Focus Mode mutes everything except the parts a pianist usually practises against: keyboards, bass and drums. One click strips a full band or orchestral arrangement down to a rhythm section, and another click brings everything back.
Use Focus Mode
The same button is on the master strip of the Console Mixer, and the two always agree.
What stays and what’s muted
Group | Instruments |
Keeps playing | Piano, organ, chromatic percussion (vibraphone, marimba and similar), bass and drums |
Muted | Guitars, strings, ensembles and choirs, brass, reeds, flutes, synth leads and pads, and other instruments |
Muted tracks keep falling on the piano roll, so you can still read along. To hide them too, use Hide all in the Tracks panel and bring back the parts you want to see.
Fine-tune by hand
Focus Mode just sets the mute buttons for you. Afterwards you can unmute any single track, for example the lead vocal line, or mute the drums, with its M button.
Show or hide the button
The Focus button is shown by default. If you never use it, turn it off in Settings → Playback → Focus mode.
Use case: practise the piano part of a band arrangement
Turn on Focus Mode, then mute the piano track itself. You’re left with bass and drums as a backing band, and the piano part still falls on the roll for you to play.
See also: Practise the piano part of a band arrangement · Play the melody yourself