diff --git a/packages/core/src/editing/affordances.ts b/packages/core/src/editing/affordances.ts
index f0e3be6ae..7721da93d 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/editing/affordances.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/editing/affordances.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { HF_AUDIO_GROUP_TAG } from "../audioGroups.js";
 /**
  * Pure, DOM-free editing-affordance resolution. Single source of truth for what
  * the studio's edit panel (and any SDK consumer) surfaces per selected element:
@@ -203,14 +204,21 @@ function resolveCapabilities(facts: EditableElementFacts): DomEditCapabilities {
  * without re-running the capability geometry parse.
  */
 export function resolveEditingSections(facts: EditableElementFacts): EditingSectionApplicability {
+  // An `<hf-audio-group>` is a mixer bus: it has no visual frame AND no media
+  // of its own, but it does carry a `data-fx-chain`, which is the whole point
+  // of selecting one. Without this the timeline's "Open rack" on a group led to
+  // a panel offering Fill, Gradient, Stroke and Shadow for something that paints
+  // nothing — and no Audio FX section at all, so a bus effect could only ever be
+  // applied from the preset popover and never edited.
+  const isAudioBus = facts.tag === HF_AUDIO_GROUP_TAG;
   // `<audio>` never paints a visual frame — position/size/rotation/stacking
   // and fill/radius/stroke/shadow/etc. are all inert on it. Every other tag
   // (div, img, video, svg, canvas, composition hosts) renders a real box.
-  const hasVisualBox = facts.tag !== "audio";
+  const hasVisualBox = facts.tag !== "audio" && !isAudioBus;
   return {
     text: facts.hasEditableText && !facts.isCompositionHost && !facts.isInsideLockedComposition,
     media: facts.tag === "video" || facts.tag === "audio" || facts.tag === "img",
-    audioFx: facts.tag === "audio",
+    audioFx: facts.tag === "audio" || isAudioBus,
     colorGrading: facts.tag === "video" || facts.tag === "img",
     timing: facts.hasTimingStart || facts.animationCount > 0,
     animation: facts.animationCount > 0,
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/TimelineFxPopover.tsx b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/TimelineFxPopover.tsx
index c32fd1503..462493dea 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/TimelineFxPopover.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/TimelineFxPopover.tsx
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ import { useFxAudition } from "./useFxAudition.js";
 
 const POPOVER_WIDTH = 260;
 const VIEWPORT_MARGIN = 8;
+/** Below this the popover is useless anyway; it scrolls instead of vanishing. */
+const MIN_POPOVER_HEIGHT = 160;
 
