What it is

Onomo's full music studio — make a whole track in your browser.

Studio is a complete digital audio workstation (DAW): program drums, play synths, record audio and MIDI, arrange sections on a timeline, mix with effects, and export a finished song — all in the browser, with an AI co-writer (Ono) built in. If you've used a DAW before, you'll feel at home; if you haven't, the guides below take you from empty project to exported track.

Areas and panels

Transport bar (top)

Top strip: play/stop, record, loop, tempo (BPM), time signature, key/scale, metronome, undo/redo, and Save.

Arrange view (center)

The timeline where your tracks live and clips are placed, moved, and arranged into a song.

Mixer (Shift+5)

Channel strips with volume, pan, sends, and an effects chain per track, plus a Master.

Bottom editor (Shift+1)

Edits the selected track: Piano Roll (instruments), Sequencer (drums), Sampler (pads), or Audio.

Sound Browser (Shift+4)

Library, My Library, Presets, Project, and Exports — search, favorite, and drag onto a track.

Ono (AI) (Shift+6)

Chat that can suggest ideas and, with your OK, take actions like set tempo, add a track, or place a clip.

Lyrics (Shift+7)

Write lyrics in color-coded sections with a rhyme finder; round-trips with the Journal app.

Track FX (Shift+2)

The effects chain for the selected track — add EQ, compression, reverb, delay, and more.

Key concepts

Track

A lane for one instrument, drum sequencer, sampler, or audio recording. Add as many as you need.

Clip

A block of notes/pattern/audio placed on a track's timeline. You move, resize, split, and duplicate clips.

Pattern

The musical content inside a clip — notes in the Piano Roll, steps in the Sequencer.

Bus & send

A shared channel (e.g. one reverb) that many tracks feed into via their 'send' knobs — efficient and cohesive.

Save vs Export

Save keeps your editable project; Export renders an audio or MIDI file. Do both when you finish.

Credits

Ono and the other AI features draw from one monthly credit pool shared across every app — 100 a month on Free, 1,000 on Pro, reset monthly. Everything that isn't AI (instruments, effects, recording, mixing, export) costs nothing.

What is the Studio and how is it laid out?

The Studio is Onomo's full digital audio workstation (DAW) — it runs entirely in your browser. The transport bar at the top has play/stop, record, loop, tempo (BPM), time signature, key/scale, the metronome, undo/redo, and Save. The center is the Arrange view (your tracks and clips on a timeline). The bottom opens an editor for the selected track — the Piano Roll for instruments, the Sequencer for drum patterns, the Sampler for pads, or the Audio editor for recordings. Press Shift+5 to flip the center between Arrange and the Mixer.

How do I add a track and pick an instrument?

Click the + (Add) button to create a track. On a brand-new project the Start your track dialog offers Sequencer (step drums), Synth (melodies & keys), Sampler (pads), Audio (record or import), Automation, plus Import and Start with AI. Once you're working, the same + shows Import, a TRACKS group (Sequencer / Sampler / Audio / Automation) and an INSTRUMENTS list where you pick the synth engine directly — there's a big roster of them, each with its own character and factory presets, and all of them are free to use. You can also drag a `.mid` or `.wav` file straight onto the arrangement to create the right track automatically.

How do I program a drum beat?

Add a Sequencer track — it opens in the bottom panel with an empty kit, so the first thing to do is load sounds: click the KIT dropdown (it reads *Empty*) to open the Kit Browser and pick a kit like Ono Drums, or hit Add Channel to place individual drum synths (OnoKick, OnoSnare, OnoHat…) one at a time. Now each row is a drum sound and each column is a step — click cells to place hits. Pattern Length (bottom bar) sets how long the pattern is, and the Sequence Settings button at the top-left of the grid opens SEQUENCE TOOLS: Quantize, Groove, Chop/Split, Randomize, Humanize, Shift All, Clear Pattern and Playback Mode. Press Space to play.

How do I write a melody in the Piano Roll?

Select a Synth track and the Piano Roll opens in the bottom panel. Click to place notes; drag a note up/down to change pitch and left/right to move it in time. Drag a note's edge to change its length. To keep notes in key, click the key badge in the bottom bar (it starts at *C Maj*) to open Pattern Scale, pick a root note and a scale, then press Apply — note that closing the panel without pressing Apply discards the change. Apply then asks how to treat notes you've already written: Snap Notes to Scale moves off-scale notes to the nearest degree, Reference Only just updates the highlighting and leaves your notes alone. This is per-pattern and separate from the transport's Key control. Use Shift+1 / Shift+2 to make the snap grid finer or coarser (those are the same keys that toggle the instrument editor and Track FX elsewhere — inside the Piano Roll they change snap instead), and Shift+L to legato (extend notes to the next one).

How do clips and the arrangement work?

A clip is a block of a pattern (MIDI notes, a drum pattern, or audio) placed on a track's timeline. Drag a clip to move it, grab its edge to resize, and use the arrange tools to edit: V Select, C Draw, B Split (cut at the playhead), N Erase, M Mute, Shift+T Stretch. Shift+D duplicates the selected clips (as a group, if you've selected several). The snap grid keeps clips aligned to bars/beats — turn it off for free positioning. Color-coded time regions (verse/chorus/etc.) help you organize sections.

How do I record audio (vocals or an instrument)?

Add an Audio track, then arm it (the red record button in the track header) and pick your input. Open the transport's Record menu to set a count-in (Off/1/2/4 bars), and turn on monitoring to hear yourself. Press Shift+R to arm recording, then Space to roll — recording starts after the count-in. Each pass is saved as a take you can comp, trim, fade, or pitch/time-stretch. Recording needs a secure (HTTPS) page and microphone permission, and you may need to click Play once so the browser's audio engine starts.

How do I record MIDI from a keyboard?

Select an Instrument track and open the transport's Record menu. Choose an input source (MIDI + Keyboard, MIDI only, or your computer's typing keyboard), pick your connected MIDI device, and set a quantize value so notes snap to the grid as you play (or Off for free timing). Set a record mode (Overdub adds on top, Overwrite replaces where you play, Replace clears the pattern). Arm with Shift+R, hit Space, and play.

How do I mix — levels, pan, EQ, and effects?

Press Shift+5 to open the Mixer. Each track has a channel strip with a volume fader, pan, meters, sends, and an FX chain; there's also a Master strip. Shift+2 opens Track FX for the selected track. The chain starts with a fixed Track EQ, then four empty slots — click Add Effect on any slot (or Add Slot for more) to open the effects browser. It's grouped by category: EQ · Reverb · Delay · Time · Dynamics · Distortion · Modulation · Pitch · Filter · Creative, and every entry has a one-line description of what it's for, so browse the category you need rather than memorising names. Every effect is free to use. If you want a starting point: OnoEQ to carve space, OnoComp to control dynamics, OnoSat for warmth, OnoVerb for space, OnoLimiter on the Master. Reorder effects by dragging, and bypass any of them to compare. New effects get added regularly, so the browser — not this page — is the real list.

How do reverb/delay sends and buses work?

Instead of putting reverb on every track, create a bus in the Mixer, add a OnoVerb (or OnoDlay) to it, and use each track's send knob to feed signal to that bus. This is the classic 'one reverb, many tracks' approach — cheaper on CPU and more cohesive. You can also group tracks so one fader controls several at once.

What can Ono (the AI) do, and does it cost anything?

Press Shift+6 to open Ono, the in-Studio AI. It can chat about music theory and your project, generate patterns (drums, melodies, chords, basslines), and — with your confirmation — take DAW actions like setting the BPM/key, adding or editing tracks, and placing clips (it proposes the change and you approve it). It also supports voice input. Ono has three modes: Standard, Ultra and Composer (full-song builds, marked experimental). Ono draws from your shared credit pool: a Standard or Ultra message costs 1 credit no matter how much work Ono does behind the scenes, and a Composer request costs 3.

How do I save my project?

Press Cmd/Ctrl+S, or click the Save icon in the transport bar (on a narrow window the transport crowds up and Save can be the first thing to go — the shortcut always works). Projects save to your account in the cloud and the icon shows saving/saved status; a separate local autosave also guards against crashes (see the autosave question below). Saving keeps your editable project — it's separate from exporting an audio file. Reopening isn't automatic: coming back to Studio drops you on a fresh project, so pick yours from Recent in the Open-a-project dialog, the Projects panel (Shift+8), or Recent projects on your Backstage home.

How do I export my song?

There's no Export button in the transport — open the project-name menu at the top-left and choose Export Audio (or Export Tracks). Both open the Export panel, which has three tabs: Mixdown (the whole song to one file), Tracks (individual stems), and MIDI (your instrument performances, not audio). Pick a format (WAV or MP3), a quality (Low / Medium / High / Lossless) and a range (Full Song or Loop Region), then hit Export Mixdown. Save to my library is on by default, which drops the render into your Drive so it's reachable from every other Onomo app — uncheck it if you only want the download. MIDI export preserves note timing/velocity but not effects.

