User guide

Tracktion 4 Reference Manual
97
The Clip Tools
When a clip is selected, the title-bar at the top of the clip displays a collection of tools (Fig. 4.1.2).
These tools provide powerful editing features that make trimming, sizing, and scaling clips a simple and
efcient process.
With the exception of the fade tool, these title-bar tool are common to both audio and MIDI clips.
They are how you dene the size of the clip, and the region of the source material that the clip is dis-
playing.
Looking at the tools in turn:
A: Each side of the clip has two arrow icons. The two solid arrow icons are used to resize the clip,
keeping the clip contents xed in relation to the clip edge that is being edited.
B: The centre of the clip has two square icons. The hollow square icon is used to slide the clip forwards
or backwards along the time-line without moving the contents of the clip.
C: The solid square icon is used to slide the contents of the clip along the time-line while keeping the
clip itself in a xed location.
D: The “L” icon can be toggled to enable or disable looping on this clip. When a clip is in loop mode,
stretching it will produce a long clip with repeated content.
E: Each side of an audio clip has a diagonal line icon. These icons are used to add volume fades to an
audio clip. You can set the fade by dragging the icons across the clip. Dragging the left fade icon to the
right creates a fade in period for the clip. Conversely, dragging the right side fade icon to the left creates
a fade out period. The length of the fade period is determined by how far the fade handles are dragged.
The shape of the fade is controlled by an option in the clip properties, and can be seen visually by the
fade curve shown on the clip. These icons are not present on MIDI clips.
F: The two hollow arrow icons are used to resize the clip while keeping the position of the clip contents
xed in relation to the edit. This operation can be viewed as simply trimming the clip. If you wish to cut
the start or end off of a clip without affecting the timing of the clip contents in relation to the song, simply
drag the hollow arrow icons.
Note that for audio clips, unless the loop mode is active, you cannot drag the clip boundaries beyond
the boundaries of the source material. Once either edge of the source material has been reached, the
clip size and slide options will cease to function.
If loop mode is disabled, both audio and MIDI clips can be stretched by holding down the ALT key
(CTRL for Mac users) while resizing the clip. In this case, both sides of the clip content stay xed in re-
lation to the clip edges.
Throughout the remainder of this chapter you will learn more about these tools, how to use them.
Figure 4.1.2