Start here
Find your way around
Understand the header, arrangement, bottom panel and Library.
In this guide
The header
BPM is playback tempo. Meter groups beats into bars. Key chooses a musical root and scale. Snap controls snapping. The tool selector chooses what a drag will do. The transport contains playback, stop, recording, loop, punch and the time display.
Waveform zoom changes the height of the waveform drawing, not the audio volume. The vertical and horizontal zoom controls change track height and timeline scale. Their icon buttons toggle automatic fitting; moving a slider returns to manual zoom. Grid, transport, metronome and view controls share the same button height and border treatment as zoom. A solid colored button marks an enabled mode. Follow keeps the playing position in view; Metronome supplies an audible timing click. Play and Record keep their recognizable status colors.
Piano and MIDI Keyboard
Piano in the bottom bar, beside Analysis, opens a full workspace with falling MIDI notes and a horizontal keyboard. Click it again to return to the arrangement. Piano settings appear in an overlay, leaving the keyboard visible. MIDI Keyboard is the separate playable software keyboard.
The arrangement
Tracks run horizontally; time runs left to right. The ruler labels musical positions. Audio regions show waveforms, while MIDI regions show notes. Both show timing lines. A selected range is different from a selected region: range commands affect the highlighted interval.
The bottom panel
Clip edits the selected region. Plugins shows the selected track's instrument and effect chain. Notes stores written project notes. Info and Analysis open from the right end of the bottom bar. Info is a floating contextual window; Analysis inspects the mix.
Plugins uses a consistent compact height. Returning to Clip starts at that compact height; drag the divider upward if you need a larger editor. Tab shows or hides the detail panel. The Mixer button or M switches to the Mixer workspace; use it again to return to the arrangement.
The Library
Use Library in the header, or L, to slide the Library over the tracks. Its sidebar offers All, Instruments, Instrument Tools, Effects, MIDI Effects, Plug-ins, Samples and your saved material. Open a section and category, then search or drag compatible items to the visible track or device chain. The tracks beneath the overlay keep their positions.
Rearrange the workspace
Preferences → Appearance includes Track headers on Left or Right. With headers on the right, the Library moves to the left, and the related header controls reverse order. The arrangement remains left-to-right in time. Drag the header or Library divider to change its width.
Floating contextual Info
Info follows the hovered or keyboard-focused control. Drag its title bar to move the floating window; use its close button to dismiss it. Explanations, available shortcuts and the full-guide link follow the relevant control. Info is separate from the project Notes notepad.
Size the playable keyboard
MIDI Keyboard has its own corner resize grip. All its controls and keys scale together from 70% to 140%; the percentage button resets to 100%. This does not change the arrangement zoom or the notes it plays. Read MIDI Keyboard.
End, level and build notes
End in the bottom bar sets the song length. Ordinary playback stops there; recording can continue and extends End when a later clip needs it. The adjacent output meter has a draggable master-volume line; its level display remains independent of that setting.
Read Analysis
Open Analysis from the bottom bar to inspect the main output. These displays measure the sound; their display controls do not process it. The desktop Reference card's A/B switch is separate and changes which source you hear.
Spectrum and Spectrogram measure the average of the left and right channels. Opposite signals can cancel in that average. At 0 dB/oct slope, a full-scale sine in both channels reads approximately 0 dBFS when it aligns with an analysis bin away from the frequency limits. The same sine in one channel reads about −6.02 dBFS; a tone between bins can read lower. This amplitude display is not an RMS or power-density measurement.
Spectrum's slope menu tilts the picture around 1 kHz. With tilt enabled, dBFS* and the word tilted distinguish the display from the unmodified measurement. Hold keeps peaks; Avg smooths the display when Hold is off. Use 0 dB/oct for the amplitude reference. The oscilloscope shows its captured time span in milliseconds and updates that span with the project sample rate. None of these settings changes the audio or needs Undo.
Dawnamite user guide for macOS. For changes between versions, see update history.