Mute and solo channel strips

You can silence (mute) a channel strip so that you don’t hear it when you play the project. Muting channel strips is useful when you want to compare how the project sounds with and without the target track, compare alternative versions of a track, or try different loops in a project.

You can also listen to a channel strip signal alone (solo), silencing all other channel strips. Soloing channel strips is useful when you want to work on a track or region individually; for example, when you’re editing regions on the track, re-recording a part, or adjusting volume curves.

Mute a channel strip

  • Click the channel strip’s Mute button.

    Figure. Pointing to the Mute button.

The Mute button turns blue. Click the button a second time to restore the channel strip to its previous level.

Mute multiple channel strips

  • Click-hold a Mute button, then drag the pointer horizontally.

    The Mute buttons of all swiped channel strips switch to the same state.

Solo a channel strip

  • Click the channel strip’s Solo button.

    Figure. Pointing to the Solo button.

The Solo button turns yellow. The Mute buttons of all unsoloed channel strips will flash blue, with the exception of external MIDI channel strips.

Solo multiple channel strips

  • Click-hold a Solo button, then drag the pointer horizontally.

    The Solo buttons of all swiped channel strips switch to the same state.

Solo a channel strip when another channel strip is already soloed

  • Option-click an unsoloed channel strip.

This action solos the selected channel strip and unsolos any other channel strip.

Disable the solo state of one or more channel strips

Do one of the following:

  • Click an active Solo button.

  • Option-click any active Solo button. The solo state of all channel strips is deactivated.

Make a channel strip solo-safe

  • Control-click an inactive Solo button.

A red slash across the Solo button indicates that the channel strip is solo-safe. The channel strip will not mute when you solo another channel strip. Control-click again to deactivate the channel strip’s solo-safe state.

Figure. Showing a Solo button with a red slash to indicate solo-safe.