Show a track’s lanes
Use the∿ toggle on the track or group row. It shows a count when lanes already
exist, and it is independent of the row’s expand caret — showing a group’s members
does not open its lanes.
To start automating an effect parameter, automate it from the parameter’s own
control in the rack. A parameter with a lane shows as Automated, and its
static control is disabled: the lane owns the value from then on.
Draw and edit an envelope
Work directly on the lane:- Add a point on the lane at the time you want it.
- Drag a point to move it in time or value.
- Type an exact value rather than dragging, when the number matters. A volume lane can go above unity — the ceiling is +12 dB, not 1.
- Bend a segment by dragging its curve, so the value holds and then moves late rather than travelling evenly.
- Select a time range to work on several points at once.
A selection can also be copied and pasted onto another lane, and retimed by
stretching its edges — useful when narration moves and its ducking should move
with it.
Two things that surprise people
A track lane’s times are relative to its clip. A bed starting at 8 s has its first point at composition time 8. Move the clip and its envelope moves with it. A group lane’s times are composition time. A group has no start of its own, so its lanes are measured from the beginning of the video. If you are automating a group bus, read the times as absolute. A lane holds its first value backwards to the start of the clip, and its last value forward to the end. So a bed that begins before the voice needs an explicit “no cut” point at the start, or it begins already ducked. This is the single most common automation mistake.Not every knob can move
A parameter can only be automated if the audio engine can schedule it directly. Three kinds cannot:
A lane on one of those is silently inert — it stores fine and never does
anything. Pitch shift is the one that catches people out, because a rising pitch
sounds like something a lane should do: it cannot, and the lane will not report
it. To make a compressor’s behaviour change over time, automate a
gain stage
before it instead: that changes how hard the compressor is driven, which
is most of what automating its threshold would have done.
To fade a whole preset in or out, automate the preset itself rather than its
parts — its nodes share no single parameter, so the preset as a unit is the only
handle that works.
The effect registry marks every
parameter that can move.
What should happen
- The value moves between your points, in preview and in the render identically.
- A parameter with a lane reads Automated and its static control is disabled.
- A carve writes lanes of its own, and they are ordinary lanes: you can edit them afterwards like any others.
Common problems
The lane does nothing. Either the parameter is one of those above, or the effect it pointed at is gone. A lane whose effect was deleted is dropped silently rather than reported. A newly added effect arrives already “Automated”. A lane left behind by a deleted effect can be inherited by the next effect that takes the same internal id. Remove the stale lane. The volume lane is ignored. Avolume lane and a timeline tween on the same
track’s volume conflict; the lane wins. Pick one.
The envelope is right but the level is wrong. A tween’s values are absolute
and replace a track’s own gain rather than scaling it. Check whether the track
also carries a static level.
The bed ducks before anyone speaks. The first point is holding backwards. Add
a point at the clip’s start.