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User Interface

Track8 follows a simple and consistent interaction model. This page explains the core concepts — for the exhaustive, per-screen list of every control see the Controls & Shortcuts Reference.

Core Principles

🎛 Track Encoders

  • Control the parameters shown at the top of the screen
  • Press an encoder to switch its parameter mode
  • A ^ symbol marks encoders that have a secondary push function (since v1.1.3)
  • Hold SHIFT while turning for fine-grained steps (since v1.1.4)
  • Hold SHIFT while pressing to switch encoder modes without the mode overlay interruption (since v1.1.2)
  • Hold an encoder for 2 seconds to open MIDI Learn — see MIDI Remote Control (since v1.1.4)

🔘 Track Buttons

  • Select tracks
  • Trigger the actions shown at the bottom of the screen
  • Shift = alternate function (e.g. SHIFT + Track Button = mute)

⇧ Shift Button

  • Enables secondary actions
  • Context-dependent

🎯 Visual Feedback

  • Active elements = bright
  • Inactive = dimmed
  • 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 — it used to read 00:01):
Transport bar of the Audio Overview with labeled indicators

👆 Touch

  • 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):

    Quick Settings overlay on the Audio Overview
    • VIEW: MKR LEG, MOD HI, BIG TIME, SHIFT HOLD — NAVIGATION: SHIFT NAV, TIMED JUMP, SHIFT PLAY, PASTE JMP — 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 — 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 — 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)

Buttons and Shortcuts

Screens

  • audio-overview Audio Overview

  • midi-overview Midi Overview

  • master-fx Master FX

  • audio-midi-browser Settings (before v1.1.3 this opened the USB Browser)

  • shiftplusaudio-overview Audio Edit

  • shiftplusmidi-overview Midi Edit

  • shiftplusmaster-fx Track FX

  • shiftplusaudio-midi-browser USB Browser (before v1.1.3 this opened Settings)

Screen Button Cycles

Pressing a screen button again while already on its screen cycles through a family of related views:

  • Audio → Audio Overview ↔ Track Mixer (new in v1.2.1)
  • Settings → Settings ↔ Utility (new in v1.2.1) — the classic route via the UTILITY track button still works
  • Master FX → Master FX → Mastering → External Inputs (External Inputs only with an external soundcard) (new in v1.2.1)
  • SHIFT + Master FX → Track FX → Track FX 2 → 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 Shortcuts

  • Hold Audio + Track Button — solo/unsolo an audio track on the Audio Overview (since v1.1.2)
  • Hold Midi + Track Button — solo/unsolo a MIDI track on the Midi Overview (since v1.1.2)
  • Hold SHIFT + Master FX (the Track FX key) + Track Button — solo/unsolo an audio track on Track FX, Track FX 2 and Track Sends; the SHIFT row shows each track’s MUTED / SOLO state (since v1.2.4-SNAPSHOT)
  • Hold Audio + Midi, then press a Track Button — select the same track for both Audio and MIDI (since v1.1.3)
  • Hold Settings, then press Audio — open the Soundcard settings
  • Hold Settings, then press Midi — open the MIDI settings
  • Hold Loop + Cut/Copy/Paste — 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 — set the loop region to the surrounding marker bounds; with SHIFT the punch region (since v1.2.0)

Edit

  • set-marker Set Marker / remove the Marker at the playhead (locked markers are kept)

  • cut-area Cut Area

  • copy-area Copy Area

  • paste-at-position Paste at playhead

  • shiftplusset-marker Clear all (non locked) Markers

  • shiftpluscut-area Cut all unmuted Tracks (a soloed Track counts as the only unmuted one)

  • shiftpluscopy-area Copy all unmuted Tracks (a soloed Track counts as the only unmuted one)

  • shiftpluspaste-at-position Bounce Clipboard into selected Track (audio)

  • looppluscut-area / looppluscopy-area / looppluspaste-at-position Cut / Copy / Paste Audio and MIDI together — with the Markers inside the Loop region — for arranging the whole song at once; see Arrange Audio, MIDI and Markers together with LOOP (since v1.2.2)

After a paste the playhead can jump to the end of the pasted region to chain pastes into a repeating pattern — 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).

Playback Control

  • toggle-loop Toggle Loop

  • set-punch-in Set Loop In

  • set-punch-out Set Loop Out

  • arm-record Arm Record

  • shiftplustoggle-loop Toggle Punch

  • shiftplusset-punch-in Set Punch In

  • shiftplusset-punch-out Set Punch Out

  • shiftplusarm-record Undo

  • Undo during a take: SHIFT + Record stops playback, undoes the take and moves the playhead back to where recording started (new in v1.2.1)

  • Redo: hold SHIFT and push Encoder 8 — one redo step after an undo, separate for Audio and MIDI (since v1.1.2)

  • shift Shift

  • play-pause Play / Pause

  • jump-left Jump one Bar to the Left

  • jump-right Jump one Bar to the Right

  • shiftplusplay-pause Jump to Tape Start — or to the first Marker, configurable via SHIFT PLAY in Utility (since v1.1.5) — or to the start marker whenever one is flagged (new in v1.2.2)

  • shiftplusjump-left Jump one Beat or one Marker to the Left (SHIFT NAV in Utility)

  • shiftplusjump-right 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).

For every control on every screen, see the Controls & Shortcuts Reference.