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Set the project groove

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Set the amount

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Give a track its own groove

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Shift a track

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Use a sample as the groove

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Good to know

  • A groove is a pattern of timing offsets for the sixteen 16th-note steps of a bar, scaled by an amount. Every new project starts at 0%, so choosing a pattern alone changes nothing until you raise the amount.
  • Everything on the grid follows the grooved lines. Clips snap to them, clips and MIDI notes on the grid are drawn and played there, and Quantize lands on them. Notes you placed off the grid keep their position.
  • Nothing is lost. Clip data stays in straight time, so you can change the groove or take it out at any point.
  • Shift moves everything on the track, unlike a groove pattern: notes off the grid move too, so flams and played timing keep their spacing. It works with or without a groove.
  • The metronome follows the groove too. It adds a quieter click on each off-beat, placed where the groove puts it.
  • The project groove sets the feel for every track that does not have its own. Once the amount is above 0%, the off-beat lines on every track move to the pattern’s positions (with Swing, later). At 100% the full pattern applies.
  • The Grid section also opens from the toolbar. Click the project title for the same section in a popover, from any tab.
  • Command Palette → Master Groove Style lists all built-in patterns with their category beside each name. The current one has a check mark.
  • More ways to set Amount: while the song plays you hear the change as you drag. Double-click the slider to type a value and press Return. Option-click resets it to 0%. Master Groove Amount Up / Down change it in 10% steps.
  • A track groove starts as a copy of the project groove. Only that track’s grid lines and clips change. Turn Project Groove back on to return the track to the project groove; tracks with it on follow every change automatically. Use it when one part should swing differently, the hats swung and the kick straight.
  • Track groove commands act on the selected track. Style and amount commands give the track its own groove first if it was following the project.
  • Only sample and instrument tracks have a Grid section. Groups, automation tracks, returns and the master have no groove of their own.
  • Shift moves a track’s whole grid by a constant amount, independent of the pattern, the amount and the Project Groove toggle. Use it to lay a part slightly behind the beat, or push it ahead for urgency. The track’s clips move right away and snap and play at the shifted positions.
  • Shift is fine at the small end. The slider is not linear: the first tenth of the travel out from center covers the first millisecond, the halfway point sits at 25 ms, and only the last stretch reaches 100 ms. Dragging lands on whole milliseconds; double-click to type an exact value, fractions included. Option-click resets it to 0 ms.
  • Shift is per track only, because a single value applied to every track would just be latency. It is stored in milliseconds, so the push or pull stays the same when the project tempo changes.
  • A sample track qualifies as a groove automatically once its sample has slice markers and reads as rhythmic. There is no toggle. Eligible tracks appear in every Groove menu under Project Samples, below the built-in patterns: in the Project tab (⌘2), or in a track’s Inspector with Project Groove off. Amount scales a sample groove like any other.
  • The sample link is live. Move a marker or change the sample’s tempo in the Sample Editor, and the groove follows. If the sample’s track is deleted, the groove keeps the last pattern it took from it.
34 built-in patterns in six categories:
All groove commands sit in the Command Palette’s Groove group. None has a default shortcut; assign one from the palette.
Last modified on October 22, 2026