Elements

The playing surface is where interactive elements come to life, enabling you to engage with and customize your performance. These elements may include:

• Keyboards/keygrids/drumpads: Assign and play notes, beats, or patterns.
• Notes: Trigger sounds or effects with pressure-sensitive touch.
• Sliders: Adjust parameters dynamically by sliding your fingers.
• 2D Sliders: Manipulate up to three parameters simultaneously by moving across the surface.
• Buttons: Switch between modes, toggle effects, or activate features.

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Each element is crafted for intuitive interaction, enriching your creative experience. As the fundamental components of all layouts, elements can be arranged and customized within a layout using the Erae Lab. A layout can consist of one or multiple elements, which can be positioned, duplicated, edited, or removed as needed in the Erae Lab.

Keygrid

Keygrids consist of rectangular cells arranged in a grid. Horizontally, the cells are spaced by intervals such as a semitone, a tone, or larger steps, while vertically, they are separated by intervals like a fourth (or greater, adjustable using the line offset attribute, similar to string instruments). The chosen scale determines the precise interval relationships between the rows and columns.

By default, every note on the Keygrid is in the key of C major. Two joint keys on one same line will be separated by one degree of the same scale. In this C Maj example, the root note is C. Moving to the right, each key is the next note in the C major scale. Moving upward, each key is a fourth higher. Again, the note interval between lines can be adjusted in the Lab with the Line Offset.

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Scales 

Changing scales adjusts the arrangement of note intervals, but the root note, third, and fifth remain highlighted. These highlights and their styles can be customized in the Lab.

Chromatic keygrid

To play chromatically on the keygrid, enable the "Show Offscale" option in the Lab's scale settings menu. Disabling this option will fold the keygrid, showing only the notes within the selected key. By default, notes outside the key are displayed in grey, but you can personalize their appearance in the Lab.

Keyboard 

Keys are replicas of traditional keyboards. There are many original ways to represent black and white keys, play around with the Style section in the Lab and find out what works best for you. 

Scales

You can highlight in-scale notes to visualize various scales (such as Major, Minor, or Blues), simplifying the process of learning and playing.

Buttons

Buttons trigger notes with selected pitch on a selected channel. They can be used for launching clips on Ableton Live or triggering a button on a hardware synth. They can also be used as switches, with distinct on/off states, by setting the Latched option to on in the Lab. 

1D Fader

Sliders provide continuous variation along one dimension, between two defined values, using a specific MIDI channel and Control Change. They can be mapped to both control changes and control voltages (CV), even simultaneously if required. Their value range can be customized in the Lab. By default, sliders are set to the mid-range position, but their initial Y value can also be adjusted in the Lab. You can change the color of their edges, background and level bar in the Lab. (See Style section)

2D Fader

2D sliders enable you to control up to three CCs and/or CVs with a single finger, offering intuitive X/Y/Z movement and visual feedback. You can adjust their value range and initial settings in the Lab, as well as customize the color of their edges, background, and level bar for a personalized look.

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