path: root/manual/xml/editor_window_controls.xml

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<section id="editor-window-controls">
  <title>Editor Controls</title>
  <para>
    The editor controls are in a tearoff window, which you can use in the
    usual way.
  </para>

  <section id="editor-edit-cursor-clock">
    <title>Edit cursor clock</title>
    <para>
      This clock shows the current position of the edit cursor. You can edit
      the position using the clock if you wish.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="editor-zoom-buttons">
    <title>Zoom buttons</title>
    <para>
      The zoom buttons allow you to see more ("zoom out") or less ("zoom
      in") of the session timeline in the track display area. Click on the
      zoom out button to zoom out, and the zoom in button to zoom in.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="editor-zoom-range-clock">
    <title>Zoom range clock</title>
    <para>
      The zoom range clock shows the current duration of the timeline that
      is visible in the track display area. It does not indicate the
      location of the visible section of the timeline, only its length. You
      can zoom in and out by editing this clock directly, which may be
      useful if you want to see a precise duration within the editor.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="editor-zoom-selectors">
    <title>Zoom selectors</title>
    <para>
      The two zoom select buttons allow you to go to the maximum and minimum
      zoom levels with a single button click. The "1:1" button zooms all the
      way into single sample level, where each pixel on the screen
      represents a single sample. The "whole session button" zooms out to
      show the entire session in the track display area.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="editor-zoom-focus-control">
    <title>Zoom focus control</title>
    <para>
      When zooming, there is always a change in what is displayed in the
      track display area. However, one position in the display will continue
      to correspond to the same point in the timeline, and there are several
      choices of how to define that point. The default behaviour is to keep
      the left edge of the track display area constant. If it was at a
      position 1:12:14 into the session timeline before zooming, then it
      will continue to be at that position after zooming. Other points in
      the display that you can ensure are in the same position while zooming
      include the right edge of the track display, the center of the track
      display, the playhead and the edit cursor. Whichever of these is
      selected is known as the current zoom focus.
    </para>

    <para>
      To change the current zoom focus, click on the combo box to see the
      list of available choices. Click on the zoom focus you wish to use.
      The list of choices will disappear, and the new zoom focus choice will
      be in effect.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="editor-snap-control">
    <title>Snap control</title>
    <para>
      When moving objects around in the track display area, you have the
      choice of moving them freely or having their positions be limited to
      certain points along the timeline. This applies to region, the
      playhead, the edit cursor, curve control points and markers, among
      others. If you want the positions of objects to be limited, then you
      can choose from several different possibilities. We call this "snap
      to" because when moving objects around with the mouse, they appear to
      "snap to" various positions.
    </para>

    <para>
      The most obvious source of "snap to" positions is the tempo map, but
      ardour offers many different possibilities:
    </para>

    <table id="tbl-snap-control">
      <title>Snap Control</title>
      <tgroup cols = "2">
        <colspec colnum="1" colname="Snap Option" colwidth="1"/>
        <colspec colnum="2" colname="Action" colwidth= "2"/>
        <thead>
          <row>
            <entry>
              Snap Option
            </entry>

            <entry>
              Action
            </entry>
          </row>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <row>
            <entry>
              BBT
            </entry>

            <entry>
              you can select 64th,32nd,16th,8th,quarter and whole beat
              positions, as well as beat triplets and whole bars (measures).
            </entry>
          </row>

          <row>
            <entry>
              Region beginnings
            </entry>
          </row>

          <row>
            <entry>
              Region ends
            </entry>
          </row>

          <row>
            <entry>
              Region sync points
            </entry>
          </row>

          <row>
            <entry>
              Region boundaries
            </entry>

            <entry>
              (combines regions beginnings and ends)
            </entry>
          </row>

          <row>
            <entry>
              Marks
            </entry>
          </row>

          <row>
            <entry>
              Edit Cursor
            </entry>

            <entry>
              a single snap-to point. This is useful when aligning several
              objects at the same point. Set the edit cursor to the desired
              position, then select this snap setting, and then move the
              objects, which will immediately snap to the chosen position.
            </entry>
          </row>
        </tbody>
      </tgroup>
    </table>
  </section>

  <section id="editor-edit-mode-control">
    <title>Edit mode control</title>
    <para>
      When moving regions around in a track, it is sometimes desirable to
      leave spaces between regions and sometimes to force regions to always
      be placed directly next to their neighbours. Which is more appropriate
      depends a lot on the nature of the project and the regions themselves.
    </para>

