Switching Grid sub-divisions - your tricks/shortcuts?

Cubase
1

I’m doing my best to adjust to Cubase’s ways of handling snap, no-snap, grid sub-divisions, etc

I tend to leave grid snap on (since for some – but unfortately not all – things I can just use the cmd/cntrl modifer to temporarily switch snap off. I wish this worked for ALL scenarios, but unfortunately it’s handicapped the ones I use most often, figured)

Is there a way to flip snap on/off mid drag? I’m assuming not, the default J short cut is disabled during a drag operation

Now my real question:

For those of you who mapped your own keyboard short cuts to quickly switch between commonly used grid divisions (eg whole, 1/4, 1/16/th etc) – what keys did you choose? I’m struggling to think of something available that is a good ergonomic choice so I can work with minimal movement when programming or editing.

And what about grid quantize mode (ie Grid, Grid Relative, etc)?

Thanks for the input!

2

Yes, by holding down ctrl/cmd

I guess that’s subject to personal taste, but I use

alt/opt + 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 for whole, half, eighth, quarter, and 16th respectively.

I generally use Grid for moving notes around, and I use Events, Shuffle and Cursor frequently, depending on what I’m doing. The best way to learn for me was to try and fail.
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1 Like
3

No, this is false. Try it yourself.

Holding control/command mid drag will not switch your snap on/off (though this approach DOES behave this way in some other DAWs). I was really hoping Cubase would have something comparable.

4

Definitely working here.

5

Thank you for the followup – I should’ve been more specific. Holding command/control mid-drag does not toggle snap ON/off – it will only turn it off.

6

Then use the key command meant for that function. Search for “Snap” in the Key Commands dialog.

ctrl temporarily disables snap, when you need to switch snap on or off, you should use that command. That’s how Cubase works

7

I use the default command, J, which I hit about 1000 times per day flipping back and forth. As the original post states, unique to Cubase (unlike other DAWs I work in), it does not work mid-drag. It becomes ‘blocked’.

8

You’ll have to change your workflow, I guess.

9

The issue is that command doesn’t just disable snap – or I’d leave it on snap permanently and just use control/command whenever I needed it off. Unfortunately, command has other effects when dragging (specifically if you drag AWAY from the current track, onto a different track).

This means leaving on snap and just using command to turn it off (which would be the intuitive solution), is in fact not an option, unfortunately.

Test it yourself if you are not familiar with how control/command affects your drag when moving to another track or midi note (it becomes a ‘feature’ to keep the dragged item locked in the same place on the grid horizontally)

10

Have a look at the Tool modifiers Preferences pane.

1 Like
11

Thanks for tip! I’ll got digging in there, cheers

12

Brotherrrrr!!! Thanks you! Re-assigned the “constrain placement” option, and now I can use the command/control modifier when drag-n-drag to snap on and off (always leave snap on by default most of the time). This is great for my workflow – really appreciate you hangin in there with me on this thread until we reached this place!