the track then plays into that device alone, one MIDI channel per note, see MPE devices (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
Encoder 8 scrolls the timeline, Encoder 2 changes the scroll increment β the same encoder as the grid in MIDI Edit and Audio Edit, so one external knob serves all four screens (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT); it was Encoder 1 up to v1.2.3
Encoder 3 is MOVE MARKER: with the playhead on a marker, turn to stage a move by SCROLL steps, push to apply β the same as on the Audio Overview (new in v1.2.2)
While SCROLL is active, the beat ruler shows the scroll increment as shorter ticks between the beats, like the grid in MIDI Edit (since v1.2.2)
Encoder 7 zooms the timeline, 0.25x to 4x around the playhead (since v1.2.2). The zoom is remembered per overview (Audio and MIDI zoom independently) and resets to 1x on startup
A mouse scroll wheel (USB) also scrolls the timeline (since v1.1.1)
Encoder 5 β SPLICE: insert or remove time at the playhead (new in v1.2.2)
Turn clockwise to stage blank time, one SCROLL step per click; counter-clockwise to stage a removal. The overview previews the result β notes, markers and loop/punch points are drawn where they will end up, an insert shows the blank as a band, a removal a cut line β and the encoder label shows the amount (+1 bar, -2 beats)
Push Encoder 5 to apply. Any button press (PLAY included), Encoder 2 or Encoder 8, switching screens or the encoder mode discards the staged splice β only Encoder 5 itself and SHIFT leave it alone. Nothing changes until you push; the drawing is the preview
It is the same operation as on the Audio Overview: everything behind the splice point moves β all MIDI tracks (notes, CC, pitch-bend, aftertouch), all audio tracks with their automation, and the markers, loop and punch points. CC / pitch-bend / aftertouch set inside a removed span carry their last value over to the splice point
Removals are limited to 1:30 per splice and refused over a tempo or signature marker; see the Audio Overview page for the full rules
Per-track MIDI record offset, 0 to -50 ms β the MIDI counterpart of the audio REC OFFSET
Recorded notes and CCs are stored this much earlier than they arrive. Use it when your takes land late on the grid: what you hear while recording (metronome, tracks) reaches your monitors after the audio output latency, so notes played in time with it arrive that much late
Start with roughly your audio buffer latency and adjust by ear; it applies to live recording only (not step record)
Notes from USB MIDI devices and from the 5-pin input are placed alike, at the moment they arrive (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT). USB notes used to arrive one audio buffer later: if you set REC OFFSET for a USB device before, check it again
Turn left to increase (shifts earlier), like the audio REC OFFSET
Record quantize: while enabled, incoming MIDI notes are snapped to the grid as they are recorded.
Encoder 6: quantize grid, 1/4 to 1/64 β push to toggle triplets (e.g. 1/16T), like the grid encoder in MIDI Edit
Encoder 7: enable/disable record quantize
Encoder 8: strength, 0% to 100% β 100% puts notes exactly on the grid, lower values move them only part of the way, keeping some of the human feel
The note start is quantized to the nearest grid line; the note keeps exactly the length you played
Applies to notes as they are stored, on all further takes until switched off β already recorded notes are untouched (quantize those with the EDIT tool in MIDI Edit)
Step recording is unaffected: it always snaps to the step grid
An MPE instrument (Expressive E Osmose, ROLI Seaboard, LinnStrument, β¦) plays every note on its own MIDI channel and sends that noteβs pitch bend, pressure and timbre on the same channel. Track8 records and plays this back (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT):
Flag the instrumentβs port MPE on the DEVICE screen. An Osmose is flagged for you the first time it is plugged in: its sound engine port is MPE, its play, haken, daw control and din interface ports are IGNORE (they carry editor and DAW-control traffic that would otherwise be recorded and echoed)
On the MIDI Overview, turn the CHANNEL encoder past channel 16 to MPE Osmose on the track you record into. The track now plays only into that device, every note on a member channel of its own, and the live input is echoed the same way
Record as usual. Each note keeps its own bend, pressure and timbre: move, quantize, copy or undo a note and its expression goes with it. Pitch bend, CCs and aftertouch played on the instrumentβs master channel land in the trackβs lanes as before
What to set on the Osmose (MIDI I/O tab): haken local controloff, so the keys reach the sound engine through the Track8 (it resets to on after every Osmose reboot); usb haken modedisabled. The Osmoseβs own pitch bend range on the sound engine port is Β±96 semitones; Track8 sends back exactly what it recorded, so nothing has to be matched. Its sound engine answers on channels 2β14 only, and Track8 spreads the notes of an MPE Osmose track over exactly those.
Playing a plain keyboard into an MPE track works too: its notes are spread over the deviceβs channels, its bend and CCs go to the master channel. The reverse, an MPE port into a channel track, records the notes and the master channelβs data; the per-note expression is left out.
In MIDI Edit a note with expression shows its bend as a line leaving the noteβs row (one row per semitone), its pressure as a band under the note and its timbre as dots above it. Per-note expression cannot be edited yet; the master channelβs lanes can.
The companion app records and plays MPE the same way, from USB and Bluetooth controllers and to synth apps through its own Track8 MPE MIDI device (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT).
Notes recorded this way are saved as a standard MPE file (track<N>.mid: one voice per channel 2β16, the trackβs own data on channel 1), so a DAW reads the expression too.
Touch and hold the track area (about a second) to open the Quick Settings panel with the everyday Utility toggles (MKR LEG, MOD HI, BIG TIME, SHIFT HOLD, SHIFT NAV, TIMED JUMP, SHIFT PLAY, PASTE JMP, SCROLL SND, TAPE SND, OVERDUB) and the FREE BAR locate, which jumps to the next bar that is empty on all audio and MIDI tracks; see Touch (since v1.2.2)
Touch the time / beat readout at the bottom of the screen to toggle BIG TIME, the big translucent overlay on the left half of the screen with the time / bar-beat readout and the current / next marker names with a countdown β the same toggle as on the Audio Overview (since v1.2.2)
The indicator highlights the origin Track of the clipboard content
Cut/Copy always adheres to the regions defined by Markers
Hold + Cut/Copy/Paste to arrange the current Loop region β all unmuted tracks, audio and MIDI, with the Markers inside the loop β exactly like on the Audio Overview, see Arrange Audio, MIDI and Markers together with LOOP (since v1.2.2)
+ Cut/Copy includes all unmuted tracks β a soloed track counts as the only unmuted one (since v1.2.2)
Paste always goes to the Playhead position on the selected track and β like audio β replaces what is there for the length of the clipboard (notes, controllers, pitchbend, aftertouch); it does not merge onto existing events (since v1.2.1, before that Paste merged)
The length of the clipboard is the copied region, trailing silence included, exactly like the audio clipboard: pasting four copied bars whose notes end after bar two still clears all four bars at the destination (since v1.2.3; before that a paste only cleared up to the last copied event). A copy βto the end of the tapeβ is as long as its last note
+ Cut/Copy/Paste runs the operation on the MIDI and the audio side at once, over the Loop region and with the Markers inside it, for arranging the whole song β see Arrange Audio, MIDI and Markers together with LOOP (since v1.2.2); in v1.2.1 this was + + Cut/Copy/Paste over the Marker region
Each action confirms on screen: Copy Loop: Audio + MIDI + Markers, Cut Loop: Audio + MIDI + Markers, Paste Audio + MIDI + Markers. When Mutes leave audio tracks out of the section, the overlay counts what is actually taken β Copy Loop: 7/8 Tracks + MIDI + Markers, or No Audio (muted) when every audio track is muted
LOOP + Paste writes back every copied MIDI track: one that was silent in the copied section clears its destination span, like the audio side pastes silence there; tracks muted at copy time are left alone (since v1.2.2)
After such a LOOP Cut/Paste, + Record undoes the MIDI and the audio half in one press (UNDO Audio + MIDI), Markers included, and + push Encoder 8 redoes both (since v1.2.1)
+ push Encoder 8 β Redo (one step, since v1.1.2)
Both confirm what they touched with a short overlay, e.g. UNDO Track 2: Bass or REDO all tracks (new in v1.2.1)
A SPLICE is undone as a whole: one Undo reverts the MIDI and the audio side, from either screen (markers keep their post-splice positions) (new in v1.2.2)
Incoming MIDI notes can trigger threshold recording. For this you have to be in one of the MIDI views, or A && M recording has to be enabled in the Project Settings.
Incoming MIDI is echoed to the output channel of the selected track. This can now be switched off independently of the audio monitor:
In the Project Settings, push Encoder 8 to cycle between AUDIO MON and MIDI MON, then turn to set OFF/ON/PUNCH
PUNCH echoes input only while the playhead is inside the punch brackets β whether or not punch recording is armed β so a rehearsal pass sounds exactly like the recorded result (new in v1.2.1)
Defaults to ON
Note-off messages always pass, so no notes get stuck
Clock sync has been hardened over several releases (tighter DIN clock since v1.1.1, larger averaging and outlier detection for slave sync, further MIDI scheduling and jitter improvements new in v1.2.1).
The DEVICE, CONTROL and CH NAMES buttons on this screen configure MIDI Remote Control, channel names and MIDI Device Profiles (per-channel note/CC names for drum machines and synths, since v1.2.1).
Out of the box Track8 needs no MIDI routing: every track has a channel, every connected device hears everything, and each device listens on its own channel. Your playing is echoed to all devices, and clock or MTC goes to all of them.
In bigger setups, with a sequencer such as a Hapax that echoes MIDI itself, or a router, this can make MIDI go round in a loop, or a device gets clock it should not have. For those setups each device has a ROUTE page (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT), on the hardware and in the companion app:
Go to UTILITY β MIDI β DEVICE, scroll to the device with Encoder 8
Press Track Button 7 ROUTE. Encoder 8 steps to the next device without leaving the page
Encoder
Setting
What it does
1
REC
ON: what you play on this device is recorded. OFF: it is only echoed
2
IN CH
ALL, or one channel: only that channel of the device is recorded and echoed, the rest is ignored. Handy for a sequencer that sends many parts
3
THRU
Where your playing on this device is echoed: ALL devices, OTHERS (everything but back to this device), or OFF (nowhere). MIDI MON still switches all echo on and off
4
SYNC IN
OFF: Track8 ignores this deviceβs clock, transport and MTC as slave. Only matters with SYNC ROLESLAVE
5
TRACKS
Which track channels the device hears: ALL, OFF, or your own set. Push Encoder 5 (or touch the box) to pick channels: Encoder 1 moves, pushing it or touching a channel switches it, Track Button 1 DONE
6
SYNC OUT
What the device gets as sync master: DEFAULT (what SYNC MODE says), CLOCK, MTC or OFF. A device never gets both
7
SENDS
Shows what the device actually gets
The picker shows your channel names, so a set reads like a list of synths. Here the Tonverk hears tracks on channels 1 to 4 and never gets its own playing back (THRUOTHERS).
