Stems include a toolbar which gives access to various functions. This article also gives more details about the stem channels themselves.

1. Toolbar

The toolbar is common to several devices such as Stems and Channels.You also find parts of the toolbar is other devices such as Master Busses and Sidechainers.

Here is a description of the various menus (click the image to enlarge):

1. Midi Channel selection. You can use the small potentiometer (which is in fact useful to assign a Midi CC, in order to select midi channels with a remote controller), or click-n-drag on the channel display. The led shows midi activity.

2. The labels preset lists are helpful to transport colors and labels from stems to channels. Labels include all label parameters such as label, ink color, channel color, and sometimes channel numbers (channel modules). One preset list contains all 24 labels of a stem247, while other preset list allow to import/export labels by sections of 8.

3. Seperate preset list for colors. Allows to assign your pre-set color codes without changing the labels that you may have typed.

4. Allows to hide the top or bottom color on channels, or both.

5. Levels/CC Num: switches between the main panel (level faders) to the Midi CC panel. The Midi CC "Num" panel allows to show all currently assigned midi CCs to the most important parameters for mixing (levels, mute/solo, all bus sends). It allows to load a CC template without modifying the values of the parameters, which is something that might happen in scope devices in general.

6. The CC Map feature is still experimental. It is built to allow an evolution of the midi CC management. However, please note that for the moment, no decision has been made to keep it or to remove it. There will probably be version without CC maps which would allow to save useful ressources for other devices. Note also that the standard CC management of Scope is perfectly working with spacef-devices mixers (which are built to offer a solid CC management).

7. The "DSP" button open the DSP management for the busses. Stems contain 2 dsp management systems. One for channels (see below), and another for busses. The bus DSP allow to desactivate groups of bus sends, allowing you to desactivate most of the unused one, saving significant amount of DSP. In a usual situation, Stems will barely take more than 50 % of the ressources that they take when all busses are activated.

8. "Defeat" allows to "un-solo" any soloed channel.

9. The solo-mix switch allows to switch between the "main-mix" and the "solo-mix" without the need to un-solo any channels. It is helpful when you have soloed a group of channels, and want to A/B the normal mix and the mix with only those soloed channels.

10. Vu meters functions. "Pre-Post" allows to connect the vu meters at the inputs or at the outputs. The "Hide" function is a spacef classic function to hide vu meters when you are in need of cpu ressources (older computers or computers under very intense use).

11. Margin Reset allows to reset the margin display of all vu-meters. The Margin Display shows the maximum level reached since the last reset (max = 0dB). The margin reset button will also reset margins on all "RS connected modules" (through the RS pad of the modules in the project window)..

12. Record Channel: another spacef classic now improved with feedback by default and a new off/pre/post routing, simplifying the recording process even more. The Rec channels are either connected to the Asio destination, or to a "Rec Input" of MB7, which allows to record up to 4 devices through MB7 (mb7 rec channels + 3 rec inputs = 4 rec channels into one).

2. Channels

Stem channels are were a track is really mixed in terms of balance, grouping, auxiliary effects. They include the same mute and mute-bypass solo as in other spacef mixers as well as other tricks to enhance the scope workflow.

1. DSP Off button. This button switches off only the DSP of the "upper part" of the channel. For busses, you will use the bus DSP panel from the toolbar. 2. Mute and Solo functions. Solo is "mute-bypass" (as in all spacef mixers). 3. Margin displays. Show the maximum level reached since last "margin reset". Value expressed in dB from -inf to 0dB. 4. Main level fader. Gain range -inf - +12dB. 5. Channel Vu Meters. Vu meters can be connected to inputs or outputs of the channels with the "pre-post"  button of the toolbar. 6. Gain display. Shows the current gain value of the fader. 7. Channel label. 8. Bus sends. The colors allow to see immediately which Sends are used and which are "off", and a much faster workflow when working with Bus and Aux sends. The first bus is the dry or master sound, and all other busses can be groups or auxiliaries as users decide. 9. Bus send 4, 5 and 6 can be pre or post fader level. in "post" mode (default) the level of the channel influences the maximum level available on the bus sends. In "pre" mode, the maximum level available to bus sends is the level of the sound at the input, and is not influenced by the main level fader. 10. W/B is a button to change the color of the text labels, like "ink color" (black or white lettering). 11. Color Selector. Allows to select the channel color (more exactly, the background color of the text labels). This potentiometer should be used with Mousewheel ("click and wheel up" for infinite encoder type of behavior).