Reference Guide

316
Arranging and editing
Markers and the snap grid
Figure 52. View Options dialog
SONAR displays the Track view as you requested.
Defining and Using the Snap Grid
SONAR lets you define a snap grid that makes it easier to arrange clips, select time ranges, and
control envelope shape drawing. To use the snap grid, enable the Snap to Grid button and set the
grid resolution to an interval of musical time, such as a whole note, half note, or quarter note; a unit
of absolute time: a number of frames, seconds or samples; an event; the start or end of a clip; a
marker; or audio transients. The grid can use multiple resolutions at the same time, such as a whole
note, and audio transients. When the Snap to Grid button is enabled, if you move or paste clips or
markers, items will be snapped to the nearest point on the snap grid.
You can also use the snap grid to move clips by a certain interval, rather than snap them to the
interval. Moving by an interval can be useful during drag-and-drop operations, if your data are not
exactly aligned with measure or note boundaries.
The snap grid in each view is independent. For example, you can enable the snap grid in the Track
view without enabling it in the Piano Roll or Staff views. You can also enable the snap grid in several
different views, with different grid intervals in each one.
In the Clips pane, the snap grid in the Inline Piano Roll view is independent from the snap grid in
Clips view. When you open the Snap to Grid dialog in the Clips pane, the dialog has separate tabs
for Clips view and Inline Piano Roll view (called PRV mode in the dialog).
Magnetic snap. Cakewalk’s snap grid has an option (on by default) called magnetic snap. This
means that when you’re dragging the boundary of an object, you can move the boundary freely until
the boundary gets within a certain number of ticks from the snap target. The closer the object gets to
the snap target, the more strongly the object is pulled to the target. You can set the strength of
magnetic snap to low, medium, high, or off. Note that if you are zoomed out a certain amount, the
time boundary around the snap target will appear to be quite small, and you might think that the
snap grid is not functioning. If this is the case, zoom in closer to enhance your editing experience. If
you’re dragging a whole clip, magnetic snap is not in effect.
To Enable or Disable the Snap Grid
• To toggle the Snap to Grid button on or off, press N, or click the button.