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Create a profile

Press ⌘,, choose MIDI and click Create Profile for your controller’s name… next to your controller. For each step, press the button or slowly turn the knob or encoder; Skip passes on one control and Skip Rest jumps to the end. Name the profile and press Save Profile.

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Drive the focused track

Select a track and turn the Volume or Pan knob. Select another track, and the same knob rides that one.

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Browse without the keyboard

Turn the Navigation encoder to select tracks. Press Browse: open / confirm to open the Command Palette, turn the encoder to scroll to a command, and press it again to run it.

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Choose a profile for a device

In Settings ▸ MIDI, under Connected MIDI Devices, pick Auto-detect, No profile or a specific profile in the device’s picker.

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Change or remove a profile

Under Installed Profiles, the pencil button changes or removes single controls. The trash button deletes your own profile and asks first.

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Good to know

  • The profile turns on by itself whenever that controller is connected, and only then. Its knobs ride the track you are on and its buttons run transport and edit commands.
  • Everything acts on the focused track: the selected track, or in Focus Mode the focused clip’s track. Knobs map roles, not fixed parameters.
  • Use a profile to set a controller up once; use MIDI Bindings for a one-off, such as “this knob drives that plugin’s cutoff”. An explicit binding always wins over the same control in a profile, so you can override one button without editing the profile.
  • Only touch the controller you are mapping. While the wizard is open, input from all MIDI devices is captured, so nothing leaks through to instruments or bindings.
  • Profiles live in iCloud. A profile made on one Mac appears on your others, even one that is already open.
  • Any class-compliant controller works: anything that appears as a standard MIDI device. No vendor scripts, no config files. Every connected controller is listed under Connected MIDI Devices.
  • A listening… counter runs while the wizard reads a turn. The step marks the control with a green check and its name, for example CC 70 ch1 · knob, and moves on. Back redoes the previous step.
  • The essentials come first, then an optional block of extras. Skip Rest works once you reach the extras.
  • The wizard tells an endless encoder (relative) from a fixed-range knob (absolute) on its own; either kind works. If a device fools it, press Back and redo the step.
  • The summary shows how many controls were mapped; the name defaults to the device name. After Save Profile the device’s picker shows the profile, its row reads N binding(s) active, and the profile appears under Installed Profiles with an Active badge.
  • Re-running Create Profile… replaces the device’s profile of the same name, so refining a mapping is running the wizard again.
  • A Send number is a row, not a Return: Send 3 is the third row of the Inspector’s Sends section, so a knob means the same on every track. Turning up a Send creates the send, as dragging the idle slider does. Knobs beyond the project’s Returns come alive when a Return is added; the eight Send steps come last, so Skip Rest passes them at once.
  • The Stereo width knob follows the track’s own reading: width percentage, or mid/side balance if the stereo row is set to Mid/Side. Profiles made before this step mapped separate Mid and Side knobs; both now drive the stereo control.
  • The Navigation encoder is context-aware: with nothing open, right selects the next track and left the previous one; with the Command Palette or a picker open, it scrolls that list. Browse: back / close steps back a level or closes the palette.
  • Connect automation track opens the automation picker for the last-touched parameter; browse it with the encoder and confirm to bind. An optional Cursor jump encoder moves the edit cursor by grid steps.
  • The device row reads N binding(s) active or Routes as plain MIDI, and notes N ports when a controller exposes several (DAW / MIDI / plugin ports). A profile applies across all of a device’s ports.
When a control arrives, Gridshift resolves it in this order: the wizard (only while it is open, so setup never fires anything); MIDI Learn command bindings, then learned parameter bindings; the device’s controller profile; the focused instrument, which plays it as ordinary MIDI.
  • No LED or motor feedback: LED rings and motorized faders do not reflect Gridshift’s state. The one exception is text: on a controller whose display Gridshift supports (currently the MPK mini IV), turning a mapped knob shows its name and value.
  • Bidirectional “DAW mode” is not offered; it needs per-vendor support.
  • 7-bit CC resolution only; high-resolution 14-bit CC is not used.
  • MCU / HUI control surfaces are not supported. Profiles and bindings target the knob-and-button class of controller (MPK mini and similar).
  • Learned parameter bindings need encoders in absolute mode; only the profile wizard detects relative encoders.
Last modified on October 22, 2026