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Mixing & Effects

ScratchTrack provides a mixer, per-track effects chains, and Audio Unit plugin support to shape your sound.

The Mixer

Mixer view

Switch to Mixer Mode to see all your tracks as channel strips side by side.

Channel Strips

Each track has a channel strip with:

Control Description
Volume Fader Adjusts the track level from -60 dB to +6 dB
Level Meter Shows real-time audio levels (RMS and peak)
Mute Silences the track
Solo Isolates the track (mutes all non-soloed tracks)
Track Name Displayed at the bottom of the strip

Master Channel

The master channel strip controls the final stereo output:

  • Stereo level meters (Left and Right channels)
  • Master volume fader (-60 dB to +6 dB)
  • Master effects chain

Level Meter Colors

The level meters are color-coded to help you monitor levels:

Color Meaning
Green Safe level — plenty of headroom
Yellow Caution — approaching clipping
Red Clipping — reduce volume to avoid distortion

Audio Unit Plugins

ScratchTrack supports AUv3 (Audio Unit v3) plugins for both effects and instruments.

Adding Effects

  1. Open the plugin browser for a track.
  2. Browse or search for installed Audio Units.
  3. Filter by type:
    • Effects — Reverb, delay, EQ, compression, etc.
    • Music Effects — Specialized processing
    • Instruments — Synthesizers, samplers (for MIDI tracks)
    • Generators — Signal generators
  4. Click to add the plugin to the track's effects chain.

Plugin Controls

Once a plugin is added, you can:

  • View and adjust plugin parameters
  • Use the plugin's native UI or ScratchTrack's parameter sliders
  • Reorder plugins in the effects chain
  • Remove plugins from the chain

Master Effects

You can also add plugins to the master bus to process the final mix:

  1. Select the master channel.
  2. Add effects the same way as track effects.

Master effects apply to the combined output of all tracks.

Missing Plugins

Missing plugins

If you open a song that uses plugins not installed on your system, ScratchTrack shows a warning dialog listing the unavailable plugins. The song still opens — the missing plugins are simply bypassed.

Track Volume and Pan

Volume

Adjust track volume using:

  • The volume slider on the track header (0–100%)
  • The volume fader in the mixer view (-60 dB to +6 dB)

Both controls are linked — changing one updates the other.

Mute and Solo

  • Mute — Silences a track. You can mute multiple tracks.
  • Solo — Plays only the soloed track(s). All non-soloed tracks are silenced. You can solo multiple tracks to hear them together.

Spectrum Analyzer

Spectrum analyzer

ScratchTrack includes a spectrum analyzer for visualizing the frequency content of your mix:

  • Opens in a separate window
  • Shows real-time FFT analysis of the master output
  • Frequency labels and grid lines for reference
  • Particle visualization driven by audio magnitude

Next Steps