n-Track for iOS User Guide | n-Track Studio (2024)

The start menu

At the first opening, n-Track shows the Start your song menu. Here you can choose among different templates that let you start your song quickly and easily.

The menu lets you choose between 6 ways of getting started:

• Record audio: adds a blank armed audio track to your project to start easily recording your first take
• Compose midi: adds a blank midi track to your project. Let’s you choose among different virtual instruments via the instrument browser
• Create Grooves opens the step-sequencer midi controller, with which you can create beats and grooves in an easily way
• Quick Groove adds a pre-composed midi groove to your project. You can choose among different genres and styles of drum and bass grooves
• Play Keyboard opens the screen midi keyboard to start play virtual instruments
• Collaborate connects you into the Music collaboration social network created by the n-Track Team in which you can find other musicians to jam with, or collaborate on others’ songs

To start your song from scratch, without using a template, just close the menu.

The Transport bar

The transport toolbar contains the transport control to navigate the song, play, start recording and using the playback loop function.

The main Toolbar

The main toolbar is a scrollable area that contains the most important functions of n-Track Studio. This is your control panel. Here you’ll find all you need to compose your songs.

Track bar

The track bar contains the control commands of a specific track, like mute, solo, arm button, monitor live input button, pan, channel output, and channel insert effect panel.

The Time Status window

The time status window displays the project’s current time. Tap on it to choose the time display format and switch from 30fps to M:B:T

By tapping on "start" or "end" you can choose among different view and monitor your selection start, lenght or end.

Editing widgets and the Edit menu

In n-Track Studio you'll find two ways of accessing editing controls:

1. Waveform editing widgets

You can edit a part via the waveform editing widgets.

2. The Edit menu

To open it, tap on a part's waveform

The Grid

The grid icon shows or hides the grid. By enabling the grid you'll be able to choose among different grid parameters (Measure, Beat, Eight, Sixteenth, 32nd, 64nd, 128th).

Enable snap to grid: If this option is checked, the selection and the parts offsets (when dragging with your finger) will snap to the nearest grid line.

Selecting tracks to view

In some cases, showing or hiding different kinds of tracks could be useful. You can set which track type will be visible or hidden on the timeline by tapping the select tracks to view icon .

• Show Groups: show tracks you grouped
• Show Instruments: show Instruments tracks added to your project
• Show Aux Channels: show Aux tracks added to your project
• Show Master Channels: show the master channel of the project

Recording your first audio track: Add, Arm, Record

Let’s say we want to record an audio track. First of all, what we need to do is tap the add a blank track icon , then choose “add an audio track” to add a new, blank audio track.

Before starting to record, we need to check the audio track is “armed”. This means it has an input channel assigned and is enabled for recording.

To arm a track, tap on the arm icon . Here you can choose the input channel from which n-Track should record sound.

If the project is blank, you can automatically start recording by pressing the record button on the transport bar. This action adds a blank armed audio track and starts recording from your built-in microphone.

At this point, simply pick up your instrument and push the record button to start recording your first audio track.

To stop the recording, simply tap the record button again.

Now tap the rewind button or move the yellow timeline cursor to the position you want to start playback and push the play button to listen your creation.

If you want to focus on a section, and listen to a single part of your take repeatedly, then you need to use the Loop timeline selection. To use it, you need to highlight an area by drawing with your fingers on the timeline axis, activate the loop function and tap the play button. n-Track will now restart playback from the beginning of our selection as soon as the cursor reaches its end.

How to record a track over another one (overdub)

Let’s say we want to record something over the first track. All we need is to add a new blank audio track and arm it, then we can start recording.

So, again, tap the Add a blank track icon and choose "Add an audio track”.

If the track is not armed, tap over the arm button and select the right input channel.

Since you want to record a second track over the first audio track, you need to be able to hear the first and the second track together during recording, but you want only the second track to be recorded, so make sure the first track is unarmed.

To listen to what you’re recording as you play it, you can tap the Monitor live input button , which will let you listen to the incoming signal through the selected output destination. Make sure you plug in your headphones and then push the “Monitor live input” button to start listening to the incoming signal. You can now record as you hear what your mike is capturing.

Importing a base track to record over

Let’s say you want to upload a base track, backing track or instrumental, and then record your voice or instrument over it.

All you need to do is tap the Menu icon and select “Import audio file”, then select the file you want to import into n-Track.

n-Track will create a new audio track with the imported audio file, so we can now record over it. To record something over the imported track, just add and arm a second audio track, then start recording.

