3 title: Using Ardour Clock Displays
7 <dfn>Clocks</dfn> in Ardour are used to display <dfn>time values</dfn> precisely.
8 In many cases, they are also one way to edit (change) time values, and in a few
9 cases, the only way. All clocks share the same basic appearance and functionality,
10 which is described below, but a few clocks serve particularly important roles.
13 <h2>Transport Clocks</h2>
15 In the transport bar of the editor window there are two clocks (unless you
16 are on a very small screen), that display the current position of the playhead
17 and additional information related to transport control and the timeline. These
18 are called the <dfn>transport clocks</dfn>; the left one is the primary
19 transport clock and the right one is the secondary transport clock.
22 <img src="/files/manual/a3/images/new_main_clocks.png" alt="An image of the transport clocks in Ardour 3" />
24 Editing the time in the transport clocks will reposition the playhead in the same
25 way that various other editing operations will.
28 <h3>The Big Clock</h3>
30 To show the current playhead position in a big, resizable window, activate
31 <kbd class="menu">Window > Big Clock</kbd>. The big clock is very useful
32 when you need to work away from the screen but still want to see the playhead
33 position clearly (such as when working with a remote control device across
34 a room). The big clock will change its visual appearance to indicate when active
35 recording is taking place. Below on the left is a screenshot showing a fairly
36 large big clock window filling a good part of the display, and on the right,
37 the same clock during active recording.
39 <a href="/files/bigclock.png"><img src="/files/bigclock.png" height="100" alt="an image of the big clock filling a screen" /></a> <a href="/files/bigclock-recording.png"><img src="/files/bigclock-recording.png" height="100" alt="an image of the big clock while recording"
42 <h3>The Special Role of the Secondary Transport Clock</h3>
44 On a few occasions Ardour needs to display time values to the user, but there
45 is no obvious way to specify what units to use. The most common case is the big
46 cursor that appears when dragging regions. For this and other similar cases,
47 Ardour will display time using the same units as the secondary clock.
49 <h4>Why are there two transport clocks?</h4>
51 Having two transport clocks lets you see the playhead position in two different
52 time units without having to change any settings. For example, you can see the
53 playhead position in both timecode units and BBT time.
56 <h3>Selection and Punch Clocks</h3>
58 The transport bar also contains a set of 5 clocks that show the current
59 <dfn>selection range</dfn> and <dfn>punch ranges</dfn>. Clicking on the punch
60 range clocks will locate to either the beginning or end of the punch range.
61 Similarly, clicking on the range clocks will locate to either the beginning
62 or end of the current selection. In this screen shot there is no current
63 selection range, so the selection clocks show an "off" state.
66 <img src="/files/selectionpunchclocks.png" alt="An image of the the selection and punch clocks in Ardour 3" />
70 Every clock in Ardour has four different, selectable <dfn>clock
71 modes</dfn>. Each mode displays time using different units.
72 You can change the clock mode by <kdb class="mouse">Right</kbd>-clicking
73 on the clock and selecting the desired mode from the menu. Some clocks are
74 entirely independent of any other clock's mode; others are linked so that
75 changing one changes all clocks in that group. The different modes are:
79 <dd>Time is shown as <dfn><abbr title="Society of Motion Picture and Television
80 Engineers">SMPTE</abbr> timecode</dfn> in Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames,
81 measured from the timecode zero point on the timeline (which may not
82 correspond to the session start and/or absolute zero on the timeline,
83 depending on configurable timecode offsets).
84 The frames value is dictated by either the session <abbr title="Frames Per
85 Second">FPS</abbr> setting, or, if slaved to an external timecode master,
86 the master's setting. In the transport clocks, the FPS value is shown below
87 the time display, along with an indication of the current timecode source
88 (<samp>INT</samp> means that Ardour is its own timecode source).</dd>
90 <dd>Time is shown as Bars:Beats:Ticks, indicating <dfn>musical time</dfn> measured
91 from the start of the session. The transport clocks show the current tempo
92 in <abbr title="Beats Per Minute">bpm</abbr> and meter below the time
94 <dt>Minutes:Seconds</dt>
95 <dd>Time is shown as Hours:Minutes:Seconds.Milliseconds, measured from the
96 absolute start of the timeline (ignoring the session start and any timecode
99 <dd>Time is shown as a <dfn>sample count</dfn> from the absolute start of the timeline
100 (ignoring the session start and any timecode offsets). The number of
101 samples per second is given by the current sample rate, and in the transport
102 clocks, this rate is shown below the time display along with any
103 pullup/pulldown adjustment.</dd>
106 <h3>Special Modes for the Transport Clocks</h3>
108 In addition to the time-unit modes mentioned above, each of the two transport
109 clocks (if you work on a small screen, you may only have one) can be
110 independently set to display <dfn>Delta to Edit Point</dfn> in whatever time
111 units its current mode indicates. This setting means that the clock shows the
112 distance between the playhead and the current edit point, and it may show a
113 positive or negative value depending on the temporal order of these two points.
