The Editor

Overview

The Editor is the main window of Onset Engine. It provides library management, timeline visualization, real-time previews, and batch rendering with granular control over every parameter.

Layout

Area	Description
Header	Version badge and the menus (File, Edit, View, Library, Help), then (right to left) ⚡ NEW VIDEO, 🎧 DJ MODE, ⚙️ Preferences,? documentation, ℹ About & Updates, 🕶 Discreet Mode, 🌙/☀ theme, 🏠 welcome launcher, and your license badge
Left panel	Your library, in VIDEO, AUDIO and SUBJECTS tabs, with + Add to add videos and photos
Center	Video player preview with transport controls + Welcome Launcher
Right panel	Settings (GENERAL and ADVANCED tabs), with 1. GENERATE TIMELINE, Format, Quality and 🎬 2. RENDER FINAL VIDEO in a bar at the bottom that stays in view
Bottom	Timeline with clip blocks, audio waveform, and the console log

Menus

The menus next to the version badge collect what the app can do in one place:

File - New video…, open a project (Open project…, Open last project, Recent projects), Save project, Generate timeline, Render final video, Preferences…, Exit.
Edit - Undo timeline change and Redo timeline change.
View - DJ Mode…, Discreet mode, and Hide Onset Engine now.
Library - Add videos and photos…, Collections…, Back up library… (a copy of your library: ratings, tags, collections and analysis, saved where you choose), Restore a backup… (see Library backups), Remove missing videos… and Reset library….
Help - the documentation, Keyboard shortcuts, What’s changed, Check for updates…, Enter license key…, support, and About Onset Engine.

Shortcuts: Ctrl+N New video, Ctrl+O open a project, Ctrl+S save it, Ctrl+I add videos, Ctrl+, Preferences, Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y undo and redo a timeline change, F1 the documentation. Help → Keyboard shortcuts lists them all, including the timeline’s own keys (see Curator Tools).

While a job runs - adding videos, generating a timeline, rendering - the bar just above the timeline shows what it’s doing, how long it has been running and, once it can tell, about how long is left, with ⏸ PAUSE and ⏹ STOP. It stays in view whichever tab you’re on. When the job ends, the same bar says how it went and offers the next step: ▶ Watch draft and 🎬 Render video after generating a timeline, ▶ Play and 📂 Show in folder after a render, or the reason with Show details and Copy log if it couldn’t finish.

Under the job bar, notes explain how a video came out when it matters: your library is small for the song so footage repeats, some must-use clips didn’t fit, some footage is missing. Close a note with ×.

Browsing your library

The VIDEO tab lists your videos, one row each; click a row to open it and see its clips, in the order they occur in the video. Each clip card shows where the clip starts in its video and how long it lasts (for example 1:23 · 4.2s).

The search box filters by name as you type. Start with / and describe what you’re looking for (for example /dancing on a beach), then press Enter, to search by what’s in the clips: the video with the best match opens, and each card shows its rank (#1 is the closest match).

Filters ▸ opens the filters: Type (videos or photos), ★ rating, Scene, Motion, Collection and Tag. While they are folded away, Filters names the ones in use (for example Filters · ★4+, Wide). 🏷️ Tag Mode sits beside it.

The Motion filter shows your most active clips, compared with the rest of your library: Busier half, Busiest quarter or Busiest 10%.

The CONSOLE tab tells the story of each job: what it’s doing, warnings, results. Tick Show all details to also see the engine’s per-clip detail from the next job on. A complete log of every job - including a system-information header and per-line timestamps - is always written to render.log in the project’s output folder, and 📋 Copy Log copies the last job’s complete log, ready to paste into a support request.

Library backups

Onset Engine saves a copy of your library by itself:

after you add videos,
before you remove any (Remove missing videos…, Reset library…, or removing a video from the library),
and once a day when it has changed.

Up to five recent backups are kept (three for very large libraries), in a library_backups folder next to your library, in %APPDATA%\Onset Engine. A backup is skipped rather than filling a nearly full drive.

Library > Restore a backup… lists them, with the date, why each was made, and how many videos and clips each holds. Choose one and click Restore to put it back in place; Open folder shows the backups. Your library as it is now is backed up first, so you can always switch back. Your video files are never touched: a backup holds your library’s ratings, tags, collections and analysis.

