Scenes

A Scene switches which chain is active on each track. Triggering a scene simultaneously applies the stored chain selection across all tracks, letting you jump between complete performance arrangements in a single action.

Think of scenes like song sections — Intro, Drop, Break, Outro — where each section has a different set of effects loaded on each track.

Creating a scene

1. Set each track to the chain you want for that section.
2. The scenes bar runs along the bottom of the editor. If it’s hidden, click the scenes toggle button at the bottom of the Snapshots sidebar to show it.
3. Click + in the scenes bar to capture the current arrangement — the scene is added with an auto-generated name.
4. To rename it, right-click the scene card → Rename.

Triggering a scene

Click any scene card in the scenes bar to trigger it.

To make the scene cards bigger, drag the top edge of the scenes bar upward. The preview above shrinks to make room. Double-click the edge to return to the default size.

All tracks instantly switch to the chain stored in that scene.

MIDI trigger

Right-click a scene card → MIDI Learn — move a pad or button on your hardware. The scene triggers on every Note On from that control.

Navigation and autoplay

The right edge of the scenes bar holds the transport controls:

Control	Action
←	Trigger the previous scene in the bar
Shuffle	Trigger a random scene other than the active one
→	Trigger the next scene in the bar
Auto	Autoplay interval menu

All three navigation buttons are mappable — click the map button beside one, or right-click it, to bind it to MIDI, OSC, a keyboard key, or an LFO.

Autoplay advances scenes on its own, beat-synced to the project tempo. Pick an interval from the Auto menu (1/16 up to 32 bars) and Arkestra moves to the next scene every time that interval elapses, wrapping around at the end of the bar. Enable Random Order in the same menu to jump to a random scene each time instead of walking the list in order.

Autoplay keeps running as long as the project is open, so combined with video playlists and chain snapshots it can drive an unattended installation that keeps evolving on its own. Set No autoplay to stop it.

Eject All

Eject All, at the far right of the scenes bar, unloads the active chain on every track — a panic stop for the whole set. The master track and its effects are left alone. One undo (⌘Z) brings every track back.

Like the navigation buttons, Eject All is mappable: click the map button beside it, or right-click it, to bind it to MIDI, OSC, or a keyboard key. To eject only some tracks, map the eject slot on each of those tracks to the same note or key instead.

Updating a scene

Right-click a scene card → Overwrite with Current State — the scene is updated to match the current track states.

What scenes store

For each track, a scene captures:

• Active chain — which chain is selected on the track
• Fader value — the track’s opacity/blend level
• Running state — whether the track is active
• Blend mode — only for tracks with Scenes Store Blend Mode enabled in their settings popover

Scenes do not store effect parameter values or which effects are enabled. The way to have different effects active per scene is to put them on different chains — each chain is an independent effect stack, and the scene switches between them.

Different effects per scene

Create one chain with your Scene A effects and another with your Scene B effects. Save each scene with the corresponding chain active on the track. Switching scenes swaps the entire effect stack.

For full project parameter recall, use Snapshots →. For recalling effect parameter values within a single chain, use Chain Snapshots →.

Scenes vs Snapshots

	Scenes	Snapshots
Stores	Chain selection, fader, running state	Full project state
Slots	Unlimited	32
Trigger speed	Instant	Async
Use for	Section switching	Full state recall