Toggle record mode with Caps Lock. Record mode arms the selected track — it does not start playback. Press Space to start playback and begin live recording, or enter notes directly for step recording while the transport is stopped.
What Gets Recorded
What Gridshift records depends on the selected track:
- Instrument track — MIDI notes from your keyboard or Musical Typing
- Sample track with transients — Slice triggers from your keyboard
Additionally, automation is always captured on any track type: move a plugin knob or mixer fader during recording and the parameter changes are recorded as automation points.
Live Recording
Activate record mode, then press Space to start playback. A ghost clip appears and grows with the playhead. MIDI notes are quantized to a 1/16 grid at commit time (not during recording), so your performance feels natural while playing.
Loop Recording (Overdub)
When looping is active (⌘L), each pass layers on top of the previous one. Notes accumulate across loops — stop recording to keep all layers. Overlapping clips are automatically trimmed.
Step Recording
With record mode active and the transport stopped, notes are entered one at a time at the cursor position:
- Press a key — the note is placed at the cursor position
- The cursor advances by one grid step automatically
- Play multiple keys within 50 ms and they form a chord at the same position
- Use
↑ / ↓ arrow keys to extend or shorten the last entered note by one grid step
Step recording works for both MIDI notes on instrument tracks and slice triggers on sample tracks.
Deleting with Backspace
Press Backspace to delete the previous grid division and move the cursor back — exactly like deleting a character while typing. This works inside step entry and whenever the timeline has focus and no clip or marquee is selected:
- Any clip content on the cursor’s track in the deleted division is trimmed away. Clips entirely inside the division are removed; clips spanning into the division are split or trimmed so only the division’s content is removed.
- If the division is empty, the cursor still moves back without changing anything.
With a clip or marquee selected, Backspace deletes the selection instead.
Exiting with Escape
When step entry is active, press Esc to leave record mode without reaching for Caps Lock.
Esc has slightly different behaviour depending on context: if a plugin window is open it closes that window first; if live recording is running (transport is playing) it stops the recording. When the transport is stopped and record mode is already active, Esc exits step entry by turning record mode off.
Count-In
When the metronome is configured with count-in, starting playback in record mode plays a count-in before recording begins. 