Two-Step Workflow

The Editor uses a deliberate two-step workflow:

Step 1: Generate Timeline

Runs clip selection in draft mode (~30 seconds). The engine:

Analyzes your music track (beats, energy curve, drops)
Matches clips to energy tiers using driver scoring
Places clips on the timeline with transitions
Displays the result in the timeline panel

Review and fix the timeline

The timeline shows one block per cut, over the song’s waveform. Before you render, you can work on it as much as you like, with every license, the free Demo included:

Watch it with the song: Space plays the selected clip in place, and a click on the waveform plays the edit from there, with no render.
Fix single clips: right-click a clip to swap, re-roll, lock or discard it, or press R, L, S or Delete. ←/→ move from clip to clip.
Drag a clip from the library onto a slot, or one clip on the timeline onto another to swap them. Shift-click a run of clips and drag it to move them all.
Edit the cuts on the beat: split (K), join (J), move a cut ([ and ]) or drag the edge between two clips.
Set each clip’s effects and sound: ✨ Effects, Cut Into This Clip and 🔊 Clip Sound in the right-click menu.
🔁 Fix N repeats replaces clips that repeat a shot, and ✂ Song span chooses where in the song the video starts and ends.
Undo / Redo (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y) step through every change.

Curator Tools covers each of these in detail.

Library and track fit

Once the edit is built, the engine compares it with the footage that was available for it. If clips had to repeat, most cuts come from one or two videos, or the track’s high-energy passages had little fast footage to draw on, it says so in the console with the edit’s own numbers, and suggests what to change - longer holds, a slower track, or how many more clips would cover the edit without repeats. When many shots ended early because their clips were saved as copies, it suggests adding those videos again with Make a copy of each clip turned off (in ⚙️ Global Preferences → ADDING VIDEOS) and Re-analyze videos and photos already in the library ticked, so shots can run as long as the music wants.

It stays silent when the match is fine, and never blocks a render.

Pacing

Pacing, in the EDIT section, sets how often the video cuts to a new shot. Balanced (the default) is the style’s own pace, so Aggressive cuts fast and Sensual slowly. Fast cuts a third more often than that, Relaxed a third less, Slow a third as often and Very slow a sixth, whatever the style. At every pace the edit follows the music: louder passages cut faster, quieter ones, such as a bridge, hold their shots a little longer, and longer shots end on a bar line, so cuts fall with the music’s phrasing. These paces hold a shot for at most four bars of the music, so on a fast song even Very slow stays under about 8 seconds a shot. Longest holds a shot for up to eight bars, ending on a bar line: up to about 15 seconds even on a fast song, for footage that wants long, steady shots.The first three are the same as Quick Start’s Cutting Pace, and a project made with Quick Start opens in the Editor with the pace it was made with. Use a slower pace when you have only a few clips, so they repeat less.

Must-use clips

To make sure particular videos appear in the edit, choose a collection under Must-use clips (in More options → CLIPS AND AUDIO, under Source Collection). Every video in it is placed at least once and the engine fills the rest. See Collections.

Step 2: 🎬 Render Final Video

Once you’re happy with the timeline, click Render to produce the final video:

Full-quality rendering at your chosen Quality (on the free Demo, the first minute of the edit, at 720p with a watermark)
VFX pipeline applies all preset effects (signature VFX, depth, optical flow, grading)
Audio mixing - blend your clips’ own audio with the music at levels you set
Progress tracked via Crate Digger minigame

One job at a time, and the render queue:

Onset runs one job at a time. Start something else while a job runs (adding videos, Generate, Preview edit) and a note under the job bar says it has to wait; let the job finish or press ⏹ Stop.
Press 2. RENDER FINAL VIDEO while a job runs and Onset offers to add the render to the queue; it starts by itself when the current job ends.
File > Add to render queue lines up the render of the project on screen, so you can queue several projects or formats. The queue shows under Open Output Folder while it holds something; ▶ Run queue (or File > Run render queue) runs them one after another, ⏹ Stop stops the queue, and ✕ removes a render that hasn’t started. When the queue is done, Render Complete opens for the last video it made.
Closing Onset while a job runs or renders are waiting asks first.

Clip Direction

The Editor offers progressive disclosure for clip direction:

Text Descriptions (Simple)

Two text fields in the Clip Direction section, under More options:

“During quiet parts, focus on:” - purple-accented, maps to low energy tiers
“On the heavy drops, focus on:” - pink-accented, maps to high energy tiers

These auto-generate a 4-tier driver behind the scenes.