RESET (Track Button 8) puts the device back to the defaults
A device whose routing was changed shows [ROUTE] in the DEVICE list, so you can always see which devices are set up by hand
The settings belong to the device and stay when you switch projects or unplug it
SYNC OUT: with SYNC MODECLOCK you can still send MTC to one device (a DAW, a video player) while the others get clock, and the other way round. Those devices use the clock and MTC settings of the MIDI page. To change the settings of the other type, switch SYNC MODE over, change them and switch back; do this with the transport stopped, because in the meantime the other devices get the other type
DIN MIDI (hardware) stands for both sockets: TRACKS and SYNC OUT act on MIDI Out, the other settings on MIDI In. Leave THRU on ALL for DIN if a keyboard on DIN In plays a synth on DIN Out: OTHERS means βnot back out of DINβ
An MPE device has no IN CH and TRACKS: its tracks pick it directly. A CTRL controller only has SYNC IN. MACKIE and IGNORE devices have nothing to route
Up to eight devices can have changed TRACKS, SYNC OUT or THRU OTHERS at once. A ninth is sent like an unrouted device, and its page says so
Examples
A sequencer that plays its own synths and is recorded by Track8 (Hapax):THRUOFF, IN CH the part you want to record, TRACKS the channels it should pass on from Track8βs tracks (or OFF)
Keyboard on DIN, synths on USB, nothing echoed back to the keyboard: DIN THRUOTHERS, TRACKSOFF
Clock-only device:RECOFF, THRUOFF, TRACKSOFF
MTC to a DAW, clock to everything else:SYNC MODECLOCK, the DAWβs SYNC OUTMTC and TRACKSOFF
Track8 as slave to one master only:SYNC INOFF on every other device
The MIDI Edit screen has four sub-views, selected with the first four Track Buttons:
Track Button
Sub-view
1
Note β select and edit single notes
2
Edit β region tools: Transpose, Quantize, Velocity, Nudge
3
CC/AT β draw CC and Channel Aftertouch automation
4
Pitch bend β draw Pitch Bend automation
Controls shared by all sub-views:
Encoder 1: selected track
Encoder 2: GRID resolution β push to toggle triplets (new in v1.2.1)
Encoder 7: zoom β + push toggles the chromatic piano / profile rows when a MIDI Device Profile is bound (since v1.2.1)
Encoder 8: scroll along the timeline
Left/Right: nudge the playhead by grid steps, + Left/Right: jump between markers
+ Play: jump to the edit region start; playback stops at the region end unless LOOP is enabled (since v1.2.0)
Push Encoder 4 / Encoder 5 in the Edit view sets the edit region start/end at the playhead (since v1.1.2)
Selection off (since v1.2.2): press Track Button 2 again while in the Edit view to switch the selection off β the piano roll draws all bright, START / END read -, playback runs past the region end and + Play is the plain transport jump again. Turning or pushing Encoder 4 / 5 brings the selection back as it was (a turn only restores it, a push puts that end on the playhead); Cut / Copy and the edit actions show NO SELECTION while it is off. Entering the Edit view or the screen always starts with the selection on
If the trackβs MIDI channel has a MIDI Device Profile
with named notes, the piano on the left is replaced by those names β one row
per drum sound, expanded to fill the screen for up to 15 rows (more rows keep a readable height and scroll around the cursor).
Notes with data that are not in the profile still get a row (labelled with the note name). The
note cursor (Encoder 6) steps from row to row; SNAP is off in this view.
A note recorded from an MPE device carries its own pitch bend, pressure and timbre. The piano roll shows the bend as a line that leaves the noteβs row by one row per semitone, the pressure as a band under the note and the timbre (CC74) as dots above it. Editing the note moves its expression with it; the expression itself cannot be edited yet.
The selected note is displayed bright, all other notes in the muted color. This makes velocity values easier to read and clearly shows which note is selected.
With Record off, Track 6 shows Play: it sends the selected note once to the trackβs MIDI output channel, with its stored velocity and length, so you can check an edit without starting playback. Pressing again while the note still sounds retriggers it. The preview ignores the MIDI Monitor setting.
Played notes are added at the playhead, which advances automatically
Note length = grid size
While holding keys, press Right/Left to extend/shrink the note by grid steps
The note cursor follows what you play, so a note entered above or below the
visible range scrolls into view. A chord struck at once is centred when it
fits on screen; otherwise the view stays on the part nearest the cursor
(new in v1.2.1)
Encoder 4 / Encoder 5: set region start/end (push = set at playhead, since v1.1.2)
Push Encoder 8: move the whole region to the playhead
Encoder 3: adjust the selected toolβs amount β push Encoder 3 to apply
Cut/Copy in this view uses the edit region instead of marker bounds
Hold to Cut/Copy the region from all unmuted tracks at once β a soloed track counts as the only unmuted one (since v1.2.2). The Note, CC and Pitch Bend views do the same with the marker-bound region
For generative edits β velocity ramps, scale snapping, turning a rhythm into a melody, harmonizing, strumming β copy the notes and open the MIDI Clipboard Modifier from the clipboard indicator on the MIDI Overview (since v1.2.3).
The MIDI Clipboard Modifier is the Audio Clipboard Modifierβs sibling for the MIDI clipboard: copy notes, mangle them, audition the result, then paste it β the tape stays untouched until you paste. It works the same way as the audio one (pages, groups, APPLY, WRITE BACK, the tuning settings on the layer), in musical time: every position is a bar and beat, never a millisecond.
The clipboard is drawn as a piano roll: one row per key (black keys shaded, every C labelled), bars and the GRID across, the playhead fixed at the centre. The rows always scale to fit every note of the original and of the result (at least one octave), so nothing is ever off screen and there is no vertical scrolling. Notes are bars whose brightness is their velocity. CC, pitch bend and aftertouch that travelled with the copy are shown as ticks in a thin strip along the bottom β they are carried along, and pasted back with the notes.
While the focused group has un-applied settings the result is drawn in orange over the original, which is dimmed: what you see is exactly what APPLY will print and what the audition plays. A group that changes the clipβs length (STRETCH, CROP) moves the clip-end line to the resultβs end.
GRID β step size for Start/End/Scroll, 1/1 β¦ 1/64. Push to toggle triplets (1/8T)
2
START of the edit region β push to set Start to the playhead
3
END of the edit region β push to set End to the playhead
4β6
Parameters of the selected group (see below)
7
Zoom (0.125x β 64x)
8
Scroll / move the playhead
All edits apply to the notes that start between START and END β by default the whole clipboard. Hold while turning a parameter encoder for fine steps. Several groups treat notes that start together (within a 32nd note, so a played chord counts) as one onset: STRUM, ARP, MELODIZE, CHANCE, EUCLID, LENGTHβs legato.
The same SCALE / SPAN / ROOT settings as on the audio modifier, read by every control that works in scale degrees: TRANSPOSEβs DEGREE and SNAP, MELODIZE, CHORD, ECHOβs pitched repeats. They persist like GRID, have no APPLY, and turning them never discards a groupβs un-applied changes.
+ Track Button 1β7 selects a page, Track Buttons 1β7 select a group on the current page, and Track Button 8 stays APPLY. The current page is shown at the top left of the roll as [EDIT], [GEN], [MOD] or [RHYTHM]. Switching page or group (or re-pressing the current group) discards any un-applied settings of the current group. ^ in an encoderβs corner marks a push.
+ Button
Page
Contents
1
EDIT
the everyday tools: VELOCITY, TIME, REVERSE, CROP, TRANSPOSE, FILTER, LENGTH
2
GEN
generative tools: MELODIZE, CHORD, STRUM, ARP
3
MOD
LFOs printed over the region: VEL LFO, CC LFO, PB LFO, AT LFO
4
RHYTHM
ECHO, RATCHET, CHANCE, HUMANIZE, EUCLID
The pages follow the audio modifierβs layout by meaning (EDIT β EDIT, GEN β GRAIN, MOD β MOD, RHYTHM β FX), so the same page button means the same kind of thing on both screens.
APPLY β commit the groupβs settings to the clipboard
8 +
WRITE BACK
Notes:
VELOCITY: SCALE multiplies every velocity; RAMP is the FADE of velocities β negative values swell in (quiet at START, full at END), positive values fade out; JITTER adds a random amount per note (up to Β±40 at 100 %). The random pattern is fixed by a seed, so what you audition is what APPLY prints; push Encoder 6 for a new roll
TIME: QUANTIZE moves note starts towards the GRID with the same strength control as MIDI Edit (past 100 % forward only, below 0 % backward only, note lengths kept); SWING delays every second GRID step by up to half a step; STRETCH doubles or halves the region in time β the clip grows or shrinks, what follows END moves along, and the pasted result overwrites more or less than was copied. Order: quantize, then swing, then stretch
REVERSE mirrors the region (a note that crossed END is clamped to it first); SHUFFLE cuts the region into equal slices and re-orders them by seed (push Encoder 5 for a new order) β notes travel with the slice they start in; STUTTER repeats the first region Γ· count slice count times. Order: reverse, then shuffle, then stutter
CROP needs no parameters: set START/END (or SLIDE the region), then APPLY to keep only the region β the clip becomes the region, starting at bar 1
TRANSPOSE: SEMI is chromatic. DEGREE moves every note by whole steps of SCALE above ROOT (a note that is not on the scale is snapped to the nearest degree first) β with a scale set, +2 turns a line into its diatonic third. SNAP forces every note onto the scale: NEAR to the closest degree, UP / DOWN to the next one in that direction. Order: snap, then degrees, then semitones
FILTER removes notes outside LOWβ¦HIGH ( steps octaves) or quieter than MIN VEL; DROP CC also removes the regionβs CC, pitch bend and aftertouch
LENGTH: FIXED gives every note the same length, GATE scales lengths (staccato below 100 %, overlapping above), LEGATO extends each note to the next onset (the last note keeps its length). Order: fixed, then gate, then legato
ORDER (UP Β· DOWN Β· ALT Β· RANDOM), push to re-roll
CURVE (β100 β¦ +100)
4
ARP
RATE (note value), push to re-roll RANDOM
ORDER (UP Β· DOWN Β· UPDOWN Β· RANDOM)
OCTAVES (1β4)
Notes:
MELODIZE turns a rhythm into a melody: it keeps every noteβs position, length and velocity and rewrites only the pitch, drawn from SCALE across SPAN octaves above ROOT. Record a one-note rhythm, copy it, pick a scale, and turn MODE. It engages on the first encoder turn (there is no neutral setting); re-pressing the group button disarms it. Encoders 5 and 6 follow the mode β the value row shows their current names
WALK β a drunkardβs walk: every note moves by up to STEP scale degrees from the previous one, starting where the first note was; GRAVITY pulls the line back towards the middle of the range (0 = a free walk that may sit at the edges, 100 = always heading home). One note in four repeats its pitch. Moves stepwise, so it sounds like a melody rather than random notes
TURING β a locked random loop of LENGTH pitches: the notes cycle through it, and after every pass each pitch has a MUTATE % chance to change. 0 % is a fixed loop, 100 % is new every pass β one knob from locked to random
SHAPE β a contour from the lowest to the highest pitch of the range, spread over the notes from the first to the last: RAMP UP, RAMP DN, ARCH, VALLEY, TRI, SINE. JITTER scatters the notes around it (up to Β±3 degrees at 100 %); at 0 the result is fully predictable. The contour is traced over the roll while un-applied
Chords are kept: notes starting together are one onset; the lowest note takes the generated pitch and the other notes keep their intervals above it
Push Encoder 4 for a new roll; every track of a multi-track clipboard rolls differently
CHORD harmonizes: every note gets VOICES extra notes above it, each STACK apart in the scale β 3RD stacks thirds (VOICES 2 = triads, 3 = sevenths), OCT doubles in octaves β at VEL % of the source velocity. Notes off the scale are snapped to it first. With CHROMA, every degree is a semitone, so pick a scale for musical stacking
STRUM spreads the notes of every chord over TIME from the chordβs first note, in ORDER: UP from the lowest note, DOWN from the highest, ALT alternating chord by chord, RANDOM by seed (push Encoder 5 to re-roll). Push Encoder 4 for a triplet TIME (1/16T). The notes keep their ends, so the strummed ones get shorter. CURVE shapes the timing: negative = tight start, loose end; positive = the reverse
ARP replaces every chord with a run of its notes at RATE, over the chordβs duration, in ORDER across OCTAVES (UPDOWN goes up and back down without repeating the ends; RANDOM picks by seed, push Encoder 4 to re-roll). Single notes are left alone. Engages on the first turn
One LFO per group, printed over the region. All four share the same layout as the audio MOD page; the wave is traced over the roll while un-applied.
