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Video & composition

Make a simple music video inside Ongenet: a background image (or video) with live audio visualisers — moving bars or waveforms — for each part of your song (drums, bass, leads, and so on).

Before you start

Turn on video in two places:

  1. Settings → General → Enable video features — shows the Video tab in the main window.
  2. Open the Video tab and click Enable video — turns on video for the current project.

Tutorial: visualiser video with a background

This walkthrough builds a video with a full-screen background and three coloured visualiser bands (drums, bass, leads).

1. Group your tracks in Arrangement

In the Arrangement tab, create group tracks for the main sections of your song — for example Drums, Bass, and Leads. Route your existing tracks into the matching group so each group plays the full mix for that section.

You do not need to finish the whole song first; you just need groups with audio routed into them.

2. Add a background layer

  1. Open the Video tab.
  2. Click + Layer (no file dialog appears).
  3. In the timeline inspector below, set Content to Media.
  4. Click Browse and choose a background image (PNG or JPEG works well).
  5. On the program monitor, drag the image to fill the canvas if needed.

Put the background on the bottom of the stack (see step 5 below if it covers the visualisers).

3. Add a visualiser for each group

For each group (Drums, Bass, Leads):

  1. Click + Layer again.
  2. Set Content to Audio visualiser.
  3. Under Audio source, pick the matching group (e.g. Drums (Group)).
  4. Choose a Visualiser type:
    • Volume bars — classic level meters
    • Waveform — oscilloscope-style shape
    • Spectrum — frequency curve (you can set min/max Hz and line thickness)
    • 3D Scope — live GPU oscilloscope trail (desktop; transparent background, orbit camera in inspector)
  5. Pick Color mode (solid or gradient) and colours that read clearly on your background.
  6. Adjust Bounds (X, Y, W, H) so each band sits in its own strip — for example stack three bands vertically with Y around 0.70, 0.82, and 0.94, and H around 0.12.

Press Play to check that each visualiser moves with its group’s audio.

4. Layer order

Layers drawn later appear on top. To change order:

  • Drag the layer name on the left of the video timeline up or down, or
  • Right-click the layer name → Move up / Move down.

Keep the background at the bottom and visualisers above it.

5. When each visualiser appears (optional)

By default a layer is visible for the whole song. To show a visualiser only during part of the track:

  • Double-click or drag on a layer row to add a visibility region, or
  • Click + Region with a layer selected.

The layer is visible only while the playhead is inside its region(s).

6. Export your video

  1. Choose Export ▾ → Export video… in the title bar (shown when video is enabled for the app and project).
  2. Confirm Export composited video is checked.
  3. The dialog shows your canvas size and export FPS (set on the program monitor).
  4. Click Export, pick where to save, and wait for the MP4.

Set Canvas presets on the program monitor (YouTube 1080p30, Shorts 9:16, Square 1:1) to match common delivery formats. Use Custom for width/height, and adjust Export FPS independently of per-layer sync FPS.

If export fails, install ffmpeg on your computer and try again.

Advanced features

  • Text & subtitles — add a Text or Subtitle item on a media layer; subtitles can use an SRT file or clip name at the playhead.
  • Blend modes — per-layer Normal, Multiply, Screen, Overlay in the timeline inspector.
  • Visibility fades — fade in/out beats on visibility regions for smooth layer entrances.
  • Composited preview — toggle on the program monitor to preview all layers baked together at reduced resolution.
  • Safe area — toggle 5% margin guides on the program monitor.
  • MIDI CC triggers — map control changes to show/hide/fade layers (desktop MIDI).
  • Color grading — brightness, contrast, saturation, optional .cube LUT, and alpha mask image per overlay item in the timeline inspector.
  • Video proxy — generate an ffmpeg H.264 proxy beside the project for heavy source files (desktop, when ffmpeg is installed).
  • 3D snapshot — add an Engine3D overlay item and Capture 3D snapshot to bake a GPU scene to PNG at canvas resolution (desktop). Choose Demo scene or Cube preview and enable Transparent background before capture.
  • 3D FX layers — set layer Content to 3D FX for live textured cubes or audio-reactive particles composited over the canvas (desktop). Drag bounds on the program monitor like visualisers.

Quick reference

I want to… Do this
Add an empty layer + Layer (Resources, program monitor, or video timeline)
Add a background image Layer → Media → Browse
Add a live visualiser Layer → Audio visualiser → pick track/group
Add live 3D FX Layer → 3D FX → pick effect, bounds, camera
Move or resize on screen Drag on the program monitor
Reorder layers Drag layer names on the timeline left
Limit when a layer shows Visibility regions on the layer row
Export MP4 Export ▾ → Export video…