Transport and navigation

This chapter helps you play your session and get around it quickly. You learn the transport buttons, how to read and change the clock, how to zoom and scroll with a trackpad or mouse, how to scrub along the ruler, and how to set up the metronome and count in.

Play, pause and stop #

The transport buttons sit in the toolbar, to the right of Mix.

• Click ▷ Play or press Space to play from the playhead. While playing, the button reads Ⅱ Pause; click it or press Space again to pause where you are.
• Click ■ Stop to stop and return to the start of the session.
• Click ⏮ (Go to Start), or press Return in Arrange, to stop and return to the start.
• Press ⌥Return in Arrange to move the cursor to the end of the session.

The Transport menu has the same commands. The first item's name always says what it will do next, such as Play, Pause or Cancel Playback.

Sometimes Head Chef needs a moment to prepare a session before it plays. The status bar then shows Preparing playback… with a percentage, and the Play button reads Cancel. Click Cancel if you would rather not wait.

Repeat a section #

Click ↻ Loop in the main or Floating Transport to repeat a saved range while you listen and adjust the mix. The button is highlighted while looping is on.

1. Click the arrow beside Loop to open Loop Playback.
2. Enter Start sample and End sample. The range includes the start sample and ends just before the end sample. Start must be earlier than end.
3. Select Loop playback and click Apply.

Loop ranges are entered in samples. Switch the clock to Samples when you want to read a boundary's exact position. Click Loop again to turn repeating off without clearing the range. Range changes are saved with the session and use the same Undo and Redo commands as other edits.

Loop playback changes the listening range. Recording and exports keep their normal ranges.

Control looping with MCP #

Use transport.setLoop to change the range and transport.inspectLoop to read it. Exact sample positions can be supplied as decimal text.

For a healthy CLAP effect during playback, plugin.setLiveParameters returns a request ID. Read plugin.liveParametersStatus until that request reports committed before sending another parameter edit. Its committed token identifies that edit; use the current state token for the next command. For stopped playback or VST3 effects, use plugin.setParameters while paused.

Rewind and forward #

Click ⏪ or ⏩ to move the cursor back or forward two seconds. With a numeric keypad, press Num 1 or Num 2. In narrower windows these buttons leave the toolbar; use the keypad or the ⏪ Rew and ⏩ FF buttons in the Floating Transport (Window > Floating Transport).

With CLAP or VST3 effects, pause playback and click a position in the ruler, or use Rewind and Forward. Head Chef prepares the effects at that position; wait for preparation to finish, then press Play. A longer move can take a moment. Cancel or ■ Stop withdraws a pending move.

Finish any plugin edit and turn off software input monitoring before preparing a new position. If a native plugin window closes after the move, open it again from the channel. Clicking a position is available with hosted effects; dragging the ruler for audible scrubbing remains unavailable.

Record #

Click ⏺ Rec to get a recording ready on the armed track, then press Space or F12 to start the take. ■ Stop or Space finishes it. Recording needs a saved session and an armed track with an input. See Recording audio for the full steps.

Read the clock #

The clock in the toolbar shows where the cursor is. Its small heading tells you the format:

• BARS | BEATS | TICKS counts musical bars and beats;
• MIN : SEC . MS shows minutes, seconds and milliseconds;
• SAMPLES counts individual samples from the start.

Click the clock to step through the three formats. Until you choose one, Head Chef picks for you: bars and beats when the session has instrument tracks, and minutes and seconds when it holds only audio.

The ruler above the timeline shows bar numbers or times to match. The status bar also shows the cursor position in samples, for example Sample 96,000.

Set the time display #

1. Right-click the clock (or the ♩ button) to open the metronome settings.
2. Under TIME DISPLAY & RULER, click Bars|Beats, Min:Sec or Samples.
3. Click Ruler Coupled to switch to Ruler Free if you want the ruler to keep its own format when you change the clock.

The Floating Transport shows a MAIN CLOCK and a SECOND CLOCK. Click the main clock to change its format as in the toolbar. Click the second clock to step its format separately, so you can watch bars and beats and real time together.

