Layerz ULTRA for Windows  1.5.2
Lucian Labs  -  https://waveloop.app/layerz

A loop instrument. Record a layer, keep stacking layers on top of it,
flip the tape backwards, run it through effects or your own VST plugins.


RUN IT
  1. Unzip this folder anywhere you like (Desktop, Documents...).
  2. Double-click layerz.exe.
  There is no installer, and nothing to uninstall.


"WINDOWS PROTECTED YOUR PC"
  The first time you open it, Windows SmartScreen may stop it. layerz
  isn't signed with a paid code-signing certificate yet, so Windows
  doesn't recognise the publisher. Click "More info", then "Run anyway".
  You only do this once.

  Before you do, you can check this is the file we published: its SHA-256
  is on the download page. In PowerShell:
      Get-FileHash .\layerz.exe


WHERE THINGS GO
  Exports      Music\layerz\
  Settings     %APPDATA%\WaveLoop\layerz.ini

  Want it all in one folder instead (a USB stick, say)? Put an empty file
  named layerz.ini next to layerz.exe and layerz keeps its settings there,
  with exports in an "exports" folder beside it.


PLUGINS
  layerz loads 64-bit VST2 plugins (effects and instruments) from the
  standard VstPlugins folders. Add another folder by setting the
  LAYERZ_VST_PATH environment variable.

  In the plugin list: just start typing to find one, TAB switches between
  ALL / EFFECTS / INSTRUMENTS, ENTER loads the highlighted one, ESC closes.

  A plugin only says whether it is an effect or an instrument once it has
  been loaded, so the EFFECTS and INSTRUMENTS lists fill in as you use
  them: every plugin you load is remembered. IDENTIFY does the whole
  folder in one pass - it loads each plugin once, which takes a while and
  can make an unlicensed plugin pop its own activation window. You can
  stop it at any time, and it never has to run twice.


AUDIO
  layerz uses your default Windows audio device. This build does not
  include ASIO.

  Click the LAYERZ ULTRA title for SETTINGS: pick the input from the list, set
  the buffer, switch the device between SHARED and EXCLUSIVE (X does the
  same). The footer shows the round-trip latency the device reports.
  Exclusive is a little faster but nothing else can play through that
  device while layerz is open.


INPUTS
  Press A, or click the symbol at the top left: a panel slides out on the
  left with every input your interface has. Each one has a level, a mute,
  a pan and a link to its neighbour, so you can use one input on its own,
  spread two across left and right, or mix them all into the loop. Keys
  1-4 switch between four setups. It is saved per interface and shared
  with the other WaveLoop apps.


LIBRARY
  Press L, or click the three bars at the top left: your loops, newest
  first. Whatever is on the tape saves itself there as you play, and
  layerz opens on it next time. Click another to switch to it, or the
  play button on its left to hear it. + starts an empty one.
  The + at the top left (or N) starts an empty one too.

  Click a loop's name to put it on the tape. Its play button plays it
  in the PLAYER at the bottom of the library instead; the tape is left
  alone.

  FILES, the second tab, is your disk: favorite folders on the left, the
  folder you are in on the right. Only audio and video are listed.
  Land on a sound and it plays in the PLAYER. Double-click it (or Enter)
  and it lands on the tape as a new loop. Double-click a video and it
  goes to the VIDEO pane. F makes the folder a favorite. You can also
  drop a sound on the window.

  THE PLAYER shows the file close up and whole. Click to move through it.
  What it plays goes out with the instrument: your speakers and, when
  you are ON AIR, the broadcast.
  Its volume fader goes with what you put on the tape: it lands as loud
  as you heard it.
  Under it:
    LOOP       the player goes round the block it is in (see BARS).
               Click another block and it goes round that one.
               No tempo found: it goes round the whole file.
    TO INPUT   off, the player is only heard: what you record does not
               have it. On, it is one of your inputs: record and it
               goes onto the tape.
    BARS       the file cut on its own tempo into blocks of 1, 2, 4 or 8
               bars. Click a block to play from it. Drag a block onto the
               instrument and it REPLACES what is on the tape: the loop
               is now exactly that long.
               The two arrows move the whole grid a beat left or
               right, until bar one is where you hear it. What is
               left over at either end is a short block; it drags
               the same way.


VIDEO pane. With the pointer on the list: Up / Down move, Enter opens,
  Backspace goes up a folder, F makes the folder a favorite (or takes
  it off). Drag a favorite to reorder it.


VIDEO
  Press V, or click the tall frame at the top right: a pane slides out on
  the right. Drop a video on the window (mp4, mov, and the rest Windows can
  play) and it stands beside the instrument. Under it is the whole video
  as a bar with two handles: drag them to the start and end you want, let
  go, and the loop becomes exactly that long. The picture then runs with
  the tape, so you can play to it. What was on the tape stays. The x next
  to the name takes the video out.


KEYS
  Press ? for every key on one page. Click a row and it presses that key
  for you.


REMOVE IT
  Delete this folder. To clear its settings too, delete
  %APPDATA%\WaveLoop\layerz.ini. Your exports stay in Music\layerz until
  you delete them.


Needs Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
Third-party licences: THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt

