Cursors timeline

The Hmecode at the upper left of the program specifies the current position of the timeline cursor (Hme at Cursor) in a selected format and the measure and beat. The timeline cursor is a vertical line that runs from the top of the timeline to the bottom and moves when the project is played back. It may be thought of as being analogous to the playback head on a tape recorder. 

There are two basic cursors in ACID. One is the standard Windows mouse cursor, which most frequently appears as an arrow. In ACID, the straight vertical line that runs from the top to the bottom of the timeline is also a cursor, always referred to as the timeline cursor. 

Moving forward and back on the timeline moves you forward and back through time in your project. The timeline cursor marks the position in time of the project and is the focus of any actions that you take. For example, when you press the Play button, the project begins playing back the project from the timeline cursor s position, If you paste a loop into a project, it will be pasted at the timeline cursor s position. Clicking anywhere in the timeline area moves the timeline cursor to that position. 

You can navigate the timeline by using the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the timeline. This allows you to view different parts of the project and is independent of the timeline cursor (that is, the timeline cursor does not always need to be on the screen). 

The Transport Controls (see Figure 1.6) operate like standard media file playback or VCR controls. These buttons are used to move the timeline cursor around on the timeline and to control playback and recording in a project. A few transport controls are also available in the Explorer and Chopper windows (defined later). 

S Split an event (or events) at timeline cursor position... 

To draw an event, click the Draw Tool button on the toolbar to select it (or press Ctrl + D). This is the default tool, so it may already be selected. Then click on the timeline and drag the mouse cursor horizontally to draw an event, as shown in Figure 2.12. 

Painting across tracks— While the Draw Tool works only horizontally within a single track, the Paint Tool works across all tracks. This can be a time saver in some situahons, but mostly it is just incredibly fun to doodle around with the Paint Tool, instantly creahng a song. Try this out in a live performance, painting events just-in-hme before the playback timeline cursor arrives. 

Position the timeline cursor on the main timeline where you would like the new event to be inserted. 

The selected area in the Chopper window is inserted into the timeline at the timeline cursor s position. 

When pasting an event, click on the timeline to move the timeline cmsor to the location where you want the pasted event to begin. The cursor snaps to the nearest Grid line, meaning that pasted events are automatically snapped into synchronization with the project. Snapping can be turned off or you can move the cursor using the Left and Right Arrow keys on your keyboard for... 

Click on the timeline to move the timeline cursor to the location where you want the pasted event to begin. 

Previewing a project and playing it back is accomplished by using the Transport controls (see Figure 2.26) just below the timeline. What you hear when you play a project back is the sum total of all of the events as mixed together by ACID. The position of the playback is indicated both by the timeline cursor and by the position numbers at the top of the Thack Header. Since this is such a common operation, there are a number of important shortcuts that make this process easier. 

Press the Spacebar on the keyboard to start and stop playback at the timeline cursor position. 

Press Enter to pause playback. The difference between stopping and pausing is that stopping returns the playback to the original timeline cursor position, while... 

The simplest method of adding markers is to position the timeline cursors at the place where you want to insert a marker and then press the M key on your keyboard. 

To add a Time marker, position the timeline cursor at the location where you want to drop a marker. Then, from the Insert menu, select Time Marker. You can also press the H key as a keyboard shortcut. 

The Tempo indicator displays the tempo at the timeline cursor position. It does not necessarily indicate the tempo of the project unless the cursor is positioned at the very beginning of the project. 

Position the timeline cursor at the desired length of time. 

The simplest and fastest way to insert a key change is to move the timeline cursor to the position where you want to have the key change occur and press the K key on your keyboard, followed by the key that you want to change to— for example, press K and then G to change the key to G. 

Click on the event between two notes. The timeline cursor moves to this position. 

Move the timeline cursor to the beginning of the project. The easiest way to do this is to click the Go to Start button on the Transport bar or press Ctrl+Home on your keyboard. 

Move the timeline cursor to the end of the project. Click the Go to End button on the keyboard or press Ctrl +End on your keyboard. This moves the timeline cursor to the edge of the last event. 

Extending the event further and then splitting the event between notes can frequently be easier than simply extending an event. Click the event to move the timeline cursor to the split position and press S on your keyboard. Use an Event Fade envelope (ASR) to trim tbe edges of the event more seamlessly, especially if there isn t a clean break between beats 1 and 2. Of course, this particular technique is highly dependent upon finding loops that are suitable, but there are many loops in many different genres that will work. 

Position the main UI timeline cursor where you want the insert to occur. The selection area and arrow from the Chopper window are represented on the main UI timeline at the timeline cursor position. 

The Chopper toolbar contains a number of tools to make selection modification and timeline cursor movement possible (see Figure 4.13). 

There isn t really much reason to make the arrow shorter than the selection area. When inserting events this way, the entire selection region is still inserted, but the timeline cursor is advanced only to the arrow s position. The next insert will, therefore, cover up the event portion that extends beyond the arrow. This is identical to simply inserting a shorter selection area with the arrow linked to the area, with the exception that the last event inserted would have been longer. This is also a fast way of creating stutter effects without changing a selection size. 

Place the timeline cursor on Beat 1 of the measure where you want the break to begin. 

Move the timeline cursor to the position where you want to start recording. 

When the Position item is selected in the Record dialog box, the start of the recording is indicated by and can be determined by the timeline cursor position. If the timeline cursor is at any position in the project other than the very beginning, the Position item is automatically selected. 

Events are easily split by positioning the timeline cursor on an event where you want a split to occur and then pressing the S key on your keyboard. Since you will probably want only one take at any particular time, you can split all of the takes at the same time and at the same position by selecting all of the events. Looping the playback one section at a time and then soloing one take at a time will allow you to audit the best version. 

Press the number of the marker along the top of your keyboard (not the number pad) to move the timeline cursor to that marker. 

Press the number on the top of the keyboard corresponding to the region (take) that you want to use in the project. The region is immediately selected, and the cursor on the timeline cursor changes to indicate the area where the region will be inserted (see Figure 5.9). 

The first downbeat is labeled with a timeline cursor in the dialog tagged... 

Mark In (or cursor position), Mark Out, and Duration of selection area (loop region)— These are displayed below the timeline. 

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