Routing & devices
Different consoles want timecode in different ways. The routing canvas is where you decide: drop sources and outputs onto a graph, wire them up, and QTracks sends exactly what your setup needs — MTC, LTC, monitor audio, or all three at once.
By Levyn Schneider, grandMA3 operator and creator of QTracks · Updated June 2026
QTracks routing is a visual graph. You add source nodes (stems, an LTC generator, an MTC generator) and output nodes (audio devices, MIDI ports), then draw connections between them. To drive grandMA3 onPC, wire an MTC source to a virtual MIDI port; to drive a physical desk, wire an LTC source to an audio output feeding the console’s LTC input. Both can run at the same time, and the whole graph is saved with your project.
The routing canvas
The canvas is a drag-and-drop mixer. Each block is a node; each connection is a signal path. Open it, add the nodes you need, and wire source → bus → output. Reopen the project later and every connection is exactly where you left it.
Node types
| Node | What it does |
|---|---|
| Stem source | An audio stem (or the full song) from your timeline. Feed it to a mix bus or monitor bus. |
| LTC source | Generates SMPTE LTC as an audio signal. Route it to an audio output that feeds a console's LTC input. |
| MTC source | Generates MIDI Timecode on a chosen MIDI port — virtual or physical. This is how grandMA3 onPC takes timecode without hardware. |
| Mix bus | Sums audio sources together before an output. |
| Monitor bus | A separate bus for what you listen to while programming, kept apart from what you send to the console. |
| Physical output | A hardware audio device and start channel — your interface, or the built-in output. |
| Virtual output | A virtual audio device (e.g. a loopback driver) for sending audio to other software. |
Common setups
- grandMA3 onPC (no hardware): add an
MTC source, set its MIDI port to a virtual port, and select that same port as the timecode input inside grandMA3 onPC. Press play and onPC follows. - Physical desk: add an
LTC sourceand route it to aphysical output(an audio interface channel) wired into the console’s LTC input. - Monitor while you program: route your stems through a
monitor busto your headphones or monitors, independent of the timecode you send to the console. - Both at once: nothing stops you running MTC to onPC and LTC to a desk in the same graph — wire both.
For the difference between LTC and MTC and which to choose, see the grandMA3 timecode guide.
Presets
Save routing as a preset so you can recall a setup in one click. Presets work per project, and a system-wide routing configuration persists across projects — so the rig you use most is ready every time you open the app, while a one-off show can still have its own graph.
Try it on your next show.
QTracks is free for macOS, Windows, and Linux. No account, no licence key — download it and start programming.