Layered - Understanding the 12-Voice Engine & Instrument Selection

The core of Layered is its powerful 12-voice engine. Each voice acts as its own instrument channel, giving you the flexibility to blend and balance sounds in creative ways. This article walks you through how the engine works and how to select, manage, and layer instruments.

What is the 12-Voice Engine?

Layered gives you access to 12 independent instrument slots, called voices. Each voice can be assigned to a different sampled instrument, processed individually, and balanced within the overall mix. By combining multiple voices, you can create complex hybrid textures that go far beyond what a single instrument can achieve.

Loading Instruments into a Voice

Open Layered and look at the Voice Rack, where each of the 12 slots is listed.
Click on any empty or active slot.
Use the instrument browser to select from over 100 available sounds.
The chosen instrument will load into that slot and is ready to play immediately.

Tip: Start simple by loading 2–3 voices together, then build up as needed.

Swapping Instruments

If you’d like to change a voice:

Select the voice you want to swap and open the voice browser by clicking the triangle. (circled in red)
Choose a new voice to replace it by clicking on the voice.
Close the browser with the white X.

All your per-voice settings (EQ, compression, pan, etc.) stay active when you swap, so you can audition new sounds without losing your adjustments.

Soloing, Muting & Managing Voices

Mute: Silences a voice so you can hear others more clearly. (S under the voice fader)
Solo: Isolates a voice so you can focus on shaping it. (M under the voice fader)
Voice Order: Rearranging or removing voices helps keep your rack organized.

These functions are especially useful when building layered textures with many instruments at once.

Creative Layering Tips

Blend contrasting sounds (e.g., piano + synth pad) for a wide, textured feel.
Double instruments in octaves for a fuller arrangement.
Use subtle per-voice delay to create stereo spread.
Keep CPU in mind—start small, then expand as needed. (Especially on older computers with multiple instances of Layered running simultaneously)