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Lemon wiki

Automation

Automation moves a control for you as the song plays: a filter opening up, a pad fading out. Most of the time you’ll use an automation clip, a curve that sits on a track in the arranger.

Two tracks of automation clips in the arranger, named Chords Cutoff and Pad Volume, each a pale curve on a coloured clip

Make an automation clip

Section titled “Make an automation clip”
  1. Right-click a knob or fader: an instrument’s volume, a mixer fader, the tempo, or a control in a plugin window.
  2. Choose Create automation clip.
  3. A clip appears in the arranger, over the time selection if you’ve made one. It starts flat, at the control’s current value.

The clip also gets a row in the instrument rack, and the rack switches to show its Automation group. Use the dropdown at the rack’s top left to go back to All.

Two more ways in, for the last control you moved: ADD ▸ Automation for the most recent parameter, and TOOLS ▸ Recent parameters ▸ Most recent. They’re handy for plugins that don’t offer a menu of their own.

You can place, copy, resize and slice automation clips with the same tools as any other clip.

Shape the curve

Section titled “Shape the curve”

Move the mouse over the clip and:

  • Click the curve to add a point. Drag a point to move it. Alt ignores the snap, and Shift keeps it to one direction.
  • Drag the small handle between two points to bend the curve.
  • Double-click a point to type a value.
  • Right-click a point for Delete, Copy value, Paste value, Enter value… and its Mode.

The Mode is the shape from that point on: Smooth, Hold, Single curve (with 2 and 3), Double curve (with 2 and 3), Half sine, Stairs, Smooth stairs, Pulse and Wave.

Range and LFO

Section titled “Range and LFO”

Click the clip’s name button in the rack to open its window.

  • MIN and MAX set how far the curve moves the control. With MIN above MAX, the curve runs upside down.
  • The LFO row adds a repeating wobble. Switch it On. Add adds it to the curve instead of multiplying by it. Then shape it with AMOUNT, SPEED, TENSION, SKEW and PULSE.

Record your moves

Section titled “Record your moves”
  1. Click Record and choose Notes and automation or Automation only. See Recording.
  2. Press Space, and move the control while the song plays.

This works for an instrument’s volume and pan, a mixer track’s fader, pan, stereo separation, equalizer and slot mix knobs, the tempo, and any plugin parameter moved in its own window.

Your moves go into the current pattern, not into a clip: recording straight into automation clips isn’t available yet. You can turn them into a clip afterwards.

Edit automation

Section titled “Edit automation”

Right-click a control and choose Edit automation to see what a pattern holds for it. The window’s title starts with Events, and you can draw in it even if nothing’s been recorded.

  • Draw draws freehand on the snap, and a right-drag draws a straight line. Paint draws off the snap. Erase removes, and Interpolate lays what’s under the drag on a line. Select and Zoom do what they say.
  • Edit ▸ Turn into automation clip moves the moves into a new clip linked to the control.
  • Edit ▸ Insert current controller value adds a point at the control’s value.
  • Edit automation in a window opens a second editor in front of the first, so you can copy from one control to another.

For an instrument’s volume and pan, Edit automation in piano roll opens the matching lane in the piano roll. Where a control can’t be edited this way, these entries are greyed out.

Good to know

Section titled “Good to know”
  • Set as song start value on a control’s menu makes the song start with the control where it is now, and Remove start value clears that.
  • Edit automation clip… on the same menu shows the clip that’s driving the control.
  • A control’s clip moves it only inside the clip. Outside, the control keeps its last value.
Section titled “Related”