> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gridshift.studio/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Play a MIDI Controller

> Plays and records your tracks from a keyboard or pad controller, with the velocity you play. Plug it in, select an instrument or sample track and play: there is nothing to arm or route.

## Play a hardware controller

Plug the controller in and select an instrument track. Play: it reaches the selected track exactly as the [computer keyboard](/work-fast/play-with-the-keyboard.md) does, with the velocity you play. The device appears in `Settings → MIDI`.

## Choose a controller layout

Pick **Default**, **Drums**, **Scale** or **Follow** in the **Controller Layout** picker in the Inspector's **Instrument** section, directly under **Keys Layout**.

## Good to know

* **Gridshift connects every MIDI input device automatically.** Connected devices are listed in `Settings → MIDI`.
* **Only notes are recorded.** Control Change, Pitch Bend and Aftertouch are passed to the instrument. Recording, capture and step entry work as with the letter keys; see [Record MIDI](/record/record-midi.md) and [MIDI Capture](/record/midi-capture.md).
* **Controller Layout is never switched for you.** Every track starts on **Default** and stays there until you change it, and it is separate from Keys Layout: a track can be a drum kit under your fingers and a scale ladder under the letter keys.
* **In Drums, Scale and Follow the controller's black keys are silent.** That silence is how you can tell a layout is on.
* **To make a controller drive Gridshift** (transport, mixer, navigation), map it with [Controller Profiles](/controllers/controller-profiles.md) or ad-hoc [MIDI Bindings](/controllers/midi-bindings.md).

> **Details**
>
> * Input goes to the selected track, or to the clip open in [Focus Mode](/edit/focus-mode.md). An arpeggiator or chord generator on that track plays along: [MIDI Effects](/sounds/midi-effects.md).
> * On a sample track, controller notes trigger the sample's [slices](/samples/slices.md), starting at MIDI 36.
> * In Scale and Follow the root sits in the octave nearest the C you played, not always above it. In A minor, C4 plays the A below it rather than the A above, so a layout change does not move your hand.
> * A layout shorter than seven notes, such as a pentatonic scale or any chord in Follow, keeps climbing into the octaves above rather than leaving white keys silent. Two white keys can then land on the same note; every C is still the root. A three-note chord in Follow reaches two octaves up by the seventh white key, and the next C drops back to the root.
> * Follow needs a [chord track](/sounds/chord-track.md) with chords in it. Without one, the picker does not offer it.

> **Controller Layout**
>
> | Layout | What the controller plays |
> | - | - |
> | **Default** (default) | Exactly what it sends. Nothing is remapped, no key is silent |
> | **Drums** | Each white key is the next General MIDI drum pad, starting at C2 = MIDI 36 (Bass Drum). A keyboard with no pads plays a kit without hunting for the black keys |
> | **Scale** | The white keys are the degrees of the project's key and scale. Every C is the root |
> | **Follow** | The white keys are the tones of the chord under the playhead, and every C is that chord's root |

> **Controller messages**
>
> | Message | What happens |
> | - | - |
> | Note On / Off | Plays the instrument; recorded, captured and step-entered |
> | Control Change (mod wheel, sustain, …) | Passed to the instrument |
> | Pitch Bend | Passed to the instrument |
> | Aftertouch | Passed to the instrument |


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