Button
Group
Encoder 4
Encoder 5
Encoder 6
1
VEL LFO
RATE (note value 1/1β1/64)
DEPTH (0β100 %)
SHAPE (SINE, TRI, SAW DN, SAW UP, SQUARE, S&H), push to advance the phase by 90Β°
2
CC LFO
CC (#0β#127), push to cycle the shape
RATE
DEPTH (0β100 %)
3
PB LFO
RATE
DEPTH (0β100 % = the full bend range)
SHAPE, push = +90Β°
4
AT LFO
RATE
DEPTH
SHAPE, push = +90Β°
Notes:
VEL LFO scales each noteβs velocity by the wave at the noteβs start, dipping from the top like VOL LFO: a SQUARE at 1/8 is a velocity gate, S&H a random accent pattern
CC LFO, PB LFO and AT LFO write events every quarter of a GRID step (at least a 64th) across the region, around the centre (CC 64, no bend, aftertouch 64), replacing what the region held of that kind (for CC LFO, of that controller only). DEPTH 0 is neutral. While one of these groups is focused, the values it writes (the selected controller for CC LFO, the bend around its centre, the aftertouch) are drawn as a lane along the bottom of the roll, so you see the curve as well as hear it
Shapes start unmodulated at START as on the audio page; pushing SHAPE advances the start by a quarter cycle
DECAY (0β100 %), push cycles the pitch per repeat FLAT Β· +1 OCT Β· -1 OCT Β· +5TH
2
RATCHET
DIVIDE (2β8)
CHANCE (0β100 %), push to re-roll
GATE (10β100 %)
3
CHANCE
DROP (0β100 %), push to re-roll
EVERY (OFF Β· 2ND Β· 3RD Β· 4TH)
DOWNBEAT (KEEP / FREE)
4
HUMANIZE
TIME (0β100 %), push to re-roll
VEL (0β100 %)
LENGTH (0β100 %)
5
EUCLID
STEPS (1β32 grid steps)
HITS (1βSTEPS)
ROTATE (0βSTEPSβ1)
Notes:
ECHO is a MIDI delay: every note in the region repeats REPEATS times, TIME apart, each repeat at DECAY % of the previous velocity and shifted by the pitch mode (snapped to SCALE when one is set). Repeats run past END and are cut at the clip end; each repeat is marked above the roll while un-applied. Neutral at DECAY 0
RATCHET splits CHANCE % of the notes (by seed) into DIVIDE equal pieces of GATE % length β rolls and ratchets
CHANCE drops onsets: DROP is a seeded probability per onset, EVERY drops every 2nd / 3rd / 4th onset deterministically, DOWNBEATKEEP exempts onsets on a bar line from both
HUMANIZE adds seeded jitter: TIME up to Β± half a GRID step, VEL up to Β±40, LENGTH up to Β± half the noteβs length. Push Encoder 4 for a new roll
EUCLID moves the regionβs onsets, in order, onto a Euclidean pattern of HITS in STEPS grid steps (rotated by ROTATE); with more onsets than hits the pattern repeats. Note lengths are kept. Engages on the first turn
+ Track Button 8 pastes the clipboard back over the position it was cut/copied from β every copied track onto its own track, replacing exactly the clipboardβs span β and returns you to the screen you came from:
If the clipboard changed length (STRETCH, CROP), the write back overwrites more or less than the original region
Only available when the current group has no un-applied changes β APPLY first
The write back is a normal MIDI paste on the tape, so it can be undone with UNDO and jumps the playhead with PASTE JMP
plays the clipboard, including all pending, un-applied settings β tweak while it plays, the audition follows without restarting
Each track plays on its own output channel, exactly as the tape would, so the audition is as audible as the instrument connected to that channel. The tape itself (audio and MIDI) stays silent while the modifier is open
The clip plays at the tempo under the tapeβs playhead β the tempo it will be pasted into
jumps the playhead to START without toggling playback; pressed again on START it jumps to the start of the clip
/ move the playhead by the GRID step
toggles looped playback; / set the loop points to the playhead, both together snap the loop to the START/END region
A device profile tells Track8 what an external MIDI device understands:
which notes trigger which drum sound, and which CCs it listens to. Bind a
profile to a MIDI channel and every track sent to that channel gets:
a profile piano roll in MIDI Edit β one labelled row per named note
(Kick, Snare, HH Close β¦) instead of the chromatic piano, rows
expanded to fill the screen when only a few notes are configured
a CC selector that lists the deviceβs controllers, in the profileβs
order and with the profileβs names
Profiles are bound per MIDI channel, globally β a synth on channel 5 is
the same synth in every project. Binding lives in UTILITY β MIDI β
CH NAMES, next to the channel names.
Profiles are JSON files in midi_profiles/ on the Track8 SSD (next to
projects/). Edit them on a computer in USB-disk mode. On first start
Track8 creates the folder with a few examples to copy from: GM Drums,
TR-909, TR-808, Generic Synth.
The piano keys on the left are replaced by the note names; rows that are
not in the profile but carry data on this track still get a row, labelled
with the note name (E2), so nothing becomes unreachable.
Encoder 6 (note cursor) steps from row to row; moving or adding a note
works the same way β a note can only sit on a row.
Up to 15 rows (named notes plus any notes with data) β rows grow (up to
3Γ the chromatic row) and the block is centred; with more rows the labels
would become unreadable, so the rows keep their readable height and scroll
around the cursor instead (like the chromatic piano).
SHIFT + push Encoder 7 (zoom) toggles back to the chromatic piano
(and back again) for the session β e.g. to play a melodic part on a drum
channel.
SNAP helpers (TRKR / HARM) are off while the profile rows are shown.
CC/AT view (profile with controllers):
Named CCs = the profileβs list; Free CCs = every other CC, so a CC
the profile hides is still reachable there.
The Track Mixer (new in v1.2.1) shows all 8 audio tracks as classic mixer strips β level meter, volume, pan and the delay/reverb sends side by side β so you can balance a whole mix from one screen.
The strip meter shows the trackβs post-fader output on the same 6 dB-per-bar scale as the Audio Overview meters: red at the top is 0 dBFS, and a track pushed past 0 dBFS by its own volume holds the red bar lit.
Muted strips are dimmed β including tracks silenced because another track is soloed. On silent tracks the MUTE button label lights up at full contrast: it is the way back. While a solo is active the soloed trackβs label reads SOLO instead.
Touch the level meters to expand them into a full-height meter view (new in v1.2.1):
The meters use the finer Mastering-screen scale β 16 bars from +12 dBFS down to β55 dBFS, about 4 dB per bar
TP at the bottom of each meter is the trackβs True Peak (dBTP) over the last 3 seconds, the same measurement as the TP 3s readout on the Mastering screen. It reads - while the track is silent. Ideal for gain staging β e.g. aim your input peaks at β12 dB
The box at the bottom shows each stripβs active parameter; the encoders keep working exactly as before (turn to adjust, push to cycle), as do mutes, solo, automation recording and Copy/Cut/Paste. Touching the box cycles the parameter, like pushing the encoder (since v1.2.2)
Touch the meters again to return to the normal channel strips. The mixer remembers which view you left it in.
Push the encoder to cycle its stripβs parameter: VOLUME β PAN β D (Delay send) β R (Reverb send)
Touch a parameter box (VOLUME, PAN, D or R) to make it the stripβs active parameter directly β one touch instead of up to three pushes (since v1.2.2)
Each strip remembers its own parameter β you can ride volume on one track and a send on another
Hold while turning for fine-grained changes
Turning a send encoder switches that send on automatically so the change is audible immediately; switching a send off is done on the Track FX screen
Press to arm an automation-recording pass right from the mixer: the recording mode switches to ATM (automation only β recording from this screen never touches audio) and Record is armed; press Play and ride away (new in v1.2.1)
In ATM mode every track records: turning any stripβs encoder writes into its automation lane β no track selection or arming needed (new in v1.2.1)
While an automation-recording pass is running (ATM, or A+A started from the Audio Overview), the value flashes in the recording color while writing
A recorded automation pass undoes as a single step, no matter how many tracks and parameters you rode (in A+A mode the audio take and the automation pass are separate undo steps) (new in v1.2.1)
+ while recording aborts the pass: playback stops and the automation recorded in it is discarded
Values driven by an automation lane are rendered green and follow the playhead
The D and R sends record into their Track FX automation lanes
To edit the recorded curve afterwards, use + β Audio Edit opens on the parameter you last moved
Mixer encoders support MIDI Learn: hold an encoder for 2 seconds to open the MIDI Learn modal and map an external controller to that stripβs parameters. See MIDI Remote Control.
Track8βs encoders and most transport/edit buttons can be driven from an external MIDI controller β faders, knobs, buttons and jog wheels. Mappings are created either with MIDI Learn (hold an encoder) or manually in a mapping editor.
Mappings are global: they survive project switches and reboots
They are stored in a separate midi.json file next to main.json, so they can be backed up and copied between devices
MIDI Remote Control is only available on the Track8 hardware (not in the Companion App)
The list shows the built-in DIN MIDI IN plus every connected USB MIDI input
Scroll with Encoder 8, set the flag with Track Button 8 (or push Encoder 8): each press steps a device through off β CTRL β MACKIE β MPE β IGNORE β off
MPE is for an MPE instrument such as the Osmose: its channels are kept apart while recording and tracks can play into it, see MPE devices (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
IGNORE makes Track8 ignore the port entirely β it is neither recorded nor sent anything, clock included (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
ROUTE (Track Button 7) opens the highlighted deviceβs manual routing: what is recorded and echoed from it, which channels and which sync it gets, see Manual MIDI routing. Devices set up there show [ROUTE] in the list (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
EXIT (Track Button 1) returns to the MIDI settings
A device flagged CTRL becomes a control surface: its CCs drive your mappings and are no longer recorded into MIDI tracks. Devices you disconnect stay in the list greyed out, keeping their flag β they work again as soon as you plug them back in.
On a supported screen, hold any encoder for 2 seconds to open the MIDI Learn modal:
If the encoder has multiple functions (push states), select the function you want with Encoder 6
Move a knob/fader on your controller β the captured source appears as e.g. CC#74 ch 1 (it takes two consecutive messages to register, so a single stray event wonβt latch)
CONFIRM with Track Button 6, or CANCEL with Track Button 3
Supported screens:
Audio Overview
Track FX
Track FX 2: Channel, Polarity / reference track, Width, INS SEND, INS RETURN, INS MIX (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT). Mappings for Return Mix and Return Vol learned on the Audio Overview with v1.2.3 or older do nothing any more: delete them in CONTROL and learn INS MIX / INS RETURN on this page
A full sweep of the CC (0β127) always covers the full parameter range
A mapping drives the screen and function it was learned for, whichever screen is open: a Volume knob keeps working while you are on MIDI Edit, and the Audio Overview switches to VOLUME when you turn it. Cycling an encoder to another mode on the device never retargets your knob
Mappings learned on the Audio Overviewβs SCROLL page follow the overview that is on screen (since v1.2.2): while the MIDI Overview is showing, the same knobs drive its scroll step, MOVE MARKER, SPLICE, zoom and scroll, and the MIDI Overview switches to SCROLL. Each overview keeps its own step and zoom, as with the encoders on the device. The zoom mapping goes one step further (since v1.2.3): while Audio Edit, MIDI Edit or ClipMod is open, the same knob zooms that screen, just like Encoder 7 on the device. The scroll-step mapping (Encoder 2) does the same on Audio Edit and MIDI Edit, where Encoder 2 is the grid (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT); a step mapping learned on v1.2.3 or older, when the step was Encoder 1, is moved to Encoder 2 automatically. The other SCROLL knobs keep driving the Audio Overview from there. Volume, Pan and the return mappings always drive the Audio Overview
Audio Overview encoders are per-track: a mapping on Encoder 3 always drives Track 3. Map all 8 encoders for a full fader bank β or create a SEL mapping in CONTROL that drives whichever track is selected (see Following the selected track)
Track FX, Track FX 2 and Track Sends mappings learned this way are locked to the track (and filter node) that was selected when you learned them. To make one follow the selected track instead, edit it in CONTROL and set TRACK to SEL
Source kind: CC or NOTE. NOTE is for button mappings only, so pads and keys can fire actions (since v1.2.2)
Encoder 2
CC or note number (0β127)
Encoder 3
MIDI channel (1β16 or ANY)
Encoder 4
Target screen
Encoder 5
Target encoder (1β8, or SEL = the selected trackβs encoder on the Audio Overview / Track Mixer) or button action
Encoder 6
Function (only for encoders with multiple modes β e.g. Volume / Pan / sends on the mixers, per-node Frequency / Q / Gain (N1 FREQ β¦ N4 GAIN) and Attack / Sidechain on Track FX, the delay / reverb / mastering pickers)
Encoder 7
Mapping mode: ENC (encoder) or BTN (button)
Encoder 8
Track binding on Track FX / Track Sends: SEL (follows the selected track) or a fixed track 1β8 (since v1.2.2)
While the modal is open, incoming CCs from your control surface auto-fill the CC number and channel β just wiggle the control you want to use. In BTN mode a pad or key does the same: its Note On fills in NOTE, the note number and the channel (since v1.2.2).
