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Reference Guide

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1108 Notation and lyrics
The Meter/Key view
The Meter/Key view
The Meter/Key view lets you enter meter and key changes at measure boundaries. Meter and key
changes affect all tracks.
See:
“What Is meter?” on page 1108
“What Is key?” on page 1109
“Opening the Meter/Key view” on page 1109
“Adding and editing meter/key changes” on page 1110
“Music notation for non-concert-key instruments” on page 1111
What Is meter?
The meter—also known as the time signature—describes how to divide time into rhythmic pulses.
When you set the meter, you are specifying the number of beats per measure and the note value of
each beat. Common meters include:
• 2/4 (two beats per measure, quarter note gets a beat)
• 4/4 (four beats per measure, quarter note gets a beat)
• 3/4 (three beats per measure, quarter note gets a beat)
• 6/8 (six beats per measure, eighth note gets a beat)
The top number of a meter is the number of beats per measure, and can be from 1 through 99. The
bottom number of a meter is the value of each beat; you can pick from a list of values ranging from a
whole note to a thirty-second note.
The meter affects several things in SONAR:
• Metronome accents
• How measure, beat, and tick (MBT) times are calculated and displayed
• How the Staff view is drawn
While SONAR in general allows meters to have up to 99 beats per measure, the Staff view cannot
display such measures. You will receive an error message if you try to use the Staff view with meters
exceeding its limit.
Internally, SONAR stores times as “raw” ticks or clock pulses. The timebase—the number of pulses
per quarter note (PPQ)—is adjustable, from 48 to 960 PPQ. If you are using a timebase of 120 PPQ
and the project file is in 4/4 time, then a whole measure equals 480 ticks. See “Setting the MIDI
timing resolution” on page 259 for more information about the timebase.
Usually the easiest approach to working with meter changes is to set all of them up before doing any
recording. Use the Meter/Key view or the Project > Insert Meter/Key Change command to add
meter changes at the desired measures.