Driver JSON (Advanced)

The DRIVER section on the ADVANCED tab lets you:

Browse for a custom .json driver file
Open the ✨ Create wizard to build a driver visually
Clear the driver with the ✕ button

Priority: Driver JSON overrides text descriptions. When a driver is loaded, the text fields in Clip Direction dim, and a note there says the driver on the ADVANCED tab is used instead.

Export Settings

Format and Quality sit between the Generate and Render buttons at the bottom of the settings panel.

The GENERAL tab starts with what every video needs:

MEDIA ASSETS - Audio Input and the Quick: starter tracks.
CREATIVE DIRECTION - Visual Style and Save as Custom Preset. Delete shows while a custom preset is selected.
EDIT - Make (with its Order) and Pacing. Clip fit, with its line, shows here once a generated timeline has clips shaped differently from the video, and Photos when your library holds both photos and videos.

Everything else is under More options, which opens by itself when a project uses any of them and lists the ones in use:

SONGS AND LENGTH - Rounds…, Length and Crossfade between songs (sec). See Rounds & Length.
Clip Direction - what to show in the quiet parts and on the heavy drops (see above).
CLIPS AND AUDIO - Mix Original Audio, with Source Volume and Music Level under it while it is ticked; Burn Watermark (the Demo always adds a watermark, so it isn’t shown there); Source Collection, with Manage… for both collection rows; Must-use clips, with Keep in order once a must-use collection is chosen; Only these / Never these.
SHOTS AND ORDER - ⭐ Use 5-Star Clips, 📅 Chronological Order, 🧠 Learn my taste, then Intensity with Shape it… next to it.
FRAMING AND TRANSITIONS - Clip fit (when it isn’t in EDIT) and Transitions.
🔠 Title Card (intro).
RHYTHM BAR - see Rhythm Bar & Click Track.

Learn my taste

With 🧠 Learn my taste ticked (it is by default), each timeline picks more clips like the ones you keep and fewer like the ones you throw out - including clips you have never rated. It learns from:

Star ratings in the library: 4 and 5 stars count for a clip, 1 and 2 against it.
Blocked clips (against).
The timeline: Discard counts against a clip, Lock for it, and Swap counts against the clip you swapped out and for the one you picked.

It works on how clips look, so a few choices steer the whole library toward that look. It starts once there are 5 liked clips; the line under the checkbox says how many it has so far. It only nudges the choice - the music, pacing and your driver still lead, so an edit never turns into the same few clips.

Forget clears what it learned from Discard, Swap and Lock. Star ratings and blocks stay; change those in the library. Untick the box to make an edit without it - while it is off, timeline choices are not recorded. Everything stays on your computer.

If you change a setting that picks clips (music, style, pacing, intensity, collections, clip direction, driver, 5-Star, Chronological, Learn my taste) after generating a timeline, a note above 1. GENERATE TIMELINE names it: generate again to use it. 2. RENDER FINAL VIDEO renders the timeline as it is.

Format - Standard (16:9), Vertical (9:16), Triptych (3-Panel), Vertical Teaser (9:16), or Highlights Only, with every license. See Render Formats.

Quality - the size and frame rate of the render. Your license sets the largest; larger options are still listed, marked with a 🔒 (Studio):

Your license	Available
Demo	720p 30fps
Core	1080p 30fps, 1080p 60fps
Studio	1080p 30fps, 1080p 60fps, 4K 30fps, 4K 60fps

Vertical and Vertical Teaser use the same resolution turned portrait: 1080p gives 1080x1920, 4K gives 2160x3840.

Make - first in the EDIT section: Cut a montage (the best moments of your footage, cut to the beat) or Use my photos and clips (every photo and clip once, in order, with its Order next to it: Date taken or File name). With the second, Pacing, Photos and Chronological Order are greyed out. See Use my photos and clips.

Clip fit - how clips shaped differently from the video are framed: Crop to fill (zoom in, edges cut off), Blurred background (whole clip) or Black bars (whole clip). It is in the EDIT section once a generated timeline has clips shaped differently from the video, and under More options → FRAMING AND TRANSITIONS otherwise. Once you’ve generated a timeline, the line under it says how many clips this affects. See Clip Fit.

