4 Every clock in Ardour has four different, selectable <dfn>clock
5 modes</dfn>. Each mode displays time using different units.
6 The clock mode can be changed by <kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd>-clicking
7 on the clock and selecting the desired mode from the menu. Some clocks are
8 entirely independent of any other clock's mode; others are linked so that
9 changing one changes all clocks in that group. The different modes are:
13 <tr><th>Timecode</th><td>Time is shown as <dfn><abbr title="Society of Motion Picture and Television
14 Engineers">SMPTE</abbr> timecode</dfn> in Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames,
15 measured from the timecode zero point on the timeline (which may not
16 correspond to the session start and/or absolute zero on the timeline,
17 depending on configurable timecode offsets).
18 The frames value is dictated by either the session <abbr title="Frames Per
19 Second">FPS</abbr> setting, or, if slaved to an external timecode master,
20 the master's setting. In the transport clocks, the FPS value is shown below
21 the time display, along with an indication of the current timecode source
22 (<samp>INT</samp> means that Ardour is its own timecode source).</td></tr>
23 <tr><th>BBT</th><td>Time is shown as Bars:Beats:Ticks, indicating <dfn>musical time</dfn> measured
24 from the start of the session. The transport clocks show the current tempo
25 in <abbr title="Beats Per Minute">bpm</abbr> and meter below the time
27 <tr><th>Minutes:Seconds</th><td>Time is shown as Hours:Minutes:Seconds.Milliseconds, measured from the
28 absolute start of the timeline (ignoring the session start and any timecode
30 <tr><th>Samples</th><td>Time is shown as a <dfn>sample count</dfn> from the absolute start of the timeline
31 (ignoring the session start and any timecode offsets). The number of
32 samples per second is given by the current sample rate, and in the transport
33 clocks, this rate is shown below the time display along with any
34 pullup/pulldown adjustment.</td></tr>
37 <h2>Changing clock values with the keyboard</h2>
40 New values for the clock can be typed in after clicking on the relevant clock.
41 Clicking on the clock will show a thin vertical cursor bar just to the right
42 of the next character to be overwritten. Time should be typed in the same
43 order as the current clock mode—if the clock is in Timecode mode, it
44 should be hours, minutes, seconds, frames. So, to change to a time of
45 12:15:20:15 one would type
46 <kbd>1</kbd><kbd>2</kbd><kbd>1</kbd><kbd>5</kbd><kbd>2</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>1</kbd><kbd>5</kbd>.
47 Each number typed will appear in a different color, from right to left,
48 overwriting the existing value. Mid-edit, after typing <kbd>3</kbd><kbd>2</kbd><kbd>2</kbd><kbd>2</kbd> the clock might look like this:
52 <img src="/images/clockedit.png" alt="A clock being edited in Ardour">
54 A clock being edited in Ardour
59 Finishing the edit is done by pressing <kbd>↵</kbd> or <kbd>Tab</kbd>.
60 The <kbd>ESC</kbd> key allows to exit an edit without changing the clock. If an
61 entry is mis-typed so that the new value would be illegal (for example,
62 resulting in more than 30 frames when Timecode is set to 30 frames per second),
63 the clock will reset at the end of the edit, and move the cursor back to the
64 start to allow for another try.
67 <h2>Avoiding the mouse entirely</h2>
70 There is a shortcut available to edit the transport
71 clocks entirely without the mouse. It can be found in
72 <kbd class="menu">Window > Keyboard Shortcuts > Transport > Focus On
73 Clock</kbd>. If bound to a key (<kbd>÷</kbd> on the numerical
75 default), then pressing that key is equivalent to clicking on the primary (left)
76 transport clock, and editing can begin immediately.
79 <h2>Entering Partial Times</h2>
82 One detail of the editing design that is not immediately obvious is that it is
83 possible to enter part of a full time value.
86 As an example, supposing that the clock is in BBT mode, displaying
87 <samp>024|03|0029</samp>, altering the value to the first beat of the current
88 bar can be done by clicking on the clock and typing
89 <kbd>0</kbd><kbd>1</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd>.
90 Similarly, if it is in Minutes:Seconds mode, displaying
91 <samp>02:03:04.456</samp>, getting to exactly 2 hours can be achieved by
92 clicking on the clock and typing
93 <kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd>
94 to reset the minutes, seconds and milliseconds fields.
97 <h2>Entering Delta Times</h2>
100 Values can also be typed into the clock that are intended as a relative change,
101 rather than a new absolute value, by ending the edit by pressing
102 <kbd>+</kbd> or <kbd>-</kbd> (the ones on any keypad will also work). The plus
103 key will add the entered value to the current value of the clock, minus will
104 subtract it. For example, if the clock is in Samples mode and displays
105 <samp>2917839</samp>, moving it back 2000 samples is done by typing
106 <kbd>2</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd><kbd>0</kbd> and <kbd>-</kbd>, rather than
107 ending with <kbd>Enter</kbd> or <kbd>Tab</kbd>.
110 <h2>Changing clock values with the mouse</h2>
112 <h3>Using a scroll wheel</h3>
115 With the mouse pointer over the clock, moving the scroll wheel changes the
116 clock values. Moving the scroll wheel up (<kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd>)
117 increases the value shown on the clock, moving it down (<kbd
118 class="mouse">⇓</kbd>) decreases it. The step size is equal to the unit
119 of the field hovered over (seconds, hours, etc.).
122 <h3>Dragging the mouse</h3>
125 With the mouse pointer over the clock, pressing the left mouse button and
126 dragging also affects the clocks: dragging upwards increases the value shown
127 on the clock, dragging downwards decreases it, again with a step size equal to
128 the unit of the field where the drag began on.