Volume automation, control surfaces and assistants

Draw a saved volume ride for a source channel, connect a hardware control surface to mix with real faders, or ask an AI assistant to read and edit the session while you watch.

Draw a channel-volume ride #

1. Select a source channel in Arrange or Mix and open its channel controls.
2. Choose Automation, then Read.
3. Click in the volume plot to add a point. Drag a point to change its position and level.
4. Release the pointer to save the move. Press Escape before releasing to discard the proposed move.
5. To enter an exact value, select the point, type its Sample position and Level (dB), then click Apply point.

In a small window, scroll the channel controls to move between the plot and the point fields.

The plot shows the saved channel-fader level after the channel's processing. Use Linear for a straight change in dB to the next point, or Hold to keep the level until the next point. The first point also supplies the level before it; the last point holds its level afterwards. Select a point and click Delete to remove it.

Sample positions are counted from the start of the session. Changing the tempo leaves these positions in place. The saved ride follows playback and cursor moves and is included when you render the mix.

Read uses the saved points. Suspend keeps the points and uses the channel's ordinary fader level. With no points, the channel uses its ordinary fader level. Moving a fader changes that ordinary level; the saved Read curve continues to supply the automated level until you choose Suspend.

A VCA continues to adjust its member tracks while they read a volume ride. Head Chef adds the active VCA levels after calculating the level between your points, then keeps the resulting channel level between -60 dB and +12 dB. For example, a -6 dB Read point with a VCA at -3 dB plays at -9 dB. Suspend uses your ordinary fader with those same VCA adjustments.

Coalesce is refused if writing a VCA level into its member faders would change an active Read ride. See Consolidate a VCA master for keeping the ride or deliberately removing its VCA adjustment.

Each released point move, typed change, mode change or deletion is one step in Edit > Undo. The assistant shares those same points and history, so you can undo its edits in the same way.

Connect a control surface #

Head Chef supports control surfaces that use the Mackie Control protocol. Mackie and Mackie Control are trademarks of LOUD Audio, LLC; Head Chef is not affiliated with LOUD Audio.

1. Set your surface to Mackie Control mode. Your surface's manual explains how.
2. Connect the surface to your Mac.
3. Choose Settings > Control Surface….
4. Choose your surface under MIDI input and under MIDI output.
5. Click Enable. The status changes from Disabled to Connected.
6. Click Done.

If your surface is missing from the lists, connect it and click Refresh Ports. To stop using it, open the dialog again and click Disable. Your port choice is a setting on this Mac and is not saved in your session.

What the surface controls #

The surface works on your tracks and Effect Returns, eight at a time, plus Main.

Motorized faders, pan lights and button lights follow changes you make in Head Chef, so the surface always shows your mix.

The surface's MIDI input is reserved for the surface. In the toolbar's MIDI keyboard settings it appears with (Control Surface) and cannot be chosen as a keyboard. To play instruments from a keyboard, see MIDI and instruments.

Connect an AI assistant #

Head Chef has a local assistant connection. It uses MCP (Model Context Protocol), an open standard that lets AI assistant apps use tools inside other apps. Any assistant app that supports this standard can connect to Head Chef.

Through the connection, an assistant can:

• Read your session: tracks, clips, notes, instruments, mix settings, effects and plugins.
• Create, open and save sessions.
• Add audio and instrument tracks, choose instruments and sounds, and write or edit MIDI notes.
• Set faders, pan, solo, mute, sends, Chicken Strip, effects and channel presets.
• Add, change and remove built-in effects and plugins, and scan plugin folders.
• Move, trim and fade clips, and adjust clip gain.
• Read saved channel-volume curves and insert, move or remove individual points.
• Play, stop and move the cursor, and render the mix.

To connect:

1. Open Head Chef. The assistant can only connect while Head Chef is running.
2. In your assistant app, add a local server that runs a command. Assistant apps also call this a tool server or connector. If Head Chef is in your Applications folder, the command is /Applications/Head Chef.app/Contents/MacOS/head-chef with the argument --mcp.
3. Start a conversation and ask the assistant to look at your session.

If Head Chef is not open, the assistant app reports that you need to open Head Chef first. The connection runs on your Mac. Head Chef shares your session only with the assistant app you connect, and that app's own policies cover what it does with it.

One shared session #

The assistant works on the same session you see in the window, not a copy.

• Each change appears in Arrange and Mix as it happens.
• Changes from the assistant and from you share one edit history. Choose Edit > Undo or press ⌘Z to reverse any of them, one step at a time.
• If you change the session after the assistant last looked at it, its next edit is refused rather than overwriting your work. The assistant reads the session again and retries.
• The assistant cannot open another session over unsaved changes unless its request explicitly says to discard them.
• Recording through the assistant still needs your permission to use the microphone, which macOS asks you for.

Stay in control #

• Save your session before you ask for large changes, so you have a copy to return to.
• Read what your assistant app plans to do before you approve it, especially requests that open sessions or discard changes.
• Use Edit > Undo to step back through anything you do not want.
• To end the connection, remove Head Chef from your assistant app or quit Head Chef.

Tips #

• Keep Head Chef's window visible while an assistant works, so you can follow each change.
• If the assistant reports that it cannot connect, check that Head Chef is open and that the command path matches where Head Chef is installed. See Troubleshooting.