Settings & appearance

Use Settings in the app menu or Command+comma. Preferences opens over the studio. Most settings apply immediately. The sections include Appearance, Audio, Sounds, Plug-ins, MIDI, Editing, Shortcuts, Control Surfaces and Updates. Select a category and its page, such as Audio → Devices, Recording or Mixer.

Choose a theme and UI size that keeps controls readable. Track headers can be on the left or right; the Library and related header controls mirror with that choice. The theme choices are Dawnamite, Soundstream, Charcoal, PURPL, Cream, Logic, Fruity, APT, Studio and System. Their palettes apply to the toolbar, mixer and controls. The native Mac title bar follows the theme too. Editing a theme color reuses Custom 1; New custom copy creates another theme deliberately.

Choose Soundstream in the Studio theme selector for green-tinted charcoal surfaces, warm cream labels, phosphor-green active controls and navy device headers. Technical readouts use monospace numbers. Waveforms sit on a near-black background, and track colors are muted while retaining their individual hues. Record and overload indicators remain red. The appearance applies across the arrangement, MIDI editor, mixer, device rack and native title bar. Changing themes does not change notes, audio or processing settings.

Select input and output devices, sample rate and buffer. Lower buffers can reduce reported delay but leave less processing time per block. Increase the buffer if the system develops clicks or dropouts. Stop playback and recording before changing protected device settings. Recording options include count-in and take-folder behavior.

MIDI settings include synchronization. Match the intended clock direction and ports; avoid sending a clock back into its own input. Control Surfaces configures supported hardware mappings. Track Capture MIDI input selection is separate from controller mappings and external MIDI output.

From 1.5, Dawnamite checks for a newer public release shortly after it opens and once a day. When one is available it asks whether to Download it, try Later or Skip This Version, and it waits while playback, recording, count-in or another window is open. From 1.6, Download fetches the update inside Dawnamite and checks that it is signed by IA Compa and notarized by Apple. Choose Restart Now to install it straight away, or Later to install it the next time you quit; the old copy goes to the Trash. If Dawnamite is not in a folder it can write to, such as when it runs from the disk image, Download opens the Dawnamite download page instead. Turn off Check for updates automatically in Settings → Updates to stop the automatic check. Check Now, and Check for Updates… in the Dawnamite menu, still check on request. Update checks have time limits. Canceling an update attempt cannot change the files or result of a newer attempt; retry after resolving an error.

Editing preferences change editing behavior. Shortcuts lists current assignments by context. Make a change and use Apply. Factory Defaults prepares the default assignments; Revert reloads the active assignments without applying your pending changes. Do not infer a command from an old screenshot—this guide's Shortcuts page and the live settings show the current defaults.

Preferences and the bottom bar show the same Mix latency: reported output delay plus the engine's complete compensated processing delay, counted once. Both displays update together when the engine delay changes. Preferences lists Input latency, Output latency and Engine processing delay separately. Microphone input and manual recording compensation are excluded from Mix latency. The complete engine path includes stock effects, external plug-ins, racks, layers, buses and master effects; an armed-track plug-in list alone does not describe it.

In Preferences → Audio → Performance, Balanced requests 256 samples, Conserve CPU requests 512, and Low Latency Recording requests 128 in the Mac app. Low Latency Recording also enables low-latency monitoring. Balanced keeps processing active; the other modes let eligible silent processors sleep. The browser manages its own audio buffer.

Open Sounds to inspect installed sampled instruments, sizes and credits. Select unused sounds, review the confirmation and remove their files to free space. Loaded sounds remain protected. Read Instruments and sound storage before removing files.

Choose Settings → Plug-ins → Installed Plug-ins → Scan for Plug-ins after installing a plug-in with its vendor’s installer. Review discovery status, pending compatibility checks, installed locations and any Check failed messages. An error keeps the previous results. Scanning requires the desktop app. Read Instruments & plug-ins for standard folders, supported formats and timeout or retry behavior.