Instrument automation
Move an instrument's own controls over the song, not just the mix.
The controls on a virtual instrument can be drawn into automation lanes the same way as a fader or a reverb’s mix: a filter that opens across a verse, a drum machine’s decay that lengthens into the break, a wavetable position that scans while a chord holds. The lane is in musical time, so it stays with the bars when the tempo changes, and playback, export and clip rendering all follow it.
When to use it
Use it when an instrument should sound different in one section without being a different instrument: brighter in the chorus, sparser in the verse, more drive on the last repeat. It is also the way to add slow movement that no keyboard could play by hand. For level, pan, sends and effects, see Automation.
Controls
Choosing a control
Open the parameter selector beside the G button on an instrument track. Instruments list their controls grouped as the panel shows them. The same menu is one right-click away on any control in the instrument panel. Numeric controls are available for every instrument; choice controls such as a synth’s waveform, a filter mode or an LFO shape get a stepped lane that holds each value until the next point.
What the panel shows
While a lane plays, its control and graph show the value at the song cursor. Turning the control takes it over for the moment, bypassing only that lane; the drawn curve is untouched. Saving a preset or downloading the instrument stores the base values you set, never the snapshot of what the lane happened to be doing.
LFO
A continuous lane can carry the modulation panel from Automation: shape, rate in beats or hertz and depth on top of the curve. A one-beat sine at modest depth on a filter cutoff is a good first experiment.
What stays manual
Character and model choices, the number of string players, sample assignments and the sampler’s voice and choke settings are set by hand. Controls an instrument reads at the start of a note, such as some drum hit settings and sample playback settings, take effect on the next note, as they do when you turn the knob yourself.
Tips
- Automate the instrument’s filter rather than an EQ after it when you want the movement to interact with resonance and drive inside the sound.
- Replacing the instrument on a track removes its lanes in the same undo step, so you can try another instrument and step back.
- Preset changes bypass the lanes whose saved values the preset changed; look at the lane list after switching presets to see which ones are paused.