Chapter 27
Settings and shortcuts
Draft: source-reviewed; native walkthrough not yet verified.
Find the right tab #
Open Settings from the command panel. There are 13 tabs in this source-reviewed version. Some controls appear only in standalone mode, with an installed add-on, with Pro, or on a supported platform. Use the visible controls for your current setup.
In the hosted plug-in, choose Settings in the command panel. In Standalone, choose Settings in the window title bar. The Project Settings gear in the bottom bar opens a compact timing, tuning and playback panel. Use the full Settings overlay for the settings categories. Draft: these entry paths are source-reviewed; native availability remains unverified.
Harmony #
Set harmonic link authoring, Auto Perfect Harmony or Auto Root Path Tune, ratio sources and interval choices. Ratio sources include Harmonic series count, Preset intervals, Lowest Tenney count and Harmonic window. Harmonic window direction is Otonal, Utonal or Both.
Context-menu chord and interval options control the choices offered while editing. Forward (stable masters) and Whole graph (legacy, advanced) select graph mode. Read a rejection or conflict warning before changing relationships.
MIDI #
Set piano-roll frequency limits, snap, overlap cutting, BPM, time signature, host tempo sync, tuning output, MTS-ESP, MIDI output mute, active-channel display and pitch-bend range. Standalone includes the MIDI device selector.
Audio #
Standalone exposes the audio device selector and, when appropriate, Mute audio input for feedback-loop protection. Internal Synth controls native playback in supported app formats. A hosted plug-in uses its DAW audio configuration.
System #
Choose language, UI scale, UI font and note label mode. The chosen font takes effect when DonutStudio or the plug-in editor reopens. Default instrument, effects, browser location and UTAU resampler options depend on the installed features.
For linked notes longer than half a beat, Interval name and Roman numeral use the first incoming link when its reduced ratio matches a built-in label. Unsupported ratios fall back to a pitch name; with line-style links, an unsupported ratio can appear as a numeric ratio. These modes change note labels only.
Show Diagnostics displays a report you can copy; Open Folder opens logs. Send crash reports automatically is a preference. Restore from backup... and Factory Reset... belong to standalone project ownership. Factory Reset clears settings and current project state and cannot be undone.
DAW connection, Link and social-account controls appear here when their features are available. Experimental controls retain their WIP labels.
Draft: language selection is documented from source; complete translations and native font rendering remain unverified. Choose Language under System. Auto (System) follows a supported system language and falls back to English otherwise. If the selected translation is missing or empty, the interface uses English. Some dialog text remains untranslated.
Graphics #
GPU Acceleration, High Refresh Rendering and Uncapped FPS control redraw behavior. Supported Macs use Metal acceleration. High Refresh Rendering redraws continuously at display refresh; Uncapped FPS disables vertical sync and can increase resource use.
Link glow, Glassmorphism, Advanced link lines, Harmonic beams, octave labels, Full quality pitch bends and Track meters control the editor display. Use generic hosted plug-in editors requests a generic interface where supported.
Hosted plugin windows stay on top is a saved preference. Some instrument and effect windows stay on top even when it is off. Note-effect windows read the preference when opened. Native window behavior has not been verified for this draft.
Keys #
Inspect the action list and current binding, then edit only the action you want to change. The list includes unbound actions. Use the reset controls when you want factory bindings again.
Libraries & Plug-ins #
Configure sample-library locations and Rescan Libraries. For VST3, choose default or added paths and Rescan. Hosting mode is In DonutStudio or Separate process (crash protection). Read the scan status rather than assuming every file in a path is usable.
Scripts #
Refresh the script list after adding scripts. Open Folder opens the script directory. A script appearing in the list does not by itself authorize external capabilities or establish a successful execution.
Controllers #
Install controller folders, read requested permissions, approve or revoke packages, assign MIDI roles, and save mappings. Read the controller status and logs after a change.
External access #
Review external extension access and its local permission controls. Keep these approvals separate from audio-device selection and ordinary keyboard shortcuts.
Detached export #
Configure the detached export workflow in its dedicated panel when the export host is available. This draft has not verified a complete detached export on every platform, so use the panel result and retained output to confirm a job.
Theme #
Edit theme controls and use Save Theme... to retain a theme. Appearance preferences do not change note tuning or controller permissions.