 function clampedStyle(anchorRect: DOMRect): CSSProperties {
   const left = Math.min(
@@ -24,11 +26,18 @@ function clampedStyle(anchorRect: DOMRect): CSSProperties {
     Math.max(VIEWPORT_MARGIN, window.innerWidth - POPOVER_WIDTH - VIEWPORT_MARGIN),
   );
   const spaceBelow = window.innerHeight - anchorRect.bottom;
-  const openUpward = spaceBelow < 260 && anchorRect.top > spaceBelow;
+  const spaceAbove = anchorRect.top;
+  const openUpward = spaceBelow < 260 && spaceAbove > spaceBelow;
+  // Flipping direction alone was not enough: the preset list is taller than
+  // either gap on a short window, so the popover ran off the top or the bottom
+  // and its footer ("+ effect" / "Open rack") went with it. Cap to whatever the
+  // chosen side actually has and let the list scroll inside that.
+  const available = (openUpward ? spaceAbove : spaceBelow) - VIEWPORT_MARGIN - 4;
   return {
     position: "fixed",
     left,
     width: POPOVER_WIDTH,
+    maxHeight: Math.max(MIN_POPOVER_HEIGHT, available),
     ...(openUpward
       ? { bottom: window.innerHeight - anchorRect.top + 4 }
       : { top: anchorRect.bottom + 4 }),
@@ -96,22 +105,27 @@ export function TimelineFxPopover({
       ref={rootRef}
       role="dialog"
       aria-label="Effects"
-      className="z-50 rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-[#1b1b1f] p-2 shadow-xl"
+      className="z-50 flex flex-col overflow-hidden rounded-md border border-white/10 bg-[#1b1b1f] p-2 shadow-xl"
       style={clampedStyle(anchorRect)}
       onKeyDown={onKeyDown}
       onPointerDown={(event) => event.stopPropagation()}
     >
-      <FxPresetMenu
-        trackKind={trackKind}
-        onPick={applyPreset}
-        onAudition={
-          onChainPreview
-            ? (id) =>
-                audition(id ? (base) => applyPresetToChain(base, id, trackKind) ?? base : null)
-            : undefined
-        }
-      />
-      <div className="mt-2 flex items-center justify-between border-t border-white/10 pt-2 text-[10px] text-white/55">
+      {/* The list scrolls; the footer below stays put. `min-h-0` is load-bearing
+          — a flex child defaults to min-height:auto and would refuse to shrink,
+          pushing the footer out of the popover instead of scrolling. */}
+      <div className="min-h-0 flex-1 overflow-y-auto">
+        <FxPresetMenu
+          trackKind={trackKind}
+          onPick={applyPreset}
+          onAudition={
+            onChainPreview
+              ? (id) =>
+                  audition(id ? (base) => applyPresetToChain(base, id, trackKind) ?? base : null)
+              : undefined
+          }
+        />
+      </div>
+      <div className="mt-2 flex shrink-0 items-center justify-between border-t border-white/10 pt-2 text-[10px] text-white/55">
         <button
           type="button"
           className="hover:text-white"
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/useAuditionTransport.ts b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/useAuditionTransport.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0022f5af5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/useAuditionTransport.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/**
+ * Start playback for an audition, and put the playhead back on the way out.
+ *
+ * An audition writes the hovered preset to the running graph, which is silent
+ * while the transport is paused — so a paused author hovering a preset heard
+ * nothing at all and the affordance only worked mid-playback. Extracted from
+ * `useFxLevelling`, where the property panel's rack owned it privately, because
+ * the timeline's FX popover needs exactly the same behaviour and had none: its
+ * two call sites passed a preview channel and no transport, so hovering there
+ * was silent by construction.
+ */
+
+import { useRef } from "react";
+// The store's own module, not the `player` barrel: the barrel pulls the whole
+// timeline in, and the timeline's FX button imports this hook — a cycle.
+import { usePlayerStore } from "../../player/store/playerStore";
+
+export function useAuditionTransport(): (on: boolean) => void {
+  /**
+   * Where the playhead was when an audition started the transport, so leaving
+   * can put it back. Null means this audition did not start playback — the
+   * transport was already running and must be left alone.
+   */
+  const auditionReturn = useRef<number | null>(null);
+
+  /**
+   * Already playing, this does nothing in either direction. The author started
+   * that, and stopping their transport because they passed over a preset would
+   * be the UI taking a decision that was not offered to it.
+   */
+  return (on: boolean): void => {
+    const store = usePlayerStore.getState();
+    if (on) {
+      if (store.isPlaying || auditionReturn.current !== null) return;
+      auditionReturn.current = store.currentTime;
+      store.requestPlayback(true);
+      return;
+    }
+    const returnTo = auditionReturn.current;
+    if (returnTo === null) return;
+    auditionReturn.current = null;
+    store.requestPlayback(false, returnTo);
+  };
+}
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/useFxLevelling.ts b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/useFxLevelling.ts
index 26d9cd86a..9438ffd48 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/useFxLevelling.ts
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/useFxLevelling.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import {
 } from "./propertyPanelAutomation";
 import { trackLeveller } from "./audioFxTelemetry.js";
 import type { DomEditSelection } from "./domEditingTypes";
-import { usePlayerStore } from "../../player";
+import { useAuditionTransport } from "./useAuditionTransport.js";
 
 /**
  * Rate the track is decoded at. Analysis is self-consistent because it reads
@@ -125,39 +125,10 @@ export function useFxLevelling(
     }
   };
 
-  /**
-   * Where the playhead was when an audition started the transport, so leaving
-   * can put it back. Null means this audition did not start playback — the
-   * transport was already running and must be left alone.
-   */
-  const auditionReturn = useRef<number | null>(null);
-
-  /**
-   * Start playback for an audition, and stop it again on the way out.
-   *
-   * An audition writes the preset to the running graph, which is silent while
-   * the transport is paused — so a paused author hovering a preset heard
-   * nothing at all, and the whole affordance only worked mid-playback. Hovering
-   * now plays from the playhead, and leaving stops and rewinds to exactly where
-   * it started: browsing the shelf must not cost the author their place.
-   *
-   * Already playing, this does nothing in either direction. The author started
-   * that, and stopping their transport because they passed over a preset would
-   * be the panel taking a decision that was not offered to it.
-   */
-  const auditionTransport = (on: boolean): void => {
-    const store = usePlayerStore.getState();
-    if (on) {
-      if (store.isPlaying || auditionReturn.current !== null) return;
-      auditionReturn.current = store.currentTime;
-      store.requestPlayback(true);
-      return;
-    }
-    const returnTo = auditionReturn.current;
-    if (returnTo === null) return;
-    auditionReturn.current = null;
-    store.requestPlayback(false, returnTo);
-  };
+  // Hovering plays from the playhead and leaving rewinds to exactly where it
+  // started: browsing the shelf must not cost the author their place. Shared
+  // with the timeline's FX popover — see `useAuditionTransport`.
+  const auditionTransport = useAuditionTransport();
 
