The studio workspace

The studio keeps the arrangement in the center and opens supporting tools around it.

Top bar

The top bar is divided into functional groups:

• Library opens the Sound Browser.
• Mixer opens or closes the lower mixer dock.
• Piano Roll opens for the selected MIDI clip.
• The transport returns to the beginning, plays or pauses, and records.
• The musical display shows the playhead position, tempo, and meter.
• Metronome turns the metronome channel on or off.
• Cycle enables or disables playback of the selected loop range.
• 1234 enables a one-bar count-in before recording.
• The master control gives quick access to the master level and meter.

Dimmed controls labeled as coming soon are not available yet.

Arrangement

The arrangement lines tracks up against a shared musical ruler. Global Tempo, Meter, and Key lanes sit above the channel lanes. Audio clips show waveforms; MIDI clips represent note regions.

The top 16 pixels of the ruler form the Cycle lane. Drag empty space there to create a loop range, drag either edge to resize it, or drag the range itself to move it. Cycle edits snap to beats and keep a minimum length of one beat. Creating or editing a range enables Cycle automatically. If no range exists, selecting Cycle creates a one-bar range around the playhead.

Cycle applies to internal-clock playback. It is unavailable while following external MIDI Clock. During recording the button keeps its selected state, but the loop takes effect only on later playback; recording never wraps at the Cycle boundary.

Use the controls at the bottom of the arrangement to change:

• Time — horizontal zoom in pixels per quarter note;
• Track — lane height;
• Gain — waveform display scale, without changing audio level.

Double-click a zoom control to return it to its default.

Sound Browser

Select Library to search:

• VST® 3 instruments;
• VST 3 audio effects;
• audio already stored in the project;
• the scanned plug-in catalog.

Use Rescan VST3 after installing a new plug-in while Heron is open.

Lower dock

The lower dock shows either the Mixer or Piano Roll. Drag the horizontal divider to change its height. Opening one replaces the other; the arrangement remains visible above it.

Status bar

The status bar summarizes the audio engine:

• active or stopped state;
• sample rate and bit depth;
• I/O buffer size;
• current and average round-trip latency;
• XRUN count.

Select the performance indicator to inspect CPU, memory, timing, and audio transport diagnostics when a session is under stress.