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 in the Control Bar’s Snap module (or press N) 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. To set advanced Snap to Grid settings, go to Edit > Preferences > Customization - Snap to Grid.

Magnetic snap. Cakewalk’s snap grid has an option 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

Do one of the following:

Click the Snap to Grid button in the Control Bar’s Snap module.

Press N.

To change the snap options

1.	In the Control Bar’s Snap module, select one or more of the following resolution options:

Time resolution. Snap to the selected musical or absolute time resolution. Click and hold the mouse button pressed to select a different duration from the pop-up menu. For absolute time resolutions (samples, frames, seconds), type the desired number of units. When Smart Grid is selected, the snap resolution is dynamically determined by the horizontal zoom level, and the M:B:T Time Rulers in the Clips pane and Piano Roll view are optimized to show relevant snap locations.

Note: To exit Smart Grid mode, clear the Smart Grid check mark. If you manually select a new resolution while Smart Grid is enabled, the new settings only apply until the focused view's zoom level changes.

Triplet . Reduces the duration of the selected Musical time resolution by 2/3 of its original duration. When Triplet is enabled, three note events fit in the space of two.

Dotted . Increase the duration of the selected Musical time resolution by half of its original value (150%).

Snap To. Align data to the snap grid.

Snap By. Move data by the grid resolution.

Snap to Landmark Events . Snap to the selected landmarks, including markers, Now Time, clips, audio transients, MIDI notes, and automation envelope nodes. To select the desired landmarks, right-click the Snap to Grid button to open the Preferences dialog box, then select the desired check boxes in the Landmarks section. Sonar will snap to landmarks on tracks/lanes that are currently visible in the Clips pane. For details, see Customization - Snap to Grid (Advanced).

2.	Go to Edit > Preferences > Customization - Snap to Grid.

3.	If you want to change the magnetic snap strength, or turn off magnetic snap, adjust the Snap Intensity slider.

4.	If you want to automatically snap edited audio clips to the nearest zero crossing of the waveform (the point at which there is no volume, to minimize the glitches that can happen when waveforms are spliced together) select the Snap to Nearest Audio Zero Crossings check box.

5.	Click OK to close the dialog box.

All time selections and drag-and-drop editing operations use the new snap grid resolution(s).

To use a secondary Snap to Grid resolution

By default, Sonar uses the global Snap to Grid settings when snap is enabled. However, you can also specify a secondary Snap to Grid resolution that is in effect when holding down the N key.

To assign the secondary Snap to Grid settings, hold down the N key while selecting the desired snap settings in the Control Bar’s Snap module.

To momentarily apply the secondary Snap to Grid resolution, hold down the N key while dragging or editing data that is snapping to the grid. When the N key is released, the main global snap settings are restored.

To swap the primary and secondary Snap to Grid settings, press CTRL+SHIFT+N.

Note: To enable/disable Snap to Grid, press the N key quickly. To assign or use the secondary Snap to Grid resolution, keep the N key pressed.

Tip: You can configure the secondary Snap to Grid resolution to effectively bypass snapping when holding down the N key. To do so, hold down the N key while disabling the snap resolution and snap landmarks in the Control Bar’s Snap module. Snapping will now be temporarily disabled while you hold down the N key.

 

See also:

Snap to Grid shortcuts

Snap module