The list shows each mappingβs binding: Audio Overview / Enc SEL / Volume, Track Fx SEL / Enc 2 / N1 FREQ or Track Fx Track3 / Enc 2 / N1 FREQ.
If you know the auto channel on Elektron boxes β one MIDI channel that always addresses the active track β this is the same idea: map a set of knobs once, and they control whichever track is selected on the Track8. Press a track button, and the same knobs now tweak that track.
These mappings are created manually in UTILITY β MIDI β CONTROL (ADD), not with MIDI Learn:
Audio Overview / Track Mixer (Encoder N = Track N): turn Encoder 5 past 8 to SEL. The mapping drives the selected trackβs Volume, Pan, sends, β¦ β whatever you pick as the function
Track FX / Track Sends (one track on screen at a time): leave Encoder 8 (TRACK) on SEL. Pick the function with Encoder 6 (Frequency / Q / Gain per filter node β N1 FREQ β¦ N4 GAIN β Attack / Sidechain, Release, Threshold, Gain, sends). Set TRACK to 1β8 instead to lock the mapping to one track, which is what MIDI Learn does when you hold an encoder
The selected track is the one highlighted on the Audio Overview, Track Mixer, Track FX and Track Sends screens β a Select button mapping (see below) switches it from your controller, so a controller page with 8 select pads plus one set of knobs covers all 8 tracks
Tips:
A SEL mapping and a fixed-track mapping for the same function can coexist, as long as they use different CCs. Keeping the follow set on its own MIDI channel (e.g. channel 16) makes that easy to organise
Track8 applies knob movement relative to the last position it saw, so switching tracks never makes a value jump β but a knobβs physical position does not reflect the newly selected trackβs value until you move it
Manually created filter mappings name their node (N1 FREQ β¦), so a follow mapping addresses the same node on every track. Map all twelve for full filter control from your controller
Set Encoder 7 to BTN in the Add/Edit modal. Button mappings are momentary: the action fires once when the CC value rises to 64 or above, and re-arms when it falls below 64 β perfect for pads and momentary switches.
A button mapping can also listen to a note instead of a CC (since v1.2.2): set Encoder 1 to NOTE, or simply hit the pad while the modal is open. The action fires on Note On at any velocity and re-arms on Note Off. A note and a CC of the same number are different sources, so both can be mapped. Notes only reach MIDI Control from a port flagged CTRL on the device screen, like CCs β they are not recorded or passed through. Encoder mappings stay CC-only: a note has no value to turn a parameter with.
Global actions (work on every screen):
Play, Record, Left, Right, Shift Left / Shift Right (marker jump), Loop Tgl, Loop In, Loop Out, Punch Tgl, Set Marker, Cut, Copy, Paste, Locate 1 β¦ Locate 8 (see Locators), Free Bar (jump to the next empty bar, see FREE BAR; since v1.2.2)
Audio Overview actions: Select / Mute / Solo / Arm for each of the 8 tracks
MIDI Overview actions: Select / Mute / Solo for each of the 8 tracks
Locate 1 β¦ Locate 8 turn eight pads or buttons on your controller into a locator row, like the numbered locate keys of a tape machine (#316).
Which marker a number means is decided by the markerβs label: a label that starts with the number is that locator β 1 Verse, 2. Chorus, 3-Solo, or just 4. Name your markers in the marker edit screen as usual; the number is visible on the timeline and stays with its marker when you add, move or reorder markers
The leading digits are read as one number: 12 Bar Blues is 12, not locator 1. Only 1 to 8 can be addressed
Several markers with the same number: the earliest one on the tape wins
No marker with that number: NO MARKER 3 appears briefly and nothing moves
The jump is immediate, stopped or playing, like Shift Left / Shift Right from a controller
Create the mappings in CONTROL with ADD: Encoder 7 to BTN, Encoder 4 to Global, Encoder 5 to Locate N, then hit the pad. They cannot be learned by long-press, as there is no control on the Track8 to hold
Map a jog wheel to the Scroll function (e.g. Audio Overview β Scroll). Scroll mappings use relative CC decoding instead of absolute positions, so an endless wheel works without end stops:
Sign-magnitude encoding (e.g. Korg nanoKONTROL) is detected automatically
Twoβs-complement / Mackie-style encoding (e.g. Behringer X-Touch, most DIY jog wheels) is detected as well (improved detection new in v1.2.1)
Set your controllerβs encoder to a relative CC mode if it offers one.
A controller that speaks Mackie Control (Behringer X-Touch and X-Touch One, Mackie Control, and many others in their βMCβ mode) works without any mapping. Flag it MACKIE on the DEVICE screen and its buttons, faders, knobs and displays are assigned as listed here. Track8 also sends its state back, so LEDs, motor faders and displays follow what happens on the Track8.
USB devices only; DIN MIDI IN cannot be MACKIE. In the companion app USB and Bluetooth surfaces work (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
Up to four MACKIE devices at once. They all show and control the same eight audio tracks and the same transport, so you can combine a fader controller with a separate time display
A MACKIE device ignores the CONTROL mapping list. For your own assignments flag the device CTRL instead
The assignment does not depend on the screen the Track8 shows. Only the jog wheel follows the overview in view (it uses that overviewβs scroll step)
lit while recording, blinks while record is on and the tape stands
Rewind / Forward
one step left / right, repeating while held
Cursor Left / Right, Bank β βΆ
previous / next marker
Zoom
latches: the cursor buttons then work on the overview in view β Left / Right zoom out / in, Up / Down make the scroll step finer / coarser (the jog wheel moves in that step); Bank β βΆ keep jumping between markers
lit while latched
Jog wheel
moves the playhead by the scroll step
Cycle
loop on / off
lit while looping
Drop
punch on / off
lit while punch is on
Marker
sets a marker at the playhead
Nudge
SHIFT + Play: to the start marker, or wherever SHIFT PLAY is set to go
Click
metronome on / off
lit while on, blinks while the metronome is set to REC
The time display shows the bar and beat of the Track8 screen, followed by the quarter of the beat and the ticks into it (BEATS, e.g. 12.03.02.120), or a timecode readout 00.00.00.00 β hours, minutes, seconds and frames (TIME, frames at the FRAME RATE set for MTC). The SMPTE/BEATS button switches between them, per controller, and the choice is remembered. It works in any sync mode, also while Track8 sends MIDI clock.
Each CC can control exactly one function, and each function can be controlled by exactly one CC. If a mapping you learn or save would collide with an existing one β same CC source or same target β Track8 shows a warning listing what would be replaced, and the confirm button changes to REPLACE. Confirming removes the old mapping; cancelling keeps it.
Tip: since a channel setting of ANY intercepts that CC on every channel, two mappings for the same CC number on different channels only work if neither is set to ANY.
β Master FX. Press again to cycle Master FX β Mastering β External Inputs (new in v1.2.1; External Inputs only with an external interface, see External Audio)
β Track FX. Press again to cycle Track FX β Track FX 2 β Track Sends (the page changes when you release the key, so the held key can solo β see Track FX) (Track Sends new in v1.2.1, only with an external interface; Track FX 2 (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT))
The arrow keys are free in all FX screens β navigate the tape without leaving the screen (new in v1.2.1)
On every FX screen the edit keys work on the whole viewβs values instead of tape audio:
Copy all values of the view (e.g. a trackβs complete FX chain)
Cut = reset the view to default values. The old values are copied first, so Paste undoes the reset
Paste the copied values β also onto another track (Track FX / Sends)
Works on Track FX, Track FX 2, Track Sends, Master FX, Mastering, External Inputs and the Mixer. Automation lanes are not touched β only the base values.
Every page has its own clipboard. Copying the Track FX page from one microphone to another leaves the Channel, Polarity and Width of the target track as they are; those are copied on the Track FX 2 page.
The edited track is clearly labeled TRACK n at the top (since v1.1.3)
+ Track Button β quick-select another track
Hold and press a Track Button β Solo / Un-solo that track, exactly as AUDIO + Track Button does on the Audio Overview: press again to un-solo, another track moves the solo, mutes are ignored. Since the key is held, the page only changes when you let go without having pressed a Track Button (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
While is held the track-button row shows every trackβs state β 3 SOLO, 2 MUTED or just the number β so you can see at once why an edit makes no difference (the track is muted, or another track is soloed) without leaving the screen (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
With a sidechain source selected, the compressor listens to that track instead of its own:
It hears the source as recorded (or as monitored at the input): before Mute, Solo, Fader, Pan, Track FX 2, the Return and the sourceβs own Filter and Compressor
A muted source still triggers the compressor β record a kick on a spare track, mute it, and use it to duck another track
The Fader of the source does not change how hard the compressor works; set that with Threshold
Which track number the source has makes no difference
Without a sidechain source the compressor listens to its own track, after the Filter
Up to v1.2.3 the compressor heard the source after its Mute and Fader, and after its Filter and Compressor if the source had a lower track number. Projects that use a sidechain can need a new Threshold.
