Arrange Mode

Signals & Sorcery has two rows. You compose scenes on top and arrange them into a song at the bottom. The arrangement is a horizontal timeline: you drop scenes onto it, repeat them, switch layers on and off bar by bar, copy and paste parts, add fades and effects, and export the result. It plays your real mix, with your faders, pan and panel bus effects applied live.

Arranging is manual and literal: what you place is what plays. Nothing is added between sections for you, and nothing is filled in automatically.

Each project has one arrangement, saved with the project and built from its scenes. It needs no account and no connection.

The short version

1. Compose a few scenes (a verse, a chorus, a breakdown).
2. Press Arrange in the bottom row. You get one of each scene, in order, with every layer playing.
3. Drag scenes from the palette to build the song, click or paint layers on and off, and press Play.
4. Keep composing. Mix changes are heard instantly; sound changes re-render only the layers you touched.
5. Press Export… for a mix, a master, stems or an Ableton hand-off.

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How to think about it

Picture a big mixing desk:

• Every layer of every scene is a channel that runs for the whole song, each in its own horizontal lane.
• Arranging is switching channels on and off over time. Placing the chorus is a stretch of the song where the chorus layers are on.
• A fade is a gradual switch, and a gain is that channel's level for that stretch.
• Each channel always feeds its own scene's panel bus. A bus compressor only hears what is switched on in that bus, and reverb and delay tails on the bus ring out naturally when the layers feeding it stop.

The rest of this page is that idea, one gesture at a time.

Words used on this page

Word	Meaning
Scene	What you compose on top: a verse, a chorus. In the arranger each scene gets a letter (A, B, C…).
Section	One placement of a scene on the timeline, like "the second chorus". It is labelled with its scene's name ("Chorus"), numbered when the scene repeats ("Chorus (1)", "Chorus (2)"). The app sometimes calls a section an instance.
Layer	One track. It has a fixed lane that runs the length of the song, grouped under the scene it was composed in.
Clip	A continuous stretch of bars where a layer plays. Every section boundary is a clip edge, and a piece you paste or duplicate is its own clip.
Guest	A layer playing inside another scene's section, for example scene A's kick under a section of B.

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The layout

The window has two rows with a divider between them:

• Top: the composer. Your scenes, tracks and panels.
• Bottom: the arranger. The timeline, with its own header.

Drag the divider to resize the rows. Entering arrange mode gives the arranger the larger share.

Folding a row

Either row can fold down to a thin strip when you want the room:

• Press the chevron in the row's header (the composer's is at the right end of the Scenes header; the arranger's is at the far right of its header). The row folds to a strip labelled Composer or Arranger. Click the strip to reopen the row at its previous size.
• Or drag the divider all the way to the edge to fold that row, and drag it back out to reopen it.
• Or use the keyboard: ⌘⌥↑ folds the composer (or reopens a folded arranger) and ⌘⌥↓ folds the arranger (or reopens a folded composer). On Windows use Ctrl+Alt+↑ and Ctrl+Alt+↓.

One row folds at a time. A folded row reopens by itself only when you need it: pressing Arrange or starting the arrangement reopens the arranger, and opening a section's scene for editing reopens the composer.

The arranger header

From left to right:

• Arrangement and Cloud tabs (see The Cloud tab);
• Arrange / Arranging: switches arrange mode on and off;
• Play / Stop, and the position;
• ⧉ and what is on the clipboard, after you copy something;
• a small progress indicator while the arranger prepares audio (see Preparing);
• the stem status: ● arrangement up to date, or a Render stale (N) / Render pending (N) button;
• ◆ Save when one section is selected (see Saved sections);
• ↶ and ↷ for undo and redo;
• Export… (see Exporting your song);
• the fold chevron.

Inside the arranger

• The palette (top): one chip per scene, your saved sections (marked ◆), and the effects palette.
• The ruler and section strip: bar numbers, then one block per section. Click the ruler to move the playhead.
• The lanes: one row per layer, grouped by scene, with each stem's waveform drawn in it. The gutter on the left shows the layer's name, a small status dot for its audio, and a level meter while the song plays.
• The tool button in the corner: Select or Draw (see Select and Draw).

Zoom with ⌘ + mouse wheel (Ctrl on Windows) over the lanes.