Transitions - how one shot gives way to the next: The style’s choice, Dissolve in quiet parts, Dissolve between every shot, or Cuts only. It is under More options → FRAMING AND TRANSITIONS. Photos - how many of the shots are photos: As in your library, None, About a quarter, About half, About three quarters, or Only photos. It is in the EDIT section, shown when your library holds both photos and videos. Both are saved with your project. See Photos.

Higher resolutions and 60fps both increase render time substantially. See Render Benchmarks for real numbers.

Intensity

Intensity, under More options → SHOTS AND ORDER, controls how energy is mapped across the edit:

Intensity	Behavior
Follow the music	Follows the music’s own energy curve - the default
Build to the drop, Wave, Staircase, Plateau, Two peaks	A shape laid over the song and mixed with its energy, the same as New video’s Intensity. See Energy Arc & Holds
Step up to the drop	Climbs in steps on the bar lines on the way into the track’s main drop, at a steady cutting pace, and hits the drop at full intensity, holding it from there on. (Build to the drop climbs alike but also cuts faster as it builds.) It always cuts right on the drop, so a new shot opens exactly as it hits, and saves its most intense clips for the drop itself
Level throughout	Holds one middle intensity for the whole edit, whatever the music’s dynamics

Picking one replaces the other. Shape it…, next to Intensity, opens the arc window starting from the chosen shape, to draw your own and mark holds; holds are kept when you pick another Intensity. A shape you drew shows in Intensity as its shape name, or Your own shape.

UX Features

Vision Matrix

A live 3×3 thumbnail grid that appears during ingest, showing AI analysis tags as each video file completes.

Crate Digger

A star-rating minigame that starts when you click Render. Rate unrated clips while you wait - curate your library during downtime.

Welcome Launcher

Shown in the player area when no project is open, and from 🏠 in the header. ⚡ Make a video opens New video: your videos and a song become a draft of the whole song, cut to the beat. Below it, Other ways to start: DJ Mode, and the Editor (close the welcome screen and set everything yourself). The welcome screen stays until your project has something to show.

Until you’ve made your first video, a Getting started checklist sits under the cards: add your videos, pick a song, generate a timeline, render. It ticks off what you’ve done, and each step still to do is a link that takes you to it.

Timeline Zoom

The timeline is drawn at a fixed scale, so how much room each clip gets depends on how many clips there are. A fast-cut edit can pack every shot into a handful of pixels, too narrow to show a thumbnail.

Use the − / + / Fit controls above the timeline, or hold Ctrl and scroll over it.

− / + step through zoom levels, from a quarter of the default out to 13x.
Fit picks the largest zoom at which the whole edit still fits the window.

On a 175-clip edit, zooming in takes the typical clip from about 16 pixels wide to 86, at which point nearly every shot shows a thumbnail. The waveform follows the same scale, so cuts stay lined up with the audio at every level.

At every zoom level the timeline shows its clips and the waveform from start to end, and clicking, dragging and the mouse wheel work all along it, however long the edit. Clips too narrow for a name or a picture show as plain blocks, and names and pictures fill in starting with the part of the edit you are looking at.

Save / Load Projects

Projects are saved as JSON files in the jobs/ directory:

jobs/job_MyProject.json

All settings are persisted: preset, driver, quality, text descriptions, audio file, collection filter, intensity, and VFX options.

To open a saved project, use File > Open project… (Ctrl+O), or File > Open last project to go back to the one you worked on last.

Advanced Tab: VFX Options

The Advanced tab includes a VFX OPTIONS section with opt-in effects, available with every license, the free Demo included.

✨ Cutout Pop Transitions - The subject is cut out of one scene and pops into the next. Uses a model that comes with Onset Engine, so there’s nothing to download. Adds roughly 5% to render time.
Beauty Mode - AI skin smoothing. Its intensity slider shows while Beauty Mode is ticked.
Subliminal Text - Flashes words on the beat. It shows only when the style is HYPNOSIS; enter your words comma-separated.
Smooth Motion (60fps Interpolation) - Generates in-between frames for smoother 30→60fps motion. Adds significant time after the render itself finishes.
Depth Effects - Estimates depth in each shot to add parallax and focus pulls, with an intensity slider. The model comes with Onset Engine and runs on your computer.