The Audio Tab: Volumes and the Active Track
What every control at the top of the Audio tab does: the four volume sliders, Perfect Beat Bouncing, the Active Track picker and Reset and sync.
Where the audio controls live
Open Audio on the Studio rail. From top to bottom it holds:
1. Four volume sliders and the Perfect Beat Bouncing switch. 2. The Active Track picker, which decides which song or MIDI the ball plays, plus the Reset and sync button. 3. The Sound, MIDI & Audio Hub, a collapsible section with every upload and conversion tool (Media Library, Track Compositor, Universal Audio Hub, MIDI Workshop, MIDI Editor, MIDI Bounce Filtering, and Bounce & Break Sounds). 4. Audio Effects, a collapsible section with the effect rack and the audio preset library.
The Visualizer Bar, which draws bars that react to the sound, is not in this tab. It lives in the Physics tab, see the Visualizer Bars article.
In Basics, the same choices are condensed into the Sound section: the track picker and a "Bounces play" switch. Sounds that belong to one mode (for example the break sound of a ring mode) are also in the Audio section, below the shared controls.
| Part of the Audio tab | What it is for | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Volume sliders + Perfect Beat Bouncing | Mix levels and whether the ball lands exactly on the notes | Every plan |
| Active Track picker | Choose the song, MIDI or tune the ball plays | Every plan (writing a brand-new song is Creator and up) |
| Sound, MIDI & Audio Hub | Upload, convert, edit and filter your music and sounds | Open on every plan; your cloud storage is the limit. If a lock badge shows, the badge names the plan that opens it |
| Audio Effects | Echo, filters, reverb, saturation, compression, pitch and 300+ audio presets | Pro |
| Visualizer Bar (Physics tab) | Reactive bars around the arena | Every plan, in Rhythmic, Drawer, Spawner and the Rhythmic Drawer combination only |
Volume sliders
Four sliders set the mix. They affect what you hear in the preview and what is written into your exported video, so set them before you record. When you audition a sound in a picker (tap a sound effect, press a preview button), the audition plays at a fixed level and ignores these sliders, so you can always hear what you are choosing.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Volume | Master level for the whole mix. | 0 to 2, default 1 (1 is 100 percent, 2 is double) | Keep it at 1 and balance with the other three. Above 1 can clip on loud songs. |
| Bounce Volume | Every bounce: wall and peg impacts, foley clinks, and the note or song slice the ball plays on each bounce. Works in every mode. | 0 to 1, default 0.7 | This is the main "ball sound" knob. If the song is too quiet in a Rhythmic run, raise this, not Background Song Volume. |
| Break Volume | Break moments: shatters, explosions, ring breaks, finale and payoff stingers. | 0 to 1, default 0.8 | Lower it if ring breaks drown out the tune. |
| Background Song Volume | The continuous song laid under the clip (an uploaded song or a MIDI played as a backing track). It does not change the per-bounce notes. | 0 to 1, default 0.6 | Only matters when something is playing in the background, for example Play Original Song or Play Background Tracks. |
Tip
- Do a short test export and listen on a phone speaker. Phone speakers lose bass, so a mix that sounds balanced on headphones can feel thin.
Perfect Beat Bouncing
Perfect Beat Bouncing makes the ball bounce exactly on each MIDI note, so the run follows the precise timing of the song. It is on by default and applies to MIDI playback in every mode, not only Rhythmic.
When there is no MIDI timing to follow (a plain sound effect, or an uploaded song played as slices), the ball falls back to normal physics automatically. Turning the switch off gives you free physics with the notes still playing in order on each bounce.
| Setting | What it does | Options / default |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect Beat Bouncing | Steers the ball so each bounce lands on the next MIDI note. | On / Off, default On |
| Music Sync (an add-on under the mode picker in Basics, and in the mode panel) | Controls only the bounce timing. On: the ball bounces on the beat. Off: normal physics, but the active song still plays one note (or slice) per bounce. | On / Off, default On |
The Active Track picker
Under the heading Active Track, the Select Song / MIDI control is the one place that decides what the ball plays. The same picker appears in the Rhythmic settings and in Basics, and they always agree because they all read the same choice.
Tap the control to open it. You can search, filter by shelf, preview a track, upload a new one, and (on Creator and up) write a new song. Picking a track in the Audio section also switches Music Sync on.
| Shelf / badge | What it contains | Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Song Library (badge: Library) | A shared library of 1,000 original, multi-instrument songs written for BallEngine, all safe to monetize. Available on every plan and does not use your storage. | Plays the full arrangement for about 8 seconds |
| Songs (badge: Song) | Audio files you uploaded (MP3 or WAV) and tracks you saved from the Track Compositor. | Plays the file for about 8 seconds |
| MIDI Files (badge: MIDI, Full MIDI or YMIDI) | MIDI files you uploaded, MIDI you made in the MIDI Editor, songs you wrote with AI, and MIDI extracted from a song in the Universal Audio Hub. | Plays the notes for about 8 seconds |
| Built-in Tunes (badge: Tune) | Short note sequences that ship with the Studio. | Plays the first notes of the tune |
| Custom (Uploaded) (badge: Manual) | Frequencies you typed or pasted in the MIDI Workshop without saving them as a file. | Not previewable here |
| Mood Library | Shown only on some older accounts that already had it. Tracks there keep working in your saves. | Plays the lead line |
Technical parameters
- A row marked "Local only" is stored on this device only, see Uploading MIDI and Songs.
- A row marked "by <name>" was uploaded by a collaborator on a shared project.
- Empty list message: "No tracks yet: upload an MP3 or a .mid file."
Reset and sync
The Reset and sync button under the picker rewinds the active track to its first note and restarts the simulation, so the song and the ball start together. Use it after you change the track, trim it, or change the bounce filter, and before you record. The button is greyed out when nothing is selected.
The Sound section in Basics
Basics keeps the essentials in one short section.
| Control | What it does | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Track picker | Same picker as the Audio section, including upload and preview. It does not force Music Sync on. | Any track you can see in the Audio section |
| Song Slices (appears when an uploaded song is active) | Cuts the song into equal pieces. Each bounce plays the next piece. | Slice length (s): 0.1 to 5, default 0.5. Buttons: Auto-Slice, Whole Song, Edit Timeline |
| Bounces play (2D modes) | What each bounce sounds like. | Active song (next note of the track) or Sound effect (the effect you pick below, while the song still sets the rhythm) |
| Bounces play (3D modes) | What each impact in the 3D scene sounds like. | Active song, Climbing notes (one synth note per impact, climbing a scale) or Silent |
Tip
- Ring modes also show a Break sound picker under Mode settings in Basics: the sound when a ring is destroyed (in Ghost Escape, when the ball escapes through the gap). Music sync is an add-on under the mode picker.
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