Where do I find sounds, presets, and my exports?

Press Shift+4 for the Sound Browser. Its tabs are Library (factory sounds), My Library (sounds you've saved to your account), Presets (presets for your loaded instruments), Project (sounds saved in this project), and Exports (audio you've rendered). Search, filter by category, favorite sounds with the star, and drag a sound straight onto the arrangement. Note: the Market (Shift+9) is a separate panel, and it isn't open yet — it currently shows a 'Market Coming Soon' screen, so downloadable packs aren't available at launch.

How do I write lyrics alongside my track?

Press Shift+7 to open the Lyrics panel. Add a song title and color-coded sections (verse/chorus/bridge), type your lyrics, and use the built-in rhyme finder and AI assist for ideas. Lyrics and notes round-trip with the Journal app, so what you write in either place follows the project.

What are the most useful keyboard shortcuts?

Space play/pause, . stop (press twice to panic-stop all audio), Shift+R arm record, ` loop toggle, Cmd/Ctrl+S save, Cmd/Ctrl+Z / Shift+Z undo/redo. Panels: Shift+1 instrument editor, Shift+2 track FX, Shift+4 sound browser, Shift+5 mixer/arrange, Shift+6 Ono, Shift+7 lyrics, Shift+8 projects, Shift+9 market (not open yet — it shows a 'coming soon' screen). Arrange tools: V/C/B/N/M/Shift+T, with Shift+D to duplicate clips. One thing to know: Shift+1 and Shift+2 are context-sensitive — globally they toggle the instrument editor and Track FX, but while you're focused in the Piano Roll they make the snap grid finer or coarser instead. Every shortcut is rebindable in Settings → Shortcuts.

Does autosave overwrite my saved project?

No — not anymore. Autosave keeps a separate working copy; the project you saved with Save / Ctrl+S is untouched until you save again. If you leave Studio with changes that aren't in the saved version, it asks whether to save them to the project. Reopening a project whose autosave is newer than its saved version asks whether to resume the autosave or open the last saved version.

How do I jump back to an earlier point?

Click the small chevron next to undo/redo to open History. Steps lists every undo step by what changed (Tracks / clips, Notes, Tempo, Key…) — click one to jump there. Snapshots are local checkpoints kept in this browser: one is taken on every Save, every 10 minutes while you have unsaved work, and whenever you press Snapshot now. Jumping takes a snapshot of *now* first, so it's always reversible. Snapshots aren't versions in your Drive — it's still one project.

Can I automate an effect's on/off?

Yes. Right-click the power button on any insert in the Track FX chain and choose Automate On/Off (it's also under the effect's Slot group in the automation sidebar). The lane is a switch — values snap to on/off. It fades the effect's dry/wet over 5 ms instead of rewiring the chain, so there's no click, reverb and delay tails ring out, and tempo-synced effects like Matryx stay locked to the grid.

How do I find the key of my project?

Open Key in the transport and press Detect from notes. It analyses the MIDI notes actually placed in your arrangement and lists the three most likely keys with a fit percentage. Applying a key never moves notes unless you choose Adapt notes in the confirmation, which tells you exactly how many notes would change first. Audio clips aren't analysed yet.

How do I loop the whole song without setting a region?

The loop button has a chevron: choose Whole song and the loop follows your arrangement's length automatically. Dragging a region on the ruler switches to Custom region. Placing the playhead inside the loop and pressing play starts from the playhead, not the loop start.

Do I need an account, and what's free?

Studio, Canvas, Motion and Journal need a free Onomo account — signed out, you're sent to sign in first. (Foundry and the Toolkit work without one.) Every tool, instrument, effect and export format is free on every plan; the only thing that costs anything is AI, which spends credits from one pool shared across all the apps. Free gets 100 credits a month, 2 GB of storage and 25 projects. Pro ($10/month) gets 1,000 credits a month, 50 GB, unlimited projects, and can host live collaboration for up to 10 people — joining someone else's session is free. Monthly credits reset and don't roll over; top-up packs never expire. See your balance in Settings → Account & Usage.

Why does Studio say it isn't on mobile?

Studio needs a screen at least 768px wide — a full DAW doesn't fit on a phone yet. Below that width you get a *Studio isn't on mobile yet* screen with links to things that do work on a phone: the Toolkit, Foundry and the Journal. On a laptop or desktop, make the browser window wider and reload — the width is checked when Studio loads.

Where do I find my projects?

Inside Studio: open the project-name menu (top-left) and use Open (the Projects panel, also Shift+8) or Recent; the Start your track dialog also has a Recent tab. Outside Studio: your Backstage home shows Recent projects, and View all takes you to your Drive. A project you haven't named yet is a draft — Free keeps 3 drafts and replaces the oldest when you start a fourth — so give anything you want to keep a name with Rename in the project menu.

How do I make cover art for a song?

Press Open in Canvas (the palette icon near Save — on a narrower window it moves into the transport's overflow menu). It opens Canvas in a new tab on an album-cover-sized project that's linked to the song — every save of that canvas becomes the song's cover. Other Canvas or Motion projects that merely use the song never change its cover.

Make your first beat from scratch

A short looping beat with drums and a bassline, played back in the arrangement. (Level: beginner, about 12 min)

1. Studio opens on Start your track — name it, set the BPM (140 for trap, 120 for house), and pick Sequencer to begin with drums. (If you already have projects it may open on Recent — switch to the New tab.) You can change the tempo any time from the transport BPM — click it to type, or drag it left/right.
2. Your new Sequencer track opens with KIT: Empty — there are no drum rows yet. Click the KIT dropdown to open the Kit Browser and choose Ono Drums (or Random kit). You'll get Kick, 808, Snare, Clap, Closed HH, Open HH and two Percs.
3. Now place hits: a kick on beats 1 and 3, a snare or clap on 2 and 4, and closed hats on every 8th. Rows are labelled down the left — kick is the top row, hats sit further down. Press Space to hear the loop.
4. Click the Sequence Settings button (top-left of the grid) for SEQUENCE TOOLS, then try Humanize — set Timing and Velocity variation and press Apply Humanize. Quantize tightens instead.
5. Click + again and pick a synth straight from the INSTRUMENTS list — Bazyr (Bass Reactor) is a good bassline choice.
6. The Piano Roll opens automatically. Click in a few low notes that follow your kick. To stay in key, click the key badge in the bottom bar, choose a root + scale in Pattern Scale, and press Apply.
7. In the Arrange view, make sure both clips line up at bar 1, then set the loop and press Space to play your beat.
8. Press Cmd/Ctrl+S to save the project.

Turn a melody idea into an arrangement

A two-track section (lead + pad) arranged across a verse, saved to the cloud. (Level: beginner, about 15 min)

1. Click + and pick a bright lead synth from the INSTRUMENTS list. The Piano Roll opens in the bottom panel.
2. Click in a simple 4-bar melody. Drag note edges to set lengths; use Shift+1/Shift+2 to change the snap grid while you place notes.
3. Select the clip in Arrange and press Shift+D to duplicate it down the timeline into a longer section.
4. Add a second synth track with a pad/chord engine, and place sustained chords under the melody in its Piano Roll.
5. Use a color-coded time region to mark this as your 'Verse' so you can find it later.
6. Balance the two tracks: press Shift+5 for the Mixer and set the lead a touch louder than the pad.
7. Press Cmd/Ctrl+S to save.

Record vocals or an instrument over your beat

A recorded take comped and trimmed over an existing beat, with one effect on it. (Level: intermediate, about 15 min)

1. Click Play once (so the browser's audio engine starts) and make sure your beat is on a loop.
2. Click + and add an Audio track. Arm it with the red record button in the track header and choose your input (mic/line).
3. Open the transport's Record menu: set a count-in of 1–2 bars and enable monitoring if you want to hear yourself. Grant microphone permission if prompted.
4. Press Shift+R to arm recording, then Space to roll. Perform after the count-in; press Space again to stop. Repeat for more takes.
5. Pick the best take, then trim its clip edges and add fade-ins/outs by dragging the clip corners.
6. Open the track's FX chain (Shift+2) and add OnoComp to even out the level, then OnoVerb for space (or send it to a reverb bus).
7. Press Cmd/Ctrl+S to save.

Mix and export your track

A balanced mix with EQ/compression and a shared reverb send, exported as an audio file. (Level: intermediate, about 18 min)

1. Press Shift+5 to open the Mixer. Set rough levels with the faders so nothing clips the Master meter.
2. Select a track and press Shift+2 for its FX chain. Click Add Effect on an empty slot, then pick OnoEQ (EQ) to carve space and OnoComp (Dynamics) to control dynamics. The browser is grouped by category with a description on every effect.
3. Now the shared reverb: scroll the mixer strip to the far right — past the last channel — to find the dashed ADD BUS button. (Nothing signals it's out there, so scroll until you see it.) Click it, add OnoVerb to the new bus, then use each track's send knob to feed a little signal into that one reverb.
4. Add a OnoLimiter on the Master as a safety ceiling so the final file doesn't clip.
5. Use the loop region to A/B sections while you tweak; bypass effects to compare before/after.
6. Open the project-name menu (top-left) and choose Export Audio. On the Mixdown tab pick a format and quality, set the range to Full Song, and hit Export Mixdown. (Need stems for a collaborator? Use the Tracks tab instead.)
7. Press Cmd/Ctrl+S to save the editable project too.

