Appearance Preferences

Cosmetics and layout. None of these affect the audio path — they're entirely about what the workspace looks like and how it's arranged. The defaults are tuned for a typical QC session, but the colour palettes and layout modes can save real time when you're working on multiple files in a row.

Theme

App Theme — Standard or Dark.

Pro

The Dark theme is an Orbit Pro feature.

Standard is the default; the Pro Dark theme is a richer, deeper palette designed for low-light mastering rooms. If your Pro licence is missing or expired, the picker will show a lock and selecting Dark will revert on validation.

Object Theme — six accent colours (pink / blue / green / purple / yellow / red) used for object dots in the 3D scene, object highlights in the timeline, and the master fader fill. Pick the one that contrasts best against your typical content; pink (the default) is a deliberate broad-spectrum compromise.

Waveform Theme — six gradient palettes for the multichannel waveform. Each option shows a small gradient swatch in the picker so you can preview before selecting. The default theme uses neutral greys; the named themes (Aurora, Heat, Iris, etc.) tint per-channel waveforms with hue-distinct colours that make it easier to read busy multichannel content at a glance.

3D scene

Visual options for the SceneKit-backed 3D visualizer.

Room Shape — three options for the spatial reference geometry around the listener. Cube is the default — a simple unit cube. Room is a 2:3 box that's closer to a real listening room's proportions. Sphere is a unit sphere — useful for thinking about ambisonic content where direction matters more than walls.

Gradient Background — switches the scene background from a flat colour to a soft gradient. Pure cosmetic. Default is off.

Show Front Indicator — draws a small marker at the front of the room (positive Y direction) so you can immediately tell which way the listener is facing. Default is on. Useful for QC; turn off for screenshots if you want a cleaner image.

Show Object Details — adds object names and metadata as labels in the timeline and scene. Default is off because the labels can clutter a busy mix; turn on when you're hunting for a specific object.

Layout

Layout Mode — two options for how the main window is arranged.

• Standard — Header, then Scene, then Activity Grid, then Timeline, then Footer (top to bottom).
• Split View — Header, Activity Grid and Scene side-by-side, then Timeline and Footer below.

Standard is the default and works well on tall displays. Split View is more efficient on wide displays — the activity grid and 3D scene sit next to each other rather than stacked, leaving more vertical room for the timeline.

Meters & Output Devices at Top — when on, the footer (output meters + solo/mute column) renders at the top of the layout, just below the header. Off (the default) keeps the footer pinned to the bottom of the window where it never scrolls away. Mostly a personal preference based on how you read the screen.

See also

• Workspace Tour — what each region of the layout actually contains.
• Monitoring — picking how audio is rendered (separate from the layout).