> ## 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. # Play with the Keyboard > Plays the selected track's instrument from the letter keys of your computer keyboard, with nothing to arm or route. Select an instrument track and press A to L. ## Play from the computer keyboard · fn↑ fn↓ US key labels. The layouts follow key positions: on a German keyboard the key left of X is Y. The number row replays the last note at 10 %–100 %. Select an instrument track that has an instrument loaded, by clicking its row or one of its clips. Press letter keys with no modifier: In the **Scale** layout `A` to `L` is the base octave, the row above one octave up, the row below one octave down; the map above shows every layout. ## Change the octave Press `Page Up` (`fn↑`) or `Page Down` (`fn↓`) to move every row up or down an octave. The next note you play is an octave higher or lower. On a sample track the same keys switch to the next or previous 26 [slices](/samples/slices.md). ## Choose a keys layout Pick **Scale**, **Piano**, **Drums** or **Follow** in the **Keys Layout** picker in the Inspector's **Instrument** section, under the instrument card. The next key you press plays in the new layout. ## Play dynamics with the number row Hi-hat on the number row Mac keyboard, number row and bottom row. Play the closed hi-hat once with a letter key (M, pad 7 = MIDI 42 in the Drums layout), then the number row replays it: 1 to 0 at 10 % to 100 %, held as long as the key is held. The key left of 1 never replays. Play the closed hi-hat once with a letter key (M, pad 7 = MIDI 42 in the Drums layout), then the number row replays it: 1 to 0 at 10 % to 100 %, held as long as the key is held. The key left of 1 never replays. With no clip selected, play a note with a letter key, then press `3`, `6` and `0`. `1` to `0` replay the last note at 10 % to 100 %, and holding a number key sustains it. ## Good to know * **The keys play the selected track**, or the track of a MIDI or audio clip open in [Focus Mode](/edit/focus-mode.md). Selecting a track that cannot play, such as a Return, leaves them on the last one that could; a keyboard icon in the [track list](/tracks/tracks.md) marks it. * **Letter keys play at a fixed velocity of 100.** The number row plays softer or harder. * **Letter keys stay silent while a modifier is held**, while the Command Palette is open and while you type in a text field. That is why shortcuts like `⇧C` keep working. * **Scale and Follow play in the project's key.** Set it first: [Tempo, Key and Time Signature](/projects/tempo-key-meter.md). Piano and Drums ignore key and scale. * **What you play is kept even when you are not recording.** `⇧C` drops it as a clip ([MIDI Capture](/record/midi-capture.md)); to record on purpose, see [Record MIDI](/record/record-midi.md). > **Details** > > * An arpeggiator or chord generator on the track works on what you play: [MIDI Effects](/sounds/midi-effects.md). > * Open a MIDI clip with `⌥↓` and the piano roll lights up each key's row as you play it. > * On a sample track the letter keys trigger the sample's slices instead: [Slices](/samples/slices.md). > * Loading a drum plugin switches a track that is still on **Scale** to **Drums**. A layout you picked by hand stays. > * Follow needs a [chord track](/sounds/chord-track.md) with chords in it; until then the picker does not offer it. Take the chord track away and a track set to Follow keeps the setting but plays the Scale layout. > * The octave runs from 1 to 7 and starts at 3. It is not shown on screen. > * **Keyboard Octave Up** and **Keyboard Octave Down** are palette commands, so you can give them other keys ([Custom Shortcuts](/work-fast/custom-shortcuts.md)). With notes or a range marked in the piano roll, the same keys transpose those notes by an octave instead. > * The layouts follow physical key positions, so they work the same on QWERTY, QWERTZ and AZERTY keyboards. `Y` below means the key left of `X` on the bottom row (US `Z`). > * A hardware MIDI controller has its own **Controller Layout**, separate from Keys Layout: [Play a Controller](/controllers/play-a-controller.md). > **Keys layouts** > > | Layout | What the letter keys play | > | - | - | > | **Scale** (default) | Three rows of scale degrees in the project's key, across 3 octaves. Only notes in the scale sound. The root sits on `C`, `D` and `E`, one above the other. | > | **Piano** | All 12 semitones: white keys on the middle row (`A` = C to `'` = F), black keys on the row above (`Q` is the A♯ just below C), the octave below on the bottom row (white keys only). `R` and `I` are silent, where a piano has no black key. For the black keys of that lower octave, press `Page Down` and use the upper rows. | > | **Drums** | 26 pads across every letter key, from `Y` on MIDI 36 (General MIDI Bass Drum) up to `P` on MIDI 61. Fixed, ignoring key and scale. A kit with more than 26 pads: `Page Up` / `Page Down` shift all 26 pads by an octave. | > | **Follow** | The Scale layout over the [chord track](/sounds/chord-track.md): `C`, `D` and `E` play the root of the chord under the playhead (`D` on the middle row), each key to the right the next chord tone, repeating an octave higher past the top. | > > In Follow, the root lands in the octave nearest the project key, so your hand stays put across chord changes. A key you are holding keeps its pitch until you release it. > **Number row** > > | Key | `1` | `2` | `3` | `4` | `5` | `6` | `7` | `8` | `9` | `0` | > | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | > | Level | 10 % | 20 % | 30 % | 40 % | 50 % | 60 % | 70 % | 80 % | 90 % | 100 % | > | Velocity | 13 | 25 | 38 | 51 | 64 | 76 | 89 | 102 | 114 | 127 | > > * On a sample track the level scales the slice's gain (0.1 to 1.0) instead of the velocity. > * The replayed note is the last one you played with a letter key on that track. With none yet this session, it is the scale root (or slice 1). > * Auto-repeat sustains the note rather than firing it again. > * The mute key left of `1` (`` ` `` / `^`) never replays a note, because a velocity-0 note would be a Note Off. > * While recording, the number row writes notes at that level, even with a clip selected ([Record MIDI](/record/record-midi.md)). With clips selected and not recording, it sets their gain ([Clip Gain](/arrange/clip-gain.md)); in the piano roll it sets note velocity ([Piano Roll](/edit/piano-roll.md)). > **Keys** > > | Key | Action | > | - | - | > | Letter keys | Play notes on the selected track | > | `1` – `0` | Replay the last note at 10 %–100 % | > | `Page Up` / `Page Down` | **Keyboard Octave Up** / **Keyboard Octave Down** | > | `⌥↓` | Open the selected clip in Focus Mode | This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.