Co-write a section with Ono

A new chord progression and drum pattern generated with AI and applied to your project. (Level: beginner, about 10 min)

1. Press Shift+6 to open Ono, the in-Studio AI.
2. Ask for something concrete, e.g. 'give me a moody 4-chord progression in A minor at 90 BPM' or 'make a boom-bap drum pattern'.
3. When Ono proposes a DAW action (set BPM/key, add a track, place a clip), review the preview and click the checkmark to apply it, or X to reject. (Generating draws from your credit pool.)
4. Open the resulting clip in the Piano Roll or Sequencer and tweak it to taste — Ono gives you a starting point, not a finished part.
5. Attach context (a sound, preset, or clip) to your next prompt so Ono tailors ideas to what you've got.
6. Press Cmd/Ctrl+S to save.

What it is

Design it like Photoshop, animate it to your music, export the loop — all in the browser.

Canvas is a browser-native design AND animation studio tuned for music creators. One tab fuses three things almost nobody ships together: a layer-based editor (like Photoshop), a real 3D workspace (like a mini Blender), and a keyframe timeline (like After Effects) — all wired to live audio. So you can design an album cover, then make it move to the actual beat of your track and export a looping video. Make covers, posts, stories, flyers and banners; drop in 240+ animated generators (100+ react to your song); spin a 3D logo out to transparent video; then export a PNG, a sized social pack, or an audio-synced MP4/WebM loop. Fastest start: pick a size on the new-project screen, then open the Designs panel for a starter layout, or the Audio panel to pull in a track.

Areas and panels

Left rail (tools) (left)

Select · Move (V), Hand/pan (H/Space), Text (T), Insert (shapes, frames, faux-3D, images), Pen, Selection, Crop, Retouch, Spray (A), and the fill bucket (its button reads 'Solid fill' until you switch fill mode). Colour adjustments aren't here — they're in the top-bar Effects menu. Tip: ⌘/Ctrl-click on the canvas does a deep-select — bust through groups/overlays to the exact layer under the cursor; click again to step deeper.

New-project screen (on open)

The first thing you see: one searchable grid of size presets, grouped Social · Print · Video & Screen · Standard — album cover, social post, story/reel, banner, flyer, thumbnails, print sizes and more. Your pick sets the canvas size and which starter content pre-populates.

Canvas (center)

Your artboard. Pink smart guides snap things into alignment. Drag a corner to resize; hold Shift to lock aspect, Alt to scale from the centre. Toggle rulers/grid/guides for a clean view.

Right panels (right)

Layers, Color, Brushes, 3D, AI (Ono), Designs, Frames, Stickers, Overlays, Generators, Audio, and Animate — content + properties.

Inspector (right)

Properties for the selected layer: font/size/color, opacity, blend mode, Layer styles (shadow/glow/stroke), and an Animation section to set THIS layer's movement (still, or a preset) without opening the timeline.

Audio + Generators panels (right)

Pick one project track, drop audio-reactive generators that pulse to it, and shape the audio with the Master FX tab (low-pass, reverb, saturate, fade in/out). Preview plays the song live; export bakes the reaction + muxes the audio.

Animation Center (Design ⇄ Timeline) (bottom)

Flip to Timeline mode for a real keyframe timeline: per-layer clips, vibes, transform + property keyframes, motion paths, beat-snap, and a smooth RAM preview. Page bar doubles as a multi-page sequence track with morphing transitions.

Export panel (Export)

Image or Video, then five tabs (plus PAGES on multi-page docs): SAVE (PNG/JPG/WebP/SVG at 1–4×), PACK (every social size zipped, plus Smart Variants that reframe one design to 1:1/4:5/9:16/16:9), COVER (set it as a project cover), POST (publish to your feed with a caption and a linked song) and COPY (PNG to clipboard). Video mode exports the loop as MP4 H.264/AAC or WebM VP9/Opus+alpha at 24/30/60 fps with the song muxed in.

Key concepts

Layer

Every object (text, shape, image, 3D, generator, video, adjustment) is a stacked layer you can select, reorder, group, restyle, and animate.

Generator

An animated layer (starfield, fluid, neon, audio spectrum…) — 240+ of them, 100+ react to a bound song. Drop it, bind your track, and it pulses to the music in preview and export.

Vibe vs per-layer motion

A 'vibe' animates the whole scene with one click; per-layer motion (in the inspector's Animation section or the timeline) overrides individual layers — set the title to float, the bg to parallax, a shape to still.

Animation Center

Flip Design ⇄ Timeline to keyframe transforms (x/y/scale/rotation/opacity) AND properties (font size, stroke width, colour…), curve motion paths, and snap edits to the beat.

Master FX

Effects (gain, low/high-pass, reverb, saturate) and fade in/out applied to the project audio track — heard in preview AND baked into the exported file.

Page transitions

A multi-page doc plays as a sequence: design each page like its own artboard, then crossfade / slide / morph between them — the audio plays straight through on its own clock.

Save vs Export

Save (Cmd/Ctrl+S) keeps the editable project in the cloud; Export produces the final PNG/JPEG, social pack, or video loop.

Do I need an account, and what's free?

Studio, Canvas, Motion and Journal need a free Onomo account — signed out, you're sent to sign in first. (Foundry and the Toolkit work without one.) Every tool, instrument, effect and export format is free on every plan; the only thing that costs anything is AI, which spends credits from one pool shared across all the apps. Free gets 100 credits a month, 2 GB of storage and 25 projects. Pro ($10/month) gets 1,000 credits a month, 50 GB, unlimited projects, and can host live collaboration for up to 10 people — joining someone else's session is free. Monthly credits reset and don't roll over; top-up packs never expire. See your balance in Settings → Account & Usage.

What is Canvas and what can I make with it?

Canvas is a browser-based image editor (think Photoshop in your browser) for making album covers, social posts, flyers, banners, and other graphics. It has vector and raster tools, AI image generation, effects, 3D shapes, animated loops, and multi-page export. To start fast, open the Designs panel on the right and pick a category like Cover, Post, Story, Flyer, or Banner.

What's the size picker I see when I open Canvas?

That's the new-project screen, and it's the real first step. It's one searchable grid of size presets in four groups — Social, Print, Video & Screen and Standard — covering the common jobs (Album cover 1500×1500, Social post 1080×1350, Story / Reel 1080×1920, Banner 1920×1080, Flyer, a blank canvas) plus platform-specific sizes and print sizes. Type in the search box to jump to one. Your pick sets the canvas dimensions *and* which starter content pre-populates, so choose the shape you're actually publishing to.

What's the difference between the Designs panel and 'templates'?

The Designs panel holds starter layouts — cover, post, story, flyer and banner arrangements you apply to your current canvas as a set of editable layers. That's what you want when you're starting a still design. It used to be called Templates, so older tutorials may say that. In Onomo, 'Templates' now means the animated template scenes catalog you'll find in Motion — a different thing entirely. If a guide tells you to open Templates in Canvas, it means Designs.

How do I move and resize things on the canvas?

Press V (or click the Move button in the left rail), then click and drag a layer. Press V again to cycle the Move tool's modes — Move (default), Skew, Distort and Perspective; Orbit (for 3D) is in the Move button's dropdown. To pan around the canvas instead of moving a layer, press H for the Hand tool, or just hold Space for a temporary pan.

How do I add and style text?

Press T or click the Text dropdown in the left rail, then pick Text (a single point line) or Text box (a paragraph block). Click on the canvas and type. With the text layer selected, the Inspector on the right shows Font, Size, Weight, Alignment, Leading, Tracking, Color, and Stroke. You can also flow text along a curve using a Bezier path with an offset.

How do I generate an image with AI?

Open the AI panel in the right column and choose Generate or Edit. Generate has three kinds: Scene (a full image), Overlay (a Screen-blend texture over your canvas), and Sticker (an isolated subject with the background cut out); Edit is img2img that can replace your selected layer. Type a prompt, set style, quality, and count, then hit Generate. Each result gives you Add layer / Fill canvas / Replace actions. Note: AI generation uses credits and the panel shows the cost per batch.

How do I make a cover from one of my songs?

Open the Audio panel on the right and switch to its Import tab — it's the third tab, after Audio Visuals and Master FX, so you may need to scroll the tab strip across. Search your library, preview a track with the play button on its card, then select it. In the drawer that opens, tap Build cover for a one-tap combo (cover art + title + waveform), or import each piece on its own — Cover, Title, Waveform, AI cover (seeds the AI panel with a prompt) and Lyrics.