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Start arranging

Press Arrange in the arranger header (or Start arrangement, shown the first time). The first time, the arrangement is created with every scene once, in scene order, all layers on. You rearrange from there.

Entering arrange mode:

• stops the composition (compose and arrange never play at the same time);
• prepares the audio of each layer in the background (see Preparing and rendering);
• loads your panel bus effects into the arrangement.

Press Play (or the Space bar) whenever you like: background preparation steps aside when you press Play. Click the ruler to jump.

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Sections: drop, move, copy

Drop a scene

• Drag a scene chip from the palette onto the timeline. A marker shows where it will land.
• Or click the chip to add it at the end.

A fresh drop plays every layer of its scene. You switch layers off from there.

Select, move, delete

• Click a section's block to select it. Shift-click selects a range, ⌘-click adds or removes one, and dragging across empty space in the section strip selects several. ⌘A selects every section. Escape clears the selection.
• Drag a section (or a selection of several) left or right to reorder.
• Delete or Backspace removes the selected sections, and the song closes up. The scene itself is never touched.

Copy or linked copy

There are two kinds of copy, and the difference matters:

	How	What you get
Copy	⌘-drag a section, or ⌘C then ⌘V, or ⌘D	An independent copy. It starts with the same layers, fades, gains and effects, and from then on editing one never changes the other.
Linked copy	Alt/Option-drag a section, or ⌘C then ⌥⌘V	A copy that shares its arrangement with the source. It shows a 🔗 badge. Edit one chorus and every linked chorus changes.

Linked copies are the fast way to keep repeated sections identical. When one of them needs to be different, select it and press Make unique (also in its right-click menu): it keeps its current arrangement but stops following the others.

Resize

Drag a section's right edge. Lengths are whole bars (1 bar minimum).

• Longer than the scene's loop: the loop keeps playing in phase. 16 bars of a 4-bar scene is four passes; 6 bars is one and a half.
• Shorter: the loop is cut at the new length.
• Linked copies share their length, so resizing one resizes all of them. Hold Alt/Option as you let go to resize just this one (it becomes unique).

Rename, and the section menu

Double-click a section's label (or press F2) to rename it; Enter saves and an empty name goes back to the default. Double-click anywhere else on the section to edit its scene in the composer.

Right-click a section for its menu: Rename, Edit this scene, Loop this instance, Make unique (linked sections), Fade in section and Fade out section (see Fades), and Delete.

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Layers and clips

Every lane is one layer. Everything below works inside any section.

Select and Draw

The arranger has two tools. The button in the corner shows which one is on; press B to switch.

Select (the default) works like a DAW:

• Click a playing part of a lane to select that clip, for example the whole 16 bars of the kick in the chorus.
• Click an empty cell to set the insertion point: a thin line at that bar, where pastes and splits go.
• Drag to select a box of bars across one or more lanes.
• Shift-click extends the box; ⌘-click adds or removes a clip.

Draw paints layers on and off:

• Click a cell to switch that layer on or off for the whole section.
• Drag across bars to paint them. The brush paints the opposite of the bar you start on, so starting on a playing bar paints bars off. "The bass comes in at bar 5" is just bars 1 to 4 painted off.
• Paint straight across section boundaries in one stroke. It is one undo step.

You can also paint without switching tools: hold ⌘ while you drag in Select.

A layer that is on at the end of one section and at the start of the next plays straight through: one continuous run, with no restart and no cut. Between sections the default is a hard cut; if you want a transition, add fades (below).

Copy, cut, paste and duplicate

These work on whatever is selected, bars or sections, from the keyboard or the Edit menu:

Key	Does
⌘C	Copy
⌘X	Cut (copy, then delete)
⌘V	Paste
⌥⌘V	Paste sections as linked copies
⌘D	Duplicate right after the selection
Delete	Delete

How bars paste:

• Pasted bars land on the same lanes they came from (tracks never leave their lane), starting at the insertion point. If there is none, they start at the beginning of your selection, or at the playhead's bar.
• They replace what those lanes played in those bars, and they sound identical: the same loop bars, fades, gain and effects as the original.
• Into another scene's section, a pasted layer plays there as a guest, through its own scene's bus.
• Deleting bars leaves silence: the song keeps its length. Deleting sections removes them and the song gets shorter.

