Ilumax Sound guide

What Ilumax Sound is for

Ilumax Sound is a recording studio on your computer. You record, import, edit and arrange audio and MIDI in the Edit window, balance it in the Mix window, shape it with built-in effects and instruments or your own CLAP, VST3 and (on a Mac) Audio Unit plug-ins, and bounce the result to a WAV, AIFF or FLAC file.

Install and first launch

Install Sound with the Ilumax Launcher or from My downloads. The first time you open it, your Mac or PC asks you to confirm; the one-time steps are in Installing Ilumax apps.

Sound opens straight into an empty session, Untitled (48 kHz, 120 BPM), in the Edit window, playing through your computer’s default output. On a Mac, the first time you arm a track or record, macOS asks whether Sound may use the microphone: allow it, or Sound records silence.

If Sound closed last time with unsaved changes, it offers them back in Recover Unsaved Work.

Set up your audio

1. Choose Setup ▸ Playback Engine....
2. Pick the Output device you listen on and the Input device you record from, such as your audio interface.
3. Set the Buffer size. Smaller is quicker to respond while you play and record; larger is steadier on a busy computer.
4. Click Apply.

The choice is kept for this computer, not in the session. A session’s sample rate is set when you create it, in File ▸ New...; its bit depth is in Setup ▸ Session (⌘Command2 on a Mac, CtrlControl2 on Windows).

Choose which input a track records from in the Mix window, under I / O ▸ Input on its strip (In 1, In 2 and so on).

Make your first mix

1. Choose File ▸ New... (⌘CommandN on a Mac, CtrlControlN on Windows), type a Name, keep the Sample Rate and click Create. To explore a finished song first, tick Start from the demo session.
2. Choose File ▸ Import ▸ Audio... (⌘Command⇧ShiftI on a Mac, CtrlControlShiftI on Windows), click Browse…, pick a file and click OK. It arrives on a new track, at the start of the session. You can also drag files from Finder or File Explorer onto the window.
3. To record instead: choose Track ▸ New... (⌘Command⇧ShiftN on a Mac, CtrlControlShiftN on Windows), keep 1 new Mono Audio Track and click Create. Click the track’s record button (the red dot), then press F12 or the Record button in the toolbar. Press Space to stop.
4. To cut a clip in two, click in the upper half of the clip where the cut should go, then choose Edit ▸ Separate ▸ At Selection (⌘CommandE on a Mac, CtrlControlE on Windows).
5. To shorten a clip, move the pointer to its edge until it changes to the trim pointer, and drag.
6. To fade in or out, drag from a top corner of the clip. Or select across the start or end and choose Edit ▸ Fades ▸ Create... (⌘CommandF on a Mac, CtrlControlF on Windows), pick a shape and click OK.
7. Open the Mix window with Window ▸ Mix (⌘Command=Equals on a Mac, CtrlControl=Equals on Windows). Drag a fader to set a track’s level and the knob to pan it; click the level under the fader to type one, such as -6 dB.
8. To add an effect, click an empty INSERTS slot on a strip and choose one, such as Reverb ▸ Plate Reverb.
9. Choose File ▸ Bounce Mix... (⌘Command⌥OptionB on a Mac, CtrlControlAltB on Windows). Pick the Format (WAV, AIFF or FLAC) and Bit Depth, tick Normalize to -0.1 dBFS if you like, and click Bounce. With nothing selected, the whole session is bounced.
10. Choose File ▸ Save Session (⌘CommandS on a Mac, CtrlControlS on Windows). The first time, Sound suggests a folder named after the session; the session is saved there as an .ilxsound file.

Find your way around

• Menus: File, Edit, View, Track, Clip, Event, Options, Setup and Window, among others. On a Mac they are in the menu bar at the top of the screen; on Windows, at the top of the window.
• Toolbar: the edit modes (SHUFFLE, SPOT, SLIP, GRID), zoom, the tools (Zoomer, Trim, Selector, Grabber, Scrubber, Pencil, and the Smart Tool that combines three of them), the counters, the Grid and Nudge values, the transport (Loop Playback, Stop, Play, Record, Return to Zero, Rewind, Fast Forward, Go to End), Meter, Tempo, the click and the output meter.
• Tracks and Groups, on the left, lists every track; its + adds tracks. The middle is the Session: the rulers, the track headers and the timeline. Clips, on the right, lists every clip.
• Track header: the round Track options button, the name (double-click to rename, drag to reorder), the record button, I (input monitoring), S (solo) and M (mute). Right-click it for Rename..., Duplicate..., Delete, Track Color and more.
• Mix window: one strip per track, with INSERTS, SENDS, I / O, the automation mode, pan, solo and mute, and the fader.
• Status bar: the session’s name, sample rate, bit depth and number of tracks, and the last thing Sound did.

Panels can be moved. Window ▸ Reset Panel Layout puts them back.

Everyday tasks

Files

• Sessions are saved as .ilxsound files. Sessions saved with the older .scraft extension still open, and are saved back to their .scraft file.
• Clip groups are saved as .ilxsoundgrp; File ▸ Import ▸ Clip Groups... brings them in, older .scgrp files included.
• Imports: WAV (BWF and RF64 too), AIFF, FLAC, MP3, Ogg, AAC and M4A, and CAF audio; MP4 and MOV video; MIDI files.
• Bounces: WAV, AIFF or FLAC, at the session’s sample rate. There is no MP3 bounce: convert the WAV with another app if you need one.

When you save, Sound copies every recorded and imported sound into an Audio Files folder beside the session file, and keeps the last ten versions of the session in a Backups folder. Keep the session file and these folders together when you move or back up a song.

• Save Session Copy In... saves a copy and keeps you working in the original.
• Save As Template... saves the session’s tracks and settings without any clips; open it with Open Session to start a new song from it.
• File ▸ Export ▸ Selected Tracks as New Session... saves just the selected tracks as a session of their own.

Keyboard shortcuts

The single-key commands in Edit with single keys work on top of these.

On a Mac, ⌘ is Command, ⇧ Shift, ⌥ Option and ⌃ Control.

On a Mac, ⌘CommandSpace usually opens Spotlight, so record with F12 or the Record button; hold fn with the F-keys if they change the brightness or the volume; and ⌘Command⌃ControlS searches for any command by name. Setup ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts... lists every shortcut.

Tips

• If keys do unexpected things in the Edit window, Commands Keyboard Focus is on: click a-z in the toolbar to switch it off.
• Double-click below the last track to add new tracks.
• Setup ▸ Appearance sets the interface scale and a light or dark theme.
• The switches in the Options menu are saved with each session, so a new session starts from the usual settings.
• When a bounce finishes, the status bar shows the file’s peak level and loudness (LUFS).

Get help

About Ilumax Sound, in the Ilumax Sound menu, shows your version and the support links.

Email [email protected]. Say which app and version you use, whether you are on a Mac or Windows, and what you did just before the problem.

Or go to Support: what to put in your email, and quick answers on installing, licence keys, renewals and refunds.

Lost your licence key? Email from the address you paid with, and it will be sent back to you. To download an app again, paste your key on My downloads.