You are here

Aligning clips

Hello Rui!
I did speak about this before, but now that I am making a pretty complex album from production point of view in Qtractor, I decided to nail this once and for all and perhaps find a better solution for this.

So, I recorded some drums and now need to align them perfectly with the already recorded drums. Unfortunately, the way things are done now, it is close to impossible.

Here is the situation:
http://www.louigiverona.ru/images/position.png

In order to align them perfectly it is necessary to use a keyboard somehow. One way would be to put a playhead in the beginning of the upper clip (the one I need to align the new clip to) and then use arrow keys to move the new clip until I am satisfied.

However, the keys only move the clip in big steps, although the grid is set to None.
Also, when the clip is being moved, you cannot see its contents and so you have no idea if it is aligned, until you let it go:
http://www.louigiverona.ru/images/border.png

I also tried using numbers in the clip properties, but changing even the third number after the dot moved the clip way too much.

So, a couple of simple suggestions would be to:
1. Allow using keys when grid is set to None and perhaps move the clip pixel by pixel.
2. Display contents of moved clip while moving it.

In addition could there be dome something like auto-align by comparing wave forms? Just a thought, of course.

Forums: 

Oh, and additionally - don't want to create a separate topic - splitting an audio clip. A created a shortcut through the Shortcuts menu and it is better, however, Qtractor does not understand what clip I want to split unless I click it. Is it possible to split the clip simply under the playhead? Without the need to highlight it with a click?

babarosa's picture

Luigi,

if there are more than one clip in the song at the same time, you have to select the one clip which should be splitted - otherwise all clips under the playhead are splitted. Or do I misunderstand your issue?

rncbc's picture

santa read your wishes, a couple of them at least--let's hope it makes on time for the holyday :)

on svn trunk rev.2643 (aka. qtractor 0.5.2.4) commit-log says:

  • Current clip is ultimately inferred from the one under the play-head position and current selected track; the last one clicked over and/or selected still has precedence.
  • Drag-moving clips horizontally with the keyboard arrow-keys just got a step better with a fixed minimum of one pixel, depending still on the current snap-per-beat setting and horizontal zoom level.
  • sorry, but the one about showing the audio waveform while moving clips could not make it by this time :)

    merry x-mas anyway.
    cheers

haha!
rui, you are the best santa ever AND YOU KNOW IT! ;)

Cheers!

Add new comment