293 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
293 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Working with regions"
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chapter = false
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weight = 5
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+++
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Sections of audio are called _regions_ in Ardour. To compose the short rhythmic
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passage we've been working on, we will need to know how to _select_, _move_,
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_split_ and _trim_ these regions, as well as how to _fade in_ or _fade out_
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their volume and create _crossfades_ between them. Some of these options may
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need to happen at specific _edit points_ in the composition, or according to the
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musical _meter_ we can define with the _timeline_ and the _grid_ as well.
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## Selecting Regions
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The _Grab_ mode (**G** shortcut) is the tool to select and move objects. It is
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located just below the transport menu in the _Editor_ window (the little "hand"
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icon). You will use this tool a lot in your Ardour work.
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When it is active, your mouse pointer will look like a little hand icon.
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Try all of the operations below, for practice:
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- Click on the waveform of the region to select it. Click and drag on a region
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to move it around (left and right within the same track, but also up and down
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onto other tracks).
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- Use **Ctrl+Click** to create and drag around a _copy_ of the region.
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- You can select multiple regions by holding the **Shift** key while clicking
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on each region you want to select.
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- You can also drag a selection box over multiple regions to select them all.
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- Move multiple regions at the same time after selecting them.
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- You can select several sequential regions on one track all at once by holding
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down the **Shift** key while selecting the first and the last regions of the
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sequence (copy a few regions on the same track to try this out).
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- When you select a single region, make sure to click on the waveform section of
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its rectangle. The lower stripe with the region name is used for a different
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action (see the _Trimming Regions_ section below).
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- Use the **Del** key to delete selected regions.
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- Standard copy (**Ctrl+C**), cut (**Ctrl+X**), and paste (**Ctrl+V**)
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operations also work with regions.
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## Moving Regions
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While moving a region, a _timecode_ will appear on the screen in yellow numbers.
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This timecode is the region's starting point on the timeline. The unit of this
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timecode is the same as the unit of the primary clock, which you can change by
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right-clicking on the clock and choosing a new unit (_Minutes:Seconds_,
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_Bar:Beats_, etc).
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You can move regions horizontally (sideways) to a different point in time on the
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same track, or you can move the selected region vertically (up or down) to a
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different track.
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When a set of one or more regions is selected, you can move the whole set by
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dragging with the mouse.
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{{% notice note %}}
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Make sure to select the region in its waveform section, because selecting the
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bottom title bar area is used for a different action (see _Trimming Regions_
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below).
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{{% /notice %}}
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## Duplicating Regions
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In addition to **Ctrl+Click+Drag** and standard copy/paste, Ardour offers
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other handy ways to duplicate regions. Use the _Grab_ mode (select/move
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objects) to select one or more regions, then use the _Duplicate_ function to
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make one or more copies (menu `Regions > Duplicate`). Three options are
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available:
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- _Duplicate_ (shortcut **Alt+D**): make a copy of the selected region on
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the same track, immediately after the original.
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- _Multi-Duplicate_ (shortcut **Shift+D**): make multiple copies of the
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selected region at once (same track, in sequence). You can specify the number
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of duplications.
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- _Fill Track_: make as many copies of the selected region as needed to fill
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the entire track, all the way up to the _End_ marker on the timeline.
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In the following screenshot, regions have been duplicated using the methods
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above.
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## Using Edit Points
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When you use the standard copy/cut/paste commands, where exactly will the
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regions be pasted? The exact location is determined by the edit point
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drop-down menu.
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If _Mouse_ is selected as the edit point, the copied region will be pasted at
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the current position of the mouse.
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If _Playhead_ is selected as the edit point, the copied region will be pasted
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at the red playhead line on the same track where the original region is.
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Finally, if _Marker_ is selected as the edit point, then the copied region
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will be pasted immediately after the currently selected _location marker_.
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## Markers
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It is very useful to be able to tag different locations in a session for later
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use when editing and mixing. Ardour supports several ways for doing this. The
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most common method is using _location markers_, which define specific positions
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in time.
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Location markers can be added to the timeline by right-clicking on the
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_Location Markers_ strip and selecting _Add New Location Marker_. If you don't
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see the _Location Markers_ strip, right-click on the timeline and select it to
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make it visible. Location markers can also be selected with the mouse and
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moved to new positions. Right-clicking on a location marker lets you rename
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the marker, among other options.
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{{% notice tip %}}
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When you first create a new session, two location markers are automatically
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added by default. These are the _start_ and _end_ markers that you see in
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the screenshot above. If you don't see the _end_ marker, zoom out enough and
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you will find it.
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{{% /notice %}}
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## Splitting Regions
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To _split_ a region simply means to divide a single region into two independent
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regions. There are two ways of accomplishing this:
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* You can use the _Cut_ mode (**C** shortcut) to point and click anywhere you
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want to split; or
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* You can stay in the _Grab_ mode and use the **S** shortcut (for "Split").
