For a visual walkthrough, watch our Video Tutorial on Setting Up An Audio Interface:
To record via your computer's microphone, you must select it as n-Track's recording input. If you don't have an external interface connected, n-Track should do this automatically.
You can make sure your built-in input is selected as an 'Audio recording device' in the 'Audio Devices' window audio-devices-selection-dialog-box accessible via the 'Settings' menu.
Some devices only have a single headphone output. Usually these allow you to connect your microphone in as well, via a splitter cable.
To use an external audio interface with n-Track, simply connect it to your computer before or after having launched the program. n-Track should detect that there is a new device available, and will ask you whether you want to use it.
To change the selected audio device, open the 'Audio Devices' window audio-devices-selection-dialog-box from the 'Settings' menu in the top menu bar. Here you can change the selected devices for both input (recording) and output (playback).
You can also choose what you would like n-Track's behavior to be when you connect a new device.
If you're using a multi-channel interface and you wish to connect multiple inputs, or use the interface's different outputs, you must first enable the inputs & outputs. This can be useful to record more than one input at a time. recording-more-than-one-track-at-a-time
Multi-channel interfaces can be modified from 'Playback format' or 'Recording format' in the 'Soundcard's settings' section of the 'Settings' menu.
Before you can record to an audio track, you must 'arm' it. To arm a track, click on the record button on the track's left colored bar. You can then choose which input channel to record by clicking the first dropdown menu below the record button on each track.
The available input sources will depend on your Audio Devices settings, which you can customize by opening the dedicated window from the Settings menu.
Before you start recording, you might want to hear what is coming through the microphone. To turn on live input monitoring, click the speaker icon on the track's colored bar, which will appear once a track is armed.
Warning! Make sure you connect headphones or that the volume of your output is low to avoid feedback during live monitoring.
Once input monitoring is on, you'll be able to hear the microphone's signal through the output selected in your Audio Devices settings. This also allows you to use n-Track as an effects processor live-input-processing !
Once you have armed the track or tracks you wish to record to, you can start recording by pressing the 'Record' button on the transport bar.
If you record multiple times on the same track, you can view your different takes on separate lanes recording-using-take-lanes by clicking the 'Show take lanes' icon on the bottom left of the track's left bar.
To record a MIDI part, choose an instrument track, arm it and press record. Alternatively, you may wish to write notes in manually. In this case, double click on the small MIDI region created at the beginning of your MIDI track. This will open the Piano Roll.
Once the Piano Roll is open, you can write and edit your MIDI notes, velocities, and so on.
Loops allow you to instantly add melodic & rhythmic Audio or MIDI parts to your project. You can add a Loop by clicking the Loop Browser icon on the main toolbar.
From the Loop Browser you can download 1000s of Sounds, Chords, Beats & Progressions to help bring your productions to life.
For a visual walkthrough, watch our Loop Browser video walkthrough.
When you import an Audio Loop, an Audio track will be added to your project. When MIDI Loops are imported, a Step Sequencer or an Instrument track will be added to your project.
You can change Step Sequencer parts to Instrument (Piano Roll) tracks by right clicking on the part and selecting 'Convert to instrument track'.
You can also change Instrument tracks to Step Sequencer tracks by right clicking on a MIDI part and selecting 'Export Step Sequencer pattern'.
Check out our in depth video tutorial on using MIDI Loops in n-Track Studio.
n-Track's main toolbar lets you quickly access useful functions. You can open or close the Piano Roll, the Step Sequencer, or the level meters, and you can view automation volumes-and-effects-parameters-automation lanes for the project too.
You can also customize what buttons appear on the toolbar, and group various functions to create a custom workflow based on your needs.
n-Track's transport bar displays the transport controls for your project. You'll find the Play, Record and Rewind controls, as well as options for enabling cycle mode or activating count-in.
In the main panel, you'll also find global project settings such as BPM, metronome, grid settings, grid-settings-quantize , transpose & playback speed controls.
The timeline is where all recorded clips in your project will be displayed. Here you can view, edit & arrange your recordings.
To the left of each track you'll find the track's color bar. This displays information about the track type, the track's input & output settings, as well as quick controls to arm, mute or solo a track.
Double clicking the track label opens 'Channel properties', in which you can view & edit more advanced track properties.
On each audio region, you'll find a series of controls to shorten, trim or move a part. You can also change the gain, apply fades, transpose & loop a part.
Right clicking on an audio region opens a menu where you can find further editing options.
The mixer is where you can control each track's level and routing in your song's overall mix.
You can control volume, pan position, effects audio-effects-and-signal-processing and routing settings for each track, which is represented by a stripe in the mixer window.
To add an effect to a track, simply click on 'add EFX' in the effects panel. This will open the Effects Browser, where you will see n-Track's built-in effects, as well as all other available effects found on your computer.
Selecting an effect applies it to the selected track.
To send the signal from a track to another, you can add a new send by clicking the 'Add Send' button on the mixer stripe. You can then select what track to send the signal to.
Sending tracks to Aux channels is often used to apply an effect to multiple tracks, controlling the amount of the effect via each track's send slider.
The Step Sequencer lets you intuitively create beats, melodies or arpeggios. You can open the Step Sequencer by pressing the button on the main toolbar.
Once open, you can adjust Velocity by clicking and dragging a step up or down. Swing value can be adjusted via the knob in the top right of the Step Sequencer & Row Volume can be customized on the circles to the right of each step name.
The Piano Roll editing-midi-tracks lets you write and edit MIDI data.
To open the Piano Roll, double click on a MIDI part, or click the Piano Roll icon on the top left side of a MIDI track.