Zoom and fit #

• Choose View > Zoom In or View > Zoom Out. Head Chef zooms around the cursor.
• With the Arrange timeline active, press ⌘[ to zoom out and ⌘] to zoom in. With letter shortcuts on, R zooms out and T zooms in.
• Click Fit at the right end of the ruler, choose View > Fit Session, or press ⌥A to see the whole session. In a session with only audio tracks the menu item reads Fit Audio.
• Select a clip and choose View > Fit Selected Clip, or press ⌥F, to fill the window with that clip.
• With letter shortcuts on, press Q or W to center the view on the cursor.

The scroll bar under the timeline moves the view along the session.

Navigate with a trackpad or mouse #

Scrolling over the track headers scrolls the tracks but does not zoom. The same gestures work in the piano roll and in the audio clip editor, which keep their own zoom.

Scrub along the ruler #

Scrubbing lets you find a moment in the music by ear, like moving a tape by hand.

1. Point at the ruler above the timeline.
2. Drag left or right. With Options > Tape Scrub Sound on, you hear the full mix forwards or backwards at the speed you drag.
3. Release where you want the cursor. Press Esc before you release to cancel.

A single click on the ruler moves the cursor straight to that point. You can also drag the small handle at the top of the playhead line to move it.

Tape Scrub Sound is on until you turn it off. With it off, dragging moves the cursor silently.

Move between clip boundaries #

To jump to the start or end of the selected track's clip:

• press Tab to move to the next boundary and ⌥Tab to move to the previous one;
• with letter shortcuts on, press L for the previous boundary and ' (apostrophe) for the next.

To change which track is selected from the keyboard, press P (previous track) or ; (next track) with letter shortcuts on.

Mark places in your song #

Use named markers to remember places such as an intro or chorus. The marker strip sits below the ruler, above the tracks.

1. In Arrange, click + beside Markers.
2. Enter a Name, such as Chorus. Leave Sample unchanged to mark the current playhead, or enter a whole sample position from the start of the session.
3. Click Add marker. Its name appears in the strip.

Click a marker's name in the strip to edit it. You can also click Markers and choose a marker from the list. More shows the next page; First returns to the first page.

• To rename it, change Name and click Rename.
• To move it, change Sample and click Move.
• To jump to it, click Locate. This moves the playhead without adding an Undo step. If the position is unavailable, the message explains why and the cursor stays where it was.
• To remove it, click Delete.

Undo and Redo restore marker edits. Markers are saved with the session. Adding, renaming, moving or deleting them does not change the sound or interrupt playback.

If the session changes while the marker dialog is open, an edit can be refused. Copy any draft text you want to keep, then click Close and reopen the marker before trying again.

Turn on the metronome #

The metronome clicks in time with the session so you can keep to the beat. Turn it on or off in any of these ways:

• click ♩ in the toolbar;
• choose Options > Metronome Click;
• press Num 7 on a numeric keypad;
• click Click in the Floating Transport.

The click is for your ears only. It never appears in a Render Mix file, and turning it on or off does not add a step to Undo. It keeps playing when you solo tracks.

Adjust the click #

Right-click ♩ or the clock to open the settings. Under METRONOME & COUNT-IN:

1. Click CLICK ON or CLICK OFF to turn the click on or off.
2. Under Sound Profile, choose Studio, Woodblock or Bip.
3. Under Click Mode, choose when it clicks: Play & Rec (while playing and recording), Rec Only (while recording and during the count-in) or Count-In (only during the count-in).
4. Drag Click Level to set its volume, from -36 dB to +6 dB.

Count in before recording #

A count in plays one, two or four bars of click before a recording starts, so you can get ready to play. It applies only to recording; ordinary playback starts straight away.

1. Right-click ♩ or the clock.
2. Under Count-In Bars, choose 1 Bar, 2 Bars or 4 Bars.
3. Click OFF so it reads ACTIVE.

You can also turn the count-in on or off with Options > Count-In, which shows the current number of bars, with the Count-In button in the Floating Transport, or with Num 8 on a numeric keypad. While it counts, the status bar shows Count-in and the time left.

Play the chef's hat sound #

The chef's hat at the far left of the toolbar is a small instrument of its own.

• Click it for a short taste.
• Press and hold it for the full sound, a chord that swells for about seven seconds and then holds. Release to let it fade.
• Press Esc to stop it at once.

When the hat has keyboard focus, you can also hold Space or Return to play it.

The hat plays through your monitoring output only. It is never recorded, never appears in a render, and does not change your session or its Undo history. If it cannot play, its tooltip says why, for example Audio output unavailable or Sound previews are muted.