Just Playing!

What if you are just using CINELERRA-GG to play media and listen to tunes? After loading your media, just hit the space bar to start playing and then again to stop playing. Other than that, use the transport buttons on the top bar of the Program window. Other ways to play around are described next.

Repeat Play / Looping Method

There are 2 methods for repeat play or looping on the timeline and 1 method for both the Compositor and the Viewer. This works in conjunction with any of the transport buttons or shortcuts in either forward or reverse as usual. The 1 exception is that the Shift key can not be used to either add or subtract audio within the repeat area.

Method 1: Shift-L on the Timeline, repeats the selection per the algorithm outlined next.

When setup, long green lines are displayed across the entire set of tracks which shows the start and end of the loop.

1. Highlighted selection repeats loop and takes precedence over all other possibilities. If the cursor is before the highlighted area, it will play up to the area and then repeat the highlighted section. If the cursor is after the highlighted section, play will start at the beginning until you get to the highlighted section and then repeat.
2. When both In and Out pointers are set, it repeats the section between [ and ].
3. If only one of the In or Out pointers is set, it loops the whole media.

Method 2: Ctrl+Shift+transport button on the Timeline, Viewer, and Compositor

1. Repeats entire media if no In or Out pointer set.
2. In and Out pointer set, repeats area between pointers.
3. Only In pointer set, repeats from In to end of media.

Last Play Position Memory

When you play media, the start/end playback positions are saved as if they had been made into temporary labels. They appear on the timeline as purple/yellow hairline markers representing the last start/end labels for the last playback. They can be addressed as if they are label markers using:

Ctrl ←

tab to the label before the cursor, that is play start

Ctrl →

tab to the label after the cursor, that is play stop

You can use these markers for re-selection. Additionally, the selection region can be expanded by pushing the markers using single frame playback. Use frame reverse (keypad 4) to push the start play marker backward, or use frame forward (keypad 1) to push the end play marker forward.

Another handy feature is to use the combination of Ctrl-shift-arrow (left or right) to select the media from the cursor position (red hairline) to the start or end marker by tabbing to the label markers. For example, tab to the beginning of the previous play region using Ctrl-left-arrow to move the cursor to the beginning of last play, then press Ctrl-Shift-right-arrow to tab to the end of the playback region. Now you can clip/play/expand or edit the previous playback selection.

Ctrl SHIFT →

tab cursor to label right of cursor position and expand selection

Ctrl SHIFT ←

tab cursor to label left of cursor position and expand selection

Playback Speed Automation Support

The speed automation causes the playback sampling rate to increase or decrease to a period controlled by the speed automation curve. This can make playback speed-up or slow-down according to the scaled sampling rate, as time is multiplied by speed (Speed × Unit_rate). For more information on changing the speed, read the section on Speed Automation 8.3.

Alternative to using Numeric Keypad for Playing

For the keyboards without a numeric keypad or if you prefer to use keys closer to where you normally type, there are alternative keys for the play/transport functions. These are listed below.

Alt + m	=	stop playback
Alt + j	=	forward single frame
Alt + k	=	forward slow playback
Alt + l	=	forward normal playback
Alt + ;	=	forward fast playback
Alt + u	=	reverse single frame
Alt + i	=	reverse slow playback
Alt + o	=	reverse normal playback
Alt + p	=	reverse fast playback

+ Shift key, single frame forward/reverse will include audio; all others will not include audio.

+ Shift + Ctrl, results in the transport function operating only between the in/out pointers.