Choosing a Status Format

From the Options menu, choose Status Format and choose a setting from the submenu to specify the format that will be used to display the time ruler, cursor position, and selection. A bullet is displayed next to the selected format.

TIP Right-click the time ruler and choose a format from the shortcut menu.

Format

Description

Samples

Displays the ruler in samples.

Time

Displays the ruler in hours:minutes:seconds.milliseconds.

Seconds

Displays the ruler in seconds.

Time & Frames

Displays the ruler in hours:minutes:seconds.frames.

Absolute Frames

Displays the ruler with all frames numbered sequentially from the beginning of your project.

Measures and Beats

Displays the ruler in measures.beats.quarter beats. Use the Edit Tempo dialog to specify the tempo of a file.

SMPTE Film Sync
(24 fps)

Displays the ruler in hours:minutes:seconds:frames with a frame rate of 24 frames per second. This frame rate matches the standard crystal-sync 16/33 mm film rate of 24 fps.

SMPTE EBU (25 fps, Video)

Displays the ruler in hours:minutes:seconds:frames with a frame rate of 25 frames per second. This is known as SMPTE EBU (European Broadcasting Union) because European television systems run at 25 fps.

Use SMPTE 25 EBU format for PAL DV/D1 projects.

SMPTE Non-Drop
(29.97 fps, Video)

Displays the ruler in hours:minutes:seconds:frames with a frame rate of 29.97 frames per second, which leads to a discrepancy between real ("wall clock") time and the SMPTE time, because there is no compensation in the counting system as there is in Drop Frame.

Use SMPTE Non-Drop format for NTSC D1 projects that will be recorded on master tapes striped with Non-Drop timecode.

SMPTE Drop
(29.97 fps, Video)

Displays the ruler in hours:minutes:seconds;frames with a frame rate of 29.97 fps to match the frame rate used by NTSC television systems (North America, Japan).

Use SMPTE Drop Frame format for NTSC DV/D1 projects.

Both SMPTE Drop and SMPTE Non-Drop run at 29.97 fps. In both formats, the actual frames are not discarded, but they are numbered differently. SMPTE Drop removes certain frame numbers the counting system to keep the SMPTE clock from drifting from real ("wall clock") time. The time is adjusted forward by two frames on every minute boundary except 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50. For example, when SMPTE Drop time increments from 00:00:59.29, the next value will be 00:01:00.02.

SMPTE 30
(30 fps, Audio)

Displays the ruler in hours:minutes:seconds:frames with a frame rate of 30 frames per second.

This rate is exactly 30 fps and is commonly used when synchronizing audio applications such as multitrack recorders or MIDI sequencers. This format should not be used when working with video.

Audio CD Time

Displays the ruler in hours:minutes:seconds:frames with a frame rate of 75 frames per second for creating disc-at-once CDs.

Edit Tempo...

If the timeline format is set to beats,Sound Forge Pro requires a tempo in order to know what the duration of a beat is. This dialog lets you specify the tempo or obtain the tempo from the current selection.

 

You can also specify a beat type and manually enter the tempo in BPM. PPQ specifies the number of ticks within a quarter note and also specifies the precision of the beat display.

Get BMP from sel. range uses a selection and the specification Beats in selected range to find the tempo. Snap/Grid sets grid resolution in musical beats. Offset to project start sets an interval where the first bar in the file should begin.