Adding effects and editing audio parts

If we’re satisfied with our performance, but we want enhance or get creative with the sound, we can add an effect.

Let’s say we want to add a reverb to a vocal recording. Just use your fingers to zoom into the time-axis view, until you see the add effect panel.

Click on “add effect” and choose among the free integrated effects available in n-Track Studio.

The Grid and the Metronome

It’s a common use to record songs by following a click track or metronome, and then use the grid to align our recordings to the song’s tempo.

You can select the bpm of your song by tapping the Metronome icon and selecting the bpm you need.

To activate the metronome, switch it on with by tapping the power icon . You’ll now hear the metronome both during playback and recording.

To turn it off, just open the metronome and switch it back off.

The grid function can be useful during editing, and in general when you need a reliable tempo reference while working on your song. You can enable the grid by tapping on the “grid icon” .

You can set the grid time resolution by tapping the grid settings window (see the picture below).

As you can see there’s also a "Enable snap to grid" checkbox. If this is enabled, when we move audio and MIDI regions their start position will be quantized to the closest grid value.

This can be useful if we’re creating more electronic or loop based music. If you uncheck this box, but leave the grid on, then you’ll be free to move regions in any point of the timeline, and still use the grid as a useful tempo reference.

Adding virtual instruments

To add a new virtual instrument, just push the “Add a blank track” button and select “Add an instrument”. This will create a MIDI track and an Instrument track automatically assigned to the MIDI track created.

MIDI tracks will contain the sequence of MIDI notes, as well as other MIDI parameters, such as velocity. Instrument channels, instead, are where the actual audio from the MIDI notes is generated. Multiple MIDI tracks can send their output to a single instrument channel.

The creation of a MIDI track will open up the instrument browser, that lets you choose the virtual instrument you want to control via MIDI.

To change the MIDI track instrument, simply tap the track’s output slot.

To immediately control our virtual instrument, tap the keyboard icon and start playing it with your fingers, or open the piano roll by tapping the icon. and start writing midi notes via the piano roll's tools.

The Instrument browser

The instrument browser lets you choose the instrument you want to play via MIDI. It will popup when creating instrument tracks, or when you tap on a MIDI track’s output slot, so you can easily choose a new instrument or switch the sound on an already created instrument track.

The browser is organized in three sections:

• External instruments: Here you’ll find all supported third-party virtual instrument plugins available on your system.
• n-Track instruments: In this section, you’ll find a list of n-Track’s built-in instruments. Instruments and patches which show the download icon require an additional download, which you can launch via the Add-on manager.
• MIDI outputs: shows the available hardware MIDI outputs, as well as already created instrument channels which you can send MIDI to, allowing you to route a new MIDI track to an instrument you already created.

When you select an instrument from the instrument browser, n-Track will create a new instrument channel with the instrument loaded up, and assign it to a MIDI track.

If this is the first time you open the instrument browser, you may need to download additional instrument packs in order to have more choice than the few built-in sounds. Selecting the sound will bring up the Add-on manager, where we can download content.

The Add-on Manager

The Add-on manager lets you download free and premium instruments, sounds and drumkits available for use in n-Track.

Here you can download free and premium instruments, sounds and drumkits available for use in n-Track, which will be automatically once downloaded.

To download a sound, just tap on “Get". The sounds will then be downloaded and automatically installed. Once installed, you'll be able to play and record the instrument, and load it directly from the instrument browser.

Saving projects

Saving a project means your project and all of its settings will be saved in a format you can open exclusively in n-Track (the .sng format).

To save a project, just push the Menu icon and select “Save song”. You can then re-open your project at any time by selecting the “open song” option.

Exporting songs

Exporting, or ‘mixing down’ a track means that all the tracks of your project will be bounced down to a single audio file, in the format you specify, like mp3, wav, and so on.

Once mixed down, your song will be playable anywhere, but please note that exporting track, as well as other features, are not available in the free version. To export songs, you need to either pay for an n-Track subscription, or activate the full version, both of which you can do directly from the app.

Although you can’t export to audio files, remember that in the free version you can freely upload the track to Songtree app, the free music collaboration platform, and then share it via a link.

To export your track, tap the “menu” icon and select “mixdown”, then choose the format and the bit rate, then press “ok”.

