Miao Manual

Appearance

Timeline Editing ​

The timeline is the main arrangement editor. It contains the ruler, chord lane, track lanes, regions, markers, comments, automation, and playhead.

Timeline Ruler ​

The ruler can display time or bars. Right-click the ruler and choose:

  • Show time
  • Show bars
  • Move playhead here

The top transport readout shows the current playhead time by default. Bars/beats appear as the secondary readout only when the ruler is switched to Show bars.

Miao timeline ruler context menu with show bars, show time, and move playhead here actions
Right-click the ruler to switch between bars and time, or move the playhead to the clicked position.

Arrangement Overview ​

When the project has regions, chords, or markers, Miao shows a compact arrangement overview at the lower edge of the timeline. It summarizes the song structure, current visible viewport, and playhead.

Miao arrangement overview showing a compact project map and visible viewport
The arrangement overview gives longer projects a small project map for jumping and orientation.

Click or drag the overview to jump through the arrangement quickly. This is useful when the project has enough runway that the horizontal scrollbar becomes slower than direct navigation.

Chord Lane ​

The chord lane sits below the ruler and above the track lanes. It stores beat-based chord blocks for harmonic planning.

Use the chord lane to add, move, trim, preview, duplicate, delete, and convert chords to MIDI. See Chords and Scales for the complete chord workflow.

Select Regions ​

Click a region to select it. The Notes inspector shows its track, start time, duration, and available actions.

To select multiple regions, drag a marquee rectangle across the timeline. The selection rectangle can auto-scroll when it reaches the timeline edge. Multiple selected regions can be duplicated or deleted together.

Move Regions ​

Drag a selected region horizontally to move it in time. Drag vertically to move it to another compatible track. Audio regions can move to audio tracks. MIDI regions can move to MIDI tracks.

Use the Notes inspector or keyboard for small moves:

  • Move -0.5
  • Move +0.5
  • ArrowLeft
  • ArrowRight

Trim Regions ​

Drag a region edge, or use:

  • Trim -0.5
  • Trim +0.5

Regions cannot be trimmed below the minimum duration.

Split Regions ​

Select one region and use:

  • Split in the Notes inspector.
  • Split region in the region context menu.
  • Cmd+E.

Split creates adjacent A/B regions from the selected region.

Miao region context menu with split, duplicate, delete, move, trim, loop, fade, and move-to-track actions
Right-click a region to find the timeline edit actions without opening the inspector.

Duplicate Regions ​

Use:

  • Duplicate in the Notes inspector.
  • Duplicate region or Duplicate section in context menus.
  • Cmd+D.

For one region, the copy starts after the original region. For multiple regions, Miao duplicates the selected section.

Ideas and Scratchpad ​

Use Markers > Ideas in the right inspector to save alternate sections without leaving the current project.

  1. Select one or more regions in the timeline.
  2. Open Markers, then Ideas.
  3. Optionally type an idea name.
  4. Click Capture.

Miao stores the selected regions, their MIDI clips, and any chord blocks that overlap the selected time range. Click Place on an idea to clone it at the playhead. Placed ideas become normal editable regions, MIDI notes, and chord blocks.

Delete Regions ​

Use:

  • Delete in the Notes inspector.
  • Delete region in the context menu.
  • Delete or Backspace.

Undo is available for region edits.

Loop Regions ​

Use the loop handle on a region to repeat it, similar to GarageBand-style region looping. Looped regions extend their effective playback duration without duplicating the underlying source.

Loop count is clamped between 1 and 32.

Fades and Clip Gain ​

Select an audio region and open Notes. The audio region controls include:

  • Clip gain from silent to 2x.
  • Fade in.
  • Fade out.
  • 50ms fades quick action.
  • Reset clip.

Fades are limited to fit inside the current region duration, including loops.

Takes ​

When a region has multiple recorded takes, the Notes inspector shows a take list. Click a take to make it active. Each take keeps its own audio file reference and duration.

Overwrite Editing ​

When a moved or placed region overlaps an existing region on the same compatible track, Miao uses overwrite behavior. Existing regions can be removed, trimmed, or split around the new region.

Markers and Comments on the Timeline ​

Right-click the timeline to add:

  • Add marker here
  • Add comment here

Markers and comments stay at timeline positions and can be opened from the Annotations inspector.

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