Get started arranging regions in the Tracks area

The Tracks area is where you arrange the recordings, Apple Loops, and other musical material in your project, organizing them into sections such as intro, verse, and chorus to build an arrangement. The Tracks area shows a visual representation of time moving from left to right. You build a project by arranging regions in rows called tracks, that run horizontally across the Tracks area.

Regions are the building blocks of a project, representing your recordings, Apple Loops, and other media files you add to the project. Regions appear as rounded rectangles in the Tracks area. There are several different types of regions, depending on the track type. The two primary region types are audio regions, which show the audio waveform, and MIDI regions, which show note events as thin rectangles.

Figure. The Tracks area, showing audio, software instrument, and Drummer regions.

You can arrange regions in a variety of ways in the Tracks area, by moving, looping, resizing, splitting, joining, and deleting them. Try following the tasks below, using regions in the project.

Move a region

Do any of the following:

  • Drag a region left or right to move it to a new time position.

  • Drag an audio region up or down to another audio track.

  • Drag a MIDI region up or down to another software instrument track.

Resize a region

  1. Move the pointer over the lower-right edge of the region.

    The pointer becomes a Resize pointer.

  2. Drag the edge of the region horizontally to shorten or lengthen it.

    Figure. Resizing a region in the Tracks area. The Help tag shows the length of the region.

Loop a region

  1. Place the pointer over the upper-right edge of the region.

    The pointer becomes a Loop pointer.

    Figure. Looping a region in the Tracks area. The Help tag shows the region length and the number of repetitions.
  2. Drag the right edge of the region several bars to the right.

When you drag the edge of the region out by its full length, rounded corners indicate the beginning and end of each complete repetition of the region.

Split a region using the playhead

  1. Select the region you want to split.

  2. Move the playhead over the point in the region where you want to split it, then choose Edit > Split.

    Figure. Splitting a regionn in the Tracks area using the playhead.

Only the selected region is split, even if an unselected region on another track is under the playhead as well. If multiple regions are selected and are under the playhead, they are all split.

Split a region using the Scissors tool

  1. Select the region you want to split.

  2. Select the Scissors tool, then click-hold the region.

    Figure. Splitting a region in the Tracks area using the Scissors tool.

    The help tag shows the current split position.

  3. Release the mouse button.

When selecting a cut point with the Scissors tool, you can move backward and forward in steps of one division. The grid is based on the Snap pop-up menu setting. For information about using Snap, see Snap items to the grid.

Delete a region

  • Select the region, then choose Edit > Delete (or press the Delete key).

For more information about arranging a project, see Arranging overview. For information about working in the tracks area, see Tracks area overview.