123 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
123 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
---
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layout: default
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title: Snap to the Grid
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menu_title: Snap to Grid
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---
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<p>
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Ardour's editor utilizes a <dfn>grid</dfn> to assist in the placement
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of regions on the timeline, or with editing functions that need to happen
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at a specific point in time. You can choose if you want the cursor and
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various objects to snap to this grid, and how you want the snapping to
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behave. You can modify the grid units to fit your needs.
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</p>
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<h2>About Snapping</h2>
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<p>There are two ways to think about aligning material to a grid.
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The first and most obvious one is where an object\'s position is clamped
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to grid lines. In Ardour, this is called <dfn>absolute snap</dfn>
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and is commonly used when working with sampled material where audio
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begins exactly at the beginning of a file, note or region.</br>
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The second, <dfn>relative snap</dfn>, is used when an object's position
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relative to the grid lines is important. In music, this allows you to
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move objects around without changing the "feel" (or timing) of a performance.</br>
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Absolute snap is the default method of snapping in Ardour.</br>
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While dragging objects you may switch from absolute to relative snap by
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pressing the absolute snap modifier key(s).</br>
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You may also disable snap entirely by using the snap modifier (see below).</br>
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Note that in relative snap mode the reference point is taken to be the distance
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to the nearest grid line.</br>
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Note also that when an object lies exactly on a grid line, there will be no difference
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between relative and absolute snap modes.</br>
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The realtive snap and snap modifiers (along with other modifier keys) may be set in
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<kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > User Interaction</kbd></br>
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For common use patterns, it is recommended that you assign a unique key for
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one snap modifier and two keys for the other in such a way that they share an otherwise unused key.
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For example, you may choose the snap modifier to be the <kbd class="mod2"> </kbd> key and the
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relative snap modifier to be the <kbd class="mod2"> </kbd> and <kbd class="mod4"> </kbd> keys.
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</p>.
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<h2>Snap Modes</h2>
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<p>Using the above modifications, Ardour supports three different modes of snapping to the grid:</p>
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<dl class="wide-table">
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<dt><kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd></dt>
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<dd>disables the grid. All objects move freely in this mode.</br>
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In <kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd> mode, you may temporarily activate the grid by pressing the
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snap modifier (for absolute snap) or switch to relative snap by pressing the relative snap modifier.</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Grid</kbd></dt>
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<dd>activates normal snapping. All positions of objects snap to
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the grid. (See <a href="#gridunits">Grid Units</a> below
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to change the grid). If you try to move an object in "Grid"-mode, it
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does not change its position until you move the mouse far enough for the
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object to reach the next grid line.</br>
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Sometimes you may wish to maintain an objects\' position relative to the grid line.
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In order to do this, use the "snap relative" modifier.
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When holding down this modifier during a drag, the dragged object will jump
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while maintaining its original distance from the line.</br>
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New objects will always be created at grid points.</br>
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Holding down the snap modifier will disable the current grid setting and allow you to move the object freely.</br>
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</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Magnetic</kbd></dt>
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<dd>is a less strict type of snapping. Objects can still be moved to any
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position, but positions close to the relative or absolute grid points will snap.
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In order to move an object very close to a snap point, it may be necessary
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to zoom in to prevent snapping to that point, or to use the snap modifier to disable snap completely.</br>
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As with Grid mode, the snap modifier will disable snap completely while the
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absolute snap modifier will move the "notch" of Magnetic snap to the grid lines.</dd>
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</dl>
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<h2>Syncing Regions to the Grid</h2>
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<p>
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By default, a region's beginning will be used as the reference for both types of snapping,
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but you can change this behaviour by setting a <dfn>sync point</dfn> in
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the region. Select the region(s) and press <kbd>V</kbd>. This will set
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the sync point to your edit point.</p>
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<h2 id="gridunits">Grid Units</h2>
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<p>
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The selector next to the grid mode selector defines the size of the grid
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elements. You can set your grid to several different units:
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</p>
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<dl class="wide-table">
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<dt><kbd class="menu">CD Frames</kbd></dt>
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<dd>A CD Frame is 1/75th of a second. Snapping to CD Frames (using absolute snap) can be used to avoid issues with CD track
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lengths.</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Timecode Frames/Seconds/Minutes</kbd></dt>
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<dd>The duration of a frame depends on the timecode settings for the
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session.</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Seconds/Minutes</kbd></dt>
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<dd>These are absolute time units, unaffected by sample rate or timecode settings</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Beats/N</kbd></dt>
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<dd>Set the grid to units of 1/N beats, where N can be 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The duration of a grid unit will depend on the tempo and meter in effect at that point in the timeline.</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Beats</kbd></dt>
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<dd>Set the grid to whole beats. The duration of a grid unit will depend on the tempo and meter in effect at that point in the timeline.</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Bars</kbd></dt>
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<dd>Set the grid to whole bars. The duration of a grid unit will depend on the tempo and meter in effect at that point in the timeline.</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Markers</kbd></dt>
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<dd>The grid lines are the markers.</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Region Starts</kbd></dt>
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<dd>The grid lines are constructed from region start points (see below).</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Region Ends</kbd></dt>
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<dd>The grid lines are constructed from region end points (see below).</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Region Syncs</kbd></dt>
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<dd>The grid lines are constructed from region sync points.</dd>
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<dt><kbd class="menu">Region Bounds</kbd></dt>
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<dd>The grid lines are constructed from region start or end points.</dd>
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</dl>
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<p>
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To use Region starts/ends/syncs/bounds as snap choices, you must have
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either
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li><em>No</em> tracks selected, which means that Ardour snaps to regions on any track, or </li>
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<li>Several tracks selected, which means that Ardour only snaps to regions on those selected tracks.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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If you are moving items on a track, and only the current track is selected,
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then you will only be able to snap to other regions on the same track.
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This means that enabling
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<kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Editor > Link Selections of Regions and
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Tracks</kbd> will make the "Region" grid unit unusable. Avoid the use of this option if
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you are going to use any of the Region grid units.
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</p>
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