Transport
The transport bar runs along the top of the main window. It holds what plays the song and the settings that apply to the whole project.
Play, stop, record
Section titled “Play, stop, record”| Control | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Play | Space | Start playback; Space again stops. |
| Stop | Return | Stop. Press it again to jump back to the start of the song. |
| Record | ⌘R | Record onto the armed tracks — see Recording. |
When you stop, the playhead returns to where playback started, so you can listen to the same passage again and again. Click in the ruler to move the playhead somewhere else.
The position readout shows bars.beats.sixteenths. Click it to switch to minutes:seconds and back.
Tempo, time signature and key
Section titled “Tempo, time signature and key”- BPM — drag up or down to change the tempo in whole steps, or double-click it and type a value with up to two decimals. The range is 20–300 BPM.
- SIG — the time signature. Drag each number; the lower one moves in powers of two (2, 4, 8, 16).
- KEY — the project key, saved with the project. Click it to pick a key, or No key. With Transpose to project key on in the Files tab’s menu, loops you drop on the Arrangement are transposed to it; loops are always warped to the project tempo. The phone keyboard of Nota Remote uses it too.
LOOP shows the loop range set on the ruler. ⌘L turns looping on or off — and if clips or a time range are selected, it first sets the loop to them. Drag along the ruler to draw a loop range by hand.
Metronome and count-in
Section titled “Metronome and count-in”The metronome button (⌘M) clicks on every beat while you play or record.
Right-click it to choose a count-in: off, 1, 2 or 4 bars of clicks before Play and Record from stop. The count-in sounds even with the metronome off, the position readout counts the bars before the start (−2.1, −1.4 …), and the clicks are never recorded. Stop cancels a count-in. Nota remembers the setting.
Grid, snap and follow
Section titled “Grid, snap and follow”- GRID — click to cycle the snap grid for moving clips: 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1 bar.
- Snap (the magnet) — clips snap to the grid while you drag them. Hold ⌥ while dragging to place a clip freely just this once.
- Follow — the Arrangement scrolls to keep the playhead in view. Also in View ▸ Follow playhead.
- Automation — shows the automation lanes of the tracks (⌘⇧A). The button next to it hands controls you’ve moved by hand back to their automation — see Automation.
The right side
Section titled “The right side”- MIDI — MIDI Learn: click it, click a control in Nota, then move a knob on your controller.
- Remote — shows the QR code that connects a phone (Nota Remote).
- MST — master volume, with the master meter underneath.
Launch quantize
Section titled “Launch quantize”In the Session view, clips and scenes start on the next bar (or another division) so they always land in time. That setting, Quant, lives in the Session toolbar.