Timeline and text
Playback, snapping, and zero crossings
Loop a passage, preview a cut, detect beats, and refine edit boundaries.
On this page
Listen to the right passage
Space plays or pauses from the cursor; Stop returns to where playback began. With a time selection, playback stays inside it and repeats while Transport → Loop Selection (L) is on. Looping starts on and your choice is remembered. Play Once (Shift+Space or Shift-click Play) auditions the selection a single time. Skip to start and Skip to end jump the cursor, and Left and Right arrows move it by one second, or ten with Shift.
Edit → Preview Cut (C or Cmd/Ctrl-click Play) plays up to two seconds before the selection joined directly to one second after it, as if the selection were deleted. It plays once, changes nothing, and returns the cursor to where it was.
Snap to beats, seconds, or boundaries
The Snap settings button in the transport bar opens a menu with a master Snap switch and three targets: Snap to Beats, Snap to Seconds, and Snap to Boundaries, meaning region edges. Snapping applies to clicks, drags, and arrow-key moves. Choose Analyze → Detect Beats to build the beat grid for each region; beat lines then appear on the waveform.
Beat detection suits rhythmic material, so listen to confirm the grid. If it is slightly off, open Region properties for that region and adjust the BPM or beat offset. Turn snapping off for edits that must fall between grid points, and zoom in or type times in the selection toolbar for precise placement.
Zoom and navigate
Zoom with the + and − keys, the mouse wheel over the waveform, View → Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Reset Zoom, or by dragging up and down on the overview strip. Fit Selection and Fit Project frame exactly what you need. Drag sideways on the overview strip to pan.
During playback the view stays still and the cursor crosses it, moving to the next page as the cursor reaches the right edge, so long recordings remain readable.
Move edits to zero crossings
Choose Edit → At Zero Crossings, press Z, or use the Zero crossings button to move the cursor or both selection edges to nearby rising crossings. The search covers every channel and includes region gain, fades, and reversal, and it changes the edit position, not the samples.
If no suitable crossing is within a few milliseconds, that edge stays in place and the toolbar status says so. Zero crossings reduce clicks at joins but cannot guarantee that every cut will sound natural.