Three stereo utilities per track on the left, and the three insert faders on the right (external soundcards), on the second page of Track FX:
Press again while on Track FX
The three slots run left to right in signal order: Channel picks what goes into the track, Polarity flips that, Width shapes the image of the result
All three act before the fader and Pan, so a stereo track can be narrowed to mono and then placed with Pan
They are non-destructive: the recording on tape is not changed. Monitored input runs through them as well, so a polarity flip is audible while you place the microphones
+ Track Button β quick-select another track
Channel (Encoder 1, Track Button 1 on/off)
Value
Left
Right
Use
off
left
right
normal stereo
L
left
left
keep one side of a stereo recording or import
R
right
right
the same, other side
SWAP
right
left
cables or an import the wrong way round
Polarity (Encoder 2, Track Button 2 on/off)
Encoder 2 picks what is inverted while Polarity is on: L, R or L+R
Track Button 2 is the quick comparison: flip, listen, flip back
L+R is inaudible on a track that plays alone. It matters when another track carries the same sound β two microphones on one source, a DI next to its amp
L or R is audible on its own: a hollow image that loses bass and cancels in mono. Use it to repair a stereo pair with one channel wired the wrong way round
Push Encoder 2 to switch it to TRACK and pick a reference track (shown as TRACK2 ->). Push again to return to Polarity
The meter compares the track with its reference track in the low frequencies. Bars upward (green) mean the two tracks add, bars downward (yellow to red) mean they cancel. Press Track Button 2 and keep the position where the meter points up
The reference track only feeds the meter, it never changes the sound. The meter stays dark without a reference track and while either track is silent. It also works with the reference track muted or pulled down
Width (Encoder 3, Track Button 3 on/off)
0 % is mono, 100 % is unchanged, 200 % is the maximum width (only the difference between left and right is left)
The two ellipses show the setting: one ellipse at 0 %, side by side at 200 %
Width can be automated: it is the last entry of the Track FX parameter list in Audio Edit, one step to the left of the first filter parameter
A recording of a mono input has the same signal on both sides, and so has a track with Channel set to L or R. There is nothing to widen on those: above 100 % they only get quieter
Inserts: INS SEND, INS RETURN, INS MIX (Encoder 6, 7, 8, Track Button 6 on/off)
With an external audio interface, a track can run through outboard gear: it leaves on its insert send and comes back on its insert return (mapped on the INSERTS page of the Audio settings β see External Audio). The three faders follow the signal from left to right:
INS SEND (Encoder 6): level sent to the gear, -24 to +24 dB, 0 dB = the track as it leaves the fader. Use it to push a compressor or saturator harder than the level on tape allows, without touching the fader
INS RETURN (Encoder 7): level of what comes back, -24 to +24 dB. Bring a hot device down, or a quiet one up
INS MIX (Encoder 8): 0 % is the track alone, 100 % the returned signal alone, anything between is a parallel blend
while turning β fine steps (0.1 dB)
Each slot has a level meter: what leaves for the gear, what comes back after INS RETURN, and the blended result that continues into Filter and Compressor. Red on the INS SEND meter is real clipping: that signal goes straight to the converter. If the INS MIX meter stays steady while you turn the mix, the levels around the gear match
Track Button 6 switches the whole insert on / off, for a quick comparison with and without the gear. Off plays the dry track, whatever INS MIX says; the change is a short crossfade. The send keeps running while the insert is off, so the gear stays fed and the comparison is immediate. The faders can still be set while it is off
The three slots are always on the page. A slot is dimmed when the track does not have it: INS SEND needs an insert send mapped, INS RETURN and INS MIX an insert return. With the internal soundcard all three are dimmed and Track Button 6 reads NO INSERT. A dimmed slot does not react to its encoder. The slots also dim while the insert is switched off
INS RETURN and INS MIX can be automated (the Return lanes in Audio Edit). INS SEND is not automated
The send is taken after the fader and Pan, so the fader still sets how hard the gear is driven; INS SEND trims that on top. If you use the insert sends as individual track outputs to an external mixer, INS SEND is simply the output level of the track
Up to v1.2.3 return level and mix were encoder modes of the Audio Overview (the level from -60 to 0 dB)
Good to know
Copy / Cut / Paste on this page covers all six values of the track, so an insert setup can be copied to another track
The individual track outputs of an external interface carry Channel, Polarity and Width as well
EXPORT MIX and EXPORT to a track include them. Copy, Paste and Bounce work on the audio as recorded and do not; to print a polarity fix, export to a track
A project with Width automation opens on older firmware, which drops that automation and keeps everything else
With an external audio interface, each track gets 8 additional aux sends to hardware outputs:
Press again while on Track FX 2
Encoders 1-8 set the send level for sends 1-8
Track Buttons 1-8 toggle each send on/off; + Track Button selects the track
Sends are true post-fader sends, summed per bus across all tracks and routed straight to the output pairs configured under SENDS in the Audio settings β see External Audio
Encoder 1: Time β ms or beat-synced (push to toggle). Synced values are note lengths from 1/1 to 1/64: 1/4 is a quarter note in every time signature (fixed in v1.2.1)
Encoder 2: Feedback / Width / Mod Rate / Mod Depth (push to cycle)
Track Button 1: Delay on/off β off mutes the delay return; the track sends themselves are unaffected (since v1.2.1, previously the sends passed through dry)
The delay time can be modulated by an LFO β this turns the delay into a chorus or flanger:
Mod Rate (0.1β10 Hz) β LFO speed
Mod Depth (0β20 ms) β how far the delay time swings; 0 ms = LFO off (default)
Width β with modulation active, Width also sets the L/R phase offset of the LFO: 0% = both channels move together (mono chorus), 100% = 180Β° apart (wide stereo). When Ping-pong is on, Width additionally controls the ping-pong spread as before.
Shift + Encoder 2 = fine steps
Recipes: Chorus β Time 15β30 ms, Feedback 0β20 %, Mod Rate 0.3β1 Hz, Mod Depth 2β5 ms. Flanger β Time 10 ms, Feedback 50β80 %, Mod Rate 0.1β0.5 Hz, Mod Depth 1β3 ms. The radarβs time arc wobbles to indicate rate and depth.
The Mastering screen shows a realtime spectrum of the master output. It is fed post-limiter, so it always shows what actually leaves the device β even with Mastering bypassed.
SOUNDCARD (Encoder 1): select the interface (must be class-compliant)
MODE (Encoder 3): MULTI records multiple tracks at once, SINGLE is the classic one-track workflow
HYBRID (Encoder 5, was MON up to v1.2.3): how much of Track8βs own soundcard stays in use next to the interface (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT). OFF = the interface alone. MON = the main mix also plays on Track8βs headphone output (useful for rack interfaces). FULL = MON plus Track8βs own XLR / line inputs, which then appear as INT L / INT R on every input mapping page, after the interfaceβs channels. Input-only interfaces start at MON
RATE (Encoder 6): 48k / 44.1k (since v1.1.1)
BUFFER SIZE (Encoder 7/8): 96 or 144 for external interfaces (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT) β USB audio travels in 1 ms packets, and only whole-millisecond buffers line up with them; the other sizes made the engine restart on every other buffer. Eight tracks recording at once with every effect on needs 144. Push the encoder to switch to PERIODS (3-5, default 3) if you get crackles at your preferred buffer size (new in v1.2.1)
Track Button 8 (APPLY): apply changes and restart the audio engine
β οΈ 44.1kHz is a last resort (since v1.1.1). Track8 always runs at 48kHz internally β at RATE 44.1k all incoming/outgoing audio is resampled (in the worst case input/send/return/output resamples 4 times). This degrades audio quality and costs performance. Only use it if your interface cannot run at 48kHz.
Assign an input pair per track (in SINGLE mode: one SINGLE IN input pair)
With HYBRID = FULL, Track8βs own inputs are offered as INT L / INT R after the interfaceβs channels β on TRK IN, SINGLE IN, the insert return and EXTERNAL (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT). The two cards do not share a clock, so these two inputs are matched to the interfaceβs clock on the way in and arrive a few milliseconds later than the interfaceβs own inputs; a recorded take is shifted by that amount automatically, on top of the trackβs REC OFFSET. Give them a name on IO NAMES like any other input
Switching HYBRID below FULL keeps a mapping that points at INT L / INT R, but it carries no signal: the mapping pages show it in brackets, (INT L), the Overviewβs input indicator shows -, and an armed track records silence until HYBRID is FULL again
Channels can be set to - to disable them, e.g. when using Track8 purely as a USB soundcard front-end (since v1.2.0)
ALT METRON (Encoder 8, new in v1.2.1): route the metronome to separate output channel(s). When set, the metronome is removed from the main mix and only sent there β perfect for a drummerβs cue mix. One channel = mono, both = stereo
On iPad and Mac every loaded slot of the plugin rack (UTILITY β AU RACK) appears as one more stereo pair on each of these pages, named after the plugin and listed after the interfaceβs channels β a pluginβs outputs on the input pages (TRK IN, insert return, EXTERNAL), its inputs on the output pages (insert send, SENDS, MAIN OUT). See Companion App β Plugins (since v1.2.3)
Must support 48kHz (or use the RATE 44.1k fallback, see above)
Interfaces that combine MIDI and audio in separate USB audio blocks (e.g. the Elektron Tonverk) are supported since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT β earlier versions showed USB AUDIO CONNECTED but did not list them under SOUNDCARD
Elektron Digitakt, Digitakt II, Digitone, Digitone Keys, Digitone II, Syntakt and Analog Heat MKII in class-compliant USB audio mode are set up for Linuxβs implicit-feedback sync since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT β earlier versions recorded from them but played back distorted or at the wrong speed. Built from the Linux fix verified on these boxes, not yet confirmed on a Track8; please report in #59
The Elektron Tonverk is paced the same way since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT β before, what Track8 played through it dropped out for a few milliseconds every few seconds, heard as a crackle
A track with an insert send and an insert return mapped (the INSERTS page above) goes out to your outboard gear and comes back into the same track. Its three faders are on the Track FX 2 page (slots 6 to 8, (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)):
INS SEND β level sent to the gear, -24 to +24 dB
INS RETURN β level of the returned signal, -24 to +24 dB
Each slot has a level meter, and Track Button 6 switches the whole insert on / off to compare with and without the gear. INS RETURN and INS MIX can be automated, and all three work in SINGLE mode too.
Up to v1.2.3 the return level and mix were two encoder modes of the Audio Overview (RETURN LEVEL, -60 to 0 dB, and RETURN MIX). Projects keep their values; a return level below -24 dB now plays at -24 dB. MIDI Learn mappings for the two old modes do nothing any more and have to be learned again on Track FX 2.
Press the Settings button to open the Settings screen (since v1.1.3 no
SHIFT needed β SHIFT + Settings opens the USB Browser instead).
Press Settings again to cycle to the Utility screen and
back (new in v1.2.1).
Shortcuts from the Settings screen:
Hold Settings + press Audio β open the Soundcard settings
Hold Settings + press Midi β open the MIDI settings
30β360. Push to switch between whole BPM and decimals (new in v1.2.1). Whole mode: SHIFT = steps of 10. Decimal mode: steps of 0.01, SHIFT = 0.1
2
MEASURE
Time signature. Push to cycle numerator (1β32) / denominator (1β64, powers of 2)
3
METRONOME
OFF / REC (only while recording) / ON. Push to switch to the metronome level. Beats follow the time signatureβs denominator β in 7/8 it clicks every eighth with the accent on 1 (fixed in v1.2.1). The click sound is chosen in Utility with Encoder 4 (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
4
COUNT IN
OFF or 1β16 beats, counted in the same beat as the metronome (7 beats = one bar of 7/8)
5
OVERDUB
ON / OFF
6
RECORDING
A && M records Audio and MIDI together, A || M records only the domain you are in
7
FOOTSWITCH
PLAY / RECORD / HOLD REC / TUNER / MARKER
8
AUDIO MON / MIDI MON
Push to cycle (MIDI MON new in v1.2.1). OFF / ON / PUNCH β PUNCH monitors only while the playhead is inside the punch brackets, whether or not punch recording is armed, so you can rehearse a punch-in and hear exactly what the recorded result will sound like (new in v1.2.1). Audio: switch OFF when using speakers and a microphone. MIDI: controls whether input is echoed to MIDI Out
Track buttons:
TAP TEMPO (Track 1) β tap at least twice to set the BPM
TRK NAMES (Track 6) β name your audio and MIDI tracks
BROWSE (Track 7) β open the Project Browser (see below)
EXPORT (Track 8) β export a mix or stems to USB, or bounce to a track
(since v1.2.0)
Bouncing to a track overwrites that trackβs audio from the insert point
on β and a track is the default destination whenever no USB stick is
plugged in. EXPORT therefore asks first: OVERWRITE (Track 6)
goes ahead, Cancel (Track 3) leaves the track untouched
(since v1.2.2)
Confirmation dialogs β this one, the delete prompts, tape truncate β
can also be answered by tapping the on-screen buttons, and every other
control is locked until you answer
(since v1.2.2)
The Settings screen stays reachable during a take β that is how you toggle
the metronome mid-pass. Controls that would break the recording (BPM, tap
tempo, time signature, overdub, recording mode, and the doors to Utility /
Track Names / Browse / Export) are refused with an on-screen error while a
take is rolling (new in v1.2.1).