How do I save my project?

Click the Save button (floppy disk icon) in the header, or press Cmd/Ctrl+S. It saves to the cloud and shows a save status. Saving is separate from exporting an image file — use Save to keep your editable project, and Export to produce a PNG/JPEG.

How do I export my design?

Click Export. The panel opens on Image (there's a Video mode next to it) with five tabs: SAVE · PACK · COVER · POST · COPY. SAVE renders the current page to a file — pick a format (PNG, JPG, WebP or SVG — yes, real vector export) and a size multiplier (1×, 2×, 3×, 4× or Custom), and the panel shows the exact output pixels before you commit. Then Download, or SAVE TO LIBRARY to put it in your Drive. COPY puts a PNG straight on your clipboard to paste into another app, and CONTINUE saves the project so you can open it in Motion.

Can I export every social size at once?

Yes — the PACK tab renders every social size at once and zips them together. Tick the ones you want from Spotify 3000², Instagram post, Instagram story, TikTok, YouTube thumbnail, Twitter header and US Letter poster; the button counts your selection (e.g. *Export 7 sizes*). Underneath, SMART VARIANTS does something different and worth knowing about: it reflows one design into 1:1, 4:5, 9:16 and 16:9 while keeping the subject in frame — hit Make variants instead of re-cropping by hand.

How do I retouch or fix a photo (remove blemishes, clone, smudge)?

Click the Retouch menu in the left rail. It offers Spot heal (auto-blend, on by default), Heal brush (blends a source intelligently), Clone stamp (Alt+click to set a source, then paint to copy pixels), Smudge (drag pixels along your stroke), Liquify (distort pixels), plus the tone brushes Dodge, Burn and Sponge, and Blur / Sharpen.

How do I make a selection to edit just part of an image?

Click the Selection menu in the left rail and pick Marquee (rectangle or ellipse), Lasso (point-click or free-form), or Magic wand (click a color to grab similar pixels by tolerance). You can combine selections with Replace, Add, Subtract, or Intersect. Selections stay active until you deselect with Esc, Shift+D, or by clicking outside (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+D brings the last selection back).

How do I change a layer's opacity, blend mode, or add a shadow?

Select the layer, and the Inspector on the right shows an Opacity slider and a Blend mode dropdown (Normal, Multiply, Screen, Overlay, and more). For effects, click the Layer styles button in the Inspector to edit drop shadow, outer glow, inner glow, and stroke, each with offset/blur/color/opacity controls.

How do I apply color adjustments like Curves, Levels, or Saturation?

Open the Effects menu in the top bar — it's the single home for every non-destructive pixel transform, with Adjustments (Curves, Levels, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Hue) and Filters as two sections of the same menu. Picking one drops a fresh effect layer on top of the stack that affects everything below it. Re-scope it to a single layer or group in the Inspector, reorder or hide or delete it to undo, and tweak its parameters forever. (There's no Adjustments button in the left rail — it moved into this menu so there's one path.)

How do I make a looping video (like a Spotify Canvas)?

Open the Animate panel and pick a vibe (Still, Breathing, Ken Burns, Energetic, Dramatic, Depth 3D…) to animate the whole scene in one click, or set per-layer motion so each layer moves its own way. Want precision? Flip to Timeline mode (Design ⇄ Timeline) and keyframe it. Set playback to Loop, preview (buffer mode plays back perfectly smooth), then Export an MP4/WebM. It's free and renders right in your browser.

How do I work with multiple pages in one document?

Use the page bar at the bottom: click + to add a page, double-click to rename, right-click for settings. Each page is its own artboard (and can be its own canvas size). With more than one page, the Export dialog gains a Pages tab (per-page PNG), and you can turn the doc into an animated sequence — the pages play one after another with morphing transitions (crossfade / slide / fade-through) between them.

How do I add a QR code or link to my design?

In the Stickers tab, choose QR / Link. Pick Link or Text, enter what the code should hold, and add it to the canvas. Canvas detects the service to pick a brand color automatically.

How do I make my design react to my actual song?

Open the Audio panel and pick a track (it can also pull in the cover art + title). Then open Generators and drop an audio-reactive generator (e.g. Audio Spectrum, Audio Bloom, Audio Tunnel) — it binds to your song and pulses to the music. There are 240+ generators, 100+ of them audio-reactive. Preview plays the track with live audio so the visual reacts in real time; on Export, the reaction is baked deterministically (it matches the preview exactly) and the song is muxed into the video.

Can I apply audio effects or fade the music in/out?

Yes. In the Audio panel, open the Master FX tab. Add effects to the project audio track — Gain, Low-pass, High-pass, Reverb, Saturate — and a Fade in / Fade out transition. What you hear in preview is exactly what exports: the FX shape both the live preview and the muxed audio track in the final file.

How do I set one layer to move (or NOT move) without opening the timeline?

Select the layer — the Inspector has an Animation section. Pick Vibe default (follow the scene), Off — hold still (this layer never moves), or any movement preset, with Strength and Speed sliders. For full keyframe choreography, hit the Timeline link in that section to jump to the Animation Center focused on this layer.

What can I keyframe in the timeline?

Flip Design ⇄ Timeline. Each layer gets a clip; expand its Keys and scrub + drag a value to drop keyframes. You can keyframe the 5 transform channels (x, y, scale, rotation, opacity) AND 'any-property' channels like font size, stroke width, fill/stroke colour, corner radius, and shadow blur. You can also curve a layer's motion path, and turn on Snap → Beat so keyframes lock to the kicks and snares of your track.

Can I make 3D text or spin a 3D logo into a video?

Yes. The 3D panel gives you extruded 3D text and 3D objects (primitives + composite models) with real materials, environment-map reflections, and a light rig. For motion, open Turntable, pick a spin preset, and Add spin to project — Canvas renders it to a transparent (alpha) video and drops it back as a real video layer you can stroke, blend, keyframe, and composite over your other (still-animating) layers.

Build a square album cover from your song

A finished 1:1 album cover that pulls in your track's art, title, and waveform, exported as a PNG. (Level: beginner, about 10 min)

1. Canvas already opens at Album cover · 1:1 (1500×1500), so the size is set. Open the Audio panel in the right column and switch to its Import tab (third along — scroll the tab strip if it's cut off).
2. Search your library, tap the play button on a song card to preview it, then select the track you want. In the drawer that opens, tap Build cover to drop in the cover art, title text and waveform in one move. (Importing the Title also renames your document to the song name.)
3. Press T and use the Text dropdown to add a Text layer for your artist name. Click on the canvas, type, then use the Inspector's Font, Size, Weight, and Color controls to style it.
4. Select the title text layer and click Layer styles in the Inspector to add a drop shadow so the type pops off the artwork.
5. Press Cmd/Ctrl+S to save the project, then click Export. On the SAVE tab pick PNG at 1× and hit Download — or SAVE TO LIBRARY to drop it straight into your Drive. If you want the whole social set, switch to PACK and export every size at once.

Generate an AI scene and turn it into a social post

An AI-generated background with a headline, exported as an Instagram/Story/TikTok pack. (Level: beginner, about 12 min)

1. Open the Designs panel and pick a Post layout to set up the right canvas size, then apply one you like.
2. Open the AI panel, choose Generate → Scene, type a prompt (e.g. 'moody neon city skyline at night'), set quality and count, and hit Generate.
3. On a result you like, click Fill canvas to set it as the background layer.
4. Press T, add a Text box for your headline, and style it in the Inspector (Alignment, Tracking, Color). Adjust its Opacity and Blend mode in the Inspector if you want it to sit into the image.
5. Add a finishing texture: open the Overlays panel and apply a grain or dust overlay.
6. Press Cmd/Ctrl+S to save, then click Export and use the Pack tab to download a zip with PNG + Instagram/Story/TikTok crops.

Make a Spotify-style looping cover

A short looping MP4/WebM made from a still cover, exported from the Animate panel for free. (Level: intermediate, about 15 min)

1. Start from a finished still image — either build one with the Audio or Designs panel, or generate a single Scene in the AI panel and click Fill canvas.
2. Press T to add a small title or logo as its own layer so it can move independently from the background.
3. Open the Animate panel in the right column and stay on its Presets tab (it's free and renders in your browser).
4. Pick a vibe such as Ken Burns for a pan-and-zoom, or choose Per-layer to assign motion presets to individual layers (Travel, Zoom, Rotate, etc.). Press Play to preview the loop.
5. When it looks right, click Export, switch to Video, and export the loop as an MP4 or WebM.
6. Press Cmd/Ctrl+S to also save the editable project.

