Black Magik Studios Documentation

Sigil

Instruments and Effects

Manage tracks, mixer controls, soundfonts, FX chains, automation, and modulation.

Instruments and Effects

The Instruments tab is where you build the track list, choose sounds, balance the mix, and add effects. Every track in the song is managed here.


Track management

  • Add Track creates a new empty track.
  • Collapse All opens or closes track panels so you can see more tracks at once.
  • Each track header includes a collapse control, color assignment, and remove action.

Use clear names such as Lead Synth, Bass, Piano, or Hi-Hat. Track names and instrument choices help the AI understand what each track should do.


Track identity

Control Purpose
Name Label shown in the overview, instrument list, and generation targeting.
Drums Marks a track as percussion on MIDI channel 10.
Family Filters General MIDI programs by broad instrument family.
Program Selects the General MIDI instrument for melodic tracks.
Drum Kit Selects the percussion kit for drum tracks.

Mixer controls

  • Mute silences a track without deleting notes.
  • Solo plays only soloed tracks.
  • Volume controls track output level.
  • Pan positions the track left or right.
  • Soundfont override lets one track use a different soundfont from the project default.

Per-track groove override

Each track can follow the project groove or use its own groove setting.

  • Use Project follows the Project tab groove.
  • Straight disables swing on that track.
  • Swing 8ths applies eighth-note swing.
  • Swing 16ths applies sixteenth-note swing.

Use this when drums need one swing amount but bass or melody should stay straighter.


FX rack

Each track can have a chain of audio effects. Effects process top to bottom during playback and export.

  • Click Add FX to add an effect.
  • Toggle an effect off to bypass it without removing it.
  • Delete an effect to remove it from the chain.
  • Effect settings are saved with the project.

Effects reference

Effect What it does
Filter Cuts or boosts frequency bands with low-pass, high-pass, or band-pass modes.
Reverb Adds room or hall ambience.
Delay Adds timed echoes for rhythm or space.
Drive Adds saturation or distortion.
Chorus Thickens sound with pitch-modulated copies.
Compressor Controls dynamic range and evens out peaks.
Limiter Prevents output from exceeding a set ceiling.
Noise Gate Silences signal below a threshold.
Phaser Creates sweeping phase movement.
Bitcrush Adds lo-fi digital degradation.
Low Shelf Boosts or cuts low frequencies.
High Shelf Boosts or cuts high frequencies.
Peak EQ Boosts or cuts a focused frequency band.
Pitch Shift Transposes audio up or down by semitones.

Filter, Reverb, Delay, Drive, Chorus, and Compressor support Motion controls: automatic note-triggered animation of key parameters.


Motion controls

  • Motion shape sets the curve, such as Decay, Attack, or Swell.
  • Motion amount controls movement intensity.
  • Motion rate controls how quickly the animation completes.

Use motion when every note should have an animated character, such as a bass note that starts bright and darkens over its duration.


Automation and modulation

Automation changes track parameters over the song timeline. Modulation changes parameters per note.

Use Automation when a parameter should change at a specific song moment, such as opening a filter at bar 9.

Use Modulation when each note should share the same animated behavior, such as every note triggering a filter decay.

Both can be used on the same track.