Drawing one
Two ways: switch to Connect above the stage and click one circle then another, or drag out from the edge of a circle with Select still active.
A connection belongs to the two circles at its ends. Move either and the line follows; hide either on a beat and the line hides with it.
What the line is doing
This is the one setting worth understanding properly. It sets the colour, whether the line draws itself, and whether anything travels along it — all from one answer to “is anything on this route, and is anything going to be”.
| Mode | What it means |
|---|---|
| Carrying | Traffic is on it. It draws itself as the beat starts, in the beat’s colour, and the travelling dot runs along it. |
| Unused | Nothing routes here. Dashed and grey, with no travelling dot and no landing mark — the absence of motion IS the signal. It appears rather than drawing, so that nothing about it reads as movement. A dashed connection cannot be made to draw itself: the dashes and the drawing effect are the same property, and one silently cancels the other. |
| Plain | A real route, drawn, with no claim attached. Grey and solid — for the connections that are there but are not what this beat is about. |
| Waiting | The route exists and is not carrying anything yet. Solid but dim, and it appears rather than drawing — so a later beat switching it to Carrying reads as this route waking up, rather than as a new route appearing. |
| Streaming | Dashes that travel along it for as long as the beat lasts. A travelling dot is one thing being carried and you can count them; this is a rate — use it for the connection that never stops rather than for the request you are following. Like the other dashed modes it appears rather than drawing. |
A line can be one thing on one beat and another on the next — that is how a route wakes up, carries something, and goes quiet again over three beats.
How the line looks
The rest of the connection panel is shape rather than meaning. Most of it needs Plus:
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Dash Plus | Solid, dashed, dotted. |
| Arrowhead Plus | Solid, open, bar, dot, ring, diamond — at one end or both. |
| Route Plus | Curved, or right angles. |
| Words on the line Plus | A short label riding the line itself. |