Open with BROWSE (Track 7) on the Settings screen. The browser opens
on the project you are in: its disk comes on show and the
project is highlighted (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT).
Scroll projects with Encoder 8 β the selected projectβs waveform loads
as a preview. Projects are sorted alphanumerically (new in v1.2.1).
Hold while turning to jump by initial letter (JUMP A-Z) β
the quick way through a long list of prefix-named projects (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
LOAD (Track 8 or push Encoder 8) β switch to the selected project
BACKUP (Track 2) β back up the selected project to a USB stick
IMPORT (Track 3) β import a backup from a USB stick
SAVE AS (Track 4) β save the current project under a new name;
Encoder 7 on the keyboard picks the copyβs disk
(starts on the disk you are looking at)
RENAME (Track 5) β rename the selected project; Encoder 7 on the
keyboard picks its disk. With the name left as it is the
button reads UPDATE and only the disk changes, and the project moves to its new disk at once
SHIFT + Track 6 β delete the selected project (the active project
cannot be deleted; a confirmation dialog appears)
NEW (Track 7) β create a new project; Encoder 1 on the name
keyboard picks a template (TEMPLATE: --- = empty project; a
highlighted template is preselected),
Encoder 7 a disk (DISK: --- = unlabelled)
Think of a shelf of floppy disks: every project sits on exactly one, and
the browser shows one disk at a time with its neighbours peeking in from
the sides. A disk is a label β a short word (up to 12 characters) such as
ALBUM, LIVE, IDEAS or a client name β with a colour. Nothing moves
in the file system, and a disk stays on the shelf until you delete it,
even when it is empty.
The shelf (Encoder 7), from left to right:
UNLABELED β every project without a label. If you never label
anything, this is simply your project list.
One disk per label, in alphabetical order, with its name in its colour
as the header over the list.
NEW DISK β an empty page: push Encoder 7 here to create a disk on
the keyboard (Encoder 8 picks its colour). The browser then shows
the new, empty disk and NEW creates the first project in it.
The shelf is drawn as a row of floppy disks across the top of the screen,
one per disk in its colour with its name underneath. The disk on show is the
big one in the middle; the others get smaller and dimmer the further out
they sit and run off both edges of the screen, so you always see where you
are on the shelf. Turning Encoder 7 slides the whole row by one disk; the
caption under the encoder repeats the diskβs name. The diskβs project list
and the waveform preview sit underneath, side by side. Each disk remembers
which project you had highlighted until the next restart, except the disk
holding the project you are in: that one always comes back on the current
project, and it is the disk the browser opens on.
Push on a disk opens RENAME DISK: rename it (and change its
colour) for every project in it. The ^ on the caption shows whenever
push does something.
+ push on a disk deletes the disk after a confirmation. The
projects are kept; they move to UNLABELED.
Putting a project in a disk
The disk is decided where the name is: Encoder 7 on the NEW,
SAVE AS and RENAME keyboards picks it (DISK: --- = unlabelled),
like Encoder 1 picks a template. NEW and SAVE AS start on the disk you are
looking at, RENAME on the projectβs current disk. To move an existing
project, press RENAME, turn Encoder 7 and confirm β with the name
untouched the button reads UPDATE and nothing is renamed. Like APPLY in
the marker editor, the button lights up as soon as the name or the disk
differs from what you opened with. A project never changes disk by an
accidental encoder turn: it always goes through a keyboard.
Disks travel with the project: RENAME, SAVE AS, BACKUP and
IMPORT keep them, and a disk that arrives with an import joins your
shelf. On the SSD a disk is the one-line file label inside the project
folder; the shelf itself lives in the global settings.
A template is a project without content: it keeps the settings (BPM,
time signature, metronome, record modes), track names and colours, MIDI
channels, mixer levels / pans / mutes, Track FX, sends, Master FX and
Mastering, external channel mapping and grid preferences β but no audio,
MIDI, automation, markers, loop or punch. It also carries a setup: the
audio interface configuration, MIDI sync settings, threshold record and
tuner settings (channel names and device profiles stay as they are).
+ SAVE AS β SAVE TMP saves the current projectβs settings as a template
Templates live on their own TEMPLATESdisk in the
browser, listed by name (no waveform preview). With a template
highlighted, LOAD turns into FROM TMP: enter a name for the new
project (a random one is suggested) and it is created from the template
RENAME and + Track 6 (delete) work on templates too
The templateβs setup is applied when the project is created. The active
audio interface itself is never switched automatically: if the template
was saved with a different interface, a hint asks you to select it in
UTILITY β AUDIO
Templates live in templates/ next to projects/ on the SSD
Projects load faster since v1.2.1: the waveform overview is cached with the
project. The first load of an older project (or after editing its files
outside Track8) rebuilds the cache and may take a moment longer.
You can also let Track8 ask for a new project on every start β see the
AT STARTUP setting in Utility (since v1.1.4).
Whenever a name is needed (projects, tracks, markers, exports) the input
keyboard opens:
Tap SHIFT on the keyboard for one uppercase letter; double-tap for
Caps Lock, single tap to exit it (since v1.1.3)
Left / Right buttons move the text cursor; the Record button
deletes the character at the cursor (new in v1.2.1)
When creating a new project, push Encoder 8 (dice) to generate a
random project name (since v1.1.3)
A standard USB keyboard can be used to type; only characters present on
the touch keyboard are registered, and Enter confirms (new in v1.2.1)
Names that end up on disk (projects, templates, backups, exports, saved
WAV / MIDI clips) cannot contain / \ : * ? " < > | β those keys are
greyed out and ignored, and a name made only of dots cannot be confirmed
(new in v1.2.1)
The USB Browser is Track8βs way in and out of a USB stick: audition WAV and
MIDI files on the stick, pull one into the clipboard to paste into the
project, write the clipboard back to the stick as a file, or delete files
you no longer need. It is a file browser for the recorder, not a sample
library β one file at a time, straight into the clipboard.
Open it with (SHIFT + Settings, since v1.1.3 β before that the Settings button itself opened the browser).
A FAT32 USB stick has to be connected (units of the second production
batch also read exFAT sticks). Without one, Track8 shows
NO USB STICK FOUND; a stick it cannot read shows ERROR LOADING FROM USB.
The browser does not open while a recording is running (Browsing
refused), and it closes on its own β back to the Audio Overview β when the
stick is pulled.
Opening the browser stops playback.
In the Companion App there is no stick: a system folder
picker opens instead, and the folder you choose becomes the browserβs root.
Saving the clipboard (PASTE, see below) works right in that folder
(since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT).
The list shows the folders, .wav and .mid files of the current folder,
sorted by name; everything else is hidden. The extension may be written in
any letter case (.WAV, .Mid) and .midi is accepted too (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT) β before
that only lower-case .wav / .mid were listed. The path is shown
top-left, and at the root of the stick the used space (USED:). A USB
stick is drawn in the left column so the browser is told apart from the
Project Browserβs disk shelf at a glance: large at the root, filled up to
the selected stickβs used space, small above the folder box once you are
inside a folder (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT).
A folder with nothing to list shows EMPTY FOLDER β it exists, but holds
no WAV or MIDI files. EXIT works as usual (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT); until then such a folder
came up as a blank screen.
Encoder 8 (SCROLL) β move the selection
Track 8 β OPEN the selected folder, or PLAY / STOP the
selected file (Encoder 8 push does the same)
Track 1 or Encoder 7 push β EXIT the current folder, one level
up. At the root the browser has nowhere to go; use any screen button to
leave it.
Selecting a file loads it in the background, ready to play with Track 8
and to copy.
WAV files show their waveform and length on the right. Mono and stereo
files at any sample rate and bit depth are accepted; they are converted to
Track8βs 48 kHz on the way in. The waveform is drawn while the file loads
and brightens once it is complete. A file Track8 cannot decode shows
Reading error.
A file longer than 12 minutes shows LONG FILE - FIRST 2 MIN
above the waveform: only its first two minutes are loaded for the waveform
and for PLAY, while the length line shows the whole file (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT). Such a file
is imported by streaming (see below) β until v1.2.3 it was refused with
Too Long.
MIDI files show a piano-roll preview and play on the MIDI channel
selected with Encoder 1 (CHANNEL 1β16) through Track8βs MIDI
outputs, so you hear them on whatever synth listens on that channel. The
first track of the file is used; the channels and tempo stored in the file
are ignored and the file plays at the project tempo.
a .wav or an AIFF (.aif / .aiff / .aifc) goes into the audio clipboard as one track
a .mid goes into the MIDI clipboard as one track
Audio files are recognised by their content, not their name (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT): an AIFF file that was named .wav β Logicβs Space Designer exports its impulse responses that way β loads like any other. WAV and AIFF at any sample rate, 8 to 32 bit or float, mono or stereo are converted to the project format on the way in; AIFF-C files compressed with anything but plain PCM, and files with more than two channels, show Reading error.
The clipboard bars at the bottom of the screen (AUDIO / MIDI) show what is
loaded. Then leave the browser, select the destination track on the
Audio Overview or MIDI Overview,
place the playhead and press Paste β exactly like pasting a section you
copied within the project. The imported audio can be shaped in the
Audio Clipboard Modifier first, MIDI in the
MIDI Clipboard Modifier.
Copy waits for the file to finish loading. If you press it too early, the
waveform flashes red β press Copy again once it has settled.
A file copied from the stick replaces the whole clipboard, including
the Marker clipboard filled by a LOOP + Copy.
Selecting a WAV file in the browser empties the audio clipboard when the
clipboard and the file together would exceed 12 minutes, to make room for
the file (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT) β shorter combinations keep the clipboard. Until v1.2.3
browsing any WAV emptied it. Anything long you copied inside the project
and still need has to be pasted before you browse. The MIDI clipboard is
never affected.
A WAV or AIFF longer than 12 minutes β a long jam, an album side, a podcast
β does not fit the clipboardβs memory, so Track8 imports it differently
(since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT), with the same two presses
(#347):
Copy puts a reference to the file in the audio clipboard (the
clipboard bar fills as usual).
Paste on the Audio Overview or Audio Edit streams the file from the
stick onto the selected track, a few seconds at a time. An IMPORTING
overlay with a percentage bar shows the progress; a 40-minute file takes
a minute or two. Leave the stick in until it is done.
What is different about a long import:
It cannot be opened in the Audio Clipboard Modifier
(LONG IMPORT - NO MODIFIER): paste it and edit on the tape with markers,
LOOP + Cut / Copy, SPLICE
and Audio Edit.
SHIFT + Paste (bounce) pastes it plainly onto the selected track.
The browserβs PASTE (save to stick) is dim: the file is already on the
stick.
Pasting it over existing audio longer than 12 minutes cannot be
undone (NO UNDO FOR THIS PASTE); pasting onto empty tape, or over less,
undoes as usual.
Pulling the stick empties a clipboard that refers to a file on it
(the audio clipboard bar goes dark); plug it back in and Copy again. Should
the file be gone for another reason, Paste says FILE NOT FOUND and
empties the clipboard too. Pulled during the import, what was written
stays (IMPORT STOPPED AT β¦).
The tape is 3 hours long: a file that would reach past that is cut
off at the end (CLIPPED AT TAPE END), see the
Audio Overview.
The browser also opens from the Audio Clipboard Modifierβs
CONVOLVE group (push Encoder 4, SOURCE; since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT).
It then says IMPULSE FOR CONVOLVE along the bottom instead of the
clipboard bars: browse and preview as usual, and Copy on a .wav takes
the fileβs first 5 s as the impulse and returns to the modifier (WAV or AIFF alike) β the
clipboard is not touched, whatever its size. Track 1 at the root of
the stick (BACK) returns without a file; PASTE is not offered in this mode.
