User Manual

1. Overview & requirements

Aurista is macOS multi-track recording software for production sound. It turns a Mac plus a Dante or Core Audio interface into a field recorder and mixer: up to 32 tracks, BWF/RF64 files, metadata, timecode, mixing, and backup.

• macOS 11 or later (Apple Silicon and Intel)
• Compatible Core Audio interface (including Dante Virtual Soundcard / aggregates)
• Enough disk space for ISO tracks and optional external backups

Only one Aurista instance can run at a time. After activation, the app can run offline on set.

2. Install & first launch

1. Download the installer from aurista.net.
2. Open the .pkg and follow the prompts. Aurista installs in Applications.
3. Launch Aurista.
4. Grant microphone / audio input access when macOS asks.
5. If you record to external drives, grant Full Disk Access in System Settings when prompted.

3. License & free trial

2 Week Free Trial

Unlicensed installs start a one-time 14-day offline trial on that Mac. No account is required to begin. On launch you will see remaining trial days; choose Continue or Activate License…. When the trial ends, activation is required to keep using Aurista.

Activate a subscription

1. Create an account at aurista.net and verify your email.
2. Purchase a plan from your account dashboard.
3. In Aurista open Tools → License… (or Help → License…).
4. Click Generate Request Key, then Copy.
5. Sign in at https://aurista.net/activate, paste the request (REQ) key, and get a response (RESP) key.
6. Paste the RESP key into Aurista and click Activate.

One license binds to one Mac (hardware-linked REQ). Manage and refresh keys from your online account. A warning appears when a paid license is about to expire.

4. Quick start

1. Audio → Select Audio Device… — pick your interface and buffer size.
2. Routing → Input Matrix — assign one input to each track you need, and LTC as needed.
3. Routing → Output Matrix — route Mix, MONITOR, and COMS as needed.
4. Media → Media Settings — set save location, format, bit depth, and backup drives.
5. Fill in Project, Sound Roll, Scene, and Take.
6. Arm tracks with the Arm checkbox.
7. Press Record/Stop (or Space) to start; press again (or ⌘Space) to stop.

Hotkeys are assignable under Tools → Hotkeys…. After recording, use Tools → Metadata Manager to edit BWF metadata on files.

5. Main window

• Timecode display — current TC. Right-click the frame-rate label to change frame rate.
• Recording duration — length of the active take.
• Drive status — INT, EXT1, EXT2 (space / time remaining in tooltips).
• SLATE / COM — press and hold for slate or talkback.
• Record/Stop — start or stop recording.
• Last recording — click to open playback; right-click to mark a false take.
• Recording Metadata — Project, Sound Roll, Scene, Take, Notes (optional P to persist notes).
• Tracks — Arm, name, VU meter, AMix group button.
• Mix meter — overall mix level.
• Mixer (when shown) — faders, gain readouts, PFL, and a color box under each fader. Left-click the color box to open the channel strip; right-click to change the track color.

6. Audio device & routing

Select audio device

Audio → Select Audio Device…

• Choose the Core Audio device (Dante Virtual Soundcard appears here as a Core Audio device).
• Set Buffer Size (64–4096 samples). Raise the buffer if you hear dropouts.
• For multi-interface setups, create an Aggregate Device in Audio MIDI Setup, then select it in Aurista.

Input Matrix

Routing → Input Matrix — map one hardware input to each track; set track count and names; and route LTC as needed for decode/sync.

Output Matrix

Routing → Output Matrix — route buses to hardware outs:

• Mix (All Tracks)
• COMS (Slate + Talkback)
• MONITOR (PFL/Mix)
• Individual tracks

Other routing

• Routing → AUX Sends — aux masters, per-track sends, delay.
• Routing → Playback Routing — where playback is heard.
• Routing → Test Tone (1kHz) — checkable test tone.
• Routing → Bitbucket Mode — see Bitbucket Mode.
• Audio → Beep on Record — optional start beep.

7. Media & storage

Media → Media Settings

• File Format — Polyphonic (multi-track WAV) or Monophonic (one file per track).
• Bit Depth — 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit float.
• Pre-Record Buffer / Post-Record Buffer — 0–30 seconds each.
• Save Location — primary folder. Path layout: [Save]/[Project]/[SoundRoll]/.
• External Media — select backup drives; choose Poly/Mono per drive.
• Live backup active take — write the take live to selected external drives (including pre/post-roll).

Files are broadcast WAV (BWF); large files use RF64. Use Media → Format External Drive (exFAT)… to prepare backup media when needed.

8. Recording

1. Confirm device, routing, media path, and metadata.
2. Arm only the tracks you want recorded. Unarmed tracks do not create files.
3. Start with Record/Stop or the Start Recording hotkey.
4. Monitor meters; use PFL or the MONITOR bus as needed.
5. Stop when finished. Take number increments automatically. Late-arm is supported and merged when you stop.

Automix only uses armed tracks that are in an AMix group. Unarmed tracks do not steal automix share.

9. Bitbucket Mode

Routing → Bitbucket Mode (checkable). Use this when you want ISO tracks only — no mix bus written into the recording.

• On — records armed tracks only. Polyphonic files omit the Mix channel; monophonic mode skips creating a separate mix file. The Mix meter is hidden, mixer faders are locked down, and Automix is disabled in the UI.
• Off — normal recording: Mix plus armed ISO tracks.

The setting is saved in configuration and restored on launch. Turn Bitbucket Mode off when you need a recorded mix bus or Automix again.