Sharing your songs on Songtree

Songtree is a free music collaboration platform that allows to collaborate with other musicians in building songs online. Songtree is developed by the same team behind n-Track.

When someone uploads a song to Songtree, it becomes available for others to contribute to and build upon. Each contribution added by users creates a new version of the song, while the original song remains un-affected. As more people add their contribution, a 'tree' of songs starts to take shape, with each contribution branching out from the original song.

Songtree is available as free web, iOS and Android apps. The apps allow you to record your performances directly from your device, as well as letting you interact with other musicians via comments, likes, invites etc.

Songtree is fully integrated inside n-Track Studio 8, so that you can overdub other Songtree users songs without leaving n-Track.

On Songtree you can find other musicians to collaborate with, share ideas, or just jam with. To open Songtree just tap the “globe” icon. Then click on the top left icon and select “login” to access your account or create a new one. You can also sign in with Facebook or Google and gain instant access. We invite you to take a look at what’s happening on Songtree, you may be surprised!

Important

If your soundcard hasn't been automatically recognized by n-Track Studio, please use this form and let us know.

The screen keyboard presents different controllers in order to simulate an actual real keyboard:

Select the destination instrument

Now lets enable the pattern view by tapping this icon

Each step sequencer track can operate in one of two modes:

• In freerun mode the currently displayed pattern will be played indefinitely in loop. This mode is useful for testing ideas, practicing, jamming and live performing.
• In playlist mode you can assemble a customized sequence of patterns. This is especially useful for composing songs with different sections (eg: verses, choruses, fills).

You can switch between the two modes at any moment, using the mode selector.

Creating a free-running pattern

Adding notes to a pattern

To add notes to the currently selected pattern, tap on a cell in the pattern’s note grid. The cell will light up and the corresponding note will play when the progress cursor crosses it.

Creating a playlist

Switch to playlist mode: from now on, patterns in the roster will not be played when you create or select one of them. Only patterns added to the playlist will play in sequence.

To add a pattern to the playlist, click on the button while the desired pattern is selected, or drag the desired pattern from the roster to the playlist.

You can arrange the patterns’ ordering in the playlist at any moment, dragging them where desired.

When playback is activated, the playlist will be reproduced, following the main song time position.

To remove a pattern from the playlist, select it and click the button. The removed pattern will still be available in the roster for reuse.

Setup pattern properties

The main settings display shows the most important properties of the selected pattern

Pattern

Shows the pattern’s name. Click on the name to modify it.

Steps

Shows the number of time steps for the selected pattern. Click on the arrows to change it.

Step Length

Indicates the time distance between each step, and the base duration of each step (the duration can be modified for each step independently, see [Notes duration]. The length is expressed in musical notation.

Track

Indicates the track you are working on. Click to select a different track.

Bpm

Indicates the play speed in BPM. This is a global setting (not specific to the pattern), mirroring the one in the main toolbar.

Permanently deleting a pattern

To permanently delete a pattern, click on the button while the pattern is selected. When a pattern is removed from the roster, it will be permanently removed from the playlist as well, if present there.

Cloning a pattern

Clicking on the button, the currently selected pattern is copied and a new identical pattern is added to the roster. This is useful to start working on a new pattern that is a variation of a previous one. The modifications performed on the new pattern will not affect the original one.

Notes duration

By default, each note has the same length as the time separation between note-on events.

If you need a note to be played for a longer or shorter time, modify the duration value in the note duration row.

A few things to keep in mind:

• The duration of the note is proportional to the step length
• The selected duration will affect all the cells belonging to the same column
• lengthening or shortening a step will not affect the position in time of the following step

Customizing notes list

From the same menu you can select one of the alternate namings available for the note list.

You can also load specific scales in the midi list, to ease the composition process. Just click on the scale button, and select a major, minor or other type of scale in the desired key from the menu. Click on Advanced to fully control all aspects of the scale generation.

Pattern color

To change the color of a pattern, right-click on it in the roster and select the desired color from the Color sub-menu.

The n-Track level meters allow monitoring the level of the audio signal in various points inside the audio engine. Most meters inside n-Track are pure Peak meters. The n-Track Meter plugin is instead configurable with any of the metering mdoes below.

The level meters can work in a combination of the following metering modes:

• Peak
• True peak
• LUFS
• RMS

We recommend using Peak monitoring during recording and composing phases of music production, then switching to LUFS+True Peak for mixing and mastering.