2 <img class="left" src="/images/toolbar-grid.png" alt="Editor toolbar's grid">
5 Ardour's editor utilizes a <dfn>grid</dfn> to assist in the placement of regions
6 on the timeline, or with editing functions that need to happen at a specific
7 point in time. This <dfn>snapping</dfn> of the cursor and various objects to the
8 grid can be toggled on or off, as does its behaviour, and grid units.
11 <h2>About Snapping</h2>
14 There are two ways to think about aligning material to a grid. The first and
15 most obvious one is where an object's position is clamped to grid lines. In
16 Ardour, this is called <dfn>absolute snap</dfn> and is commonly used when
17 working with sampled material where audio begins exactly at the beginning of a
22 The second, <dfn>relative snap</dfn>, is used when an object's position relative
23 to the grid lines is important. In music, this allows to move objects around
24 without changing the "feel" (or timing) of a performance.
28 Absolute snap is the default method of snapping in Ardour.
32 While dragging objects, pressing the absolute snap modifier key(s) switches
33 from absolute to relative snap.
37 The snap can also be entirely disabled by using the snap modifier (see below).
41 Note that in relative snap mode the reference point is taken to be the distance
42 to the nearest grid line.
46 Note also that when an object lies exactly on a grid line, there will be no
47 difference between relative and absolute snap modes.
51 The realtive snap and snap modifiers (along with other modifier keys) may be set
52 in <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > User Interaction</kbd>
56 For common use patterns, it is recommended to assign a unique key for one
57 snap modifier and two keys for the other in such a way that they share an
58 otherwise unused key. For example, the snap modifier may be chosen to be the
59 <kbd class="mod2n"></kbd> key and the relative snap modifier to be the <kbd
60 class="mod2n"></kbd> and <kbd class="mod4n"></kbd> keys.
66 Using the above modifications, Ardour supports three different modes of snapping
70 <dl class="wide-table">
71 <dt><kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd></dt>
72 <dd>disables the grid. All objects move freely in this mode.</br>
73 In <kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd> mode, the grid may be temporarily activated
74 by pressing the snap modifier (for absolute snap) or switch to relative snap
75 by pressing the relative snap modifier.</dd>
76 <dt><kbd class="menu">Grid</kbd></dt>
77 <dd>activates normal snapping. All positions of objects snap to the grid. (See
78 <a href="#gridunits">Grid Units</a> below to change the grid).
79 Moving an object in "Grid"-mode, does not change its position until
80 the mouse is far enough for the object to reach the next grid line.</br>
81 To maintain an objects' position relative to the grid line, the "snap relative"
82 modifier can be used. When holding down this
83 modifier during a drag, the dragged object will jump while maintaining its
84 original distance from the line.</br>
85 New objects will always be created at grid
87 Holding down the snap modifier will disable the current grid
88 setting and allow you to move the object freely.</dd>
89 <dt><kbd class="menu">Magnetic</kbd></dt>
90 <dd>is a less strict type of snapping. Objects can still be moved to any
91 position, but positions close to the relative or absolute grid points will snap.
92 In order to move an object very close to a snap point, it may be necessary to
93 zoom in to prevent snapping to that point, or to use the snap modifier to
94 disable snap completely.</br> As with Grid mode, the snap modifier will disable
95 snap completely while the absolute snap modifier will move the "notch" of
96 Magnetic snap to the grid lines.</dd>
99 <h2>Syncing Regions to the Grid</h2>
102 By default, a region's beginning will be used as the reference for both types of
103 snapping, this behaviour can be changed by setting a <dfn>sync point</dfn>
104 in the region, by selecting the region(s) and pressing <kbd>V</kbd>. This will set the
105 sync point to the current <a href="@@edit-point-control">edit point</a>.
108 <h2 id="gridunits">Grid Units</h2>
111 The selector next to the grid mode selector defines the size of the grid
112 elements. The grid can be set to several different units:
115 <dl class="wide-table">
116 <dt><kbd class="menu">CD Frames</kbd></dt>
117 <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 lengths.</dd>
118 <dt><kbd class="menu">Timecode Frames/Seconds/Minutes</kbd></dt>
119 <dd>The duration of a frame depends on the timecode settings for the session.</dd>
120 <dt><kbd class="menu">Seconds/Minutes</kbd></dt>
121 <dd>These are absolute time units, unaffected by sample rate or timecode settings</dd>
122 <dt><kbd class="menu">Beats/N</kbd></dt>
123 <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>
124 <dt><kbd class="menu">Beats</kbd></dt>
125 <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>
126 <dt><kbd class="menu">Bars</kbd></dt>
127 <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>
128 <dt><kbd class="menu">Markers</kbd></dt>
129 <dd>The grid lines are the markers.</dd>
130 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Starts</kbd></dt>
131 <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region start points (see below).</dd>
132 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Ends</kbd></dt>
133 <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region end points (see below).</dd>
134 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Syncs</kbd></dt>
135 <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region sync points.</dd>
136 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Bounds</kbd></dt>
137 <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region start or end points.</dd>
141 To use Region starts/ends/syncs/bounds as snap choices, it is necessary to have either:
145 <li><em>No</em> tracks selected, which means that Ardour snaps to regions on any
147 <li>Several tracks selected, which means that Ardour only snaps to regions on
148 those selected tracks.</li>
152 If items are moved on a track, and only the current track is selected, then
153 snapping will only happen with other regions on the same track. This means
154 that enabling <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Editor > Link
155 Selections of Regions and Tracks</kbd> will make the "Region" grid unit
156 unusable. This option should not be used in conjunction with the use any of the