Reopen Menu Band from its Dock icon or Window → Open Menu Band after closing the panel. Opening it again while it is visible brings it forward. New sampled Salamander and Hand Percussion drum kits, plus Steinway B and Yamaha Upright piano sources alongside Salamander Grand. Turn on the ABC layer to show and speak letters as you play. The Mono checkbox folds the output to a single signal for rooms with one speaker. Clicked keys now hold for as long as you hold the mouse, and clicks on the menu-bar piano land on the key under the pointer, so the far ends of the strip are reachable again on the newest system. The menu-bar keys also refit themselves when the screen or bar changes size. The hold-to-sample microphone voice survives switching input devices, and your chosen studio monitor stays selected across launches. When the audio engine stalls, the surface cues now skip instead of freezing the app. The permission notice no longer traps the board in focus, and the TrackDrum polyrhythm trainer draws its lanes on the skin.

Page switching keeps up with fast Tab presses. The page-switch chime now previews the live pitch and echo, and rubbing the idle pitch page makes soft friction sounds that follow your effects.

The polyrhythm trainer now gives every rhythm its own circle, side by side, instead of stacking them in one ring. Each finger can hold its own grid: strike the left circle for the threes, the right for the twos, and each strike is scored against that circle's own beat rather than whichever beat happened to be nearest. Press / on the TrackDrum surface to cycle 3:2, 4:3, 5:4, and 3:4:5, and - or = to change tempo. Every circle keeps a distinct click so you can hear the parts apart. The free TrackDrum companion now keeps itself up to date.

TrackDrum activation now enters percussion immediately, keeps keyboard focus across physical trackpad clicks, and preserves its click shields between strikes. Command shortcuts no longer trigger the focus gesture accidentally.

Menu Band now supports the TrackDrum companion for focused trackpad percussion. Double-Command enters percussion when TrackDrum is available; Tab alone switches between drums and the pitch-and-space slider. Focus stays locked safely while you play, slide motion and effects are smoother, clicks and pops are reduced, and both surfaces appear and fade cleanly without covering the Dock.

Your Mac keyboard is now three instruments in one. A new Keymap dropdown switches among Menu Band, AWSED, and MilkyTracker layouts. AWSED and MilkyTracker retain the real staggered positions of your physical keys, with unused caps left invisibly in place. MilkyTracker adds classic two-octave tracker keyjazz across ZSXDCVGBHNJM and Q2W3ER5T6Y7U while keeping 0 available for MIDI mode. Chord modifiers work in every layout, so you can explore major, minor, suspended, augmented, diminished, and fifth-rich harmony from any root.

Your trackpad is now a percussion instrument. Focus Menu Band and play its clearer five-zone surface: kick in the center, then tom, snare, hat, and click toward the edge. Physically click the kick for a deeper pumping hit, or hold a click while dragging for a more responsive skin scratch. Tab cycles physical, synthetic, FX, and kit surfaces. Returning touches restore a fading pad immediately, solo keys and percussion are better normalized, and melodic parts automatically make room for each strike.

Your trackpad is now a percussion instrument. Focus Menu Band, tap the multi-touch drum skin, and move from deep center hits toward brighter edges; Tab cycles physical, synthetic, FX, and kit surfaces. Melodic parts automatically make room for each strike, score percussion follows its written note lengths, and the whole mix is louder and better balanced.

Plug in a hardware MIDI keyboard and play Menu Band's instrument palette directly. The new CDJ Radio deck tunes KPBJ, R8DIO, NTS 1, and NTS 2 beside the piano, with a scratchable platter and an explicit sample-to-piano handoff. Recording cues are smoother, physical Command shortcuts work reliably, and idle audio behaves better between sessions.

Recording gets a proper start: a 3·2·1 count-in drawn right in the menu bar, and finished tapes save wherever you choose. Tapes wear new Menu Band cover art, the speech voice learns instant spoken digits, and small fixes ride along from playing the shipped build.

Menu Band 1.5.4 makes the instrument easier to discover and more reliable: • Adds an Open at Login setting. • Makes the instrument chooser clearer and more responsive. • Centers the expanded keymap whenever it opens. • Opens Tips in the built-in Help Viewer. • Fixes sliding between notes on the on-screen QWERTY keyboard.