various objects to snap to this grid, and how you want the snapping to
behave. You can modify the grid units to fit your needs.
</p>
+<h2>About Snapping</h2>
+<p>There are two ways to think about aligning material to a grid.
+ The first and most obvious one is where an object\'s position is clamped
+ to grid lines. In Ardour, this is called <dfn>absolute snap</dfn>
+ and is commonly used when working with sampled material where audio
+ begins exactly at the beginning of a file, note or region.</br>
+ The second, <dfn>relative snap</dfn>, is used when an object's position
+ relative to the grid lines is important. In music, this allows you to
+ move objects around without changing the "feel" (or timing) of a performance.</br>
+ Relative snap is the default method of snapping in Ardour.</br>
+ While dragging objects you may switch from relative to absolute snap by
+ pressing the absolute snap modifier key(s).</br>
+ You may also disable snap entirely by using the snap modifier (see below).</br>
+ Note that in relative snap mode the reference point is taken to be the distance
+ to the next grid line or (if exactly on a grid line) the one it is currently on.
+ Note also that when an object lies exactly on a grid line, there will be no difference
+ between relative and absolute snap modes.</br>
+ The absolute snap and snap modifiers (along with other modifier keys) may be set in
+ <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > User Interaction</kbd></br>
+ For common use patterns, it is recommended that you assign a unique key for
+ one snap modifier and two keys for the other in such a way that they share an otherwise unused key.
+ For example, you may choose the snap modifier to be the <kbd class="mod2"> </kbd> key and the
+ absolute snap modifier to be the <kbd class="mod2"> </kbd> and <kbd class="mod4"> </kbd> keys.
+</p>.
<h2>Snap Modes</h2>
-<p>Ardour supports three different types of snapping to the grid:</p>
+<p>Using the above modifications, Ardour supports three different modes of snapping to the grid:</p>
<dl class="wide-table">
<dt><kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd></dt>
- <dd>disables the grid. All objects move freely in this mode.</dd>
+ <dd>disables the grid. All objects move freely in this mode.</br>
+ In <kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd> mode, you may temporarily activate the grid by pressing the
+ snap modifier (for relative snap) or switch to absolute snap by pressing the absolute snap modifier.</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Grid</kbd></dt>
- <dd>activates normal snapping. All positions of objects are restricted
- to points of the grid. (See <a href="#gridunits">Grid Units</a> below
- to change these points). If you try to move an object in "Grid"-mode, it
+ <dd>activates normal snapping. All positions of objects maintain their
+ offset relative to the grid. (See <a href="#gridunits">Grid Units</a> below
+ to change the grid). If you try to move an object in "Grid"-mode, it
does not change its position until you move the mouse far enough for the
- object to reach the next grid point. New objects will always be created at
- grid points, too.
+ object to reach the same position relative to the next grid line.</br>
+ Sometimes you may wish to place an object exactly on a grid line.
+ In order to do this, use the "snap to absolute" modifier.
+ When holding down this modifier during a drag, the dragged object will jump
+ to the line rather than maintaining its original distance from the line.</br>
+ New objects will always be created at grid points.</br>
+ Holding down the snap modifier will disable the current grid setting and allow you to move the object freely.</br>
</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Magnetic</kbd></dt>
<dd>is a less strict type of snapping. Objects can still be moved to any
- position, but positions close to grid points will snap to the grid point.
- In order to move an object very close to a grid point, it may be necessary
- to zoom in to prevent snapping to that point.</dd>
+ position, but positions close to the relative or absolute grid points will snap.
+ In order to move an object very close to a snap point, it may be necessary
+ to zoom in to prevent snapping to that point, or to use the snap modifier to disable snap completely.</br>
+ As with Grid mode, the snap modifier will disable snap completely while the
+ absolute snap modifier will move the "notch" of Magnetic snap to the grid lines.</dd>
</dl>
<h2>Syncing Regions to the Grid</h2>
<p>
- By default, a region's beginning will snap to points along the timeline,
+ By default, a region's beginning will be used as the reference for both types of snapping,
but you can change this behaviour by setting a <dfn>sync point</dfn> in
the region. Select the region(s) and press <kbd>V</kbd>. This will set
the sync point to your edit point.</p>
</p>
<dl class="wide-table">
<dt><kbd class="menu">CD Frames</kbd></dt>
- <dd>A CD Frame is 1/75th of a second. Snapping to CD Frames can be used to avoid issues with CD track
+ <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>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Timecode Frames/Seconds/Minutes</kbd></dt>
<dd>The duration of a frame depends on the timecode settings for the
<dt><kbd class="menu">Bars</kbd></dt>
<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>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Markers</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Snap positions to the nearest marker.</dd>
+ <dd>The grid lines are the markers.</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Region Starts</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Snap positions to the nearest region start (see below).</dd>
+ <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region start points (see below).</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Region Ends</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Snap positions to the nearest region end.</dd>
+ <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region end points (see below).</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Region Syncs</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Snap positions to the nearest region sync point.</dd>
+ <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region sync points.</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Region Bounds</kbd></dt>
- <dd>Snap positions to the nearest region start or end.</dd>
+ <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region start or end points.</dd>
</dl>
<p>
projects / ardour-manual / blobdiff