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In this last case, the point at which a region will be split depends on the
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currently selected edit point. If _Mouse_ is selected as your current edit
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point, select a region and place the cursor at the point you would like to
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_Split_, then type **S**" (same as going to menu `Edit > Split Region`).
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After being split, the original single region becomes two independent regions,
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with a new name for each, as in the image above. The two new regions are now
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entirely independent. You can move and edit them separately.
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Regions can also be split by using the playhead or a marker as the edit point.
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The split regions will receive a name derived from the original name of its
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parent region, and you will see this reflected in your regions list. For
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example, in the image above, you see two regions called _pink.15_ and _pink.16_,
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which means there were split from a parent region called "pink" (not shown in
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image).
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{{% notice tip %}}
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Splitting ranges will follow your grid settings. For example, if you have an
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active grid set for bars, splits will happen at the bar boundaries. If you
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choose _No Grid_, splits will happen wherever the edit point is, regardless of
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any grid.
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{{% /notice %}}
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## Trimming Regions
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If you move the cursor near the left or right side edge of a region, you will
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see that the pointer becomes an arrow. Click and drag inwards from either end
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of the region, and the region will be shortened accordingly. This is called
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_trimming_ the region. Regions can be trimmed from the start of the region
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(drag from left to right at the edge) or from the end (drag from right to
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left).
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This action is non-destructive: no audio is actually being deleted. It is as
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if you were just "hiding" those portions of the region that you don't want or
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don't need anymore. Later on, you can "un-trim" the region (i.e., extend it
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back to its original full size), even if it has been moved or copied to a new
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track.
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{{% notice tip %}}
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Like splitting, trimming will obey grid settings. If you don't want your
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trimming to be constrained to any grid, simply turn the grid off (_No Grid_).
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{{% /notice %}}
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## Deleted Regions
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Because Ardour is non-destructive, the regions you have deleted from tracks
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are not completely removed from the session. They can always be accessed again
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from the region list on the far right side of the _Editor_ window (Regions can
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be dragged from the list onto any tracks).
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## Creating Fades in Regions
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A _fade_ is a change in the volume of a region, either as the region starts or
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as it ends. A fade at the start of the region is a _fade in_, and at the end
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of a region it is a _fade out_. Each region has two small handles along the
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top corners, which can be dragged inwards from either edge to create a fade in
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or fade out. The screenshot below shows a fade in (indicated by the shaded
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area).
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In fact, every region has a fade in and fade out built-in. By default, the
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region fade is very short and serves to avoid clicks in the transitions at
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the start and end of the region. By adjusting the regions fade length as shown
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above, a more gradual transition can be accomplished.
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By right-clicking on one of the fades (the shaded area), the speed of the fade
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can also be adjusted.
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## Crossfading Between Two Regions
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When one region fades out while another fades in, this is called a
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_crossfade_. If the two regions are in different tracks, you can use the
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method described above with the fade in and fade out handles. The following
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screenshot shows an example.
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However, if both regions are in the same track, you need to overlap them in
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order to create a crossfade. When regions overlap on the same track, Ardour
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treats them as *layers*, that is, one of the regions is considered to be on
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top of the other. The important rule to understand is:
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*The fade in (or fade out) of the topmost region represents the crossfade
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between the two regions.*
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Once you understand this principle, it's easy to create and control crossfades
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between regions. Here's an example. The two separate regions seen below will
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be made to overlap in order to create a crossfade.
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Note that we did not add any extra fade out to the first region, but we did
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add a longer fade in to the second region. Then we drag the second region
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partly on top of the first:
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The fade in of the second region works now as the crossfade between the two
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regions. In other words, the first region will fade out in a mirror image way
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as the second region fades in.
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In order for this to work, though, we need to make sure that the region that
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has the desired fade is *on top* in Ardour's layering system. In order to
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change layering of regions, select a region and go to the menu `Region >
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Layering`.
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The difference may be hard to hear if you are doing this with the very short
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percussive sounds we imported earlier. To really hear the effect, import a
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couple of longer samples to try it out (for example, a sample of rain sounds,
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and another of a human voice). Overlap several seconds of your long samples on
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the same track. You will hear the difference as you move the second region to
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the bottom (_Lower to Bottom_), and then back to top (_Raise to Top_). When
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it's on top, we will hear the desired crossfade. When it's at the bottom, we
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will hear no crossfade, just an abrupt change from first to second region
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(assuming your first region has no fade out specified, as in the screenshots
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above).
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## Using Grid Settings
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Experiment with the _Grid Mode_ setting, as discussed in the _Setting Up the
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Timeline_ chapter, to give different kinds of quantization — in other
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words, to constrain the boundaries of each region to certain grid points.
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Here, the grid has been activated and set to _Beats/16_, to quantize the
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regions to sixteenth notes within each bar. You may wish to trim the endpoints
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of some of the samples, as discussed above, to fit within the metric structure
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you have set up.
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## Continuing
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In the next chapter, we will explore a few more things you can do with regions
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Next: [FURTHER REGION OPERATIONS](../further-region-operations)
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