I’d like to ask for a more transparent way to snap, and display the snap point, around a clip’s edge in the Audio Montage. At this point both the actual clips edge and the fade handle are labeled as “Clip Edge” when moving clips around (see screenshots below).
Unfortunately, at a sufficient zoomed-out level, snapping at the fade takes priority over the true edge and you literally cannot snap at the edge unless you zoom in.
When moving a clip, especially if it’s to snap it to an adjacent clip, I would like to be able to trust the feedback from the software and be sure that there is not arbitrary overlap without having to zoom in/out and verify each move.
Ideally, this should be labelled differently (eg. Right Clip Edge vs Right Clip Fade-in) and there should also be an option in the Magnet to separately enable/disable such snapping.
In the first picture, you snap the left clip edit to the right clip edge.
On the second picture, you snap the cue point to the right clip edge.
Hence this is normal to have the “Right Clip Edge” as label.
This is probably because you have defined the Front Cue Point as on the picture below. You could change this.
Thank you! I think that’s probably where the solution to my problem is found—
But I’m still not sure how this label can be correct for the second screenshot. In both cases I’m dragging the right clip towards the left, so it makes little sense to me seeing a label that says I’m snapping to the right clip’s edge when I’m clearly not. If I am indeed snapping to a cue point (of which clip?), shouldn’t that be on the label?
I very well could be missing something here but it seems confusing to have the exact same label for two separate snap points.
This behavior is normal because this is a feature: to snap the right clip edge to the end of the fade-in. Since the cue-point is set to the fade-in point, you get that snap.
I have struggled with this behavior too, especially with very short fades (a few milliseconds, or even samples) and I think it’s not the best feature to have, at least in the current state.
As far as I’m aware the option Front Cue Point - Follow Fade In End Point is the default for every inserted clip in a montage, and I’m not aware of an option to change this default.
Furthermore, I can globally turn the visibility off and on again, but the specific position setting is per-clip and I can only change it for the active clip, but not for all clips at once.
Also, disabling the magnetic snapping to Clip Front Cue Point will not help in this matter, as it only prevents to snap ONTO the cue point, but it will still use the cue point of the dragged clip as one possible reference (regardless of visibility).
I understand what is happening and why, and how this feature can be very useful. And your answer has helped me resolve my workflow issue, which I greatly appreciate.
It still doesn’t explain the labels though. WaveLab’s nomenclature here implies there are two discreet points at the front of the clip that are both the clip’s edge. This, by any sensible definition, is wrong. There can be only one (front) clip edge. And unless the front cue point coincides with the front edge of the clip, I would expect them to be labelled accordingly when snapping.
In snapping, one item is being moved (let’s call it “M”), and there are several possible anchors it can snap to. The label shows the name of the anchor that M snaps to. In your case, that anchor is the “Right Clip Edge.” In the first case, the left clip edge snaps to it; in the second case, the cue point does.
The label could be clearer if it showed both names. In your case, this would give:
“Left Clip Edge to Right Clip Edge”
“Front Cue Point to Right Clip Edge”
This would be clearer, but larger popup labels might be too intrusive.
Hmm, that’s not how it works for me. Or I don’t understand what you mean.
When I create a new empty montage (Stereo, 48kHz), before inserting any clips, under Clip → Display → Cue Points I can only toggle Show for Front and Back Cue Point or select Edit Gap Between Clips.
When I insert 1 clip (whatever way - drag and drop from explorer, copy and paste from Audio Editor, insert via File Explorer … ) the setting for Front Cue Point will always be Follow Fade In End Point.
Provided no default fades were applied with clip placement, dragging the fade-in point away from the left clip edge will reveal a red-dotted line to indicate the cue point (when visibility is set to Show).
With the clip selected and active, I can change the Front Cue Point setting to either Set at Default Gap Position, Follow Fade Out Start Point or Set at Cursor / (Custom). The red-dotted line will change position accordingly.
Adding another clip (or multiple more clips) will again be placed with the Front Cue Point setting Follow Fade In End Point.
If I split a clip, which Front Cue Point setting was actively changed (like to Set at Default Gap Position), only the part before the split retains the changed setting, the part after the split automatically is set to Follow Fade In End Point again.
If I have multiple clips selected and want to change the Front Cue Point setting, only the setting of the active clip will change.
A possible bug I just noticed while playing around: I can select the Front Cue Point setting Follow Fade Out Start Point only if a clip is currently both active AND selected.
The other settings work just fine if the clip is currently active but not selected.
All that said, I never bothered with these settings before - at least not for Front Cue Point - so I’m actually fine with / used to the setting Follow Fade In End Point being the default.
Ok, I now realise what was confusing me! By “Right Clip Edge” WaveLab means the right edge of the (left) clip — all this time I thought this label was pointing at the right clip’s edge… Apologies for the misunderstanding!
This does feel a bit redundant as it is highly unlikely I will not know which edge I’m snapping to, even fully zoomed out. I think that if it said “Left Clip’s Edge” it would be perfectly clear, even if it’s the right edge of the clip to the left.
Alternatively “Front Cue Point” would also be crystal clear in this scenario — although this would probably involve some system of hierarchy as to which label is shown when two points snap.
Perhaps, though, having two arrowed labels pointing at each other, one for each of the two snapping points, would not be too much clutter, especially if this was active only from a certain zoom level and outwards.
