Arrangement View¶

The Arrangement View is a traditional DAW timeline for composing, recording, and editing. Switch to it by clicking Arrange in the footer bar.

Arrangement View

Layout¶

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Timeline ruler (bars / beats / time)        │
├──────────┬──────────────────────────────────┤
│ Track    │                                  │
│ Headers  │   Track Content (clips on        │
│          │   the timeline)                  │
│  Name    │                                  │
│  Color   │         ▼ Playhead               │
│  M S R   │                                  │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ Aux      │   Aux track content              │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ Master   │   Master waveform                │
└──────────┴──────────────────────────────────┘

Track headers (left) — Track name, color, mute/solo controls. Resizable width.
Track content (center) — Clips displayed on the timeline. Scrollable horizontally and vertically.
Timeline ruler (top) — Shows bars, beats, and time markers.
Playhead — Vertical line showing the current playback position, always on top.
Aux tracks — Auxiliary/bus tracks in a fixed section above the master.
Master track (bottom) — Master output with its own resizable row.

The corner toolbar provides quick access to:

Zoom to fit / Zoom to selection / Zoom to loop
Track size presets (small, medium, large)
Add track
I/O visibility toggle

Working with Clips¶

Move — Click and drag a clip along the timeline or between tracks
Resize — Drag the edges of a clip to trim it
Select — Click a clip to select it; Ctrl+A (Cmd+A) to select all
Delete — Select a clip and press Del or Backspace
Duplicate — Ctrl+D (Cmd+D) to duplicate selected clips

Drag audio files from the Media Explorer directly onto a track to import them as clips.

Scrolling¶

Horizontal scroll — Move along the timeline (mouse wheel or scroll gesture)
Vertical scroll — Navigate between tracks

Zooming¶

Horizontal zoom — Ctrl++ / Ctrl+- (Cmd++ / Cmd+- on macOS) or use the zoom scrollbar
Vertical zoom — Change track height using the toolbar presets (small, medium, large)

Zoom to fit — Fit all content in the visible area
Zoom to selection — Zoom into the current time selection
Zoom to loop — Zoom to the loop region

Selection¶

Time selection — Click and drag on the timeline ruler to select a time range
Loop region — Displayed as an overlay on the timeline; set from selection with Ctrl+Shift+L (Cmd+Shift+L)

Playhead¶

The playhead shows the current playback position. Click on the timeline ruler to reposition it. Press Home to return to the start.

Edit Cursor

The edit cursor is a white blinking line separate from the playhead. Place it with Alt+click on the timeline ruler or inside a clip. It marks the position for operations like Split (Cmd+E). Press Esc to hide it. The MIDI editor has its own independent edit cursor — placing one in the piano roll or drum grid does not affect the arrangement cursor.

Editing Modes¶

MAGDA supports two editing modes depending on context:

Clip-Based Editing¶

When no time selection is active, editing operations apply to selected clips:

Split (Cmd+E) — Splits selected clips at the edit cursor position
Render (Cmd+B) — Renders selected clips to audio in place
Cut / Copy / Paste / Duplicate / Delete — Operate on the selected clips

Time Selection Editing¶

When a time selection is active (drag on the timeline ruler), operations apply to the time range:

Split / Trim (Cmd+E) — Splits clips at the selection boundaries and isolates the selected region. If clips extend beyond the selection, they are trimmed.
Render Time Selection (Cmd+Shift+B) — Consolidates everything within the time selection to a single audio clip per track
Cut / Copy / Paste — Operate on the content within the time range

Note

When a time selection exists, Split/Trim affects all clips that overlap the selection — not just selected clips. Clear the time selection to return to clip-based editing.

Editing¶

Cut, Copy, Paste¶

Action	Shortcut
Cut	`Ctrl`+`X` / `Cmd`+`X`
Copy	`Ctrl`+`C` / `Cmd`+`C`
Paste	`Ctrl`+`V` / `Cmd`+`V`

Split and Join¶

Split — Position the edit cursor and press Ctrl+E (Cmd+E) to split the clip at that point. If a time selection is active, clips are trimmed to the selection.
Join — Select adjacent clips and press Ctrl+J (Cmd+J) to merge them.

Duplicate¶

Duplicate clips — Ctrl+D (Cmd+D) duplicates selected clips
Duplicate track — Ctrl+D with a track selected duplicates the track and its content
Duplicate track (empty) — Ctrl+Shift+D (Cmd+Shift+D) duplicates the track structure without content

Render¶

Render clip to audio — Select a clip and press Ctrl+B (Cmd+B) to bounce it to an audio file
Render time selection — Press Ctrl+Shift+B (Cmd+Shift+B) to render the selected time range

Undo / Redo¶

Action	Shortcut
Undo	`Ctrl`+`Z` / `Cmd`+`Z`
Redo	`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Z` / `Cmd`+`Shift`+`Z`