Cut a logo sticker out with AI and place it on a poster

A multi-element flyer with an AI-cut subject, a shape banner, and a QR code, exported as a PNG. (Level: intermediate, about 18 min)

1. Open Designs, choose a Flyer layout, and apply it.
2. Open the AI panel, choose Generate → Sticker, prompt for your subject (e.g. 'glossy 3D headphones'), and Generate. Sticker isolates the subject and removes the background. Add it as a layer.
3. Click Insert in the left rail and pick a basic rectangle from the picker to make a banner strip behind your headline. Adjust its color and Blend mode in the Inspector.
4. Press T, add a Text headline over the banner, then select both the text and shape and use the floating Alignment toolbar above the canvas to center them.
5. Open the Stickers tab, choose QR / Link, pick Link, paste your link, and add the QR code to the corner.
6. Select your subject, shape, and text layers and right-click to Group them so they stay organized, then press Cmd/Ctrl+S to save.
7. Click Export, use the Save tab, choose PNG, and download.

What it is

A music-video editor where your visuals react to the music.

Motion is a timeline video editor built for music: add a song and bind any animated parameter to what the music is doing — the hits on the bass, mids or treble, the overall level, or the melody's pitch — so your visuals pulse, glow, and move in time with the track, no keyframing required. Got real stems? Each file lands on its own audio track, and a binding can listen to just that one. Build music videos, lyric videos, Spotify Canvases, and social clips, then render a hardware-accelerated MP4. Pick a template archetype to preset your size and duration.

Areas and panels

Canvas (preview) (center)

Your composition preview. GPU-first (WebGL2); a banner warns if it falls back to 2D and drops 3D/particles/masks.

Timeline (bottom)

Tracks of clips with a razor (C), snap picker, and a beat grid you can turn on once a song is loaded.

Left rail panels (Shift+1–7)

Project, My Media, Stock B-roll, Templates, Frames, AI Generations, Storyboard — toggle with Shift+1…7. Your canvas format lives as a card at the top of Project.

Storyboard panel (Shift+7)

Production reference handed off from the Journal: your storyboard's frames arrive read-only with shot descriptions you can check off in Motion as you build each one.

Audio panel (right rail)

Tracks / Master FX / Import. Import adds audio files; Tracks is a per-track gain/pan mixer plus the bus — 'Duck music under voice', 'Beat grid on the ruler', and beat markers every beat or bar. A song's tempo and info live on its clip's Source card in the Inspector.

Time & Beat (right rail)

22 beat-synced time moves for the selected clip — stutters and micro-loops, retriggers that fire on the kick or the snare, speed ramps, freeze, reverse, boomerang, slow-mo, stop motion, ghost/RGB/beat echoes and long exposure, plus beat-grid shuffles and glitch chops.

Inspector (right)

Per-clip properties + keyframes; the ⚡ BindChip next to a param binds it to the music for audio reactivity.

Text & Lyrics / Transitions / Filters (panels)

Text templates + lyric mode, a big library of transition presets with a Tune drawer, and cinematic filter presets.

The rest of the right rail (right rail)

Effects, Actions, Generators, Overlays, Masks — plus Ono, an AI that can direct the video for you. Every panel applies to whatever clip is selected.

Stickers (right rail)

1,100+ drop-in elements across Elements / Shapes / Uploads, filtered by category: Broadcast (lower-thirds, chyrons, tickers), Audio, CTAs, Badges, Tags, Data, Social, Music, Type, Editorial and Film.

Export panel (Export)

Pick aspect (9:16/1:1/4:5/16:9/Canvas) + quality preset, then Render MP4; re-download or Save to library after.

Key concepts

React source

What a binding listens to: Hits · Bass / Mid / Treble, Level, Bass / Mid / Treble energy, or Pitch — optionally pinned to one audio track (a vocal stem, say, instead of the whole song).

Bind (⚡)

Link an animated param (scale/opacity/effect) to the music so it moves with it — the signature Motion move.

Keyframe

A value at a point in time; set two and Motion interpolates between them. Keyframe times are clip-local.

Archetype

A new-project template that presets canvas size, duration, and tracks (Music video, Lyric video, Spotify Canvas, …).

Aspect / quality

Export shape (9:16, 16:9, Canvas…) and bitrate preset (Reels…Master). 'Canvas' auto-caps at 8s per Spotify's spec.

Do I need an account, and what's free?

Studio, Canvas, Motion and Journal need a free Onomo account — signed out, you're sent to sign in first. (Foundry and the Toolkit work without one.) Every tool, instrument, effect and export format is free on every plan; the only thing that costs anything is AI, which spends credits from one pool shared across all the apps. Free gets 100 credits a month, 2 GB of storage and 25 projects. Pro ($10/month) gets 1,000 credits a month, 50 GB, unlimited projects, and can host live collaboration for up to 10 people — joining someone else's session is free. Monthly credits reset and don't roll over; top-up packs never expire. See your balance in Settings → Account & Usage.

How do I start a new Motion project?

When you first open Motion, a What are you making? picker appears over the canvas with template archetypes (Music video, Beat seller, Lyric video, Spotify Canvas, plus TikTok, Reels, YouTube, Explainer and 35+ more). Pick one and it presets your canvas size, duration, and tracks. Skip just closes the picker and leaves you on the default canvas (vertical 1080×1920, 30s) — change anything later from the format card at the top of the Project panel (Shift+1).

Where do I change my canvas size or duration after starting?

Press Shift+1 for the Project panel — it's the structural view of what's in your project right now (scenes and tracks). The format card at the top holds your canvas dimensions, duration, dimension templates, and saved presets, and opens a Format pop-out for the full set. There used to be a separate Workspace panel on the rail; it folded into this card, which is why the rail now starts at Project.

What is the Storyboard panel for?

Shift+7 opens Storyboard — the hand-off surface from the Journal. Plan a video as a storyboard doc in the Journal (a run of frames with shot descriptions), and it arrives here as read-only production reference you check off in Motion as you build each shot. It's deliberately not an editor: you keep authoring the storyboard in the Journal and use this panel as the shot list while you cut.

How do I load a song?

Two ways in. Starting a new project? The "What are you making?" picker has a From a Studio song row at the top — pick one of your Studio tracks and the project is built around it. Already working? Open the Audio panel (right rail), go to its Import tab and use Add audio to browse for a file, or just drop an audio file anywhere on the canvas. Note that the in-project importer takes files, not songs from your library — pull a Studio track in at project-creation time. The song lands as a clip on an audio track (the timeline draws its waveform), and its tempo and info live on that clip's Source card in the Inspector. Have real stems? Import each file and it gets its own track.

How do I make my video react to the music?

This is Motion's signature feature. Select a clip, open the Inspector → Props tab, and click the ⚡ next to any animatable field (x, y, scale, rotation, skew, opacity, or an effect param). Pick a source — Hits · Bass (kicks, toms, downbeats — the default), Hits · Mid (snares, claps), Hits · Treble (hats, shakers), Level (overall loudness), Bass / Mid / Treble energy, or Pitch (the melody) — choose how it reacts (Continuous, On hits or Pitch), and set Gain and Offset. To react to just one part, pin the binding to an audio track — e.g. a vocal stem you imported as its own file — instead of the whole song. The ⚡ only lights up once there's audio in the project — until then it reads *Drop a song to enable audio bindings*, which is the usual reason people think the feature is missing.

How do I cut a clip into pieces?

Press C (or pick the Razor/Scissors tool from the timeline toolbar) and click the clip at the point you want to cut. To split everything selected at the playhead instead, press Shift+K or use the split button in the timeline toolbar's edit-ops group. Press V to return to the Select tool.

How do I add text or build a lyric video?

Press T (or use the timeline toolbar) to drop a text clip at the playhead, then open the Text & Lyrics panel. It has tabs for Templates, Styles, Type (content, font, size, weight, letter-spacing, color), and Animate (reveal animations: fade/swipe/pop/glitch/scramble/bounce, by char/word/line). The Templates tab is filtered by category — Titles, Lower Thirds, Lyrics, Credits, Call to Action and Tags — and each card shows the reveal it uses (fade-up, blur-in, scale-pop, typewriter, slide, bounce), so pick the look and the animation in one click. For a lyric video, set the text clip to lyrics mode so a Lyrics tab appears — paste your lyrics and drag-set the timing per line against the beat rail.

How do I add transitions between clips?

Select a clip and open the Transitions panel. Pick which edge it applies to — In, Out, Both, or Seam (the join between two touching clips) — set a duration, then choose from 66 presets filtered by category chip: Smooth (6), Punch (9), Cinematic (9), 3D (5), Shape (5), Retro (8) and Shader (24). Every card tells you what it does and how long it runs — e.g. *Whip right · motion-blur fast pan · 0.4s*, *Glitch cut · RGB scramble · 0.25s slam*, *Zoom punch · cross-zoom 2.0×*. The Tune drawer below lets you dial direction, softness, blur, and colour.

How do I export my video?

Click Export in the header (or open the Export panel). Pick an Aspect — Match project (the default), 9:16 Reels/TikTok/Shorts, 1:1 square post, 4:5 IG portrait, 16:9 YouTube landscape, or Canvas (Spotify Canvas, 8s max) — and a Quality preset (Reels 8 Mbps, Story 10 Mbps, TikTok 12 Mbps, YouTube 16 Mbps, or Master 50 Mbps), then hit Render MP4. It encodes hardware-accelerated H.264 and auto-downloads the .mp4 when done. The render is frame-accurate via WebCodecs.