    <para>
      By default, Ardour uses slide mode which allows you to freely place
      regions in a track (subject to the current snap setting, of course).
      If you cut part of region, an empty space will remain where the part
      you removed used to be. If you move a region along the timeline, it
      will move independently of other regions, and will stay wherever you
      place it.
    </para>

    <para>
      If you are editing a session and require behaviour where regions are
      forced to always to be directly adjacent, you can switch to splice
      maybe. In this mode, cutting part of region will cause all later
      regions in the track to move up (earlier) the timeline so that there
      is no intervening space between them. Moving a region will cause other
      regions to move around so that the moved region fits "between" them.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="editor-window-nudge-buttons">
    <title>Nudge buttons</title>
    <para>
      Sometimes when editing its nice to be able to move objects by
      predefined amounts rather than just positioning them freely or using
      snap-to. This kind of motion is called nudging. At the present time,
      only the playhead, playlists and regions can be nudged. The distance
      an object is nudged is set by the nudge clock (see below).
    </para>

    <para>
      To nudge one or more regions forward by 1 second, first edit the nudge
      clock so that it specifies that time. Then select the region(s) by
      clicking on them, and finally click the nudge forward button.
    </para>

    <para>
      Nudging backwards is identical to nudging forwards, except that you
      should click on the nudge backwards button.
    </para>

    <para>
      To nudge a playlist forward or backwards, first set the nudge clock to
      the desired nudge distance. Then in the track that is using the
      playlist. Choose Nudge Nudge entire track fwd or Nudge nudge entire
      track bwd as desired.
    </para>

    <para>
      You can also nudge all regions in the playlist positioned after (later
      than) the edit cursor. To do this, follow the steps for nudging the
      playlist, but choose Nudge nudge track after edit cursor fwd or Nudge
      nudge track after edit cursor bwd, as appropriate.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="editor-window-nudge-clock">
    <title>Nudge clock</title>
    <para>
      You can edit the clock value to alter the distance that
      regions/playlists will be nudged. (see <xref linkend="sn-clocks"/> for
      instructions).
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="editor-window-tool-selector">
    <title>Tool Selector</title>
    <para>
      The editor tool selector is in a tearoff window, and contains a series
      of buttons used to select what the mouse (and often the keyboard) will
      do when editing tracks. The tools include:
    </para>

    <table id="tbl-editor-window-mouse-modes">
      <title>Snap Control</title>
      <tgroup cols = "2">
        <colspec colnum="1" colname="Snap Option" colwidth="1"/>
        <colspec colnum="2" colname="Action" colwidth= "2"/>
        <thead>
          <row>
            <entry>
              Mouse Mode
            </entry>

            <entry>
              Description
            </entry>
          </row>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <row>
            <entry>
              object
            </entry>

            <entry>
              <para>
                Left-clicking Object will place the mouse in object mode.
                When in object mode, the mouse pointer appears as a hand
                whenever it is over the track canvas or the rulers. The
                mouse can now be used to select and perform operations on
                objects such as regions, markers etc.
              </para>
            </entry>
          </row>

          <row>
            <entry>
              range
            </entry>

            <entry>
              <para>
                Left-clicking Range will place the mouse in range mode. When
                in range mode, the mouse pointer appears as a vertical line
                whenever it is over the track canvas or the rulers. The
                mouse will now be able to select a point or range of time.
                Time ranges can be selected over one or several tracks.
              </para>
            </entry>
          </row>

          <row>
            <entry>
              gain
            </entry>
          </row>

          <row>
            <entry>
              zoom
            </entry>

            <entry>
              <para>
                Left-clicking Zoom will place the mouse in zoom mode. When
                in zoom mode, the mouse pointer appears as a magnifying
                glass whenever it is over the track canvas or the rulers.
                This mode is used to zoom the display to any range that is
                subsequently set using the mouse.
              </para>
            </entry>
          </row>

          <row>
            <entry>
              timefx
            </entry>

            <entry>
              <para>
                Left-clicking Timefx will place the mouse in timefx mode.
                When in timefx mode, the mouse pointer appears as a
                distinctive 'expanding' illustration whenever it is over the
                track canvas or the rulers. This mode is used to resize
                regions using a timestretch algorithm.
              </para>
            </entry>
          </row>
        </tbody>
      </tgroup>
    </table>
  </section>
</section>