   const [auditioningLevel, setAuditioningLevel] = useState(false);
   /**
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineFxButton.tsx b/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineFxButton.tsx
index 882ebe1ab..24e2318b8 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineFxButton.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineFxButton.tsx
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import {
 } from "@hyperframes/core/audio-fx";
 import type { HfAudioNameKind } from "@hyperframes/core/audio-carve";
 import { TimelineFxPopover } from "../../components/editor/TimelineFxPopover.js";
+import { useAuditionTransport } from "../../components/editor/useAuditionTransport.js";
 
 function parseFxChainOrEmpty(raw: string | undefined): HfAudioFxChain {
   if (!raw) return { version: 1, nodes: [] };
@@ -35,7 +36,6 @@ interface TimelineFxButtonChainProps {
   fxChainRaw: string | undefined;
   onChainChange: (next: HfAudioFxChain) => void;
   onChainPreview?: (next: HfAudioFxChain) => void;
-  onAuditionTransport?: (on: boolean) => void;
 }
 
 interface TimelineFxButtonGroupPointerProps {
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ export function TimelineFxButton(props: TimelineFxButtonProps) {
   const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);
   const buttonRef = useRef<HTMLButtonElement | null>(null);
   const [anchorRect, setAnchorRect] = useState<DOMRect | null>(null);
+  // Owned here rather than threaded from each caller: both timeline call sites
+  // want the same thing, and neither passed one, so hovering a preset in this
+  // popover was silent unless the transport already happened to be running.
+  const auditionTransport = useAuditionTransport();
 
   const openAt = () => {
     setAnchorRect(buttonRef.current?.getBoundingClientRect() ?? null);
@@ -133,7 +137,7 @@ export function TimelineFxButton(props: TimelineFxButtonProps) {
             onClose={() => setOpen(false)}
             onChainChange={props.onChainChange}
             onChainPreview={props.onChainPreview}
-            onAuditionTransport={props.onAuditionTransport}
+            onAuditionTransport={auditionTransport}
             onOpenRack={props.onOpenRack}
           />,
           document.body,
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupBusStrip.tsx b/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupBusStrip.tsx
index d74a0cb88..73a065b54 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupBusStrip.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupBusStrip.tsx
@@ -72,6 +72,11 @@ export function TimelineGroupBusStrip({
       className="absolute left-0 right-0 flex items-center gap-2 px-2 text-[10px] text-white/70"
       style={{ top: TRACK_H, height: STRIP_H }}
     >
+      {/* Named, because unnamed it reads as an unexplained slider next to an
+          empty capsule: the row opens off a control labelled "lanes", so the
+          first question it has to answer is what it IS. Two words, no dB and no
+          numeric readout — that part of the casual-user rule stands. */}
+      <span className="shrink-0 text-white/45">Bus level</span>
       <input
         type="range"
         aria-label="Group volume"
@@ -94,6 +99,9 @@ export function TimelineGroupBusStrip({
       <div
         className="relative h-1.5 w-16 shrink-0 overflow-hidden rounded-full"
         style={{ background: theme.gutterBorder }}
+        // Empty while the transport is stopped, which is when somebody is most
+        // likely to be wondering what it is.
+        title="How loud this bus is playing right now"
         aria-hidden="true"
       >
         <div
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupHeader.tsx b/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupHeader.tsx
index c579bc28f..2c54a8e72 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupHeader.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/player/components/TimelineGroupHeader.tsx
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ interface TimelineGroupHeaderProps {
   fxChain?: string;
   onFxChainChange: (next: HfAudioFxChain) => void;
   onFxChainPreview?: (next: HfAudioFxChain) => void;
-  onFxAuditionTransport?: (on: boolean) => void;
   onOpenFxRack: () => void;
   columnWidth: number;
   theme: TimelineTheme;
@@ -53,7 +52,6 @@ export function TimelineGroupHeader({
   fxChain,
   onFxChainChange,
   onFxChainPreview,
-  onFxAuditionTransport,
   onOpenFxRack,
   columnWidth,
   theme,
@@ -148,7 +146,6 @@ export function TimelineGroupHeader({
         fxChainRaw={fxChain}
         onChainChange={onFxChainChange}
         onChainPreview={onFxChainPreview}
-        onAuditionTransport={onFxAuditionTransport}
         onOpenRack={onOpenFxRack}
       />
       <button