Songtree songtree is a tool that lets you collaborate with other musicians worldwide, and is available directly inside n-Track. To launch it, select the Songtree button on the toolbar.
Any song you find on Songtree can be added to your project and contributed to via the Overdub button.
To import a song from Songtree, hit the Overdub button on any song.
When you select Overdub on a song, it will be imported to your n-Track project and placed on a dedicated audio track.
You can then add your contribution to the song and upload it back to Songtree. Your addition will appear as a new version of the song that you overdubbed. Your work will then be available for other Songtree users to further overdub.
If you wish to upload your original song, or overdub, to Songtree select the 'Upload' button on the top-left of the Songtree window.
If you're uploading a song created over a track you imported from Songtree, and the original Songtree audio track is present in your project, your version of the song will be uploaded as an overdub of the imported track. It will appear as a derivative of the original in the song's "Tree" view.
If you upload an original song, it will appear as a new track on Songtree that others can discover & add to.
To change a project's sampling frequency, navigate to 'Settings', then 'Audio Devices' in the top menu bar.
Common values are 44100 Hz for CD quality audio & 48000 Hz for video quality.
If you're experiencing Latency (a small delay in your recordings), a smaller recording buffer size might fix this. To change n-Track's recording or playback buffer size, open the 'Buffering settings' buffering-settings window from the 'Settings' menu.
Note that smaller buffer sizes result in a faster response time, but a heavier load on your CPU.
To change the bit depth of recorded files, click on 'Soundcard's settings' soundcard-settings and then 'Recording format' in the Settings top menu.
To add an effect to a track, click on 'ADD EFX' in the effects panel of the track's mixer stripe.
Certain n-Track effects give you the choice of two interfaces: an X/Y view or the knob control view. By way of an example, here's our reverb plugin:
The X/Y view was designed with simplicity in mind - without technical know-how you can click & drag the node until you are satisfied with the sound. The knob control view gives you access to a more classic, and technical, set of controls.
External plugins can also be used in n-Track e.g. Waves / Izotope / Soundtoys etc.
We get quite a few requests about how to mix vocals so we created a video case study for working with vocals in n-Track Studio.
In the video we go through removing background noise & hiss with the Noise Gate preset in the n-Track Compressor. We also use VocalTune for subtle vocal correction & explore the Reverb, Multiband Compressor, and n-Tube plugins, as well as Graphic EQ.
Audio regions include a series of integrated widgets that give you access to useful editing functions.
Dragging the left and right handles adjust the length of a region, whilst clicking & dragging the top right and left corners apply fades. You can change the gain of the entire clip via the widget at the top-center of the region and mute by clicking the icon on the bottom left.
You can repeat a loop by clicking and dragging the widget in the bottom right of a region and, where a key is set, you can also transpose an audio region via the widget in the top right.
MIDI regions can be trimmed and moved. You can also edit the notes within a MIDI region. To do so, double click on the region.
This will open up the Piano Roll, where you can insert, arrange & edit MIDI notes
To use a MIDI keyboard with n-Track, simply connect it to your computer, and make sure you have installed the driver needed to use it (as required).
When you connect the device and launch n-Track, your keyboard should be automatically detected. If this is not the case, make sure your device appears and is selected in the 'MIDI Devices' window, accessible via the 'Settings' menu.
To use your device with a software instrument, simply select the MIDI instrument track that you wish to control, and make sure that the 'Arm' button is enabled (the circle is red when enabled).
To map a MIDI control controlling-ntrack-with-midi-faders to a parameter, select 'MIDI faders/control setup' from the 'Settings' dropdown in the top menu bar.
Here you can select & edit your MIDI mappings, as well as save and recall stored mapping presets.
To create a MIDI track, select the 'Add channel' button, then choose 'Add Instrument track'. MIDI parts can be programmed or performed on an instrument track.
You can also change the channel controlled by the MIDI track by selecting a different channel in the track left bar, or channel strip.
MIDI editing is usually done via the Piano Roll window, which can be accessed by pressing the button on the main toolbar.
The Piano Roll editor lets you insert and edit MIDI data, such as notes and velocity.
You may want to compose with the built-in Step Sequencer. To create a Step Sequencer track, select the 'Add channel' button, then choose 'Add blank Step-Sequencer track'.
You can now choose an instrument to use with the Step Sequencer.
When you've completed your song, or wish to bounce your project to a single audio file, select 'File' -> 'Mixdown song' from the top menu bar.
Here you can name your new file, and select what audio format you wish to bounce to.
In the Mixdown dialog window, mixdown-dialog-box you'll be able to set further options, like whether you wish to bounce the whole project, a section of it, or selected audio tracks only.
Warning! If you're using a Demo version of n-Track, mixdown operations are disabled. In this case you may still upload your track to Songtree.
Songtree songtree is a tool that lets you collaborate with other musicians worldwide, and is available directly inside n-Track. To launch it, select the Songtree button on the toolbar.
Any song you find on Songtree can be added to your project and contributed to via the 'Overdub' button.
If you wish to upload your song to Songtree - whether it's an original piece, or a contribution that you have recorded over someone else's music - simply hit the 'Upload' button located at the top-left of the Songtree window.
Do you know that n-Track projects can be transferred from Phone to Tablet to PC?
As an example, you can start a song idea from anywhere and add effects, using n-Track Studio for Android or iOS on a mobile or tablet. This project could then be exported and opened on a Mac or Windows computer, in order to complete the mix.
Watch our cross-platform video walkthrough to learn more about this style of music production.