Unify's graphical user interface (GUI) window is divided into five main regions, as shown below:
The Body and Footer can each contain any of several views, which are described in detail on separate pages:
The Footer can also contain several views:
The Header section comprises many distinct displays and buttons:
The large patch metadata area describes the currently-loaded patch. If there are more than two lines of (white) descriptive text, you will see a small green scroll-bar at the right-hand end. You can scroll down to see the rest of the description either by dragging the scroll-bar with your mouse, or using your mouse's scroll wheel (or ball, or touch surface, or whatever scroll mechanism your mouse or trackpad offers) while the mouse pointer is anywhere inside the metadata area.
The layer button just under the Unify logo on the left opens a menu of layer operations. The following screenshot shows how this menu looks when the first sub-menu is open:
The first three items on the layer operations menu allow you to add new layers, either empty ones, or prebuilt ones chosen from various sub-menus of layer presets.
The Show/Hide Midi layers item selects whether MIDI layers (if present) are shown full-size, or shrunk down to just their titles to make more space for other layers.
To the right of the patch metadata area you'll see the patch thumbnail image, and just to the right of that, you will see the global gain slider; see below for details about each of these.
To the right of the global gain slider are the prev/next buttons, for switching to the previous or next patch in the current patch list (shown in the patch browser in the sidebar, if open).
Down the right-hand side of the header are four buttons:
The thumbnail image may be one of three things:
Starting in Unify v1.8, if you see a colored outline around the thumbnail image, this indicates the patch has associated Linked Media, which you can access by clicking the image.
Starting in Unify v1.8, you will see a red Global Gain slider between the thumbnail image and the next/previous patch buttons.
There are several important things to note about this slider:
The Global Gain slider is not needed in the Unify plug-ins, because you will normally use these in a DAW or other plug-in host program which provides its own gain or mix-level controls.
The Unify stand-alone app sends its output directly to your computer's audio interface hardware, and the amount of “headroom” such hardware provides can vary greatly from one brand or type to another. Some users have reported that Unify patches which output at the “0 dB” level will distort on their hardware, suggesting that it offers little headroom. Reduce the Global Gain setting just enough that you don't hear any distortion (with a loud patch), save it, and it's unlikely you'll need to adjust it again.
Also in Unify v1.8, you will see a new “dice” icon in between the two green arrow buttons:
This is the load random patch button. When you click this, Unify will make a random selection among the patches currently listed in the Chooser area, and load it according to the current setting of the load-mode menu at the very bottom-right.
The Icon Strip along the bottom edge of the GUI contains four groups of icons:
The single icon at the far left cancels any latching notes. See MIDI Controls.
The three icons on the left allows you to select what appears in the Footer. From left to right:
The active icon will turn green; click it again to close the Footer.
The icons on the right allow you to select what appears in the Body. From left to right:
The three icons in the middle are all different: