-<img class="left" src="/images/toolbar-grid.png" alt="Editor toolbar's grid">
+<h2> What is “Snap” and “Grid”?</h2>
+<figure class="left">
+ <img src="/images/toolbar-grid.png" alt="Editor toolbar's grid">
+ <figcaption>
+ Editor toolbar's grid.
+ </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>
+“Snap” will cause drags and other mouse-driven operations to jump to
+positions determined by the nearest snap setting. Snap can be set to
+multiple options: markers, region start/ends, and the grid (those
+are all enabled by default. change them in prefs).
+</p>
<p>
- Ardour's editor utilizes a <dfn>grid</dfn> to assist in the placement of regions on the timeline, or with editing functions that need to happen at a specific point in time. You can choose if you want the cursor and 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.
+Grid can be enabled, and it will draw lines at selected intervals;
+which can be musical, like 16th notes, or can be timecode based
+(minutes and seconds). You can leave the Grid enabled, but snap
+disabled, if you just want to see the lines but not snap to them.
+</p>
+<p>
+For example: if the Grid is set to “beats” and Snap-to-grid is
+enabled, then any operations such as split, paste, or range-select
+will happen exactly on a beat, according to the musical timeline and
+tempo.
+</p>
+<p>
+Alternatively, you can leave “Snap” enabled (so your mouse actions
+can snap to Markers, or region edges) but disable the Grid.
+</p>
+
+<h2>A Warning, of sorts</h2>
+
+<p class="warning">
+The grid consist of lines running vertically in the edit canvas. If
+you zoom too far out, you might see a coarser grid than you
+expect. Ardour tries not to show “too many” or “too few” grid lines
+depending on the zoom level. You might find that items snap in-between
+the grid lines sometimes. That’s expected behavior. If you can’t see
+or snap to the grid you’d like to use, you may have to zoom in or out.
</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.
+ There are two ways to think about aligning material. The first and
+ most obvious one is where an object's position is clamped to the
+ snap positions. 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.
</p>
<p>
- 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.
+ The second, <dfn>relative snap</dfn>, is used when an object's
+ position relative to the snap positions is important. In music, this
+ allows to move objects around without changing the "feel" (or
+ timing) of a performance.
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
- While dragging objects you may switch from absolute to relative snap by pressing the absolute snap modifier key(s).
+ While dragging objects, pressing the absolute snap modifier key(s) switches
+ from absolute to relative snap.
</p>
<p>
- You may also disable snap entirely by using the snap modifier (see below).
+ The snap can also be entirely disabled by using the snap modifier (see below).
</p>
<p>
- Note that in relative snap mode the reference point is taken to be the distance to the nearest grid line.
+ Note that in relative snap mode the reference point is taken to be the distance
+ to the nearest grid line.
</p>
<p>
- Note also that when an object lies exactly on a grid line, there will be no difference between relative and absolute snap modes.
+ Note also that when an object lies exactly on a grid line, there will be no
+ difference between relative and absolute snap modes.
</p>
<p>
- The realtive snap and snap modifiers (along with other modifier keys) may be set in <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > User Interaction</kbd>
+ The relative snap and snap modifiers (along with other modifier keys) may be set
+ in <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > User Interaction</kbd>
</p>
<p>
- 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 relative snap modifier to be the <kbd class="mod2"> </kbd> and <kbd class="mod4"> </kbd> keys.
-</p>.
+ For common use patterns, it is recommended to 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, the snap modifier may be chosen to be the
+ <kbd class="mod2n"></kbd> key and the relative snap modifier to be the <kbd
+ class="mod2n"></kbd> and <kbd class="mod4n"></kbd> keys.
+</p>
<h2>Snap Modes</h2>
<p>
- Using the above modifications, Ardour supports three different modes of snapping to the grid:
+ 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.</br>
- In <kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd> mode, you may temporarily activate the grid by pressing the snap modifier (for absolute snap) or switch to relative snap by pressing the relative snap modifier.</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Grid</kbd></dt>
- <dd>activates normal snapping. All positions of objects snap 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 line.</br>
- Sometimes you may wish to maintain an objects' position relative to the grid line. In order to do this, use the "snap relative" modifier. When holding down this modifier during a drag, the dragged object will jump while 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 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>
+<table class="dl">
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd></th>
+ <td>disables the grid. All objects move freely in this mode.</br>
+ In <kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd> mode, the grid may be temporarily activated
+ by pressing the snap modifier (for absolute snap) or switch to relative snap
+ by pressing the relative snap modifier.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Grid</kbd></th>
+ <td>activates normal snapping. All positions of objects snap to the grid. (See
+ <a href="#gridunits">Grid Units</a> below to change the grid).
