Preferences¶
Open the Preferences dialog from Settings > Preferences.
The dialog is organised into sections; each section is described below.
General¶
- Zoom In Sensitivity — Controls how fast the timeline zooms in
- Zoom Out Sensitivity — Controls how fast the timeline zooms out
- Shift+Zoom Sensitivity — Controls zoom speed when holding Shift
- Default Length — Default timeline length for new projects (in bars)
- Default View — Default visible range when opening a project (in bars)
- Auto-Save — Enable or disable automatic saving, and set the interval
UI¶
- Panel visibility defaults — Choose which panels are shown on startup
- Behavior settings — Configure UI interaction preferences
- Auto-hide arrangement scrollbars — Keep the arrangement scrollbars hidden until you hover near them, for a cleaner workspace
- Language — Select the UI language from the dropdown. The list is populated from the locale files (
.json) shipped in MAGDA'slang/folder, so available languages grow as translations are contributed. A restart-required hint appears after switching; the new language takes effect the next time MAGDA launches. See Localization for how translations are managed and how to contribute.
UI Scale¶
Pick a global scale factor for the whole interface. Useful on HiDPI / 4K screens where MAGDA looks too small at native resolution, or on the opposite end where you want more screen real estate.
| Setting | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Auto | Scale is derived from the display's reported DPI. |
| 100% – 200% | Fixed multiplier, ignoring DPI auto-detection. Common picks: 125% on a regular 4K monitor, 150% on a Retina laptop with external scaling, 200% if you want to see fewer rows from across the room. |
Changes apply live — no restart required. The shortcuts Cmd++ and Cmd+- also bump the scale up and down by one preset.
Storage¶
MAGDA keeps user data in three configurable folders. Each can be redirected to any path on disk — point them at an external drive, a synced folder, or a per-project staging area.
| Folder | Holds | Default location |
|---|---|---|
| Data | App config, controller profiles, Lua scripts, locale overrides | ~/Library/MAGDA (macOS), %APPDATA%\MAGDA (Windows), ~/.config/MAGDA (Linux) |
| Presets | .mps device presets and the per-plugin preset cache |
<Data>/presets |
| Render | Bounce / freeze / export output | <Data>/render |
Click Browse… next to a path to relocate that folder. MAGDA does not move existing content for you — copy or symlink the contents over before switching if you want to keep what's there.
External Audio Editor¶
Set the application MAGDA hands audio clips to when you choose Edit in External Editor (see Waveform Editor). Use Browse… to pick the application, or Reset to clear it. While no editor is set, the clip menu item stays disabled.
Media Database¶
The location and maintenance of the sample-indexing database live here too. See Media Library — Managing the database.
Colours¶
- Custom colour palette — Define a custom set of colours for tracks and clips
- Track colours — Right-click any track header to assign a colour; the colour tints headers in the arrangement, session view, and mixer strips
- Clip colours — Clips can have their own colour or follow the track colour
Rendering¶
- Sample rate — Default sample rate for rendered files
- Export bit depth — Default bit depth for audio exports
- Bounce bit depth — Default bit depth for bounced and frozen audio
- Audio export format is chosen in the export dialog: WAV 16-bit, WAV 24-bit, WAV 32-bit float, or FLAC
AI¶
AI provider configuration has moved to a dedicated dialog. Open it from Settings > AI Settings.
See AI Settings for the full reference.
Shortcuts¶
Two tabs:
- Keyboard — view and remap every keyboard shortcut, with a reset-to-defaults option
- Gestures — remap the mouse and trackpad wheel gestures (scroll, zoom, track height) per context
Both are saved between sessions. See Keyboard Shortcuts for the full default list of keys and gestures.