Automation
Automation allows you to record certain parameter changes of tracks, instruments and effects during playback.
You can view and edit these changes via automation curves in the automation editor:
To open the automation editor, follow these steps:
- Open the track Inspector.
- Find the tab labeled Automation.
- The slots below display all automated parameters applied to the selected track, the send effects and the master channel. Select one to open the editor.
Alternatively, the automation button in the title bar of the Mixer, Effect Rack, or Instrument Rack takes you directly to the editor.
Automation editing
The following tools are available for full automation curve manipulation:
- Select: To select a single point, tap it. Selecting multiple points is done by tapping the Select button and dragging out a rectangle touching the points you want to select. Note: Double tap inside the editor to select all points.
- Draw: Allows you to draw custom automation curves and overwrite existing automation data. The point density corresponds to the selected grid size in the tools menu.
- Erase: Deletes all selected automation points.
- Reset all: Deletes all automation points for the current parameter and resets its value.
- Reduce: Reduces the point density of the current selection. Tap the Reduce button multiple times to reduce the curve down to the most relevant points. Note: To reduce CPU load and make editing easier, it is recommended to reduce the amount of points to the needed minimum after automation recording.
- Move vertically: Selected points can only be moved vertically.
- Move horizontally: Selected points can only be moved horizontally. Note: You can move points freely in all directions by selecting and dragging them.
Finding and configuring parameters
The drop-down menu to the top left of the editor displays all automatable parameters (global and track-specific). Parameters with existing data are highlighted.
- Read: When enabled, all automation data on this parameter is applied during playback and mixdown.
- Write: Activate this button to record automation data live during playback / recording. The slider on the right displaying the value at the current playhead position can be used for automation recording. When write mode is on, simply hit Play and move it vertically. Note: The read / write buttons toggle the status of the current track / effect as well as the parameter selected.
- Goto source: Closes the editor and takes you to the selected parameter's configuration window (e.g. mixer / micrologue / effect rack). From there, the write / read buttons can also be toggled directly.
MIDI Automation
MIDI parameters can be drawn and edited in the Key Editor.
List of automation parameters
All instrument and effect parameters can be automated, with the following exceptions:
- Micro Sonic: Attack
- Micro Sonic: Release
- MiniSampler: Attack
- MiniSampler: Release
- The Inter-App Audio and Audiobus protocols don't support automation. However, you can control some of the parameters of your IAA/Audiobus apps using MIDI CCs, provided that the app supports MIDI CC messages.