Master bus effects

Most effects act on one track. The master bus chain acts on the whole mix at once, every track summed together, which makes it the place for glue and final polish.

Opening the master effects

Expand the mixer panel and click Master FX at the bottom, below Add Track. A flyout opens with every effect listed on the left; click one to edit it on the right.

The chain runs after every track and before the final output limiter, so it hears the finished mix as it leaves the app.

What to use it for

Glue compression. A gentle Compressor pulls the mix together so the tracks sound like one performance rather than separate parts.

Saturation. A touch adds warmth and bite, and softens peaks, so the mix sounds fuller without getting louder.

High-passing the mix. Set the Filter to High-Pass with the cutoff at its lowest useful setting to remove sub-rumble you cannot hear but which still eats headroom.

Tone. One small tilt brightens or warms everything at once.

Keep master effects subtle. They touch every track, so a small change carries further than it does on a channel. If an effect is doing something dramatic on the master, it usually belongs on a single track instead.

How it differs from track effects

The master chain has no sections and no automation. It is one setting for the whole song. Every effect is available there, including the ones that are section-level on a track, and the settings are saved with the project. Changes are heard immediately during playback.