Sections paste after the selected section. After a paste, what you pasted is selected, so you can paste again or move on.

What is on the clipboard shows in the header (⧉ and a short description, like "Kick (16 bars)"). It stays there while the app is open. If a change also affects linked copies, a note says so.

Split and join clips

Splitting a clip lets you select, copy or delete one part of a run on its own. It doesn't change the sound.

• ⌘E Split: splits at the insertion point (click a bar first), or at the playhead if it is inside your selection, or at the edges of your selection.
• ⌘J Join: removes the splits inside your selection. Section starts always stay clip edges.

Both are in the Edit menu and in the right-click menu of a clip (Split at bar N, Join clips).

Layers from other scenes (guests)

Every layer of every scene has a lane, and you can play any layer inside any section. Keep scene A's kick running under the next two sections of B, or bring the chorus pad into the last verse.

• A layer playing in another scene's section is a guest. Guest parts are drawn more faintly, with an outline, and hovering one says which scene it comes from.
• A guest keeps its own lane, its own fader and pan, and its own scene's panel bus, with that bus's effects. Scene A's kick under B still goes through scene A's drum bus, never scene B's.
• Guests start off everywhere. Paint them on, or paste them in, where you want them.
• A guest painted across several sections keeps its loop running rather than restarting at each section boundary.
• Click a scene's group header in the gutter to collapse its lanes. A guests strip stays visible, so you can still see where that scene's layers visit other sections.

New tracks

A track you add to a scene plays in every section of that scene, because a fresh drop plays all of its scene's layers. It is highlighted in the gutter with a new badge and two buttons:

• Turn off in arranged sections switches it off in the sections you have already arranged, so it doesn't barge into parts you finished (fresh drops keep it);
• ✓ marks it reviewed and hides the badge.

Tracks from the Stems panel, recordings and voice tracks appear as lanes too.

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Fades, gain and the wave editor

Fades

• Right-click a clip and choose Fade in or Fade out, then a length: 1 beat, 2 beats, 1 bar, 2 bars, 4 bars or Custom… (in beats). The same menu has Remove fade in, Remove fade out and Remove fades.
• Fade a whole section: right-click the section and choose Fade in section or Fade out section. Every layer that starts at the section's first bar fades in (or ends at its last bar fades out). Layers that carry on across that edge keep playing; a note says so.
• Drag a fade handle: each clip has small square handles at its top corners. Drag inward to set the fade (it snaps to quarter beats; hold Alt/Option for fine control); drag back to the corner to remove it. There are no handles where a layer carries on into the next section.

Fades sit at the real start and end of a layer's run, and fade curves are drawn over the waveform.

The wave editor

Double-click a clip (or right-click it and choose Edit fades & gain…) to open the wave editor under the timeline. It shows that clip's waveform and lets you:

• choose the fade shape for the fade in and fade out: Equal power, Linear, Exponential or S-curve;
• draw a gain envelope: click to add a point, drag to move it, press Delete to remove it (up to ±24 dB);
• tick Normalise view to see quiet parts clearly (it changes only the picture, not the sound);
• press Reset to clear the envelope and fade shapes.

Close it with × or Escape.

The waveforms in the lanes are drawn at a comfortable height for each stem, so quiet parts stay visible; that doesn't change what you hear.

Gain and phase

• Right-click an empty cell (or choose Fade & gain settings… on a clip) to open the lane settings for that layer in that section: Fade in (beats), Fade out (beats), Gain (dB) (up to ±24 dB on top of the fader), Phase, and Back to defaults.
• For quick level changes, hold Alt/Option and turn the mouse wheel over a cell: each notch moves that layer's gain in that section by 0.5 dB.

Phase decides where a layer's loop is when a section starts:

• with the instance: the loop starts at its first bar when the section starts. This is the default for a scene's own layers, so a bass that enters at bar 5 plays loop bar 5, in step with its drums.
• continue the run: the loop carries on from where the layer's run began. This is the default for guests, so a kick running across three sections never restarts.
• default: use the rule above.

If a run continues into the next section but its loop jumps there, the lane shows a small ▼ marker; hovering it explains the jump. Resize the first section to a whole number of loops, or set that layer to continue the run, if you don't want it.

