path: root/manual/xml/editing_concepts.xml

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<section id="sn-editing-concepts">
  <title>Editing Concepts</title>
  <para>
    In Ardour, "editing" describes the process of
  </para>

  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        making modifications to playlists. Recall that
        <glossterm linkend="gt-playlist">playlists</glossterm> are nothing
        more than lists of
        <glossterm linkend="gt-region">regions</glossterm> arranged over
        time.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        recording/modifying automation data
      </para>
    </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>

  <section id="editing-cut-copy-paste">
    <title> Cut/Copy/Paste </title>
    <para></para>
  </section>

  <section id="sn-snap-settings">
    <title>Snap Settings</title>
    <para>
      By default, when you move objects around, they move freely. There
      <emphasis>is</emphasis> a "granularity" to the motion, but it is a
      single audio frame (so typically on the order of 1/48000'th or
      1/96000'th of a second), and at most zoom levels it will not be
      apparent in any way.
    </para>

    <para>
      However, this is not always the way you want to move some kinds of
      objects. If you are working with structured compositions that utilize
      traditional concepts of bars, beats, rythmn and so forth, you will
      often want to move regions so that that they always align to specific
      periodic time points that correspond to the start of a bar, or a beat
      etc. If you are working on a movie soundtrack, you may prefer to have
      regions always align to SMPTE frames, or perhaps even to whole
      seconds.
    </para>

    <para>
      Ardour provides a wide variety of "snap" settings. If any but "None"
      is selected, they define a grid of timepoints which will be used to
      "snap" object positions as they are dragged. The grid can be regular
      (as is the case if you choose "Beats", for example), or it can be
      completely irregular (if you choose "Marks", for example). It can even
      consist of a <emphasis>single</emphasis> timepoint (if you choose
      "Edit cursor", for example).
    </para>

    <para>
      Regions are a somewhat special case in that they may contain
      <emphasis> sync points</emphasis>. If a region contains a sync point,
      the region start position is ignored and the sync point is aligned to
      the grid. This allows you to align a 'hit point' to the desitred grid.
    </para>

    <variablelist>
      <title> Possible Snap Settings </title>
      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel>None</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            no alignment used at all
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> CD Frames</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to 1/75th of a second intervals, as defined by the
            "Redbook" Audio CD standards
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> SMPTE Frames</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to whatever the current SMPTE frame interval is (defined
            in the options editor)
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> SMPTE Seconds</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to whole seconds, adjusted to account for any SMPTE start
            offset
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> SMPTE Minutes</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to whole minutes, adjust to account for any SMPTE start
            offset
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Seconds</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to whole seconds
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Minutes</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to whole minutes
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Beats/32</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to 1/32 divisions of the beat
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Beats/16</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to 1/16 divisions of the beat
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Beats/8</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to 1/8 divisions of the beat
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Beats/4</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to 1/4 divisions of the beat
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Beats/3</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to 1/3 divisions of the beat
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Beats</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to beats
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Bars</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to the start of bars
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Marks</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to the nearest mark of some kind
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Edit Cursor</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to the current position of the edit cursor
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Region starts</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to the nearest start of a region in the (first) selected
            track
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Region ends</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to the nearest end of a region in the (first) selected
            track
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Region syncs</guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to the nearest region sync point in the (first) selected
            track
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><guilabel> Region bounds </guilabel></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            align to the nearest region start or end in the (first) selected
            track
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>

    <section id="changing-snap-settings">
      <title> To change snap settings </title>
      <para>
        Move the mouse pointer to the toolbar panel of the editor window.
        Click on the "expansion arrow" of the "Snap setting" chooser. This
        will popup a list of available snap settings. If necessary, scroll
        down to see your desired choice. Click on your choice in the list to
        dismiss it and make Ardour switch to the new setting.
      </para>

      <note>
        <para>
          Changing snap settings has <emphasis>no</emphasis> effect on the
          position of any existing region. Its effect is only on objects
          being moved.
        </para>
      </note>
      <tip>
        <para>
          The snap setting also affects moving the playhead, the edit
          cursor, loop/punch and location markers, and dragging/moving range
          selections.
        </para>
      </tip>
    </section>

    <section id="snap-mode">
      <title> Snap Mode </title>
      <para>
        There are two subtly different ways in which the snap setting can
        affect region motion:
      </para>

      <variablelist>
        <title></title>
        <varlistentry>
          <term>normal snap mode</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              regions can only be moved to positions defined by the snap
              setting. It is not possible to move them to intermediate
              positions.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>

        <varlistentry>
          <term>magnetic snap mode</term>
          <listitem>
            <para>
              regions can still be moved to positions not defined by the
              setting, but they "stick" to the timepoints that are when
              dragged across them. Imagine that the timepoints and the
              regions are magnetic - or just try it and see.
            </para>
          </listitem>
        </varlistentry>
      </variablelist>

      <para>
        However, you can press the <emphasis>snap modifier</emphasis> key
        while dragging, and the snap setting will be ignored. By default,
        this is the key on your keyboard that generates
        <emphasis>Mod3</emphasis> , but you can modify this from the
        <emphasis>Options Editor</emphasis> keyboard tab.
      </para>
    </section>

    <section id="changing-snap-mode">
      <title> To change snap mode </title>
      <para>
        Move the mouse pointer to the toolbar panel of the editor window.
        Click on the "expansion arrow" of the "Snap mode" chooser. This will
        popup a list of available snap settings. If necessary, scroll down
        to see your desired choice. Click on your choice in the list to
        dismiss it and make Ardour switch to the new setting.
      </para>
    </section>
  </section>
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