Draft: theme controls are documented from source; native appearance and restart persistence remain unverified. Choose a Preset, or adjust Hue, Accent Hue, Brightness, Surface Saturation, Accent Saturation and Contrast. Accent Hue is separate from the base Hue.
Changes apply to the current theme as you adjust the controls. To keep a named theme, choose Save Theme..., enter a name and choose Save. Check that your saved theme appears in Preset.
After reopening DonutStudio, check the appearance again. Accent Saturation has an incomplete preference restore path in this draft; selecting a saved theme is a separate operation. Do not rely on the previous Accent Saturation value restoring automatically.
About #
Check product information, licensing and bundled-component notices. Activate License... accepts an invite code or signed license key. A rejected key does not activate Pro controls.
Use and customize shortcuts #
Settings > Keys shows the active binding. Custom bindings override factory defaults, and editor context determines which action handles a key.
To change a shortcut, click its binding field in Settings > Keys. When it says Press key..., press the key with the modifiers you want. A modifier key on its own is ignored. Press Escape, click the same field again, or click elsewhere in the shortcut list to cancel recording.
Click the x beside a customized binding to restore that action's default. Reset All restores every default binding. You can assign the same combination to more than one action, so check your other bindings and test the shortcut in the editor where you intend to use it.
The default primary tools use 1 for Pointer, 2 for Time Selection, 3 for Pen / Drawing Tools, 4 for Eraser, 5 for Knife, 6 for Pitch Bend, 7 for Draw Bend, 8 for Run Draw and 9 for Chord Draw. Brush is initially unbound. In the Piano Roll, repeated use of the Pen / Drawing Tools action cycles Pen, Run Draw and Brush. In the Arranger, that action selects Pen.
Tutorial prompts and toolbar tooltips read current bindings. Use those displayed values when following a lesson. This guide avoids a universal modifier table because custom mappings, host key handling and the active editor can change which shortcut works.
To learn a workflow, look up the action name first, trigger it in the matching editor, then confirm the project changed. A valid key binding does not make an unavailable add-on or unsupported selection editable.
Shift+1 through Shift+9 follow the toolbar visibility controls in order: Timeline / Arranger or Piano Roll, Device Panel, Patch Bay, Video Deck, Video Layers, Video Keys, Video Curves, Video Browser and Sample Browser. The bare number keys select editing tools. Video Layers, Keys and Curves require the Video Editor context and its availability gates.
Legacy numbered workspace actions have no factory binding and no supported editor action. They remain listed for existing custom bindings; assigning a key does not make them functional.
Draft: these defaults are source-reviewed. Native checks covered Timeline, Device Panel, Patch Bay, Video Browser and Sample Browser in one setup. Video Deck, Layers, Keys, Curves and physical keyboard layouts remain unverified.
- Tools and Pitch Editor cover drawing, bends, vibrato and vocal editing.
- Transport covers playback, session recording, loops, arranger shuttle and tap markers.
- Selection, Edit and Notes cover selecting, copying, duplicating, deleting, moving, muting and octave changes.
- Transforms and Links cover quantize, note lengths, harmony, advanced dialogs and relationship edits.
- Navigation, Command Panel, Panels and View cover tracks, files and editor visibility. The Workspaces category lists unsupported numbered workspace actions.
- Video Editor includes Layers, Keys, Curves and the video metrics display action. Availability follows the current editor and enabled features.
Adjust control values #
Draft: these shared control gestures have source review. Native behavior varies by control and platform and remains unverified.
Where a control supports drag adjustment, drag its numeric field vertically or edit its value as text. Choice controls open their list on click; configured cycling controls can also cycle by vertical drag. A slider follows its own orientation. These gestures do not apply to every control or volume bar.
Shortcut Learning #
Turn on Shortcut Learning from the bottom bar. After a supported toolbar or menu action succeeds, DonutStudio briefly shows its current key binding. A custom binding takes precedence over the factory default.
Actions without a current binding do not produce a hint. Invoking an action from the keyboard does not produce a learning hint. This draft does not establish hints for every command or per-chord transform variant.
Show context shortcut hints #
Draft: the hint controls and display rules have source review. Native display and modifier behavior remain unverified.
Open the toolbar Visibility menu and toggle Shortcut Hints. The bottom-bar hints follow the current tool, selection and held modifiers, and can hide when there is too little width. Shortcut Learning provides a separate brief display of a binding after a supported action. The informational hint panel passes pointer gestures through to the piano roll, including note clicks, dragging and box selection.