+ Moving an object in "Grid"-mode, does not change its position until
+ the mouse is far enough for the object to reach the next grid line.</br>
+ To maintain an objects' position relative to the grid line, the "snap relative"
+ modifier can be used. When holding down this
+ modifier during a drag, the dragged object will jump while 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 moving the object freely.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Magnetic</kbd></th>
+ <td>is a less strict type of snapping. Objects can still be moved to any
+ 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.</td></tr>
+</table>
<h2>Syncing Regions to the Grid</h2>
<p>
- 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.
+ By default, a region's beginning will be used as the reference for both types of
+ snapping, this behaviour can be changed by setting a <dfn>sync point</dfn>
+ in the region, by selecting the region(s) and pressing <kbd>V</kbd>. This will set the
+ sync point to the current <a href="@@edit-point-control">edit point</a>.
</p>
<h2 id="gridunits">Grid Units</h2>
<p>
- The selector next to the grid mode selector defines the size of the grid elements. You can set your grid to several different units:
+ The selector next to the grid mode selector defines the size of the grid
+ elements. The grid can be set to several different units:
</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 (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 session.</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Seconds/Minutes</kbd></dt>
- <dd>These are absolute time units, unaffected by sample rate or timecode settings</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Beats/N</kbd></dt>
- <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>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Beats</kbd></dt>
- <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>
- <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>The grid lines are the markers.</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Starts</kbd></dt>
- <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region start points (see below).</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Ends</kbd></dt>
- <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region end points (see below).</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Syncs</kbd></dt>
- <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region sync points.</dd>
- <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Bounds</kbd></dt>
- <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region start or end points.</dd>
-</dl>
+<table class="dl">
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">CD Frames</kbd></th>
+ <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>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Timecode Frames/Seconds/Minutes</kbd></th>
+ <td>The duration of a frame depends on the timecode settings for the session.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Seconds/Minutes</kbd></th>
+ <td>These are absolute time units, unaffected by sample rate or timecode settings</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Beats/N</kbd></th>
+ <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>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Beats</kbd></th>
+ <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>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Bars</kbd></th>
+ <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>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Markers</kbd></th>
+ <td>The grid lines are the markers.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Region Starts</kbd></th>
+ <td>The grid lines are constructed from region start points (see below).</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Region Ends</kbd></th>
+ <td>The grid lines are constructed from region end points (see below).</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Region Syncs</kbd></th>
+ <td>The grid lines are constructed from region sync points.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Region Bounds</kbd></th>
+ <td>The grid lines are constructed from region start or end points.</td></tr>
+</table>
<p>
- To use Region starts/ends/syncs/bounds as snap choices, you must have either
+ To use Region starts/ends/syncs/bounds as snap choices, it is necessary to have either:
</p>
<ul>
- <li><em>No</em> tracks selected, which means that Ardour snaps to regions on any track, or </li>
- <li>Several tracks selected, which means that Ardour only snaps to regions on those selected tracks.</li>
+ <li><em>No</em> tracks selected, which means that Ardour snaps to regions on any
+ track, or </li>
+ <li>Several tracks selected, which means that Ardour only snaps to regions on
+ those selected tracks.</li>
</ul>
<p>
- If you are moving items on a track, and only the current track is selected, then you will only be able to snap to other regions on the same track. This means that enabling <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Editor > Link Selections of Regions and Tracks</kbd> will make the "Region" grid unit unusable. Avoid the use of this option if you are going to use any of the Region grid units.
+ If items are moved on a track, and only the current track is selected, then
+ snapping will only happen with other regions on the same track. This means
+ that enabling <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Editor > Link
+ Selections of Regions and Tracks</kbd> will make the "Region" grid unit
+ unusable. This option should not be used in conjunction with the use any of the
+ Region grid units.
</p>
projects / ardour-manual / blobdiff