ardour-tutorial/content/editing-sessions/using-ranges/index.en.md

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title = "Using ranges"
chapter = false
weight = 4
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A _range_ is a selection of the timeline that can include one or more tracks. It
has many uses like selecting a portion of audio/MIDI data to cut it.

{{< figure src="en/ardour7-range-example.png" alt="Range example" >}}

## Creating ranges

There are two common ways to create a range:

1. You can do it with the _Grab_ tool (**G** shortcut) when the _Smart_ mode is
enabled. In that case you need to position the mouse pointer around the middle
of a track vertically to start selecting data rather than picking and moving a
region. The mouse pointer looking like a vertical line means you are good to
start selecting.

2. You can also use the dedicated _Range_ tool (**R** shortcut). In this case,
just click and drag anywhere on the canvas to start selecting.

You can select data of multiple tracks at once as seen on the screenshot above.
To do that, just drag the mouse pointer upwards or downwards crossing the
border between tracks.

When the _Editor List_ dock is available, you can see range properties on top of
it: start/end times of the range as well as its duration. When a range is
created, the _Tracks & Busses_ tab will also select tracks that the range
crosses.

{{< figure src="en/ardour7-range-properties.png" alt="Range properties" >}}

It can be useful to create ranges that align with the edges of regions on your
timeline. To do that, enable the _Snap_ option in the toolbar and select _No
Grid_ in the drop-down list next to it.

{{< figure src="en/ardour7-snap-to-region-boundaries.png" alt="Snap to region boundaries" >}}

## Editing ranges

Once you created a range, you can easily tweak it's start and end positions by
hovering range boundaries with the mouse pointer, grabbing them and dragging to
the left or to the right.

{{< figure src="en/ardour7-editing-ranges.gif" alt="Editing ranges" >}}

If you forgot to include a track into a range, you don't need to redo the range
selection. Just hold **Ctrl** button and click on the track's header on the
canvas. Alternatively, hold **Ctrl** and click on track's name in the _Tracks &
Busses_ tab of the _Editor List_ dock.

{{< figure src="en/ardour7-adding-track-to-range.gif" alt="Adding track to range" >}}

## Playing back ranges in a loop

Returning to our rhythmic passage example, we will want to hear the passage we
are composing, perhaps as a loop, while we are moving the samples around. To do
that, we must create a range to listen to within our session, so that we can
return to exactly this point in the session again and again.

{{< figure src="en/ardour7-loop-range-menu-command.png" alt="Loop Range in the right-click menu" >}}

Zoom out if needed (**-**) to see full bars in the timeline. Use the _Range_
tool to select an entire bar, then right-click inside a range and pick one of
the two commands:

1. _Loop Range_ (on the screenshot above) to create a loop and start playing it
immediately.

2. _Set loop from selection_ to only create loop markers withut immediate
playback.

{{< figure src="en/ardour7-looped-range-playback.png" alt="Looped range playback" >}}

As long as loop markers are there, you can start playing back that portion of
the timeline in a loop whenever you like (on the screenshot above). To do that,
either click the **Play loop range** button in the _Transport_ toolbar or press
the **L** shortcut.

{{< figure src="en/ardour7-play-loop-range-button.png" alt="Loop range button in Transport" >}}

You can also tweak the position of loop markers while playing the range in a
loop. Just grab a marker and drag it to the left or to the right.

## More editing options for ranges

There are more operations you can do on ranges, all available in the right-click
menu:

- _Separate_ will cut the original regions at range borders.
- _Duplicate_ will create one copy of the range and place it starting at the
right border of the range. Any existing data will be overlaid, so you can still
access it.
- _Crop Region To Range_ will trim affected regions to the extent of the range.

You can also inspect loudness and spectral characteristics of data in a range or
export just the data inside a range rather than the entire session.

## Continuing

In the next step, we will learn about working with regions to compose a rhythm
with these samples.

Next: [WORKING WITH REGIONS](../working-with-regions)