User Manual

CHAPTER
785
69 Songs
OVERVIEW
In Digital Performer, a song is a collection of
Chunks. The Chunks that make up a song are
displayed in that song’s window, plotted on a grid
beneath a horizontal, non-linear time ruler. The
Song window is the work space in which you
arrange the Chunks in time and in relation to other
Chunks.
By dragging and using standard Edit commands
on the Chunks, you can arrange them to
graphically represent the order and combinations
in which you want them to play back. What you see
is what you will hear: adjacent Chunks will play one
after the other, and stacked (vertically aligned)
Chunks will play simultaneously. Arranging in the
Song window can done in real time while the song
is playing back.
Quick reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785
Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Creating a song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Recording MIDI into a song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
Edit menu commands and the song window . . . . . . . 791
Song window hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
QUICK REFERENCE
Chunk Grid: Serves as a workspace in which you
arrange Chunks. The grid will not scroll when you
drag a Chunk to one of the borders; this allows you
to delete a Chunk by dragging it out of the window,
or to drag a Chunk to another Song window.
Song Chunks and Sequence Chunks: Represent
songs and sequences that have been dragged into
the Song window. Click a Chunk once to select it,
twice to open its Song or Tracks window. Change a
Chunk’s name by Option/Alt-clicking it in the
Chunks window. If a Chunk’s name is longer than
its Chunk icon, the first several letters will be
followed by an ellipsis.
A Chunk’s size in the Song window is relative to
that of the other Chunks in the window, rather than
absolute. Chunks shorten and lengthen so that
within a region, the longest Chunk always appears
longest in the Song window. A Chunk’s length can
be changed in the Chunks window by setting the
Chunk’s End time to manual mode and typing in
the new value.
Time ruler
Marker strip
Sequence chunk
Song chunk
Window Target
Selected chunk
Columns
Chunk grid
Figure 69-1: The Song window lets you arrange sequences
and songs graphically in a compact, non-linear display.