Applying or Removing Grooves

From the View menu, choose Groove Pool to toggle the display of the Groove Pool window.

Did you record a drum track that doesn't swing quite right? Before you rerecord the drum part, try applying the Hard Swing setting from the Groove Pool.

With the Groove Pool and Groove tool , you can use groove maps to adjust the timing of entire tracks or portions of tracks.

TIP Tips:

  • If you want to get really creative, try setting a clip's stretching method to Pitch shift segments (on the Stretch tab of the Clip Properties window). When a groove adjusts a beat so it plays early, the pitch will be raised. When a beat is played late, its pitch will be lowered.

  • If a groove map does not seem to work correctly on a loop, the beats in the file may not be properly detected. Click the Redetect Beats button on the Stretch tab of the Clip Properties window to apply the Acid beat-detection algorithm to the loop.

NOTE Notes:

  • Groove maps are applied non-destructively. If you want to change a media file's inherent groove, use the render to new track command to render a new, grooved media file.

  • The grooves listed in the Groove Pool are specific to your project. If you've deleted grooves and saved your project, those grooves will be unavailable unless you import the grooves again.

Grooves cannot be applied to tracks that contain Beatmapped clips.

Apply a groove to an entire trackClosed

  1. From the View menu, choose Groove Pool to display the Groove Pool window if it isn't already visible.

  2. Drag a groove from the Groove Pool window to a track. You can drop the groove in the track list or on the timeline.

    A groove event is displayed at the bottom of the track to indicate that a groove has been applied to the track.

    To toggle the height of the groove strips, choose Show Full-Size Groove Strips from the View menu.

TIP Tips:

  • Drag a groove from the Groove Pool to an existing groove event to change the event's groove.

  • Right-click and drag with the Groove tool to erase a groove event.

  • Hold Ctrl and right-click a groove event with the Groove tool to erase the entire event.

  • Hold Ctrl and click a groove event with the Groove Erase tool to erase the entire event.

Set a default groove for new tracks Closed

If you have a groove that you'd like to use to set the overall feel of a project, you can set it as a default for your project.

  1. From the View menu, choose Groove Pool to display the Groove Pool window if it isn't already visible.

  2. Choose a setting from the Default groove for new tracks drop-down list.

    When you add a new loop, one-shot, or MIDI track to your project, the selected groove will be applied to the entire track. Existing tracks are not affected.

Apply multiple groove events to a trackClosed

Groove events allow you to apply grooves to portions of tracks or apply different grooves to various portions of a track. The groove is applied where the groove event overlaps the media event.

The edges of groove events are boundaries for grooves, and audio cannot be grooved beyond the event edges. In the following example, the groove will adjust the first beat of the event to play before 10.1 on the timeline:

In the following example, the edge of the groove event prevents the event's first beat from being played before 10.1 on the timeline:

  1. Select the Groove tool .

  2. Click the down arrow next to the Groove toolbar button and choose a groove from the menu (or double-click a groove in the Groove Pool).

  3. Click and drag over a track to paint groove events in the same way you create other events on the timeline.

    Groove events are displayed at the bottom of the track to indicate where a groove will be applied.

  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to paint groove events as needed.

    To toggle the height of the groove strips, choose Show Full-Size Groove Strips from the View menu.

TIP Tips:

  • Drag a groove from the Groove Pool to an existing groove event to change the event's groove.

  • Drag a groove from the Groove Pool to a space between two groove events to create a new groove event to fill the space between the events.

  • Hold Ctrl while clicking the space between two groove events to create a new groove event to fill the space between the events.

  • Right-click and drag with the Groove tool to erase a groove event.

  • Hold Ctrl and right-click a groove event with the Groove tool to erase the entire event.

  • Hold Ctrl and click a groove event with the Groove Erase tool to erase the entire event.

  • Zoom in to see groove markers in the groove events. The markers represent the amount and direction of offset applied to beats:

Erase groove eventsClosed

  1. Select the Groove Erase tool .

  2. Click and drag the Groove Erase tool to erase a groove, or hold Ctrl while clicking a groove event to erase the entire event.

TIP Tips:

  • Right-click and drag with the Groove tool to erase a groove event.

  • Hold Ctrl and right-click a groove event with the Groove tool to erase the entire event.

  • Hold Ctrl and click a groove event with the Groove Erase tool to erase the entire event.

  • Zoom in to see groove markers in the groove events. The markers provide a visual cue to the mapped groove:

  • You can also right-click a track header and choose Remove Groove from Track from the shortcut menu to remove all groove events from a track.

Remove unused grooves from your projectClosed

Click the Remove All Unused Grooves from Project button to remove any grooves that have not been used in your project.

Remove a groove from your projectClosed

  1. Select a groove in the Groove Pool window.

  2. Click the Remove Selected Grooves from Project button . The selected groove is removed from your project.

    If the groove is in use, a confirmation will be displayed if the Confirm groove deletion when still in use check box is selected on the General tab of the Preferences dialog.