114 The clocks will use a different color when in this mode to avoid confusion.
117 To switch either (or both!) of the transport clocks into this mode, use
118 <kbd class="menu"> Edit > Preferences > Transport</kbd> and select
119 the relevant checkboxes.
122 Note that when in <samp>Delta to Edit Point</samp> mode, the transport clocks
126 <h2>Changing clock values with the keyboard</h2>
128 New values for the clock can be typed in after clicking on the relevant clock.
129 Clicking on the clock will show a thin vertical cursor bar just to the right
130 of the next character to be overwritten. Enter time in the same order as the
131 current clock mode — if the clock is in Timecode mode, you need to enter
132 hours, minutes, seconds, frames. So, to change to a time of 12:15:20:15 you
133 would type <kbd class="input">1 2 1 5 2 0 1 5</kbd>. Each number you type will
134 appear in a different color, from right to left, overwriting the existing value.
135 Mid-edit, after typing <kbd class="input">3 2 2 2</kbd> the clock might look like this:
137 <img src="/files/clockedit.png" alt="An image of a clock being edited in Ardour 3" />
139 To finish the edit, press <kbd>↵</kbd> or <kbd>Tab</kbd>. To exit an
140 edit without changing the clock press <kbd>ESC</kbd>. If you mis-type an entry
141 so that the new value would be illegal (for example, resulting in more than 30
142 frames when Timecode is set to 30 frames per second), the clock will reset at
143 the end of the edit, and move the cursor back to the start so that you can
147 <h3>Avoiding the mouse entirely</h3>
149 There is a shortcut available for those who wish to be able to edit the transport
150 clocks entirely without the mouse. It can be found in
151 <kbd class="menu">Window > Key Bindings > Transport > Focus On
152 Clock</kbd>. If bound to a key (<kbd>÷</kbd> on the numerical
154 default), then pressing that key is equivalent to clicking on the primary (left)
155 transport clock, and editing can begin immediately.
158 <h3>Entering Partial Times</h3>
160 One detail of the editing design that is not immediately obvious is that it is
161 possible to enter part of a full time value. Suppose that the clock is in BBT
162 mode, displaying <samp>024|03|0029</samp>, and you want to alter the value to
163 the first beat of the current bar. Click on the clock and type
164 <kbd class="input">0 1 0 0 0 0</kbd>. Similarly, if it is in Minutes:Seconds
165 mode, displaying <samp>02:03:04.456</samp>, and you want to get to exactly 2
166 hours, click on the clock and type <kbd class="input">0 0 0 0 0 0 0</kbd> to
167 reset the minutes, seconds and milliseconds fields.
170 <h3>Entering Delta Times</h3>
172 You can also type values into the clock that are intended as a relative change,
173 rather than a new absolute value. Simply end the edit by pressing
174 <kbd>+</kbd> or <kbd>-</kbd> (the ones on any keypad will also work). The plus
175 key will add the entered value to the current value of the clock, minus will
176 subtract it. For example, if the clock is in Samples mode and displays
177 <samp>2917839</samp>, you move it back 2000 samples by typing
178 <kbd class="input">2 0 0 0</kbd> and <kbd>-</kbd>, rather than ending with
181 <h2>Changing clock values with the mouse</h2>
183 <h3>Using a scroll wheel</h3>
185 Position the mouse pointer over the clock, and move the scroll wheel. Moving
186 the scroll wheel up (<kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd>) increases the value
187 shown on the clock, moving it down (<kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd>)
188 decreases it. The step size is equal to the unit of the field
189 you are hovering over (seconds, hours, etc.).
192 <h3>Dragging the mouse</h3>
194 Position the mouse pointer over the clock, press the left mouse button and drag.
195 Dragging upwards increases the value shown on the clock, dragging downwards
196 decreases it, again with a step size equal to the unit of the field you