195 lines
8.0 KiB
HTML
195 lines
8.0 KiB
HTML
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<h2> What is “Snap” and “Grid”?</h2>
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<figure class="left">
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<img src="/images/toolbar-grid.png" alt="Editor toolbar's grid">
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<figcaption>
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Editor toolbar's grid.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>
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“Snap” will cause drags and other mouse-driven operations to jump to
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positions determined by the nearest snap setting. Snap can be set to
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multiple options: markers, region start/ends, and the grid (those
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are all enabled by default. change them in prefs).
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</p>
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<p>
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Grid can be enabled, and it will draw lines at selected intervals;
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which can be musical, like 16th notes, or can be timecode based
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(minutes and seconds). You can leave the Grid enabled, but snap
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disabled, if you just want to see the lines but not snap to them.
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</p>
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<p>
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For example: if the Grid is set to “beats” and Snap-to-grid is
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enabled, then any operations such as split, paste, or range-select
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will happen exactly on a beat, according to the musical timeline and
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tempo.
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</p>
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<p>
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Alternatively, you can leave “Snap” enabled (so your mouse actions
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can snap to Markers, or region edges) but disable the Grid.
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</p>
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<h2>A Warning, of sorts</h2>
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<p class="warning">
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The grid consist of lines running vertically in the edit canvas. If
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you zoom too far out, you might see a coarser grid than you
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expect. Ardour tries not to show “too many” or “too few” grid lines
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depending on the zoom level. You might find that items snap in-between
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the grid lines sometimes. That’s expected behavior. If you can’t see
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or snap to the grid you’d like to use, you may have to zoom in or out.
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</p>
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<h2>About Snapping</h2>
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<p>
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There are two ways to think about aligning material. The first and
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most obvious one is where an object's position is clamped to the
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snap positions. 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.
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</p>
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<p>
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The second, <dfn>relative snap</dfn>, is used when an object's
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position relative to the snap positions is important. In music, this
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allows to move objects around without changing the "feel" (or
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timing) of a performance.
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</p>
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<p>
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Absolute snap is the default method of snapping in Ardour.
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</p>
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<p>
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While dragging objects, pressing the absolute snap modifier key(s) switches
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from absolute to relative snap.
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</p>
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<p>
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The snap can also be entirely disabled by using the snap modifier (see below).
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</p>
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<p>
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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.
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</p>
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<p>
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Note also that when an object lies exactly on a grid line, there will be no
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difference between relative and absolute snap modes.
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</p>
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<p>
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The relative snap and snap modifiers (along with other modifier keys) may be set
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in <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > User Interaction</kbd>
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</p>
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<p>
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For common use patterns, it is recommended to assign a unique key for one
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snap modifier and two keys for the other in such a way that they share an
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otherwise unused key. For example, the snap modifier may be chosen to be the
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<kbd class="mod2n"></kbd> key and the relative snap modifier to be the <kbd
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class="mod2n"></kbd> and <kbd class="mod4n"></kbd> keys.
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</p>
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<h2>Snap Modes</h2>
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<p>
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Using the above modifications, Ardour supports three different modes of snapping
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to the grid:
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</p>
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<table class="dl">
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd></th>
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<td>disables the grid. All objects move freely in this mode.</br>
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In <kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd> mode, the grid may be temporarily activated
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by pressing the snap modifier (for absolute snap) or switch to relative snap
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by pressing the relative snap modifier.</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Grid</kbd></th>
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<td>activates normal snapping. All positions of objects snap to the grid. (See
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<a href="#gridunits">Grid Units</a> below to change the grid).
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Moving an object in "Grid"-mode, does not change its position until
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the mouse is far enough for the object to reach the next grid line.</br>
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To maintain an objects' position relative to the grid line, the "snap relative"
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modifier can be used. When holding down this
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modifier during a drag, the dragged object will jump while maintaining its
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original distance from the line.</br>
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New objects will always be created at grid
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points.</br>
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Holding down the snap modifier will disable the current grid
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setting and allow moving the object freely.</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Magnetic</kbd></th>
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<td>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 to
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zoom in to prevent snapping to that point, or to use the snap modifier to
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disable snap completely.</br> As with Grid mode, the snap modifier will disable
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snap completely while the absolute snap modifier will move the "notch" of
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Magnetic snap to the grid lines.</td></tr>
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</table>
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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
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snapping, this behaviour can be changed by setting a <dfn>sync point</dfn>
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in the region, by selecting the region(s) and pressing <kbd>V</kbd>. This will set the
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sync point to the current <a href="@@edit-point-control">edit point</a>.
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</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. The grid can be set to several different units:
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</p>
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<table class="dl">
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">CD Frames</kbd></th>
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<td>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 lengths.</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Timecode Frames/Seconds/Minutes</kbd></th>
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<td>The duration of a frame depends on the timecode settings for the session.</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Seconds/Minutes</kbd></th>
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<td>These are absolute time units, unaffected by sample rate or timecode settings</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Beats/N</kbd></th>
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<td>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.</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Beats</kbd></th>
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<td>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.</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Bars</kbd></th>
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<td>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.</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Markers</kbd></th>
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<td>The grid lines are the markers.</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Region Starts</kbd></th>
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<td>The grid lines are constructed from region start points (see below).</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Region Ends</kbd></th>
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<td>The grid lines are constructed from region end points (see below).</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Region Syncs</kbd></th>
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<td>The grid lines are constructed from region sync points.</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Region Bounds</kbd></th>
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<td>The grid lines are constructed from region start or end points.</td></tr>
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</table>
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<p>
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To use Region starts/ends/syncs/bounds as snap choices, it is necessary to have 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
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track, or </li>
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<li>Several tracks selected, which means that Ardour only snaps to regions on
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those selected tracks.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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If items are moved on a track, and only the current track is selected, then
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snapping will only happen with other regions on the same track. This means
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that enabling <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Editor > Link
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Selections of Regions and Tracks</kbd> will make the "Region" grid unit
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unusable. This option should not be used in conjunction with the use any of the
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Region grid units.
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</p>
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