You must realize very early on that the keyboard (as opposed to the mouse) is the greatest navigational tool when working with Aldrin. Although you can get around with various icons and mouse-driven menus, the keyboard is the way to engineer optimally.

The following keys are the first things you should remember when working with Aldrin as you will use them intensely not only for navigating, but also starting, stopping, and recording your songs. These keys may also be accessed by the indicated icons from the Standard tool bar within the Aldrin interface.

Key	Icon	Name	Description
F1	N/A	Help	User Manual (this document!).
F2		Pattern Editor	Used for adding patterns, adding notes/parameter changes to notes.
F3		Machine Editor	Used to add and route machines.
F4		Sequence Editor	Used to devise pattern order, forming sequences.
F5		Play	Plays Song or loop from beginning.
F6	N/A	Play "from here"	Plays from the current cursor location. (I.e. wherever the song was last stopped).
F7		Record	Records Parameter changes to patterns.
F8		Stop	Stops song/loop.
F9		Wavetable Editor	Allows you to add and manage samples and instruments in your songs.
F10		Notes	Allows you to add notes about this song.
F11	N/A	Show/Hide Dialogs	Toggles visible status of Parameter Dialog windows.
F12		Free Audio Device	Frees the Audio device for other apps instantly muting all audio in Aldrin (Panic!)

 

Don't worry about memorizing these just yet. You will learn to use them more and more as you progress in Aldrin. For now, try to remember the 3 highlighted commands, as these are the screens you will use frequently throughout this tutorial.

If you are following this tutorial, you are now ready to add your first machine .