Panel Design

The Panel View is where you design the user interface of your synthesizer or plugin. It shows only the controls (sliders, knobs, buttons, menus) without the underlying patch cords and processing modules.

The Panel View is what your end-user actually sees — only the control modules (sliders, knobs, drop-downs, buttons) are visible here, laid out the way you want them. Everything else (oscillators, filters, MIDI plumbing) lives behind the scenes in Structure View.

Accessing Panel View

Right-click a container and select Panel Edit, or use the toolbar button to switch between Structure View and Panel View.

Arranging Controls

• Drag controls to position them on the panel
• Arrow keys nudge selected controls by 1 pixel for precise positioning
• Snap to Grid (Edit > Snap to Grid) helps align controls evenly
• Select multiple controls and drag them as a group

Panel Groups

Use the Panel Group module to add a visual border around related controls. This helps organize your interface into logical sections — for example, grouping all oscillator controls together, all filter controls together, etc. Panel Groups are only available in Panel View.

Complex Multi-Section Panels

For synthesizers with multiple sections (oscillators, filters, envelopes, effects), use containers with the Controls on Parent property:

1. Place each section’s modules in its own container
2. Set the container’s Controls on Parent property to display its controls on the parent panel
3. Arrange the controls on the parent’s Panel View

This approach keeps your patch organized while presenting a unified control panel to the user.

Sub Panels

The Sub Panel module displays a window into a lower-level container’s panel. This is useful for:

• Showing nested SynthEdit controls
• Displaying VST plugin interfaces within your patch

For SynthEdit’s own panels, the Controls on Parent approach is generally preferred over Sub Panels.

Skins

Skins control the visual appearance of your panel — the graphics used for knobs, sliders, backgrounds, and other controls.

Selecting a Skin

Each panel can use a different skin:

1. Right-click the panel background
2. Select a skin from the Skin submenu

Installing New Skins

1. Create a new folder in the SynthEdit skins directory
2. Copy the skin’s image files into the folder
3. Restart SynthEdit

The folder name becomes the skin name. Any missing images automatically fall back to the default skin.

Locking the Panel

To prevent accidental changes to your panel layout, use Edit > Lock Module or the toolbar lock button. Locked panels prevent control repositioning while still allowing the controls to function normally during playback.

Capturing Screenshots

To save an image of your panel: Edit > Grab Screenshot, then choose a save location. The active view is captured as a PNG file.