# Editor Controls

The editor controls are in a tearoff window, which you can use in the usual way.

## Edit cursor clock

This clock shows the current position of the edit cursor. You can edit the position using the clock if you wish.

## Zoom buttons

The zoom buttons allow you to see more ("zoom out") or less ("zoom in") of the session timeline in the track display area. Click on the zoom out button to zoom out, and the zoom in button to zoom in.

## Zoom range clock

The zoom range clock shows the current duration of the timeline that is visible in the track display area. It does not indicate the location of the visible section of the timeline, only its length. You can zoom in and out by editing this clock directly, which may be useful if you want to see a precise duration within the editor.

## Zoom selectors

The two zoom select buttons allow you to go to the maximum and minimum zoom levels with a single button click. The "1:1" button zooms all the way into single sample level, where each pixel on the screen represents a single sample. The "whole session button" zooms out to show the entire session in the track display area.

## Zoom focus control

When zooming, there is always a change in what is displayed in the track display area. However, one position in the display will continue to correspond to the same point in the timeline, and there are several choices of how to define that point. The default behaviour is to keep the left edge of the track display area constant. If it was at a position 1:12:14 into the session timeline before zooming, then it will continue to be at that position after zooming. Other points in the display that you can ensure are in the same position while zooming include the right edge of the track display, the center of the track display, the playhead and the edit cursor. Whichever of these is selected is known as the current zoom focus.

To change the current zoom focus, click on the combo box to see the list of available choices. Click on the zoom focus you wish to use. The list of choices will disappear, and the new zoom focus choice will be in effect.

## Snap control

When moving objects around in the track display area, you have the choice of moving them freely or having their positions be limited to certain points along the timeline. This applies to region, the playhead, the edit cursor, curve control points and markers, among others. If you want the positions of objects to be limited, then you can choose from several different possibilities. We call this "snap to" because when moving objects around with the mouse, they appear to "snap to" various positions.

The most obvious source of "snap to" positions is the tempo map, but ardour offers many different possibilities:

### Snap Control

Snap Option | Action
--- | ---
BBT | you can select 64th,32nd,16th,8th,quarter and whole beat positions, as well as beat triplets and whole bars (measures).
Region beginnings
Region ends
Region sync points
Region boundaries | (combines regions beginnings and ends)
Marks
Edit Cursor | a single snap-to point. This is useful when aligning several objects at the same point. Set the edit cursor to the desired position, then select this snap setting, and then move the objects, which will immediately snap to the chosen position.

## Edit mode control

When moving regions around in a track, it is sometimes desirable to leave spaces between regions and sometimes to force regions to always be placed directly next to their neighbours. Which is more appropriate depends a lot on the nature of the project and the regions themselves.

By default, Ardour uses slide mode which allows you to freely place regions in a track (subject to the current snap setting, of course). If you cut part of region, an empty space will remain where the part you removed used to be. If you move a region along the timeline, it will move independently of other regions, and will stay wherever you place it.

If you are editing a session and require behaviour where regions are forced to always to be directly adjacent, you can switch to splice maybe. In this mode, cutting part of region will cause all later regions in the track to move up (earlier) the timeline so that there is no intervening space between them. Moving a region will cause other regions to move around so that the moved region fits "between" them.

## Nudge buttons

Sometimes when editing its nice to be able to move objects by predefined amounts rather than just positioning them freely or using snap-to. This kind of motion is called nudging. At the present time, only the playhead, playlists and regions can be nudged. The distance an object is nudged is set by the nudge clock (see below).

To nudge one or more regions forward by 1 second, first edit the nudge clock so that it specifies that time. Then select the region(s) by clicking on them, and finally click the nudge forward button.

Nudging backwards is identical to nudging forwards, except that you should click on the nudge backwards button.

To nudge a playlist forward or backwards, first set the nudge clock to the desired nudge distance. Then in the track that is using the playlist. Choose Nudge Nudge entire track fwd or Nudge nudge entire track bwd as desired.

You can also nudge all regions in the playlist positioned after (later than) the edit cursor. To do this, follow the steps for nudging the playlist, but choose Nudge nudge track after edit cursor fwd or Nudge nudge track after edit cursor bwd, as appropriate.

## Nudge clock

You can edit the clock value to alter the distance that regions/playlists will be nudged. (see for instructions).

## Tool Selector

The editor tool selector is in a tearoff window, and contains a series of buttons used to select what the mouse (and often the keyboard) will do when editing tracks. The tools include:

### Snap Control

Mouse Mode | Description
--- | ---
object | Left-clicking Object will place the mouse in object mode. When in object mode, the mouse pointer appears as a hand whenever it is over the track canvas or the rulers. The mouse can now be used to select and perform operations on objects such as regions, markers etc.
range | Left-clicking Range will place the mouse in range mode. When in range mode, the mouse pointer appears as a vertical line whenever it is over the track canvas or the rulers. The mouse will now be able to select a point or range of time. Time ranges can be selected over one or several tracks.
gain
zoom | Left-clicking Zoom will place the mouse in zoom mode. When in zoom mode, the mouse pointer appears as a magnifying glass whenever it is over the track canvas or the rulers. This mode is used to zoom the display to any range that is subsequently set using the mouse.
timefx | Left-clicking Timefx will place the mouse in timefx mode. When in timefx mode, the mouse pointer appears as a distinctive 'expanding' illustration whenever it is over the track canvas or the rulers. This mode is used to resize regions using a timestretch algorithm.