Songtrix can perform song playback in Mixer View, Track View and Staff View. The presentation varies with each view, but they are all synchronized and you can freely switch between them during playback.
If you switch to Network View or Tutorials View, playback stops.
Auditioning
There are many ways you can audition cells, chords and notes in the song without entering playback mode.
Usually events and cells will play an interactive audition when selected, if you have not disabled this feature.
In work sheets, song sheets, and matrix controls, you can use the middle mouse button, or Ctrl and the left mouse button to audition any cell with the pointer as shown.
Playback Mode
Several aspects of the workspace change when playback mode starts.
Most editing functions are disabled, and the work sheet, staff sheet and segment sheets no longer have a focus or range selection. Instead the focus is on the current location of the moving playback marker, a blue vertical line.
The current playback location is indicated in the transport bar in either bar.beat.tick or minutes.seconds.cents format, depending on your View-Time Location setting.
The current playback bar and section are also displayed in the status bar.
If the playback marker does not seem to synchronize well with the sound, you probably need to adjust the Latency setting for the selected Midi Output device.
Playback Commands
Several commands start and control playback mode, as shown in the table. These can also be found in the Song-Transport and Track-Transport menus.
| Command | Button | Key |
| Play | F5 | |
| Play Special | Ctrl+L | |
| Play Bar | F7 | |
| Play Solo | F6 | |
| Play Bar Solo | F8 | |
| Pause | F9 | |
| Stop | F10 |
Play - begins playback at the focus location and continues to the end.
Play Special - begins looped playback of the specified range.
Play Bar - plays the focus bar only and then stops.
Play Solo - begins playback at the focus location for the current track only and continues to the end.
Play Bar Solo - plays the focus bar for the current track only and then stops.
Pause - makes the playback freeze at the current location, or resume if already paused.
Stop - terminates the current playback mode.
Any playback mode can also be terminated by using its own command again.
Metronome
Songtrix has a metronome which can accompany the song during playback. This is particularly useful for songs in the early stages of development, which may have empty passages, and also for checking the timing of events in songs without drums.
The metronome can be activated or deactivated at any time, including during playback, with the following command:
| Button | Key | Menu |
| F12 | Song-Metronome |
Mixer View
In Mixer View, the playback marker moves smoothly across the song framework in the work sheet.
During playback, the level meters in the mixer panel are active, and adjustments can be made to the track level, pan position, mute, master volume and master tempo controls.
Tempo or volume changes during playback are indicated by a secondary marker on the slider controls, while the main thumb remains in the master position.
Track View
In Track View, the playback marker moves smoothly across the song framework in the work sheet. The track which has the focus at the start of playback retains it until playback ends.
If an event track has the focus, a playback segment is displayed (containing all events in the track) and a playback marker travels across it.
If a harmony track has the focus, each chord or scale in the track is displayed as playback proceeds.
Staff View
In Staff View, the playback marker jumps between the staff symbols as playback proceeds.
Popup Windows
Animated playback can also occur in four situations within popup windows.
The Import Midi and Exchange Tracks processes contain work sheets which can perform playback, so you can hear and explore the song you are processing.
The Edit Segment and Record Segment windows contain segment sheets which can perform playback, so you can hear and explore the events you are editing. When recording, the playback marker is shown in red.
Performance
Playback is a demanding operation for your computer. While Midi events are being scheduled (and converted to sound) at very precise intervals the animated display of the workspace is being redrawn frequently.
While Songtrix is designed to handle these tasks very efficiently, some older computers may struggle to keep up, and experience bottlenecks. In these cases you can adjust the performance parameters in the Midi Setup page to reduce the processing burden.
