> ## 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.

# Dynamics Mode

> Draws the level of every clip and note straight on the timeline: clip gain for audio, velocity for MIDI. Press ⌥V, then click, drag or paint across the steps.

## Turn it on and off

<video src="/videos/dynamics-mode-on.mp4" poster="/videos/dynamics-mode-on.jpg" aria-label="Option V turns every clip into steps: clip gain on audio, velocity on MIDI notes" title="Option V turns every clip into steps: clip gain on audio, velocity on MIDI notes" muted loop playsInline preload="none" />

Press `⌥V`, or click the **Dynamics Mode** button (three bars) in the toolbar. Every clip turns into steps. Press `⌥V` or `Escape` again to leave.

## Draw levels on the timeline

<video src="/videos/dynamics-mode-click.mp4" poster="/videos/dynamics-mode-click.jpg" aria-label="Clicking the loud snare's step sets it to the clicked height; dragging keeps setting it" title="Clicking the loud snare's step sets it to the clicked height; dragging keeps setting it" muted loop playsInline preload="none" />

Click a step to set it to the height you clicked. Drag up or down to keep setting it, with `⌘` for a fine drag.

## Paint across a part

<video src="/videos/dynamics-mode-paint.mp4" poster="/videos/dynamics-mode-paint.jpg" aria-label="A sideways drag across the snare roll sets every step it crosses to the pointer's height, and the roll builds" title="A sideways drag across the snare roll sets every step it crosses to the pointer's height, and the roll builds" muted loop playsInline preload="none" />

Drag sideways across the steps. Each step the pointer crosses takes its height, so a rising sweep builds a crescendo.

## Set a chord's level

<video src="/videos/dynamics-mode-chord.mp4" poster="/videos/dynamics-mode-chord.jpg" aria-label="Dragging the loud chord's step down moves its loudest note to the new level and the other notes with it" title="Dragging the loud chord's step down moves its loudest note to the new level and the other notes with it" muted loop playsInline preload="none" />

Drag the chord’s step. Its loudest note goes to the new level and the other notes move with it.

## Draw velocities in the piano roll

<video src="/videos/dynamics-mode-roll.mp4" poster="/videos/dynamics-mode-roll.jpg" aria-label="In the open clip, a sweep to the right while rising makes every chord louder than the one before" title="In the open clip, a sweep to the right while rising makes every chord louder than the one before" muted loop playsInline preload="none" />

Select a clip and press `⌥↓` to open its piano roll with the mode on. Drag on a note to move its velocity, or sweep sideways while rising for a crescendo.

## Work from the keyboard

<video src="/videos/dynamics-mode-keys.mp4" poster="/videos/dynamics-mode-keys.jpg" aria-label="On the break's slices, 5 sets a hit to 50 percent, Command down nudges it by 1 dB and Shift Command down by 6" title="On the break's slices, 5 sets a hit to 50 percent, Command down nudges it by 1 dB and Shift Command down by 6" muted loop playsInline preload="none" />

Press `→` to pick a step. Press `5` for 50 %, `⌘↓` to lower it by 1 dB, `⇧⌘↓` by 6 dB.

## Good to know

* **An audio clip shows its clip gain**, one step per slice when its sample has transient markers inside the clip. Every onset in a MIDI clip shows its velocity, as a line with a fill under it, like an automation clip.
* **In the mode a click edits levels and nothing else.** Clips cannot be moved, resized, split or faded by accident. Transport, scrolling, zoom, track headers, undo and the Command Palette keep working.
* **A stroke is one undo step**, however many clips it touched: **Paint Clip Gain**, **Paint Slice Gain** or **Paint Velocity** in the Edit menu. You hear it from the next pass after you let go. `Escape` while the mouse is still down cancels the stroke and writes nothing.
* **A chord is one step**, and the voicing keeps its balance. To balance single voices, use the piano roll.
* **Painting a [linked](/arrange/linked-clips.md) audio clip unlinks it first**, so the accent lands only where you drew it. The sample stays on the track. Notes in linked MIDI clips change in every copy, as any note edit does.

> **Details**
>
> * **More ways in and out.** Run **Dynamics Mode On/Off** from the Command Palette (`⌘K`, group **Clips**), or click the `×` on the **Dynamics Mode** pill in the top right. The toolbar button lights up and the edit cursor goes away while the mode is on; leaving brings the clips back as they were.
> * **A pattern stamp and the mode exclude each other.** Arming a stamp leaves the mode, and switching the mode on disarms a stamp. Opening or creating another project leaves the mode too.
> * **Double-click a step to reset it:** 0 dB for audio, the clip's own level for a slice, velocity 100 for MIDI. In the mode, a double-click on the timeline resets a step instead of opening the clip.
> * **`⌘` drags at a tenth of the speed.** A stroke stays on the track it started on.
> * **A readout shows the value while you draw:** the gain in dB for an audio clip, the slice's own level and the total for a slice (**Slice −3.0 dB · −9.0 dB**), the velocity for a single note, and the range for a chord (**Chord · 3 notes · 84–110**).
> * **Audio steps run from −36 dB to +24 dB**, with 0 dB at 60 % of the height. Dragging never mutes a clip. MIDI steps run from velocity 1 to 127.
> * **A slice step sets that slice's own level** and leaves the clip gain alone. The step shows the two together.
> * **The piano roll is for single notes and voices against each other.** You can also open a clip's piano roll first and turn the mode on there. The notes become steps, filled up to their velocity, and the rest of the arrangement keeps showing its steps around the roll.
> * **Editing in the roll is relative**, because a note is one row high and height means pitch there. A drag moves velocity 1 step per point, a fifth of that with `⌘`. When the note is marked, every marked note moves with it.
> * **A sweep in the roll moves each note whose start you pass** by how far you have risen or fallen at that moment. Rising to the right gives a crescendo relative to what was played, and a chord's voices keep their differences. With notes marked, only marked notes change.
> * **Double-click a note in the roll to reset it to velocity 100**, every marked note when it is marked. A click alone changes nothing.
> * **In the roll the fills move as you drag**, a readout shows the note's velocity, and letting go writes one **Paint Velocity** undo step. Notes cannot be moved, resized or drawn while the mode is on. Arrows and number keys keep their usual piano-roll meaning.
> * **The keys work while the timeline has keyboard focus.** The first arrow picks a step: the first step of a selected clip, otherwise the step under the playhead on the top track that has one. Moving selects what you land on (the clip for an audio step, the notes of a MIDI step), and the readout shows its value after every key.
> * **The number keys act as on any selection.** On audio they set clip gain relative to the clip's peak, as on the timeline ([Clip Gain](/arrange/clip-gain.md)). On a slice they set its level against the clip, and the key left of `1` mutes that hit. On MIDI the step's loudest note goes to that velocity and the others keep their distance.
> * **Repeated presses on one step are one undo step.** While recording, the number keys lay down notes as usual.
> * **To apply a whole accent or phrasing shape in one go**, use [Humanize](/timing/humanize.md).

> **Keys**
>
> | Key | Action |
> | - | - |
> | `⌥V` | Dynamics Mode On/Off |
> | `←` / `→` | Previous / next step on the track |
> | `↑` / `↓` | Step on the track above / below |
> | `1` … `9`, `0` | Set the level: 10 % … 90 %, 100 % |
> | `⌘↑` / `⌘↓` | Level up / down by 1 dB, or 4 velocity |
> | `⇧⌘↑` / `⇧⌘↓` | Level up / down by 6 dB, or 16 velocity |
> | `Escape` | Cancel a stroke, or leave the mode |


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