Fades, gain envelopes and settings belong to the section, so linked copies share them.

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Effects

The effects palette under the scene chips holds one-bar (or longer) effects you place by hand:

Effect	What it does
Roll ⅛, Roll 1/16, Accelerating roll	Drum-roll fills made from the layer
Stutter	Repeats a slice of the bar (2 to 16 repeats)
Reverse	Plays the bar backwards
Gap	Cuts the end of the bar to silence
High-pass sweep, Low-pass sweep	Filter sweeps over one or more bars (start and end frequency, curve)
Tape stop	Slows the layer to a stop
Bar loop	Repeats a short window of bars
Crash wash, Impact	A hit with echoes and room, played on top
Mix Assets (↗ risers, ✦ hits and shots)	Your Mix Assets sounds, placed where you want them

• Drag an effect onto a lane cell to place it on that layer at that bar. Most effects replace the layer's sound for those bars; Crash wash, Impact and Mix Assets play on top.
• Drag a Mix Assets sound onto a bar, or onto a section's header: a hit lands on the section's first beat and a riser builds into its end.
• Click a placed effect to select it and edit its settings; drag it to another bar or section on the same lane; press Delete to remove it.
• Placed effects follow the lane's level and fades. Each is rendered once and cached, so it plays after its render is ready (see Render pending).
• In a linked section, an effect applies to every copy.

Nothing is ever placed automatically.

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Preparing and rendering

Arrange mode doesn't run your instruments. It plays a rendered audio stem of each layer, which keeps it light: no synths load between sections, however long the song. The arrangement is always built from your current scenes, tracks and mix, so it can't drift from the composition.

What is live, and what needs a render

The stems carry each track's own sound: its notes, its instrument, preset or sample, and its own insert effects. Everything after that is applied live, once:

Instant, no rendering (the mix):

• track faders, pan, mute and solo;
• panel bus levels and the panel bus effects themselves. A bus plugin has one setting for the composer and the arranger: tweak it in its plugin window on either side and the other follows. The plugin window opens on whichever is playing;
• everything you do in the arranger: layers on and off, copying and pasting, fades, gains, moving, copying and resizing sections.

Mixing is often easiest in arrange mode: move a fader in the composer while the whole song plays and you hear it straight away.

Needs a re-render (the sound):

• the notes, the instrument, preset or sample, and the track's own insert effects;
• the scene's loop length or time signature;
• the project tempo (every layer re-renders).

Tweaks you make inside a plugin's own window count too, even before you save the project: they are picked up when you enter arrange mode, press Play, or export.

The header indicators

• Preparing n/m… (also "Preparing edges", "Preparing effects" or "Building") means the arranger is rendering what the arrangement needs in the background. It never blocks you: playback and edits carry on, and background preparation steps aside when you press Play. If something the song needs is still on its way, the header says it plays when ready.
• Render stale (N): N layers' sounds changed since their last render. Until they re-render, those layers keep playing their previous render, so playback never stops for them. Stale layers refresh on their own when you enter arrange mode and whenever the app is idle and stopped; press the button to do it right away.
• Render pending (N): the exact starts and stops of layers that come in or leave mid-loop, and your placed effects, are waiting to render. Until then those edges are close approximations and placed effects are silent.
• ● arrangement up to date: everything matches.

Renders happen while stopped

Rendering briefly takes over the audio engine, so it only happens while nothing is playing. While the song plays, the header says how many layers will refresh when stopped, and they keep playing their old version until you stop.

Layers start and stop cleanly

When a layer comes in halfway through its loop, it starts from silence, with no leftover reverb or delay from bars you didn't hear. When it stops halfway through, its reverb and delay ring out naturally instead of being cut off. Audio loops let their effects ring out when they stop too. This is what Render pending prepares.

Status dots

The dot next to each layer's name:

Dot	Meaning
fresh	The stem matches the composition.
stale	The sound changed; the previous render plays until it refreshes.
rendering	Being rendered now.
missing	Nothing rendered yet. It renders before the song plays.

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Undo and redo

The arrangement has its own history, separate from the composition's undo. Every action is one step with a name: hover ↶ or ↷ to see what it will undo or redo.