Can I re-download a render without rendering again, or save it to my library?

Yes. After a render finishes, the Export panel shows a Last render box with the filename and file size. Click Download again to grab the same file (the link stays live until the panel unmounts), or click Save to library to push the MP4 into your Onomo Drive under the Motion folder.

What's the Spotify Canvas aspect, and why does it cap at 8 seconds?

Choosing Canvas in the Export panel renders a vertical 9:16 clip and automatically caps the duration at 8 seconds (the Spotify Canvas spec), shown as "capped at 8s (Canvas spec)" in the Output summary. After rendering, if the file is over 8MB the panel flags it with a warning so you can re-render at a lower quality preset to fit.

Are my changes saved automatically?

Motion writes a local draft about 1.5 seconds after each change, but saving to the cloud is explicit. When you have unsaved changes the header Save button lights up — click it or press Cmd/Ctrl+S to write to the cloud. The header shows a spinner while saving and a green check when everything's saved.

How do I undo a mistake?

Press Cmd/Ctrl+Z to undo and Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Z to redo. The Undo/Redo buttons also live in the header and in the timeline toolbar, and they show how many steps are stacked. History is kept across your edits, so you can step back several actions.

My clips won't line up neatly — how do I snap them?

Use the Snap picker in the timeline toolbar to choose a grid: off, frame, second, beat, half-beat, or bar. Clips then move and trim onto that grid, and magnet-snap also pulls clip edges to neighbor edges and the playhead. To snap to beats, add a song first (its tempo is on the clip's Source card in the Inspector), then turn on Beat grid on the ruler in the Audio panel's Tracks tab so you can see the beats.

Why did my 3D transition or particle effect turn into a plain fade?

Motion's compositor is GPU-first (WebGL2). If your browser falls back to Canvas2D, the advanced GPU-only features degrade gracefully: 3D transitions like cube-rotate and card-flip become a fade, 3D rotations (rotationX/Y) and particles drop out, and masks are ignored. Use a browser/device with WebGL2 support to get the full feature set during preview and export.

How do I keyframe movement like a fade-in or a zoom?

Select a clip and open the Inspector → Props tab. Move the playhead to where you want the keyframe, then click the ◇ next to the field you want to animate — x, y, scale, rotation, skewX, skewY and opacity each have their own. Set another keyframe further along and Motion interpolates between them, and the ‹ › arrows jump between keyframes. Choose easing (linear, ease-in, ease-out, ease-in-out, or hold). The Animate tab lists everything animated on the clip — it's empty until you set your first key, and it's where you go to see what's moving. For something quicker, Actions has one-click animations. Keyframe times are clip-local, so moving the whole clip carries them with it.

How do I make a clip stutter, freeze, or retrigger on the beat?

Select a clip and open Time & Beat in the right rail. It holds 22 beat-synced time moves in four groups. Repeat: Stutter (1 bar), Stutter (½ beat), Micro-loop. Remap: Strobe retrigger (restarts on every low hit — usually the kick), Backbeat retrigger (restarts on every mid hit — snare or clap), Speed ramp in/out, Freeze frame, Reverse, Boomerang, Rewind & replay, Choppy time, Slow-mo, Stop motion. Echo: Ghost trail, RGB echo, Beat echo, Long exposure. Shuffle: Grain shuffle, Beat shuffle, Glitch storm, Sputter. The retriggers and beat-locked moves follow your song, so load a track first. You need a clip targeted — with nothing selected the panel says "Edit — no clip targeted".

How do I stop the music drowning out a voiceover?

Open the Audio panel and turn on Duck music under voice. Tag your clips as Voice or Music in the Inspector and Motion ducks the music automatically whenever the voice clip plays — no keyframing. The same panel has a small mixer with a bus, per-clip Gain and Pan, and beat markers you can drop on every beat or every bar.

What do the Shift+number keys do?

Shift+1 through Shift+7 toggle the left-rail panels in order: Project, My Media, Stock B-roll, Templates, Frames, AI Generations, and Storyboard. It's the fastest way to open or close a content library without reaching for the mouse. Note there's no separate Workspace panel any more — your canvas format (dimensions, duration, saved presets) is a card at the top of the Project panel.

8-second Spotify Canvas loop

A vertical 9:16 looping clip exported as an MP4 that fits the Spotify Canvas spec. (Level: beginner, about 12 min)

1. On the What are you making? picker, choose the Spotify Canvas archetype (1080×1920, 8s). Your canvas and duration are now preset.
2. Open the My Media panel (Shift+2) and drag a short video or image onto the timeline, or drag a file straight onto the canvas.
3. Open the Audio panel in the right rail, go to its Import tab and use Add audio to bring in your track (or drop the file on the canvas).
4. Select your visual clip, open the Inspector, click the ⚡ BindChip on the scale param, keep the source on Hits · Bass, and nudge Gain so the image pulses on the kick.
5. Set the clip's When source ends behavior to loop in the Inspector so the 8 seconds tile cleanly.
6. Click Export in the header, pick aspect Canvas (auto-caps at 8s), pick the Reels quality preset to keep the file small, and click Render MP4.
7. When the Last render box appears, click Save to library to store the MP4, or Download again to re-grab the file.

Beat-synced lyric snippet

A 15-second vertical lyric clip where each line reveals in time with the song, exported as MP4. (Level: intermediate, about 20 min)

1. Start from the Lyric video archetype on the new-project picker (1080×1920).
2. Add your song from the Audio panel's Import tab, check its tempo on the clip's Source card in the Inspector, then turn on Beat grid on the ruler (Audio panel → Tracks) so beats show on the timeline.
3. Set the timeline Snap picker to beat so text clips land on the grid.
4. Press T to drop a text clip, open the Text panel, and on the Templates tab pick a styled template. Switch the clip to lyrics mode so the Lyrics tab appears.
5. On the Lyrics tab, paste your lyric lines and drag-set the timing of each line against the beat rail.
6. On the Animate tab, choose a reveal kind (e.g. swipe or pop) and set the unit to word so words appear one at a time.
7. In the Export panel, render to 9:16 at the TikTok quality preset, then Save to library when it completes.

Two-clip B-roll cut with a transition and color grade

A 16:9 video that cuts between two clips with a cross-zoom transition and a cinematic color grade, exported as MP4. (Level: intermediate, about 18 min)

1. Choose the YouTube HD (1920×1080) archetype, or Blank wide if you just want a 16:9 canvas.
2. From My Media (Shift+2), drag two video clips onto the same video track, back to back on the timeline.
3. If a clip is too long, press C (Razor) and click to trim it, then drag the second clip to butt up against the first (use the Snap picker for clean alignment).
4. Select the first clip, open the Transitions panel, choose the OUT edge, set a duration (~0.5s), filter to the Punch category, and click Zoom punch (a 2× cross-zoom). Use the Tune drawer to set direction and blur.
5. Open the Filters panel, pick a Cinematic preset, and dial the intensity slider. Hold backslash to compare against the ungraded look.
6. Open the Audio panel's Import tab and Add audio for the soundtrack.
7. Click Export, render to 16:9 at the YouTube quality preset, and Download the MP4.

Animated lower-third over a clip

A clip with an animated lower-third widget that reveals your name/handle, exported as MP4. (Level: beginner, about 15 min)

1. Pick any archetype that matches your output (e.g. Instagram Reel for 9:16).
2. From My Media (Shift+2), drag a background video or image onto the timeline.
3. Open the Stickers panel (Elements tab) and filter to the Broadcast category — that's where the lower-thirds live: *Name Lower-Third*, *Badge Lower-Third*, *Underline Lower-Third*, *Interview Name-Card* and friends. Click one and it drops as a fully editable scene block at the playhead.
4. With the widget scene selected, open it to re-skin the text (swap the placeholder handle for your real @name) and recolor it; the built-in animation keeps playing.
5. Move the playhead and use the timeline to retime when the lower-third enters and exits.
6. Open the Audio panel's Import tab and Add audio if you want music under it.
7. Click Export, choose your aspect and the Reels or TikTok quality preset, click Render MP4, then Save to library.

What it is

Your artist notebook — every lyric, note, concept, plan, memo and storyboard in one tree.

The Journal is where songs start and get organized. Everything wordy is a document — lyrics, notes, concepts, plans, voice memos, storyboards — and they all live in one searchable tree inside Docs. Two other surfaces sit alongside it because they're genuinely different shapes of thinking: Brainstorm (an infinite board) and Roster (the calendar/project wall). One AI, Assist (⌘J), works on whatever document you're looking at. Your lyrics and notes round-trip with Studio.

Areas and panels

Docs (D) (D)

The document tree — folders are projects, plus Loose. Filter by kind (Lyrics · Notes · Concepts · Plans · Voice memos · Storyboards), search it, and the center pane is always the open document. The doc's kind decides which editor renders and which right-rail tools light up.

