History
In the desktop app. Everything on this page belongs to the desktop app; the web studio has only plain undo and redo.
The studio remembers every change you make to a song: not only the last few steps of undo, but each value a control has had, when it was set and on which computer. This page is about using that memory while you work, without opening a separate window or digging through files called final, final two.
What a control was before
Right-click a knob, a fader or a pan in the inspector. The menu lists up to twelve values the control has had, newest first, each with how long ago it was set and where: “2 h ago on this computer”, “yesterday on another computer”. Click one and the control goes back to it.
Going back is an ordinary change, called Restore an earlier value: Ctrl+Z takes it back, and nothing after it is lost. Use it when a sound was better an hour ago and you no longer remember the setting.
A control that has never been changed says No earlier values yet.
Who changed it and when
The same menu, and the menu of a clip, start with one line: Last changed: the name of the change, when, and on which computer. For a clip it counts changes to its notes as well, so “Last changed: Move notes, 3 min ago on this computer” tells you the clip was edited even though it has not moved.
This matters most when a song is worked on from two computers: you can see what changed while you were away without comparing by ear.
Undoing one thing
Ordinary undo takes back the last change of the whole song. Sometimes the change you regret was made to one clip twenty steps ago, and everything since is good. The menus of a clip, a device and a track offer Undo the last edit of this clip (or device, or track): it takes back the last change you made on this computer to that one thing, and leaves every other change as it is.
It answers in words:
- Undid and the name of the change, when it worked.
- Nothing of yours to undo here, when the thing was not changed on this computer or every change was already undone.
- That edit cannot be undone, when something was built on it since, for example the clip was changed again on another computer.
A note to yourself
Note to self (in the command palette) keeps one line with the project: what you were trying, what to fix next, which take was the good one. The next time you open the project from the start screen, the note is the first thing you see, a week or a year later.
Clear the field to remove the note. When the note was changed on two computers, the later one stays and the other is listed under Changed in two places.
Bookmarks
Press B when the song sounds right, even while it plays. The moment is marked in History as “It was good here”, numbered.
Bookmarks in the palette lists them. Choosing one does not throw away what you did since: it opens the song as it was at that moment as an idea, a separate line of work you can play and change freely. Back to the song returns to the song as it is now. If the idea turns out better, keep it; if not, leave it.
Bookmarks stay on the computer where you made them for now; they do not travel with the project to your other computers yet.
Back and forward
Alt+← goes back to what you were looking at before: the previously selected tracks and clips, the clip that was open in the note editor. Alt+→ goes forward again, like the back and forward buttons of a web browser. The studio remembers the last fifty places. Choosing something new after going back drops the places ahead, and places that no longer exist (a deleted clip) are skipped.Only the selection is remembered, not how far the views were scrolled.