The 3D Spatial Mixer
The 3D view is the visual half of Spatial Mode. Instead of setting a position for each track from a list or a set of sliders, you see the whole mix as a room — one glowing node per track — and you place sources by dragging them.
It’s the fastest way to answer “where is everything?” and the only way to watch your position automation play back.
[SCREENSHOT: 3D spatial view — glowing track nodes above a purple floor disc]
🔒 Pro feature. Spatial Mode, and the 3D view with it, is available with Homecrate Pro.
Opening the 3D View
Turn on Spatial Mode first — see Spatial Mode Overview for how.
Once Spatial Mode is active, a two-tab pill appears above the mixer panel:
| Tab | What you get |
|---|---|
| Mixer | The normal channel strips, with the spatial position picker on each one |
| 3D | The room view |
[SCREENSHOT: Mixer / 3D tab pill sitting above the mixer panel]
Tap 3D to switch. Both tabs edit the same positions — they’re two views of one thing, so a source you drag in 3D immediately shows its new position in the Mixer tab, and vice versa.
The 3D view only renders while its tab is on screen. Switching back to Mixer shuts the scene down completely, so it costs nothing when you’re not looking at it.
Reading the Room
- The listener is at the centre of the room — that’s you, wearing headphones.
- Each node is one spatialised track, drawn in that track’s colour.
- The purple floor disc sits below the listener plane and gives you a horizon to judge height against.
- Muted tracks and tracks that already carry position automation are drawn differently, so you can tell at a glance which sources are going to move on their own.
Not every track gets a node. A node appears for each track that:
- has actual sound in the spatial mix — either audio clips of its own, or a bounced layer from a MIDI/instrument/effect track, and
- is not set to Global.
Global tracks bypass the spatial engine entirely — they have no point in space to draw, by design. See The Global Track.
Selecting and Moving a Source
Tap a node to select it. A three-axis X / Y / Z gizmo appears on it.
[SCREENSHOT: Selected node with the X/Y/Z translate gizmo]
Drag a gizmo arm to move the source along that one axis:
| Axis | Moves the source |
|---|---|
| X | Left ↔ right |
| Y | Down ↔ up (ceiling and floor) |
| Z | Forward ↔ behind you |
Constraining the drag to one axis at a time is deliberate — free-dragging in a 3D scene on a touchscreen is guesswork, and one axis at a time is how you actually land a source where you meant to.
If spatial playback is running while you drag, the position updates live. You hear the source move under your finger. When you let go, the new position is committed to the track and saved with the project.
Fine-Tuning a Node
Long-press a node to open its fine-tune panel:
[SCREENSHOT: Fine-tune panel showing track name, volume slider, and mute switch]
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Volume | The track’s fader, as a percentage |
| Mute | Mutes the track — the node stops sounding immediately |
Both take effect straight away during spatial playback. Position isn’t edited here — that’s the gizmo’s job, or the azimuth / elevation / distance sliders in the Mixer tab.
Playback Trails
Press play and the 3D view comes alive. During playback it follows each track’s live position from the audio engine, which means any track carrying spatial automation animates along its automation path in real time.
Each moving node leaves a short, fading trail behind it showing where it has just been. The trail is past-only — it shows you where a source came from, not where it’s headed — which makes it easy to spot a move that’s too fast, too wide, or fighting another source for the same corner of the room.
Static tracks simply sit still. If nothing is moving, nothing has automation.
Writing Position Automation
Below the scene are two buttons for recording a position keyframe at the playhead:
| Button | What it writes |
|---|---|
| Write ramp | A smooth glide from the source’s previous position to where it is now |
| Write step | An instant jump — the source holds its old position, then snaps to the new one |
Both buttons need playback stopped and a node selected; otherwise they’re dimmed.
The workflow is: park the playhead where you want the move to land, select the node, drag it to its new position, then tap Write ramp (for a sweep) or Write step (for a hard cut). Play back and watch the trail follow the path you just drew.
Use step for effects that should teleport — a delay throw that jumps behind the listener, a doubled vocal that flicks side to side. Use ramp for anything that should feel like real movement.
Mac Catalyst
The 3D view is iPhone and iPad only. On Mac, the tab shows a message pointing you at the Mixer tab, where the azimuth, elevation, and distance sliders give you exactly the same control numerically. Everything you set on a Mac shows up correctly in the 3D view when you open the project on an iPhone or iPad.
Tips
- Start in the Mixer tab, finish in 3D. Assign rough positions from the nine presets first, then switch to 3D and nudge the ones that need it. Placing every source from scratch in the room takes longer.
- Watch the floor disc for height. Elevation is the hardest axis to judge by ear. The disc gives your eye a reference the ears don’t have.
- Distance is a volume-and-space cue, not just a position. Pulling a source further out thins it. If a part disappears when you move it back, bring it in rather than reaching for the fader.
- Keep the front half crowded and the rear half sparse. Material directly behind the listener is disorienting in quantity — a couple of well-chosen rear sources read as depth, six read as confusion.
- Automate one source at a time. A mix where everything moves is a mix where nothing moves. One travelling element against a fixed room is far more striking.
- Long-press is your mute. While you’re placing sources, long-press-and-mute is much quicker than switching tabs to find the channel strip.