10. Mixer, channel strip & automix

Mixer

• Controller → Show Mixer — show or hide the mixer.
• Controller → Auto-fit Tracks + Mixer — fit the layout to the window.
• Faders feed the mix bus. PFL solos to the MONITOR bus.
• Ctrl-click a gain label to reset to 0 dB.

Channel strip

Left-click the color box under a fader to open Channel Strip. Right-click the color box to change that track’s color.

Channel strip controls:

• Input trim, high-pass filter, limiter
• 3-band parametric EQ (Low / Mid / High)
• AUX sends (with PRE option)
• Copy / Paste / Reset strip settings

Automix

1. Enable Controller → Enable Automix.
2. On each participating track, click AMix to cycle color groups: Off → Purple → Blue → Green → Orange.
3. Tracks in the same color share gain; louder sources duck others in the group.

Slate & COM

Hold SLATE or COM (or their hotkeys). Slate Monitor (Shift+S by default) sends to output only and is not recorded.

11. Timecode & LTC

• Main display shows incoming or generated timecode. Right-click the frame-rate label to change rate.
• Tools → LTC Generator — start TC, choose frame rate (including drop frame options), output channel/level, Start/Stop.
• Tools → Offsets… — apply a frame offset.
• Tools → TC Accuracy Test… — long-run calibration test.
• LTC decode follows timecode from a configured audio input for sync with picture and other gear.

12. Control surfaces

Controller → Select Control Surface opens MIDI Controllers.

• Add or remove controllers; assign banks (tracks 1–8, 9–16, …).
• Use Fader Assignments so each physical fader maps to one track.

Compatible control surfaces include:

• Behringer X-Touch Compact — motorized faders, MCU-style MIDI
• Cantarem 2 — HID fader surface
• Korg nanoKONTROL2 — compact MIDI controller
• Generic MIDI / Mackie Control (MCU) — many third-party surfaces that appear as MIDI devices

After connecting a surface, use Refresh in the MIDI Controllers dialog if it does not appear immediately.

13. Playback & false takes

• Tools → Audio Playback — browse takes, seek on the waveform, Play / Pause / Stop.
• Click the last-recording control on the main window to jump into playback.
• Right-click that control (or use Mark False Take) to move a take into FALSETAKES with an F- filename prefix.
• Set monitoring path with Routing → Playback Routing.

14. Metadata & sound reports

On-session fields

Set Project, Sound Roll, Scene, Take, and Notes before or during a roll. Scene letter can be incremented from the Scene control or the Scene Letter Increment hotkey. Check P to keep notes across takes.

Metadata Manager

Tools → Metadata Manager opens Metadata Manager - BWF Editor, a dedicated window for viewing and editing broadcast WAV metadata after (or between) takes.

1. Click Add Files… (or drag and drop WAV/BWF files into the list).
2. Select one or more files in the table (name, size, channels, Tape ID, Scene, Take, start TC, length, date, circled, sample rate, frame rate, notes).
3. Edit fields under GENERAL: Scene, Take, Circled, Wild Track, Project, Tape ID, Notes.
4. Review read-only RECORDING INFO (sample rate, timecode, bit depth, etc.) and the track table as needed.
5. Click Save Changes to Selected Files to write metadata back into the files.
6. Use Remove File or Clear to manage the working list.

On-session metadata (Project / Sound Roll / Scene / Take / Notes on the main window) is embedded when you record. Metadata Manager is for fixing or batch-editing metadata on files already on disk.

Sound Report

Tools → Sound Report

1. Select the sound roll folder.
2. Optionally Configure… company/crew/logo fields.
3. Export PDF, CSV, or ALE.

15. File server (WebDAV)

Tools → File Server…

• Choose the shared folder, set a password, and port (default 8080).
• Username is fixed: aurista.
• Enable the server and use Copy Connection Info for clients such as FileBrowser.

16. Hotkeys

Every listed action can be reassigned. Open Tools → Hotkeys… (Hotkey Configuration), click a shortcut field, and press the key (or key combination) you want. Changes are saved when you close the dialog. Use Reset to Defaults to restore the factory map.

Default assignments:

If Start and Stop use the same assigned key, that key toggles record. Transport hotkeys support long-press for external switches.

17. Menu reference

Routing → Save/Load Configuration… stores snapshots of routing and related settings. Loading a snapshot restarts the app so the configuration applies cleanly.

18. Recovery & troubleshooting

Incomplete recordings

After a crash or power loss, Aurista can repair incomplete WAVs (including RF64). Use Help → Recover Recordings…, or follow the prompt if incomplete files are detected at launch.

Common issues

• No audio / silence — select the device, check Input Matrix, arm tracks, confirm interface sample rate.
• Dropouts / glitches — increase buffer size; close other heavy apps; prefer a dedicated interface or well-built aggregate.
• Files not saving — verify Media Settings path, disk space, Full Disk Access, and that tracks are armed.
• External drive errors — remount the drive; grant Full Disk Access; confirm free space and exFAT if sharing with other OSes.
• Controller missing — reconnect USB; open MIDI Controllers and Refresh; check macOS privacy for MIDI/HID as needed.
• Trial ended — activate a subscription with a RESP key from your account.
• Automix inactive — enable Automix, assign AMix colors, arm those tracks; Bitbucket Mode turns Automix UI off.

Reporting bugs

If something is not working as expected, send a bug report so we can investigate.

1. Sign in to your Aurista account at aurista.net.
2. Open your dashboard and click Report a Bug, or go directly to https://aurista.net/account/bugs.
3. Fill in a short summary and description. Include steps to reproduce, expected vs actual behavior, your Aurista version, and macOS version when you can.
4. Submit the form — we’ll review it from there.

Product site and downloads: https://aurista.net/ · Account: Sign in