Scratch Pad

 

The Scratch Pad is an editing tool in Studio One. Scratch Pads act as quick storage to hold Events, Parts, Lyrics, and entire Song sections for later use or re-use, reducing clutter in the Arrange view as you assemble your Song. Scratch Pads look and act much like the Arrange view timeline, sharing the same editing capabilities and displaying the same set of Tracks.

When a Scratch Pad is visible, it is displayed to the right of the Arrange view. Because they act like alternate timelines, clicking the ruler above a Scratch Pad changes the focus of the transport to the Scratch Pad. Playback then begins inside the Scratch Pad when you press Play. To switch back, click on the ruler above the Arrange view. This can be done even during playback.

Scratch Pads and the content placed within them are stored with the current Song.

Creating a Scratch Pad

To create and display a Scratch Pad for you to work with, click the Scratch Pad button, which looks like this: Once a Scratch Pad exists in the current Song, the Scratch Pad button changes to reflect that fact, and looks like this:  You can click the Scratch Pad button to show or hide the Scratch Pad display.

You can delete or create additional Scratch Pads as needed by clicking the triangle next to the Scratch Pad button and choosing the Add Scratch Pad or Delete Scratch Pad option from the pop-up menu.

Just one Scratch Pad can be displayed at a time, but you can switch to any other by clicking the triangle next to the Scratch Pad button, and selecting the Scratch Pad of your choice from the pop-up menu.

To rename a Scratch Pad, double-click its name in the Arranger Track Inspector, and enter the new name into the provided text field.

Working with Content in a Scratch Pad

To copy Events, Parts, Lyrics, or Arranger Track sections to a Scratch Pad, simply click-and-drag them into the Scratch Pad window. To copy content from a Scratch Pad to the main timeline, click-and-drag it into the Arrange view. If you wish to move an Arranger Track section into a Scratch Pad, removing it from the main timeline, hold [Alt]/[Option] as you click-and-drag the section.

Editing within a Scratch Pad works very much like within the Arrange view, as outlined in Editing.

Loop Playback within a Scratch Pad

Each Scratch Pad has its own loop cycle range setting, distinct from the main timeline. The default loop length is four bars, but you can shorten, lengthen, or move the loop range within the Scratch Pad timeline as needed, as described in Looping During Mixing.

Using the Listen Tool with Scratch Pads

You can use the Listen tool to audition Events and Parts in Arrange view, in sync with content playing back from the Scratch Pad. To do so, while the transport is playing, select the Listen tool and click on the desired Event or Part in Arrange view.

Scratch Pads and Score View

The Full Score and Single Track page layouts are not available within a Scratch Pad; only the Continuous mode is available. Note that a Scratch Pad cannot be printed, so the Printer icon is grayed out.

To learn more about Score View, see The Score Editor chapter.