With the arranger focused, ⌘Z undoes and ⇧⌘Z redoes (Ctrl on Windows); the Edit menu does the same. Undo in the arrangement never touches your scenes or tracks.

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Saved sections

When a section is arranged just right, save it to reuse:

1. Select one section.
2. Press ◆ Save in the header, type a name (for example "breakdown") and press Enter.

It appears in the palette as a ◆ chip. Drag it onto the timeline to insert a copy, or hold Alt/Option as you drop it to insert a linked copy.

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Compose and arrange

Edit a section's scene

Double-click a section (or right-click it and choose Edit this scene) to go straight to its scene in the composer. Arrange mode stops, the composer shows that scene (and reopens if it was folded), and a line under the arranger header lists which layers play in that section. Press Arrange to come back.

Compose and arrange never play at once

There is one output, and one of them has it at a time. Starting the arrangement stops the composition, and starting a scene in the composer stops the arrangement.

Loop one section

To work on one section, press ⟲ on it (or select it and press L, or right-click Loop this instance). Playback repeats that section until you press ⟲ again, and the loop stays on while you edit. If the looped section is removed, looping stops and a note says so.

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Exporting your song

Press Export… in the arranger header (in arrange mode, with at least one section). Everything is rendered offline from the arrangement, never recorded live, and the monitor-only Master FX is never included. You don't need to stop or save first.

What to export

Tick any of:

Option	What you get
Mix (32-bit float, no processing)	The reference: your song exactly as it plays, at 32-bit float and your device's sample rate, never normalized, limited or dithered
Master	A release-ready file: brought to a loudness target, held under a true-peak ceiling by a limiter, and dithered
Stems (one per panel)	One file per panel bus, plus one per layer that isn't on a panel bus
Editable stems (pre-bus)	Each bussed layer on its own, before its panel's bus effects
Ableton hand-off	Stems ready to open in Ableton Live's Arrangement view

The Mix and the Master are ticked to start with.

Every file is the song plus its tail: bus reverbs and delays ring out for up to 10 seconds after the last bar, trimmed where the sound ends. All files have the same length, so they line up.

Master settings

• Preset: Streaming (−14 LUFS, −1 dBTP, the default, right for most streaming services), Loud (−9 LUFS, −1 dBTP) or Custom (a Target LUFS from −60 to −1 and a Ceiling dBTP from −20 to 0).
• Bit depth: 24-bit (the default) or 16-bit, both with TPDF dither, or 32-bit float (no dither).
• Sample rate: Device rate (the default, no resampling), or 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz or 96 kHz for delivery. The master is resampled from the 32-bit Mix at the best quality before mastering. This setting applies to the master only; the Mix and stems stay at the device rate.
• Stem format (for stems and the Ableton hand-off): 32-bit float (recommended) or 24-bit.

If some layers' stems are out of date, a box (ticked by default) renders them before the export, so what you export always matches your composition.

Where the files go

Choose a Destination (the default is ~/Music/Signals & Sorcery Exports). Each export makes a new folder named after the arrangement and the date and time, so an export never overwrites an earlier one. Inside:

• <name> - Mix (32f).wav
• <name> - Master (Streaming -14 LUFS, 24-bit).wav (the name records the preset and format)
• Stems/01 Drums.wav, Stems/02 Bass.wav, … and Editable stems/…
• <name> - export.json: a record of the export (the settings, every file with its checksum and peak, the loudness report, the stems check, the bus effects used and any warnings)

A progress bar shows each step. Cancel stops the export and removes its folder, so nothing half-written is left behind. When it finishes: Reveal in Finder, Export again or Close. One export runs at a time.

Reading the loudness report

When the master is done, the report compares the Mix (in) with the Master (out):

Row	What it tells you
Integrated loudness (LUFS)	How loud the whole song is on average. Streaming services turn songs down to about −14 LUFS, so a master louder than that gains nothing there.
Loudness range (LU)	How much the loudness moves between quiet and loud parts. Needs at least 3 seconds of audio.
True peak (dBTP)	The highest peak, including peaks that appear between samples on playback. The master stays under your ceiling.
Peak-to-loudness (dB)	The gap between the peaks and the average loudness: bigger means punchier, smaller means more squashed.
Gain reduction (peak / mean, dB)	How hard the limiter worked, at its most and on average.

