Quick Start screen

Does what it says on the tin: from here you can use the Riff wizard, which helps newer or less confident users get started; you can open recent scores, or a new score, and watch the Riff showreel, which gives you an overview of the program.

Master screen

New scores are set up in the Master screen. Attributes of a score, such as tempo, style and key signature can be chosen together with a range of display options. Scores can be loaded, saved and printed in full musical notation.

Sequencer screen

The Sequencer screen is used to arrange the contents of your score. The main part of this screen shows the score window, which is divided into tracks, running horizontally.

Each track will contain a number of clips, each representing one bar of music. You can place as many clips in as many tracks as you like. You can also leave areas of the score blank, so that one or more of the tracks is silent at certain points.

Clips can either be loaded from the library or created and edited in the Editor screen.

Editor screen

The Editor screen is used to create the clips that make up your score - users simply click in the clip window to place notes. Notes can span two or more squares to make longer notes and can be easily repositioned in the grid by dragging. As each note plays, the musical notation is highlighted.

Mixer screen

In the Mixer screen users can control properties of each track, such as volume and pan; effects can also be added. Like the Sequencer screen, the Mixer screen shows the tracks running from left to right. All the controls on this screen work in real time, so you can alter your score as it is playing.