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The Plugin Strip sits at the bottom of the main window and shows every plugin on the selected track as a card. Each card displays a scaled-down preview of the plugin’s interface alongside controls for bypass, level metering, mix, and loudness compensation.

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Add and reorder plugins

Drag a plugin from the Effects inspector tab (⌘4) onto the strip. An insertion indicator shows where it will land. You can also add plugins via ⌥E or the Command Palette. To reorder, drag a card left or right — adjacent cards shift out of the way in real time. Right-click a card for quick access to Open Full View, Bypass, and Remove.

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Full-view window

Double-click a card (or right-click → Open Full View) to open the plugin at its native size in a floating window. The strip shows a placeholder with parameter controls and sidechain settings while the full view is open.

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Direct plugin interaction

The card shows the plugin’s real interface, just scaled down — so you can operate it without opening the full window. Hold ⌘ and drag (or click) a control on the card to adjust it in place, perfect for quick tweaks while you stay in the Timeline. A plain click still opens the full view and a plain drag still reorders the card, so nothing changes about the usual workflow. The same gesture works on the instrument and MIDI-effect cards in the Inspector.
⌘ is only the trigger and is not sent to the plugin, so modifiers the plugin uses itself still work — hold ⇧ while dragging for fine adjustment, or ⌥-click to reset, wherever the plugin supports it.
On a few GPU-rendered plugins the pointer can jump when you release a drag. The value you set is still correct.

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Bypass a plugin

Click the power icon on the left sidebar of any card to bypass it. The icon turns red when bypassed. Bypassed plugins are removed from the signal path — no CPU load.

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Level meters

Each card shows a stereo level meter on the right sidebar with:
  • RMS bars for perceived loudness
  • Peak bars for transient levels
  • Peak hold marker that decays after a short hold

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Dry/wet mix

Click the Mix button to open a popover with two vertical faders:
  • Dry — unprocessed signal (default 0%)
  • Wet — processed signal (default 100%)
The button turns orange when the mix is set to anything other than the default. Useful for parallel compression or blending reverb.

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Automatic loudness compensation (ALC)

Click the A button to open the ALC popover. When enabled, Gridshift measures the loudness before and after the plugin and applies compensating gain so the perceived volume stays consistent. The popover shows live values for:
  • Input LUFS — loudness entering the plugin
  • Output LUFS — loudness leaving the plugin
  • Delta — the difference in dB
  • Gain — the compensation applied
This makes it easy to judge a plugin by its effect on the sound rather than its effect on the volume.

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Parameter controls

For plugins without a custom interface, the strip shows a scrollable list of parameter sliders with names and values — no need to open a separate window.
Last modified on July 11, 2026