Inside a folder (not at the root of the stick; in the Companion App also in
the picked folder itself), two PASTE labels appear on Track 4 and
Track 5:
Track 4 β PASTE writes the audio clipboard as a .wav. A
single-track clipboard is written as it is; a multi-track clipboard (from a
LOOP + Copy, for example) is mixed down to one stereo file using the
current volume, pan and automation of the source tracks.
Track 5 β PASTE writes the MIDI clipboard as a .mid, one MIDI
track per clipboard track.
Track8 asks for a file name on the keyboard (the extension is added for
you); names already used in that folder are refused. A Saving as WAV /
Saving as MID message shows while the file is written.
If the audio PASTE label is dim although you copied something, the
folderβs first WAV file was too long to keep next to your clipboard (see
Importing): copy again and save into a
folder that starts with a sub-folder, a MIDI file or a shorter WAV. It is
also dim while the clipboard holds a long file,
which is on the stick already.
Hold SHIFT and push Encoder 4 (DELETE) to delete the selected
file or folder. A confirmation asks DELETE FILE? / DELETE FOLDER? with
the name β Track 6 confirms, Track 3 cancels. Deleting a folder
removes everything inside it.
Global device settings that apply to every project. Open the Settings
screen and press UTILITY (Track 2) β or simply press Settings twice
(new in v1.2.1). EXIT (Track 1) returns to Settings.
Encoders with a ^ symbol do something when pushed: most hold more than one setting (push to cycle), CLICK plays its sound.
Encoder
Setting
Values
1
SHIFT NAV
MARKER / BEATS β what SHIFT + β β does: jump between markers or by single beats
2
SHIFT HOLD
OFF / NAMES β show the track name overlay while SHIFT is held
3
TIMED JUMP
OFF / AT BEAT / AT BAR β with MARKER navigation, marker jumps during playback wait for the next beat/bar so you stay in time
4
CLICK
The metronome sound. WOOD is the click Track8 has always had; BEEP plays clean sine pips an octave apart, like a computer DAW; RIM is a short, dry rimshot that cuts through a loud drum or guitar mix; BELL is a drum-machine cowbell that carries in a loud room; LOW is a soft, low thump that leaks least from headphones into a nearby microphone. All of them play equally loud at the same metronome level. Push the encoder to hear the bar click of the selected sound, stopped or playing. USER plays your own clicks: bin/static/tic.wav (bar) and bin/static/toc.wav (beat) on the SSD, WAV or AIFF, up to 250 ms each, at their own level. It is offered only while both files are there. Track8 comes with the original click samples in that place; replace them on a computer in USB-disk mode, and Track8 uses the new files from the next start (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
5
AT STARTUP
LAST PRJ / NEW PRJ β with NEW PRJ, Track8 offers a fresh project (with a generated name) on every start (since v1.1.4)
6
Feature toggles (push to cycle)
see below
7
THEME / SHADER / TEMP
Select a color theme (including a colorblind theme, since v1.1.3). Push to cycle to SHADER β the display filter: OFF, BLOOM (the horizontal glow, the former ON), CRT (phosphor glow, soft scanlines, shaded corners), SCANLINE (the lines and corners without the glow), SOFT (a light anti-aliasing blur), SHARP (crisper text and edges) and, only while a bin/static/bloom.glsl of your own exists on the SSD, CUSTOM (that file) β and once more to TEMP, the display colour temperature from 6500 K (neutral) down to 2500 K in steps of 500 K, which warms whichever filter is active, OFF included. A change takes effect about half a second after the last click, with a brief flicker while the screen compositor restarts (since v1.2.2; Track8 hardware only β the companion app stores the setting but shows no filter)
8
BRIGHTNESS / STANDBY
Screen brightness. Push for Standby: OFF / 1m / 5m / 15m / 30m / 60m of inactivity before the screen dims to a screensaver β only while playback is stopped; any key wakes it up (since v1.1.3). Playback and recording count as activity, so the timer starts when the transport stops, whether it was stopped on the device or over MIDI (since v1.2.2)
All of these (together with SHIFT NAV, SHIFT HOLD, TIMED JUMP and OVERDUB)
are also one touch away on the overviews: touch and hold the track area
of the Audio or MIDI Overview to open the Quick Settings panel, see
Touch (since v1.2.2).
MKR LEG β draw a vertical line under each marker for easy visual
reference (since v1.1.4). On the overviews the legs stop at the track
area, like the waveform, so the input/output meters stay clear of them
(since v1.2.2)
MOD HI β highlight pasted/modified audio in orange until the next
edit or view switch (since v1.1.4). During multi-take
recording nothing is highlighted
while the takes are still open; the take you kept is highlighted once
the session ends (punch off) (since v1.2.2)
SCROLL SND β tape-style FFW/RWD sound while navigating and scrolling
(since v1.1.5). A SHIFT + Play jump is voiced too: a short fast-wind
sweep whose loudness traces the material between the playhead and the
target (since v1.2.2)
SHIFT PLAY β START / MARKER 1: where SHIFT + Play jumps
(since v1.1.5). Reads START MKR while a marker carries the
start flag: SHIFT + Play then always goes
to that marker, and the setting takes over again once the flag is removed
(new in v1.2.2)
PASTE JMP β after a paste, jump the playhead to the end of the pasted
region to quickly fill the tape with a repeating pattern (since v1.2.0)
TAPE SND β tape-stop effect on stop: OFF / 0.4s / 0.8s / 1.5s tail
(new in v1.2.1)
BIG TIME β a big translucent overlay on the left half of the Audio and
MIDI Overview, readable from across the room
(new in v1.2.1).
Shows the time / bar-beat readout (T 00:00 / B 01:01) with the
markers between them β current > next β and a progress bar with a
bars:beats countdown to the next marker below; name your markers
after chords or song sections and read the changes while playing.
Unnamed markers show as their number (M: 3); after the last marker the
next slot reads M: - and the countdown --:--
(marker info since v1.2.2).
Also toggled by touching the time / beat readout at the bottom of
either overview (since v1.2.2):
As Clock master: SEND SPP / SEND TRANSPORT / SEND CLOCK
As Clock slave: RECV SPP / RECV TRANSPORT / RECV CLOCK
As MTC slave: MTC OFFSET (minutes/seconds)
With MTC: FRAME RATE β 24 / 25 / 29.97 / 30 fps
Clock and MTC are sent and received on the 5-pin MIDI ports and on USB
MIDI alike. As MTC master, timecode also goes out over USB
(since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT).
USB MIDI is now timed as tightly as the 5-pin output: every clock tick
and note leaves at its exact moment (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT).
DEVICE and CONTROL β flag a MIDI device for remote control and
edit control mappings, see MIDI Remote Control
(since v1.1.4). A device can also be flagged MACKIE: a Mackie Control
surface that works without mappings, see
Mackie Control surfaces
(since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
ROUTE (on the DEVICE screen, Track Button 7) β per-device MIDI routing for bigger setups: recording, echo, channels and clock / MTC per device, see Manual MIDI routing (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
CH NAMES β name your MIDI channels and bind a MIDI Device Profile per channel (Encoder 1 picks the row, Encoder 8 the profile; since v1.2.1)
The soundcard setup β internal converters or a class-compliant USB
interface. See External Audio for details.
SOUNDCARD β Internal or a connected USB interface (in the
companion app the device iOS is using,
shown by name)
BUFFER SIZE / PERIODS β buffer size (external interfaces: 96 or 144), and 3β5 audio periods for
external interfaces (PERIODS new in v1.2.1); the resulting round-trip
latency is shown
RATE β 48k / 44.1k: last-resort compatibility mode for interfaces
that cannot run at 48 kHz; audio is resampled and quality/performance
suffer (since v1.1.1)
MODE β SINGLE / MULTI track input mode
Sub-pages: TRK IN (or CH 1/2), INSERTS, SENDS,
EXTERNAL, MAIN OUT, IO NAMES β on MAIN OUT an
ALT METRON channel can be selected to route the metronome to its own
output instead of the main mix (new in v1.2.1)
Shows the installed Track8 firmware version (since v1.1.3)
REBUILD WAVEFORM β throw away the stored waveform overview of the
current project and re-read it from the tape. Use this if the drawn
waveform no longer matches the audio (new in v1.2.1)
SHOW FPS / SHOW LATENCY / SHOW MEMORY β on-screen
performance overlays
DEBUG LOG β verbose logging
LOGS β USB β copy the device logs to a USB stick for a support
request
AUDIO ENGINE (Encoder 8) β for testing: JACK (the default) or
DIRECT, Track8βs own audio engine without the JACK server. Turn right
for DIRECT, left for JACK; the audio restarts. DIRECT offers every buffer
size from 48 to 144 frames on the built-in card and on USB interfaces;
switching back to JACK moves the buffer to the nearest size JACK offers
(since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
On units from the second production batch, one more line shows the
power controller: its firmware version, the supply voltage now and the
lowest since switching on, and why the unit last switched off (for
example last off: brown-out 7.1 V). LOGS β USB then also copies its full
log, power-controller.txt (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
The Track8 companion app runs the same firmware as the hardware natively on
iPad, iPhone and Apple-silicon Macs. The device image is a fully working control
surface β tap the buttons, drag up or down on an encoder to turn it, tap or
briefly touch an encoder to push it (a touch that did not turn the encoder is a
push when you lift the finger), and rest a finger on an encoder for two seconds
to open MIDI Learn for it, as on the hardware β and the screen in the
middle is the real Track8 UI, rendered live. Multi-channel interfaces and
AUv3 plugins are wired in through the same mapping pages as on the hardware
(see Plugins below).
Three touch buttons live in the corners of the window, outside the device:
Corner
Button
What it does
bottom-left
β
Info overlay: labels every encoder and button with what it does on the current screen (hold SHIFT to see the shifted actions)
top-left
β€’
Zoom: the window shows only the device panel β encoders, screen, track buttons and the button grid β as large as the window allows (since v1.2.3)
bottom-right
π¨
Theme editor (below)
Only one of β and π¨ can be open at a time, and neither is available while
zoomed (their panels sit on the wood the zoom crops away); tapping β€’ closes
them. The zoom setting is remembered.
MIDI Control β MIDI Learn, the DEVICE and CONTROL
screens, device profiles β works in the app with any CoreMIDI source: USB
controllers, Bluetooth MIDI, network sessions (since
v1.2.3).
The DEVICE screen lists the sources the iPad or Mac sees; flag a controller
as CTRL there exactly as on the hardware, and its CCs and notes drive the
mappings instead of being recorded. There is no DIN row in the app.
MIDI Sync works in the app as on the
hardware (since
v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT):
as MASTER it sends MIDI clock, Start / Continue / Stop and Song Position
(or MTC) to every CoreMIDI destination, as SLAVE it follows clock,
transport and Song Position from any CoreMIDI source, USB or Bluetooth,
with the same UTILITY β MIDI settings. Clock and notes leave the app
timed against the audio they belong to, so a sequencer on the other end
hears a steady clock whatever the screen is doing. MTC as slave takes
quarter frames only (no full-frame locate over Bluetooth).
The app also appears as a MIDI device of its own, Track8, to other apps
and MIDI routers such as midiMittr or AUM (since
v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT):
subscribe to its source to get its clock, transport and MIDI tracks, send
to its destination to play or record into it, or sync a synth app to it.
That is for app-to-app routing only. Hardware needs no routing: Track8
reads every MIDI source and sends to every destination by itself, so
routing a USB or Bluetooth device to or from Track8 in a router would
deliver its messages twice. What apps send to the destination shows on the
DEVICE screen as the Track8 (apps) port, which can be flagged as a
control surface like any other.
