> ## 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.

# ARA Plug-ins

> Gridshift fully supports ARA 2. Add Melodyne, PitchNet or another ARA plug-in to a track's effects like any effect, and it edits that track's clips directly, without recording them first.

## Add an ARA plug-in to a track

Gridshift fully supports **ARA 2**. An ARA plug-in reads the track's clips straight from the project, with no transfer pass. Add a compatible plug-in such as Melodyne or PitchNet to the track's effects in the [Plugin Strip](https://docs.gridshift.studio/sounds/plugin-strip.md), like any other effect. Its window opens on the track's clips.

To open one clip directly, select it and run Command Palette → **Edit Clip in ARA Plug-in…**. Pick **Open in** with the name of the plug-in already on the track, or **Insert … and Open** to add one at the end of the track's chain.

## Edit, move and undo

Edit the notes in the plug-in's window. Move, trim, split, duplicate or delete the clip on the timeline as usual. The plug-in follows each change, also while the song plays, and a split or duplicated clip keeps the edits it was made from. Undo a delete with `⌘Z`, and the clip comes back with its edits. The plug-in's own undo covers what you change inside it.

## Good to know

* **The plug-in plays the clip itself.** The clip shows the plug-in's name on the timeline. Clip gain and fades do not reach it, so the clip's fade handles are off; set the level on the track or inside the plug-in.
* **Your edits are saved with the project** and come back when you open it. A plug-in version that cannot read them leaves them in the project untouched.
* **A warped clip reaches the plug-in as it sounds.** Gridshift renders the warped sample first, so it appears in the plug-in a moment later. Trimming or cutting the clip keeps its edits. Change its [Warp](https://docs.gridshift.studio/timing/time-stretching.md) or the slice fades and the plug-in starts that clip over; undo brings the earlier edits back. Melodyne stretches a Smooth clip itself and keeps its edits.
* **Each track's plug-in window opens on that track's clips**, on the selected clip or the one under the playhead.
* **The project's key and scale go to the plug-in.** Melodyne picks them up; PitchNet keeps its own setting.
* **A bounce sounds like playback.** Export and Bounce in Place render the plug-in from the same clips.

> **Which plug-ins does the list offer?**
>
> * **Every installed plug-in that has run as ARA on a track**, plus any that labels itself as ARA. Insert a new ARA plug-in once from the [Plugin Strip](https://docs.gridshift.studio/sounds/plugin-strip.md), and it is offered from then on.
> * **During a bounce, timeline edits reach the plug-in once the bounce finishes.**
> * **Switch ARA off** in Settings ▸ Plug-ins (**ARA plug-ins read audio clips directly**); a plug-in then works on the signal that plays through it.

> **Why does Logic not do this on Apple Silicon?**
>
> Logic runs plug-ins in a separate process on Apple Silicon, and ARA cannot reach across that. Gridshift runs plug-ins in its own process, so ARA plug-ins work natively.

**Next:** [Pitch and Formant](https://docs.gridshift.studio/timing/pitch-and-formant.md) shifts a whole clip without a plug-in.


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