A value that can't be measured shows —. If the master was resampled, a line says from which rate to which.

Warnings, in plain words:

• Heavy limiting: reaching the target took more than 6 dB of peak gain reduction, so expect audible limiting. A lower target, or a quieter mix, keeps more punch.
• Target missed: the master came out more than 0.2 LU away from the target, because the ceiling caps how loud this material can go.
• Mono content: both channels are identical; the file is delivered as stereo.
• Others you may see: the limiter needed a small overall trim to hold the ceiling; the song is shorter than 400 ms (measured without gating); or a few edges or effects failed to render (those play with approximate edges or without the effect).

Stems that sum to the mix

Stems (one per panel) gives one file per panel (Drums, Bass, Pads, Synths and so on). Each sums that panel's bus across every scene, through its own chain, with faders, pan and bus effects included. A layer that isn't on a panel bus gets its own stem, named "Track (Scene)". Added together, the stems equal the Mix: the report's Stems null test line shows how closely they match, and passes when the difference is at or below −60 dB (in practice it is far lower).

Editable stems (pre-bus) gives each bussed layer on its own, before its panel's bus effects (fader and pan included), so you can redo a bus chain elsewhere. They are extra material and are not part of the null test.

Ableton hand-off

Tick Ableton hand-off to send the song to Live. In Live, right-click a scene and choose Import S&S mix…: the song lands in Arrangement view with the tempo set, one track per stem at 0 dB and centred (your mix is already in the audio), a locator at every section, and any editable stems muted and ready to swap in. It needs the S&S Ableton extension 1.4.0, which Signals & Sorcery installs for you. See Ableton Integration for details.

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The Cloud tab

The Arrangement tab is the local arranger described on this page. The Cloud tab holds the older cloud arranger, which needs you to sign in; it is separate from your project's arrangement.

Coming soon

Syncing your arrangement to the cloud, share links, and a web and phone companion for listening on the go are on the way. Until then, the sync badge in the header reads Cloud sync unavailable, and your arrangement stays on your computer.

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Keyboard and mouse

⌘ is Ctrl on Windows, and ⌥ is Alt.

Action	Gesture
Fold or reopen a row	The chevron in its header, or click the strip; ⌘⌥↑ / ⌘⌥↓
Add a scene	Drag its palette chip onto the timeline, or click the chip to add it at the end
Select sections	Click; Shift-click for a range; ⌘-click to add; ⌘A for all
Move a section	Drag it
Copy a section	⌘-drag, or ⌘C then ⌘V, or ⌘D
Linked copy	⌥-drag, or ⌘C then ⌥⌘V
Unlink	Make unique (button or right-click)
Resize	Drag the section's right edge (hold ⌥ as you let go to resize only this one)
Rename a section	Double-click its label, or F2
Edit a section's scene	Double-click the section
Section menu	Right-click the section
Switch tool	B (Select / Draw), or the corner button
Select a clip	Click it (Select tool)
Set the insertion point	Click an empty cell
Select bars	Drag a box; Shift-click to extend; ⌘-click to add or remove
Paint bars on or off	Draw tool, or hold ⌘ while dragging
Cut / copy / paste	⌘X / ⌘C / ⌘V
Duplicate	⌘D
Delete	Delete or Backspace
Split / join clips	⌘E / ⌘J
Fades	Right-click a clip, or drag its corner handles
Wave editor	Double-click a clip
Lane settings (gain, fades, phase)	Right-click an empty cell
Nudge gain	⌥ + mouse wheel over a cell
Place an effect	Drag it from the effects palette onto a cell
Zoom	⌘ + mouse wheel
Play / stop	Space, or the Play button
Jump	Click the ruler
Loop a section	⟲ on the section, or L
Undo / redo	⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z, or ↶ ↷
Clear the selection	Escape
Collapse a scene's lanes	Click its group header

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Arranging from an agent or a script

Everything on this page is also available to agents and scripts, through the arrangement_* tools and the sas arrangement commands. They take plain names ("the second chorus", "Kick"), and an agent's edit and a gesture in the timeline land in the same history, so you can undo either from either side. What an agent copies shows on the clipboard in the header, and an agent's export asks for your approval first. See Arrangement tools for the tool list, sas arrangement for the commands, and the worked examples.