1 · Getting Started

This chapter gets you from launching the app to a session you can record into.

The Welcome screen

When you open AnalogDAW without a session loaded, you land on the Welcome screen. It gives you the main ways into a project:

New Session — start fresh from a blank console.
Open Session — open a project you saved earlier.
- On macOS, this opens a standard file panel to pick a .analog project.
- On iPhone/iPad, this opens the Files app to find your project.
Templates — if you have saved any templates, they appear as reusable starting points. Pick one to create a new .analog project from it, or delete an old template from the row's menu.
Recent — a list of the projects you opened most recently. Tap one to reopen it instantly. Use Clear to empty the list, or long-press / right- click a single entry to Remove from Recent.

If a recent project can't be opened (for example, it was deleted or is on a drive that isn't connected), AnalogDAW tells you and offers to remove it from the list.

Click or tap New Session. AnalogDAW first asks where to save the project and what to name it — a save panel on macOS, or the Files/iCloud picker on iPhone/iPad. Once you choose a location, the new project is created, named after your file, saved straight away, and opened in the Edit (timeline) view with the transport bar across the top.

Picking the location up front is what lets AnalogDAW autosave from the very first moment (see Sessions & Saving).

A brand-new session has:

No tracks yet — you add them as you go.
A default tempo of 120 BPM and a 4/4 time signature.
A default recording quality of 48 kHz / 24-bit (you can change this in Session Settings).
A full master bus with tape saturation, EQ, compression, and a Maximizer already in the signal path.

Add your first track

From the main menu (☰), choose Add Track, or use the controls in the timeline. A track gives you a lane on the timeline and a channel strip in the mixer. From there you can:

Assign an input (a microphone, an audio interface input, or a virtual instrument) — see Recording Audio.
Import an audio file by dragging it onto the timeline, or via ☰ ▸ Import Audio….

Opening an existing session

Choose Open Session from the Welcome screen, or ☰ ▸ Open Session… while working. Pick any .analog project. AnalogDAW loads the arrangement, every mixer setting, your markers, and snapshots. Templates are app-level starting points, so they stay available from the Welcome screen and ☰ ▸ Templates rather than living inside one project.

If the project references audio files that have moved or are missing, you'll see a Missing Audio Files prompt — see Relinking missing audio.

The two main views

Everything you do happens in one of two views, toggled with the EDIT / MIX switch at the left of the transport bar (or the full-width segmented control at the bottom of the transport on iPhone):

View	What it's for
EDIT	The timeline. Record, arrange clips, trim, fade, comp takes, draw automation, place markers, set the loop.
MIX	The mixing console. Tracks, mix buses, aux returns, cue buses, VCA groups, and the master as vertical strips with the controls each type supports.

Both views show the same session — they are two ways of looking at the same work. The selected track and its settings stay in sync as you switch.

A note on the look

AnalogDAW uses a dark, console-style interface by design — it's easier on the eyes in a dim studio and keeps the focus on your meters and waveforms. The layout automatically adapts:

Mac / large iPad — full console layout with side-by-side channel strips.
iPhone / narrow iPad — a focused, finger-friendly layout where channel strips open as full-screen panels you can swipe between.