Tips & Troubleshooting

A handful of habits that make NeonDAW feel faster, and quick checklists for the moments when something seems wrong.

Tips worth knowing

Right-click almost anything

Right-click is NeonDAW's second layer. Knobs and faders reset to their default. Buttons reveal their menus: the metronome button picks the click sound, the R chip toggles input monitoring, a track header offers color, duplicate, and remove. When in doubt, right-click it.

The two selections

The white range band and the clip marquee are different tools. Drag on the strip above the clips, or on empty lane ground, to highlight a time range: the white band. Right-drag across the lanes to marquee-select whole clips. The range band wins when both exist, so ⌫ clears the range first.

Paste repeatedly to tile

Paste lands at the playhead, then moves the playhead to the end of what you pasted. Copy a bar and press ⌘V a few times: the copies land back-to-back, no positioning needed.

Clip edits are windows, not scissors

Trimming a clip never destroys its content. The clip is a window onto its own audio or MIDI, so drag an edge back out later and the trimmed material is still there.

Neighbor magnetism

While you drag a clip, it snaps to the grid and also sticks to the edges of neighboring clips. Butting two clips together perfectly needs no zooming in.

Two undo histories

The main window's ⌘Z covers arrangement edits: clips, tracks, mix moves. Each piano roll window keeps its own per-clip history for note edits, and the pitch editor does the same. Undo in the window where you made the change.

No sound?

Work down this list. One of these is almost always it.

• Does the track have an instrument? Click its AU button. A MIDI track with no instrument plays nothing, and the app shows a NO INSTRUMENT nudge.
• Is the track muted? Check its M chip.
• Is another track soloed? A lit S anywhere silences the rest.
• Is the master volume up? Check the master strip in the mixer.
• Is the Mac's output device right? NeonDAW follows the system default. Check the menu-bar sound settings.

Latency feels high?

• Ditch wireless. Bluetooth headphones add real delay, and NeonDAW warns you when the output is wireless. Wired headphones fix it.
• Set Optimize For to LIVE PLAYING in Settings > Audio & MIDI. Smaller buffers mean a faster response.
• Check the latency readout on the same Settings tab to see what you are actually getting.

Recording is silent?

• Is the track armed? The R chip must be lit before recording starts.
• Is the input right? Open the track's IN menu and pick the device, channel, or stereo pair you meant.
• Is the lid open? A MacBook's built-in mic is muted while the lid is closed.
• Does NeonDAW have mic permission? Check System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone.
• Watch the input meter in Settings > Audio & MIDI. If it moves there, the signal is reaching the app.

The click isn't heard?

• Is the metronome on? Press M or check the transport-bar button.
• Is its volume up? Check Settings > Metronome.
• Playing, or recording? Click-while-playing and click-while-recording are separate switches on the same tab. You may have the click only during recording.