What goes where follows the DEVICE screen exactly as on the hardware (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT):
a device flagged CTRL gets none of Track8βs MIDI (no clock, no notes,
no thru), a device flagged IGNORE is neither sent to nor heard, its clock
and transport included, a MACKIE surface gets only its own feedback, and
a device flagged MPE gets only the tracks that play into it.
Mackie Control surfaces work in the app as
on the hardware, over USB or Bluetooth: buttons, faders, knobs, motor
faders, LEDs and displays. MPE works
in the app as on the hardware, over USB, Bluetooth or to other apps: flag
the controllerβs port MPE and its notes are recorded with their bend,
pressure and timbre; turn a trackβs CHANNEL encoder past 16 to the
device and the track plays into it, one channel per note. For an MPE synth
app, or an MPE instrument hosted in AUM, the app publishes a second MIDI
device, Track8 MPE: subscribe the synth to its source, and pick
MPE Track8 on the track. It shows on the DEVICE screen as
Track8 MPE (apps) and is flagged MPE from the start.
Recording MIDI in the app follows the hardware too (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT): pitch
bend and pressure are recorded, REC OFFSET and record quantize apply,
step record works while the transport stands, and a key held when
recording starts begins with the take. Every note is placed at the moment
it arrived and echoed with the timing it was played with, one audio buffer
later; it no longer depends on the screenβs refresh. If you set a MIDI
REC OFFSET in the app before, check it again. MIDI thru in the app works like on the
hardware (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT): what you play in goes out on the selected MIDI
trackβs channel (or into its MPE device) to every device, the one you
play included, so a keyboard with local control off and an MPE instrument
such as the Osmose hear themselves through Track8. MIDI MON switches it
off for all devices: do that when a keyboard synth plays its own notes
twice (local control on), or when two apps or devices feed each otherβs
MIDI back (two Track8s linked both ways, a router sending the app its own
output), which would echo every note without end. For finer control, each
deviceβs ROUTE page works in the app as on
the hardware (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT): set THRU to OTHERS on the device that
feeds MIDI back, keep clock away from a device, or send MTC to one app
while the others get clock. MTC from the app has no full-frame message, so
a device that needs one to locate should get MTC from the hardware. With this the app also keeps playing,
recording and sending MIDI when you switch to another app or lock the
screen while the transport runs, so a take survives a locked phone and a
synth app in front keeps its clock (since
v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT).
Stopped, the app goes to sleep in the background like any other.
Bluetooth MIDI controllers (Korg nanoKONTROL Studio, Bluetooth pedals, β¦)
only become MIDI sources once they are paired through iOSβs Bluetooth MIDI
page β not the Bluetooth settings: press BLUETOOTH on the DEVICE screen,
tap the controller, Done. Track8 talks to the device directly, in both
directions (since
v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT
also out: clock, transport, the MIDI tracks and thru reach a Bluetooth
MIDI adapter such as a WIDI connected here), so it stays connected while
the app runs; a device already paired through another app is picked up as
a regular source.
The appβs audio input MODE defaults to SINGLE β one stereo
input feeding every track β rather than the hardwareβs MULTI (since
v1.2.3);
switch it under Utility β AUDIO if you use a multi-channel interface.
On iPhone (since v1.2.3)
the app runs in landscape, starts zoomed, and has no β β there is no room
around the device for its callouts. The zoomed device keeps the label row
above the encoders as thumb room. The Dynamic Island covers the left end of
the screen while zoomed; zoom out if you need the input meters.
Since v1.2.3
the app hosts Audio Unit v3 plugins as outboard gear: a plugin is a box
with audio ins and outs and a MIDI in, wired through the same mapping pages
you use for a multi-channel interface. Nothing changes on the overviews, the
transport or the record gesture; a project with a plugin wired in records and
plays exactly like one with a hardware synth on the inputs.
The rack.UTILITY β AU RACK shows eight slots, one per encoder; a loaded slotβs label carries the plugin kind (AU1 (FX), INST, GEN, MFX, MIDI), its box turns orange while the plugin loads and red when it cannot, and the notes under the title recap the controls. Turn
an encoder to pick the plugin for its slot (or - to empty it); push it to
switch the encoder to the slotβs MIDI receive channel (OMNI or CH 1
to CH 16, default = the slot number). The line under each slot says what
the app made of it: the plugin kind once it is loaded, LOADING,
MISSING when the plugin is no longer installed, UNSUPPORTED when it
refuses 48 kHz float stereo, FAILED when its extension stopped rendering.
Touch a loaded slot to open the pluginβs own view as a sheet; the
buttons and encoders keep working underneath, Done (or a swipe down)
closes it. Slot settings and plugin states are stored with the appβs other
device settings, never in the project, so projects stay identical to the
hardwareβs.
Wiring. Every loaded slot adds one stereo pair of channels to the
mapping pages on UTILITY β AUDIO, named after the plugin and listed
after the interfaceβs own channels:
You want
Wire it as
What happens
a synth in the mix
plugin β EXTERNAL channel
live synth with volume, pan, mute and delay / reverb sends; not recorded
a synth on tape
plugin β TRK IN (MULTI mode) and arm the track
the instrument is printed like any input; plays back on the hardware without the plugin
βprocess this track through this boxβ; blend with INS MIX on the Track FX 2 page as on the hardware
a send effect
SENDS n β plugin, plugin β EXTERNAL channel
βa parallel wash of this boxβ, fed from the Track Sends screen
MIDI. A MIDI track plays into every slot whose receive channel matches
its channel, and to CoreMIDI as before, so one track can drive a hardware
synth and a plugin at once; live playing reaches the instrument on the
selected MIDI trackβs channel, gated by MIDI MON like the hardwareβs MIDI
thru. Plugins that emit MIDI (arpeggiators, sequencers) are treated like
any input port: channel discarded, recorded on the selected MIDI track,
never a control surface.
Latency. The app does not read or compensate a pluginβs latency, so a
slot behaves exactly like outboard gear: set REC OFFSET by ear if a
recorded instrument lands late. A plugin fed from a send or insert sees the
audio one engine chunk later, the same one-block loop a hardware insert has.
Export. An export renders the rack offline with its own plugin
instances, seeded from the live pluginsβ current state, so what you hear
is what you get; an export with several plugins takes correspondingly
longer. A slot that cannot be loaded for the export renders silence.
Multi-channel interfaces. The same release opens every channel of a
USB interface on iPad and Mac: TRK IN, INSERTS, SENDS, EXTERNAL,
MAIN OUT and ALT METRON now reach beyond channels 1/2, exactly as on
the hardware. Before, the app used two inputs and two outputs whatever the
interface offered.
The BUFFER SIZE setting under Utility β AUDIO sets the iOS
audio buffer, as it sets the JACK buffer on the hardware. iOS grants a
nearby size of its own choosing (an iPad gave 96 frames for 80). The app
starts at 64 frames (1.3 ms) on A17 Pro / M-series iPads, on iPhone 15 Pro
and newer and on every Mac, and at 128 frames (2.7 ms) on older devices.
If the sound crackles, pick a larger value.
What you hear while monitoring is still delayed by the iPadβs own audio
hardware β around 15 ms round trip on the built-in speaker and microphone,
less on a USB-C interface. The RTL figure next to BUFFER SIZE is what
iOS reports for the device in use: its input and output hardware latency
plus one buffer each way, using the buffer size iOS actually granted. When
that differs from the setting, the granted size follows in brackets:
64 (512) 21.7ms means the system runs 512 frames whatever was asked, as a
Mac does with its deviceβs own buffer, so the latency does not move with
the setting there. The figure
changes with the route, so plugging in an interface or headphones updates
it. Bluetooth output (AirPods and the like) adds 150 ms or more on its own and
cannot be tuned from the app β for playing along, use the speaker, a wired
headphone adapter, or a USB-C audio interface. Align recordings with
REC OFFSET, exactly as on the hardware.
iOS chooses the audio device, not the app: whatever is plugged in or paired
is the route. SOUNDCARD on Utility β AUDIO shows that
route by name β Mic + Speaker for the built-ins, Mic + Headphones with
a wired headset, or the interfaceβs own name such as MOTU UltraLite mk5
β and there is nothing to select with the encoder. Every route keeps its
own BUFFER SIZE, MODE and I/O settings, exactly as each USB interface does
on the hardware, so an interface remembers its buffer size when it is
plugged back in. The buffer size takes effect the moment the route
changes; other settings apply with the next engine start.
The engine runs at 48 kHz. On iPad and iPhone the app sets the device to
that rate. On a Mac the rate belongs to the system: the device keeps what
is set in Audio MIDI Setup (Applications β Utilities), and the app
resamples to and from 48 kHz on the fly, so a Mac at 44.1 or 96 kHz works
too. 48,000 Hz is still the setting to prefer on a Mac: no resampling, and
a few milliseconds less latency, which is why the app says so once per
launch when it had to resample. Earlier versions quit a moment after
launch on a Mac at any other rate. If the engine cannot start for another
reason, the app shows Audio engine could not start with the reason and a
Retry button instead of the device.
The device stays put. Tilt or flip the iPad and the drawing does not rotate
with the screen β it keeps the landscape orientation you last used, and
system sheets (file pickers, share sheet) open in whatever orientation the
iPad is actually in. In Split View or Stage Manager the app lays out to the
window it is given.
The theme editor lets you build a color theme while watching the real UI
change, instead of guessing from static previews. It uses the same
theme.json format as the hardware (and the
web theme editor), so anything you
make here can go straight onto your Track8.
Tap π¨ in the bottom-right corner. Panels cover everything above and
below the Track8 screen, listing every themeable color by name, grouped
into General, Encoders, Audio tracks, MIDI tracks, Markers and
FX curves. The encoders and track buttons are under the panels while
the editor is open; the button grid beside the screen stays usable.
The editor starts from the theme currently selected under
Utility β THEME (DEFAULT included).
Tap a color swatch to open the system color picker. Every change is
applied to the rendered screen immediately β switch screens with the
buttons beside the display (Audio, MIDI, Master FX, Settings) to see
exactly which elements the color affects. Opacity is part of the color.
Type a name into the text field and tap SAVE. The theme is written to
the appβs theme.json and becomes the selected theme, so it also shows
up under Utility β THEME. Saving under an existing name asks before
replacing it. REVERT throws away unsaved changes and reloads the
selected theme.
EXPORT opens the share sheet with the appβs theme.json (all your
themes, plus any you imported). Save it to Files, AirDrop it, or mail it,
then copy it over the bin/theme.json on your Track8 β it is a drop-in
replacement.
IMPORT picks a theme.json from Files and merges its themes into the
appβs list (same-named themes are replaced). Use it to bring themes from
the web editor or from your Track8 into the app.
Closing the editor (π¨ again, or opening the info overlay) discards unsaved
changes after asking for confirmation and restores the selected theme.
The same firmware file runs on every Track8, whichever batch it is from.
After updating, the first load of each project may take a little longer
while the waveform overview is rebuilt (since v1.2.1 projects then load
faster).
Some screens (USB Browser, Utility sub-screens) cannot stay open during a
take. Since v1.2.1 such actions are refused with an on-screen error while
recording β the red border around the screen shows that a take is rolling.
Notes repeat or hang, or MIDI goes round between two devices: set THRU to OTHERS or OFF on the device that echoes MIDI back (Manual MIDI routing), or switch MIDI MON off
A device gets no notes or no clock: look for [ROUTE] next to it under UTILITY β MIDI β DEVICE. Its ROUTE page shows what it gets; RESET (Track Button 8) restores the defaults
Units from the second production batch watch their supply. WEAK CHARGER
appears once (never while recording or playing) when the voltage from the
USB-C charger dropped too low under load, or when the last switch-off or a
refused switch-on was caused by it (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT). Use a USB-C PD charger that
delivers 9 V at 18 W or more, and a short, good cable. Phone chargers that only
deliver 5 V cannot run the Track8.