Brainstorm (B) (B)

An infinite zoomable canvas — spawn text/lyric/note/image/audio/palette cards, draw freehand ink, frame groups, and connect ideas with lines.

Roster (G) (G)

Project wall + calendar with drop dates, per-day agenda notes, and cross-project goals.

Assist (⌘J) (Cmd/Ctrl+J)

The one AI surface. Say what you want and it happens to the document you have open — draft or rewrite lyrics, fill a concept from a brief, draft a release plan, expand a note. With nothing open it creates the doc for you. Each AI action costs 1 credit.

Find anything (Cmd/Ctrl+K) (Cmd/Ctrl+K)

Global search across lyrics, notes, concepts, plans, memos, storyboards, and daily notes. Every hit lands in one of the three surfaces.

Player bar + metronome (bottom)

Sticky bottom bar: load a beat (from a project or your files), set BPM, tap tempo, and run a standalone metronome — so you can write to a pulse with no audio loaded. It keeps playing as you move between surfaces.

Karaoke rail (bottom)

Above the player bar: as a beat plays, your timed lyric lines light up in stage-sized type so you can read (or sing) along.

Settings (rail)

Defaults (week start, scopes, lyric auto-version) + Data export/import. Opens from the profile button in the rail's user dock.

Key concepts

Everything is a doc

Lyrics, notes, concepts, plans, voice memos and storyboards are document KINDS inside the Docs tree — not separate places you navigate to.

Three surfaces

Docs (the page), Brainstorm (the board), Roster (the calendar). Those are the only rail destinations: D, B, G.

Assist (⌘J)

One AI for every doc. It reads what you have open and applies its result straight to the page — no drafts drawer. 1 credit per AI action.

Round-trip

Lyrics + notes are shared with Studio, so what you write in either place follows the project.

Concept → Plan

Save a generated concept, then 'Plan this' to turn it into a release plan with a drop date and todos.

Saved

A Lyrics doc's history + library. Snapshot manually with '+ Save song', or let auto-save keep the last 10, then restore any earlier take by timestamp.

Local + cloud

Saves to your browser automatically (memo audio in IndexedDB); the header Save pushes to the cloud. JSON export omits audio.

Do I need an account, and what's free?

Studio, Canvas, Motion and Journal need a free Onomo account — signed out, you're sent to sign in first. (Foundry and the Toolkit work without one.) Every tool, instrument, effect and export format is free on every plan; the only thing that costs anything is AI, which spends credits from one pool shared across all the apps. Free gets 100 credits a month, 2 GB of storage and 25 projects. Pro ($10/month) gets 1,000 credits a month, 50 GB, unlimited projects, and can host live collaboration for up to 10 people — joining someone else's session is free. Monthly credits reset and don't roll over; top-up packs never expire. See your balance in Settings → Account & Usage.

What is the Journal and how is it laid out?

The Journal is your artist notebook for lyrics, notes, concepts, release plans, voice memos, and storyboards across projects. The model is simple: everything wordy is a document, and every document lives in one tree inside Docs. The left rail has just three destinations — Docs (the page), Brainstorm (the board), and Roster (the calendar) — plus Find anything. A sticky player bar at the bottom lets you load a beat and write to it, and Assist (⌘J) is the one AI that works on whichever document you have open.

How do I move around the Journal quickly?

Press a single key from anywhere in the Journal (as long as you're not typing in a text field): D = Docs, B = Brainstorm, G = Roster. N captures a note — inside Docs it makes a new one, from anywhere else it drops you into Docs where the note lives. Cmd/Ctrl+K toggles global search, and inside Docs Cmd/Ctrl+J opens Assist (that one works even while you're typing). There are only three destinations because lyrics, notes, concepts, plans, memos and storyboards aren't places — they're documents inside the Docs tree.

How do I write lyrics and break them into verses and choruses?

In Docs (D), make a new Lyrics doc from the + New button, or open an existing one from the tree. The lyric editor is a serif notepad with color-coded section cards. Click the + to add a section (it picks a default from the section templates, like verse/chorus), then type inline. Drag a card's grip icon to reorder, or use the right-rail Sections panel, which lists every section with color tags and move buttons. The right-rail Style panel lets you change font, background, line-height, and page width.

How do I record a voice memo and turn it into lyrics?

In Docs, click the mic button next to + New to start recording straight away — if your browser allows it, live captions appear via SpeechRecognition as you speak. Save the memo and it lands in the tree as a Voice memo doc. Open it, fix up the transcript in place, then use Send to section or Send to note to turn it into a lyric section or a note. You can also start a memo already attached to a section by clicking the mic icon in a lyric section header.

What's the difference between a Note doc and Brainstorm?

A Note is a document — a quick text snippet you can tag, scope (Session/Project/Other projects/Loose), search, and open from the Docs tree. Brainstorm (B) is a different shape of thinking: an infinite zoomable canvas where you spawn cards (text, lyric, note, image, audio, palette), drag and resize them, draw freehand ink, frame groups, and connect cards with lines. Use notes for capture, Brainstorm for visual idea-mapping.

What is Assist, and what does it cost?

Assist is the Journal's single AI surface — press Cmd/Ctrl+J (or click the floating sparkle) anywhere in Docs. Instead of a dozen scattered AI buttons, you say what you want and it happens to the document you're looking at: draft or rewrite lyric sections toward a direction, fill a concept's sections from a brief, draft a release plan from a description, or expand a note in place. With nothing open, describe what you want and Assist creates the doc for you. Results apply directly to the page — there's no drafts drawer. Each AI action costs 1 credit from your shared pool.

Can I write to a beat while I'm in the Journal?

Yes — that's what the sticky player bar at the bottom is for. Load a beat from one of your projects or your files, and it keeps playing as you move between Docs, Brainstorm, and Roster. Set the BPM (or tap it in) and use the metronome button for a standalone click that works even with no audio loaded — the writer's pulse before any beat exists. Once your lyric sections carry timing, the karaoke rail above the player bar lights up the active line in big type as the beat plays.

What's a Storyboard doc, and how does it get to Motion?

A Storyboard is a doc kind for planning a music video or visual: a run of frames with shot descriptions you build (or generate with Assist) in Docs. It's the hand-off surface to Motion — open Motion's Storyboard panel (Shift+7 in the left rail) and your storyboard comes across as read-only production reference frames you can check off as you shoot or build them. It's a reference, not an editor — you keep authoring in the Journal and use it as the shot list while you cut.

How do I add cards to the Brainstorm canvas?

In Brainstorm mode, double-click an empty spot on the canvas to open the radial menu and pick a card kind (text/lyric/note/image/audio/palette). You can also drag image files straight onto the canvas to create image cards (a color palette is auto-extracted). Lyric and note cards point back to your existing sections and notes. Zoom with Ctrl+wheel and pan with space+drag.

How do I generate a song, cover, or release concept?

In Docs, create a new Concept doc from + New and pick a kind (song / project / beat / lyric / MV / cover / photoshoot / rollout / merch). Then open Assist (Cmd/Ctrl+J), describe the vibe, and it fills the concept's sections for you — or write them yourself. Generation runs through the AI API with a fallback template if the API is unavailable, and costs 1 credit. The concept saves into the tree like any other doc, so you can find it later with the Concepts filter chip or global search.

How do I turn a concept into a release plan?

Open the concept doc and click Plan this to create a plan from it (with a link back to the source concept). You can also make a Plan doc directly from + New. A plan has a title, type (single/ep/album/etc), drop date, and status (cooking/mixing/mastered/shipped/shelved). From there add Timeline items (milestones/sends/studio work/drop), a flat Todo checklist with app hints (studio/canvas/motion/external), and People with roles and statuses.

Where do I see all my projects, drop dates, and what's coming up?

Press G or click Roster in the left rail. The hero project closest to its drop sits at the top with cover art — hover a cover to play a preview. Vibe badges show each project's state (hot/flowing/fresh/stale/done). The Calendar section shows drop days with cover thumbnails; click a date to update the agenda pane, where you can write a freeform daily note and a checklist for that date. The right-rail Assets panel lists upcoming items across all projects, and the Goals block tracks cross-project release goals and milestones.

How does global search work?

Press Cmd+K (Ctrl+K on Windows) or click Find anything in the left rail. Your query matches across lyrics, notes, concepts, plans, memos, storyboards, and daily notes, with kind-filter chips to narrow results. Use Arrow Up/Down to move through hits, Enter to jump to the highlighted one, and Escape to close. Every hit lands in one of the three surfaces: a document opens inside Docs, a brainstorm card opens the board, and a daily note or goal opens Roster.

How do I save and restore old versions of my lyrics?

With a Lyrics doc open in Docs, open the right-rail Saved panel (history + library) and click + Save song to snapshot the current lyrics. Auto-saves keep your last 10; manual saves stick around forever — the panel says so at the bottom. Use the History tab to find an earlier take by its timestamp and restore it, and the Library tab for songs you've saved out.

