Editing Tools
Draw.Audio's note editing tools: edit selected notes, move and transpose, generate or randomize notes, per-page loops and jumps, and the loop window.
- Select, Copy and Paste
- Shift+drag on the grid to select notes, or press Ctrl/Cmd+A to select every note on the page. Drag a selection to move it. Ctrl/Cmd+C, X and V copy, cut and paste. Notes paste at the cell under the pointer or cursor, or where they were copied from. Ctrl/Cmd+D places a copy of the selection right after it. Delete removes the selected notes and Escape clears the selection. On touch screens, long-press a note for Cut, Copy and Paste, or long-press an empty cell to paste.
- Edit Selected Notes
- Select notes, then set their values in the Edit Selected Notes section of the Edit panel. All Page Notes selects every note on the page; All Track Notes edits every note on every page of the track. Synth tracks show Play Every, Chance, Velocity, Glide, Gate, Ratchet, Length, FM Amount, Waveform and Pan. Drum tracks show Play Every, Chance, Velocity, Gate, Ratchet and Pan. Glide, Gate and Ratchet set to Global follow the track's setting, and FM Amount changes the sound on FM tracks only. Changes apply to all selected notes at once. Right-click or long-press a note for the same controls, except FM Amount.
- Play Every
- Set a note to play only every Nth pass through its page. Set Play Every from 2 to 64 in the note's right-click menu or in Edit Selected Notes; Off plays the note on every pass. The last / 1st button chooses whether the note plays on the last or the first pass of each cycle. Notes that skip the current pass are dimmed, and during playback a badge counts the passes until the note plays next. Use it to vary repeats without adding pages.
- Move Notes
- Shift every note on the page one step with the arrow buttons; hold a button to repeat. Shift+arrow keys move the selected notes, or every note on the page when nothing is selected. Left and right wrap around the edges, and so do up and down on drum tracks. On synth tracks, notes moved past the top or bottom go off the grid and keep playing; scroll to see them again. Turn on All Pages to move the notes on every page of the track.
- Grid Scroll
- Shift the visible pitch range up or down using the scroll buttons, the scroll bar on the right of the grid, or Shift+mouse wheel on the grid. Notes maintain their pitch by moving rows as the viewport shifts. Colored indicators on the grid edges mark notes that have scrolled off-screen.
- Transpose
- Pitch every note on a synth track up or down. The ST / Scale button switches between semitone and scale-step mode. Each mode keeps its own offset.
- Generate Notes
- On the Edit panel's Generate tab, click the dice to place random notes in the empty cells of the page, or of every page with Track selected. Density sets how many cells fill (1-10%). Turn on Waveform, Length, Velocity or Chance to give each new note a random value. Length also sets the track's Gate to 100% so long notes play in full.
- Randomize Existing Notes
- Give the notes already on the page, or on every page with Track selected, random Waveforms, Velocities, Lengths, Pans or Gates. Waveforms and Lengths are for synth tracks only. Effects randomizes the track's sound instead of its notes: the filters, the waveform, and which effects are on and how they are set.
- Edit Drum Row
- On drum tracks, the Edit panel has an Edit Drum Row section. Pick a row, then set its Pitch (-24 to +24 semitones) and Volume (0-200%). Each hit plays the whole sample unless Gate is below 100% or a choke cuts it off. Rows in the same Choke group (1-4) cut each other off, like a closed hi-hat cutting an open one. With Cut itself on, a new hit on the row stops the one still ringing. These settings belong to the track, not the drum kit.
- Track Options
- Click the gear button on a track's mixer strip to open its options. Settings are per-track: Name: rename the track. The name also shows on its mixer strip. Speed: how fast this track moves through its columns relative to the song tempo. 1x is the default; 2x and 4x play twice or four times as fast, 1/2 and 1/4 at half or quarter speed. 1.5x plays triplets (three columns in the time of two 16ths), and 2/3 plays dotted 16ths. Useful for polyrhythms, half-time drums, or speeding up an arpeggio without changing the tempo. Time Signature: follow the song's time signature (the default), or give this track its own, such as 3/4 against a 4/4 song. Columns: limit the playback range for this track. Notes past the chosen column stay on the grid but aren't played. Duplicate Track: clone the track with the same pages, sounds, and settings, plus a fresh color. Disabled when you're at the 10-track limit. Color: pick a color from the theme palette or set a custom one. A color you pick here stays when you change themes.
- Per-Page Loop & Jump
- Each page can play only some of its columns, repeat, and jump to another page. Loop bar: drag the two handles on the bar below the grid to set the first and last column the page plays, or drag between them to slide the range. Double-click a handle to reset it, or the bar to reset both. Notes outside the range stay on the grid but are skipped. Use it for fills and pickups; for a whole song in another meter, set the time signature instead. The bar shows while Scroll Bars is on in Song Settings → Grid. Repeats and Jump To: hover a page thumbnail (on touch screens, tap the current page) and click its repeat count. Repeats plays the page 1 to 64 times, or forever (∞). Jump to sends playback to another page, or a Random one, when this page ends. Set how many times the jump happens; after that, playback moves on to the next page. Combine repeats and jumps to build verse and chorus arrangements without copying pages.
- Loop Window
- Drag the flag markers above a track's page thumbnails to set that track's loop window. Playback loops only that range of pages and columns, so you can audition a section without deleting anything. Drag either flag past the other to redraw the window, double-click a flag to reset it to the song edge, or nudge it with the arrow keys. WAV and MIDI export honor the window too.
- Reading the Grid
- While a song plays, each note lights up in its color as it sounds, and the light shows how it plays. Velocity: quieter notes are drawn fainter and glow less. Chance: a note with less than 100% chance has a dashed outline, with shorter dashes for a lower chance. When a pass skips it, it flickers faintly. Ratchet: the note flashes on each hit. Arpeggiator: each arpeggio hit lights the note it plays. An octave above or below the note lights that row instead. Glide: the light slides in from the row of the previous pitch. Delay: with the track's Delay on, each echo lights the note again, fainter each time. Beat Lines: bar lines flash on each downbeat, and beat lines flash faintly on each beat. Beat Lines are on by default; turn them off in Song Settings → Grid. Track tabs: a track's tab beside the grid lights up when the track plays a note. Other Tracks: the other tracks' notes show as faint shadows behind the grid. See Song Settings & Appearance. Performance Mode keeps a plain light on each playing note and turns off the rest of these effects, and a ratchet lights once per note. Fainter quiet notes and the dashed chance outline stay.