Short videos that show what each tool does and how to use it, with the steps written out underneath.
- Lessons
- 122
- Topics
- 14
Getting started9
Start a project
Open a recent project or begin from a template from the start panel.
Set up your audio device
Pick your output device, sample rate and buffer size, and check that sound reaches your speakers.
Connect a MIDI keyboard
Turn on your MIDI keyboards and controllers so you can play and record with them.
Find your way around the main window
Learn what each area of the window does and show, hide or resize panels to suit you.
Add and remove tracks
Add audio, instrument, MIDI, group, FX and folder tracks, and remove ones you don't need.
Import audio files
Bring WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, OGG or M4A files into your project.
Play back and set the tempo
Start, stop and move around your project, and set its tempo and time signature.
Save your project and backups
Save your work, make a copy with all its media, and know where backups and autosaves live.
Get your work back after a crash
Oxtave autosaves while you work and offers to restore it if it closes unexpectedly.
Recording7
Set up a track for recording
Choose an input for an audio track and arm it so it's ready to record.
Record your first audio take
Record audio onto one or more armed tracks at once.
Record with a click and count-in
Turn on the metronome and a one-bar count-in so you come in on time.
Record several takes in a loop
Loop a section and record a new take on its own lane with every pass.
Comp the best parts of your takes
Build one performance from the best sections of several takes.
Punch in to fix a section
Re-record just one section by recording only between the cycle locators.
Record MIDI from a keyboard
Record your MIDI keyboard performance onto an instrument track.
Editing7
Move, copy and trim clips
Rearrange clips on the timeline and between tracks, and trim their edges.
Snap clips to the grid
Line clips up on grid lines as you move them, or quantize their starts afterwards.
Split, duplicate and repeat clips
Cut clips at the playhead and build up sections with quick copies.
Add fades and set clip gain
Fade clips in and out, crossfade overlaps and adjust a clip's level.
Name, colour and organise tracks
Rename tracks, change their height and colour, and group them in folders.
Mark sections with markers
Drop markers at important points and jump between them.
Undo changes and go back in history
Step back and forward through your edits, or jump straight to an earlier point.
MIDI & instruments9
Play a built-in instrument
Load the Synth, Sampler or Drum Machine on an instrument track and pick a factory sound.
Play your own sounds with the Sampler
Load audio files into the Sampler and play them across the keyboard.
Draw notes in the MIDI editor
Create a MIDI part and draw notes into it in the piano roll.
Edit velocity and controllers
Shape note velocities and draw CC, pitch bend and aftertouch in controller lanes.
Quantize MIDI notes
Tighten your timing with grid, swing and strength, or make notes legato.
Enter notes with step input
Place notes one at a time from a MIDI keyboard or your computer keyboard.
Name your drum sounds
Give each drum key a name in the drum editor with a drum map.
Add an arpeggiator or chorder
Turn single notes into chords or arpeggios with real-time MIDI inserts.
Import a MIDI file
Drag a Standard MIDI File into your project and get an instrument track per file track.
Score8
Open the Score Editor
See your MIDI parts as notation and switch between page and continuous views.
Write notes in the score
Add notes straight onto the staff with the Insert tool and the note value keys.
Edit notes from the keyboard
Move, transpose, respell and delete notes in the score without touching the mouse.
Set a track's clef, key and transposition
Change how a track is notated without touching the MIDI it plays.
Tidy a piano part with grand staff
Split a part across treble and bass staves and clean up note positions for easier reading.
Show chord symbols and dynamics
Display chords from the chord track and dynamics from note velocities on your score.
Print a score or save it as PDF
Check the layout and send your score to paper or a PDF file.
Export and import MusicXML
Move scores to and from notation programs with MusicXML files.
Mixing15
Open and arrange the mixer
Show the mixer and choose how channels and strip sections are laid out.
Add a reverb send
Share one reverb between several tracks using an FX channel and sends.
Create a group bus
Sum several channels, such as a drum kit, into one group channel.
Control several tracks with a VCA fader
One fader that turns a group of tracks up or down together.
Check your mix loudness
Read momentary, short-term and integrated loudness, true peak and correlation on the master.
Freeze a track to save CPU
Render a track's inserts and instrument to audio to free up processing power.
Apply and save track presets
Load a ready-made chain of inserts and settings onto a track, or save your own.
Draw automation
Add automation lanes and draw volume, pan or plugin changes over time.
Record automation live
Capture fader and knob moves as automation while the song plays.
Monitor with the Control Room
Pick what your speakers play and check your mix in mono, dimmed or one side at a time.
Set a calibrated reference level
Store your calibrated listening level and jump back to it with one click.
Build a headphone cue mix
Give performers their own headphone mix, separate from the main mix.
Use talkback and route the click
Talk to performers through their cues and send the metronome where it's needed.
Set up your headphones
Choose what your own headphones play and where they're connected.
Mix in 5.1 or 7.1 surround
Switch a bus to surround and place sounds around the room with the surround panner.
Effects8
Add an effect to a track
Put a built-in or third-party effect on any channel's insert slot.
Shape your sound with EQ
Boost, cut and add EQ bands right on the curve.
Set up a compressor
Control dynamics by dragging threshold and ratio on the transfer curve.
Compress by frequency band
Use the Multiband Compressor to treat lows, mids and highs separately.
Use presets and A/B compare
Load factory presets, save your own and compare two settings side by side.
Duck a bass under the kick
Feed an effect's sidechain from another track so one sound ducks under another.
Use third-party plugins
Work with VST3, Audio Unit and CLAP plugins in their own editors or the Generic Editor.