Will my changes show up in Studio?

Yes for lyrics and notes. The Journal shares the DAW's lyric/note state, so what you write in the Journal round-trips to Studio's Notepad. Note that the Brainstorm canvas's pan/zoom and current selection are live-only and not saved, and release plans are now global with a project link for provenance rather than locked to one project bucket.

How do I back up my whole Journal, and what about my voice memo audio?

Go to Settings → Journal → Data. Export downloads a timestamped `onomo-journal-….json` snapshot of your entire journal — lyrics, notes, concepts, plans, memo metadata + transcripts, daily notes, and prefs — but not voice-memo audio, which lives separately in your browser's storage. To keep the recordings too, use Export with audio, which bundles them into a ZIP. Import replaces your current journal from an export — it's destructive, confirms first, and reloads the page.

How do I work on more than one project at once, and how is everything saved?

Use the header tab strip — click + to open a new project tab or click an existing tab to switch; the URL reflects the active project (?project=id). The Journal saves automatically to this browser, with memo audio kept in the browser's storage. To back it up to your account, use the header Save button — it pushes the journal project and memo audio to the cloud, and they load back when you open the project.

Capture a hook by voice and turn it into a chorus

A finished lyric section (your chorus) seeded from a voice memo, plus a saved JSON backup of your journal. (Level: beginner, about 12 min)

1. Press D (or click Docs in the left rail) to open the document tree.
2. Click the mic button next to '+ New' and sing or speak your hook idea. Watch for live captions appearing as you talk.
3. Stop and Save the memo — it lands in the tree as a Voice memo doc.
4. Open the new memo doc and read/fix up the transcript text in place.
5. Click 'Send to section' to create a new lyric section from the transcript.
6. Open your Lyrics doc from the tree, find the new section card, and tweak the wording inline. Mark it as your chorus.
7. Open the right-rail Saved panel and click + Save song to snapshot the lyrics.
8. Go to Settings → Journal → Data → Export to download the onomo-journal JSON snapshot as your backup.

Build a single cover concept and hand it to a release plan

A saved cover concept linked to a real release plan with a drop date and a few todos, backed up to JSON. (Level: intermediate, about 18 min)

1. Press D to open Docs, click '+ New', and create a Concept doc of the 'cover' kind.
2. Press Cmd/Ctrl+J to open Assist, describe your single's vibe, and let it fill the concept's sections (1 credit).
3. If you're offline or the AI is unavailable, you'll still get a template result — review the output and edit it in place.
4. Confirm the concept shows in the tree — use the Concepts filter chip under the search box to find it fast.
5. With the concept open, click 'Plan this' to create a release plan from it.
6. In the plan, set the title, type (single), a drop date, and status (cooking).
7. In the Todo section, add a couple of tasks (e.g. 'finalize artwork', 'master track') with due dates and app hints like canvas or studio.
8. Add one Timeline item (kind: drop) on your drop date in the Timeline section.
9. Go to Settings → Journal → Data → Export to download the journal JSON snapshot capturing the concept and plan.

Map a song's mood on the Brainstorm canvas

A visual idea board with text, lyric, and image cards connected and framed, backed up to JSON. (Level: intermediate, about 20 min)

1. Press B (or click Brainstorm in the left rail) to open the infinite canvas.
2. Double-click an empty area to open the radial menu and add a text card for your song title/theme.
3. Double-click again to add a lyric card that points to an existing section (make a Lyrics doc in Docs first if you have none).
4. Drag an image file from your computer onto the canvas to create an image card — a color palette is auto-extracted from it.
5. Drag cards to arrange them and drag from a corner to resize. Double-click a card to open the Inspector (right rail) and edit its text.
6. Use the left tool strip to pick the Frame tool and draw a region box around related cards to group them; moving the frame moves its contents.
7. Connect two cards with a line via the card's context menu (right-click) or by dragging card-to-card.
8. Open the right-rail Filters panel and toggle card kinds on/off to declutter the view if needed.
9. Go to Settings → Journal → Data → Export to download the journal JSON snapshot of your board.

Plan your week across projects from the Roster

A dated daily note with a checklist and a cross-project release goal, plus a JSON backup. (Level: beginner, about 10 min)

1. Press G (or click Roster in the left rail) to open the project wall; the hero project closest to its drop appears at the top.
2. Scroll to the Calendar section and click an upcoming date to select it — drop days show cover thumbnails.
3. In the agenda pane, type a freeform daily note for that date and add a few checklist items scoped to the day.
4. In the Goals block, add a release goal with a target date and track count, and link it to one of your plans or concepts.
5. Check the right-rail Assets panel to confirm your upcoming items show across all projects.
6. Go to Settings → Journal → Data → Export to download the journal JSON snapshot including your daily note and goal.

v1.0.0 — Onomo is open — sign up free

Sign-ups are open. Studio, Canvas, Motion and Journal need a free account; Foundry and the Toolkit work without one.. Two plans: Free and Pro ($10/month). Every instrument, effect and export format is included on both — the tools are never locked.. One AI credit pool across every app: 100 credits a month on Free, 1,000 on Pro, reset monthly. Top-up packs never expire.. Pro adds 50 GB of storage (Free has 2 GB), unlimited projects (Free has 25), and hosting live collaboration for up to 10 people. Joining a session is free.. Studio ships with 50 synths, 16 drum engines, and 42 effects plus Track EQ.. Help Center refreshed for launch: every guide, FAQ and shortcut list checked against the current build, with per-app shortcut lists for Canvas, Motion and Journal.

v0.3.1 — Studio: safer saving, history, FX power automation, key detection

Autosave keeps a separate working copy — Save (Ctrl+S) is the only thing that changes the saved project. Leaving asks whether to save; reopening offers a newer autosave.. History (chevron next to undo/redo): jump to any undo step by what changed, or to a local snapshot — taken on every Save, every 10 minutes of unsaved work, or on demand.. Automate any effect on/off: right-click its power button. A 5 ms crossfade instead of a chain rewire — no clicks, tails ring out, Matryx and other tempo effects stay locked to the grid.. Key → Detect from notes: ranks the most likely keys from the MIDI in your arrangement. Applying a key never moves notes unless you choose to, and it tells you how many would move first.. Loop modes: Whole song follows the arrangement automatically; dragging a region switches to Custom. Play starts from the playhead when it sits inside the loop.. Open in Canvas: a new tab with an album-cover project linked to the song — every save becomes the song's cover. Open in Motion now opens a new tab too.. Left-clicking a lit Solo unsolos (it used to mute underneath). Track ••• menu is movable. Project menu has a plain Save. Linked clips dragged to another track stay linked. Projects show real durations.

v0.2.0 — Canvas becomes a design + animation studio

Animation Center — flip Design ⇄ Timeline for a real keyframe timeline: per-layer clips, one-click scene vibes, transform + property keyframes (font size, stroke width, colour…), curved motion paths, and a smooth RAM-buffered preview. Audio-reactive visuals — 240+ animated generators (100+ react to your music): bind a track and they pulse to it, with the reaction baked deterministically and the song muxed into the exported video. Audio FX & Transitions — shape the project track with gain, low/high-pass, reverb and saturate plus fade in/out; what you hear in preview is what exports. Multi-page sequences — design each page like its own artboard, then play them as one video with morphing transitions (crossfade / slide / fade-through), audio running straight through on its own clock. 3D turntable → video — spin a 3D logo or extruded text and render it to a transparent (alpha) video layer you can stroke, blend, keyframe, and composite over your live-animating scene. Per-layer Animation in the Inspector — set any layer to still or a movement preset without opening the timeline; ⌘/Ctrl-click deep-select to grab the exact layer under the cursor through groups and overlays. Resize parity — Shift now locks aspect ratio on a corner drag (Alt scales from centre), and the marquee tool’s add/subtract modes stick and no longer warp the selection box

v0.1.0 — The first complete build

Studio — a real browser DAW: synth engines, drum engines and effects, a step sequencer, piano roll, mixer with bus routing, automation, tempo automation, audio recording and a sampler. Canvas — a layer-based design editor for cover art and visuals: layers, blend modes and masks, 3D title text, AI image generation, and one-click social-size exports. Motion — a music-video editor with an audio brain: music-reactive visual FX, lyric videos, a GPU engine with 3D transforms and keyframes, and frame-accurate MP4 export. Journal — the pre-production notebook: a lyric editor with a built-in rhyme finder, self-transcribing voice memos, an infinite brainstorm canvas, and release planning. Ono — an AI assistant that writes editable parts into your project (not finished bounces), plus AI image and video generation across the surfaces. Foundry — three rule-based generators (kits, loops, MIDI) with zero copyright risk, free on every plan. Toolkit — 30 quick tools and 6 power tools (slowed + reverb, stem splitter, audio-to-MIDI, converter, tuner, metronome, and more), most running entirely in your browser. Real-time collaboration in Studio, and cloud sync