Mixer & signal flow

Click Mixer in the header or press M. The mixer opens below the arrangement. Its expand control gives it more room; restore it to return to the dock. Click a channel name to select the same track used in the arrangement.

Each channel has a bordered strip and a compact colored nameplate at the bottom, with the icon beside the name. Faders shrink with the panel; at very short heights the controls scroll vertically so the nameplate and controls remain reachable. The color follows the track color, including Master. Click the name or icon to select it; the selected strip has a brighter neutral body and a colored top edge. The main controls keep their neutral background.

1. Start with track levels low enough to avoid clipping.
2. Bring up the main element, then add supporting tracks.
3. Use pan to place sounds across the stereo field.
4. Check soloed details, then turn Solo off and judge them in the full mix.
5. Watch the Master meter and leave room for later processing.

Add a return track, put an effect such as reverb on it, and select that return as a send destination. Raise each source send to choose how much reaches the return. For a shared reverb, a wet-only return is often useful; blend it using the send/return levels.

Groups help organize related tracks and route them together. A VCA controls linked levels; it is different from summing audio through an effect bus. Use the available group/VCA commands deliberately and review the resulting channel relationships.

Master controls the main mix, and its Mute control silences the main output. Preview volume controls Library sample auditions separately and does not change the exported mix. Input monitoring, return effects and generated instruments can still produce sound when an ordinary region is stopped or muted.