Manage plugins with the Plugin Manager
See every installed plugin, rescan for new ones and retry plugins that were skipped.
Tempo & audio10
Add tempo changes and ramps
Switch to a tempo track and draw tempo jumps and gradual ramps across your song.
Set the tempo from an audio clip
Let Oxtave detect a recording's tempo and set the project tempo or a tempo track from it.
Make audio follow the project tempo
Turn on Musical Mode so a clip time-stretches to stay in time when you change the tempo.
Fix timing with warp markers
Pin points in the audio to the beat and drag them to tighten a performance.
Quantize an audio clip to the grid
Pull the hits inside an audio clip toward the grid, or snap whole clips into place.
Remove a cough with spectral editing
Use the Sample Editor's Spectral view to cut or tame unwanted sounds at specific frequencies.
Process a clip and undo it later
Apply processes like Normalize or Reverse non-destructively and step back through the history.
Fix a note's pitch in a vocal
Analyse a vocal, move notes, snap them to a scale and straighten drift.
Turn audio into MIDI notes
Convert a melody, chords or drum hits in an audio clip into a MIDI part.
Split a song into stems
Separate a mix into vocals, drums, bass and other on your own computer, with nothing uploaded.
Composition9
Transpose a section with global tracks
Shift MIDI by semitones from a bar onwards and set the key in effect with the scale track.
Write with the chord track
Sketch a progression on its own lane, hear each chord and move it around.
Find and play chords with Chord Pads
Audition suggested chords for your key, shape their voicing and write them into your song.
Program a beat with the step sequencer
Build a pattern step by step, then drop it into your project as a MIDI part.
Switch articulations with expression maps
Build a map of articulations like legato and staccato and apply them to notes.
Edit many notes at once with rules
Use the Logical Editor to find events by condition and select, delete or transform them.
Mark song sections on the arranger track
Create named sections like verse and chorus that you can move, resize and rename.
Try a new song order with chains
Line up sections in a chain with repeats, then flatten it into the timeline.
Run several commands with one key
Chain commands into a macro and give it its own key command.
Video & media7
Import a video to score to picture
Bring an MP4, MOV, M4V or WebM into your project and position it on the video lane.
Step through video frame by frame
Watch the video in sync with your project and hit cues on the exact frame.
Put your mix back into the video
Render your mix into a copy of the video as MPEG-4 or QuickTime.
Find and tag sounds in the media browser
Browse, audition, rate and tag files, then drag them straight into your project.
Save a project as a template
Reuse your favourite setup by saving it as a template and starting new projects from it.
Move tracks between projects
Export tracks with their media and settings, then import them into another project.
Swap sessions with AAF or OMF
Import audio tracks from AAF or OMF files, or export yours for another editor.
Sync & control7
Follow a drum machine's MIDI clock
Lock Oxtave's transport and tempo to an external device sending MIDI clock.
Lock to incoming MIDI timecode
Follow MTC from a video deck or another workstation with the right frame rate and start time.
Send clock and timecode to other gear
Make Oxtave the master and send MIDI clock, MTC or MMC to other devices.
Sync Oxtave across computers
Keep several Oxtave computers on one network at the same tempo with bars lined up.
Connect a Mackie Control or HUI surface
Add a control surface so its faders, buttons and transport drive Oxtave.
Map a MIDI controller with MIDI learn
Bind any knob, fader or pad to a track control, plugin parameter or command.
Control Oxtave from a tablet with OSC
Let an OSC app on your tablet drive the transport and mixer over the network.
Exporting8
Export your mix
Render your whole project to a single audio file in the format you need.
Export stems in one pass
Write one audio file per track so someone else can mix or remix your song.
Export several formats at once
Queue a WAV and an MP3 (or more) and render them in one go.
Export only some tracks
Bounce a single file in which only the tracks you choose are heard.
Hit a loudness target
Export at a streaming, broadcast or podcast loudness without clipping.
Check loudness before exporting
Measure loudness, true peak and stereo correlation without writing a file.
Add tags to exported files
Fill in title, artist and album so your exports show up properly in players.
Export a MIDI file
Take your parts — with tempo and time signature changes — to another app.
Workflow11
Find out what a key does
Look up any command's shortcut, or discover which command a key triggers.
Change a keyboard shortcut
Add, change or remove keys for any command and sort out conflicts.
Back up and share your shortcuts
Save your custom keys to a file and load them on another computer.
Switch layouts with workspaces
Jump between recording, editing, mixing and composing layouts in one keystroke.
Save your own workspace
Store your favourite window layout and recall it from any project.
Manage your workspaces
Rename, reorder, update or delete workspaces and bring back the built-ins.
Put the Mixer on a second screen
Open the Mixer or Control Room in its own window and place it anywhere.
Get around with the keyboard
Move between regions, tracks and channel strips without touching the mouse.
Adjust knobs and faders by keyboard
Set any knob or fader precisely with the arrow keys.
Reduce motion and change language
Turn off animated transitions and pick the language for the app's menus.
Get help on any control
Open the right manual page or find out what a button does without pressing it.
Troubleshooting7
Fix no sound
Track down why you hear nothing and get audio playing again.
Fix audio at the wrong speed
Match the device and project sample rates so audio plays at the right pitch.
Fix clicks and dropouts
Stop crackles and overloads by giving your computer more room to work.
Find a missing plugin
Rescan for plugins and retry ones that were skipped.
Get your MIDI keyboard playing
Make sure your keyboard is connected and routed to the instrument you want.
Open an older backup
Go back to an earlier saved version or autosave of your project.
Report a bug
Gather the details and log files that help get a problem fixed quickly.
Oxtave is in alpha on macOS. Be one of the first in the studio.