Step
The unit of time. A step is a position on the timeline, and on its own it lasts nothing: you give it a duration at the end, when you export (the Step Time field) or when you send the signal to the generator.Channel
Every row of the timeline is a channel. You can change:Offset and hiding are display-only. The offset moves the drawn trace but not
the data, and a hidden channel keeps its signal and can still be exported (there
is a checkbox to include it). To really remove a signal, delete the channel.
Sub-step: splitting a step into pieces
A whole step can be split into 2, 3, 4… up to 99 pieces. Each piece is a sub-step and is high or low on its own. To split: select the steps and use Division (D).
It is good for two things:
Writing protocol frames
Every sub-step is one bit. Split a step into 8 and write a byte.
Gaining resolution where you need it
A short pulse in the middle of a slow signal, without splitting everything.
Every channel has its own grid. You can have channel 1 split into thirds and
channel 2 into quarters at the same time: they do not interfere, and on export
each one keeps its own values.
Selection
A selection is one channel and the cells chosen inside it. It never crosses channels. It is what enables almost the whole bottom bar: copy, cut, paste, label, delete, insert, toggle, invert, divide and offset. With no selection, those buttons are off. You select by dragging over the channel, or with the keyboard (S takes the
step at the center, Shift + ← → extends).
Label
A name and a color over a stretch of steps, to write down what that part of the signal is:CLK, DATA, SYNC. They are shown and hidden all together.
See Numbers and labels.
And in analog
Analog mode uses the same steps and channels, but instead of high/low cells you get:- Connection points, pinned to the divider lines, at whatever height you pick (0 % floor, 100 % ceiling).
- Chords, stretched between every two points. Straight out of the box; you grab them and stretch them into the curve you are after.