Grid, Snap and Quantization in a DAW
Learn 1/4, 1/8 and 1/16 timing and why your clips need to align.
The musical grid
A quarter-note grid is one beat. Eighth notes divide a beat in half; sixteenth notes divide it into quarters. In 4/4, four quarter notes form a bar.
Snap versus free movement
Snap rounds positions to a musical grid. Keep it on for drums, loops and arrangement. Temporarily bypass it when you need an intentional humanized or pickup note.
Try the editor
Open Session and use the grid selector. Drag clips toward a bar line; the active snap interval appears above the timeline. For exact placement, use the numeric clip inspector.