I tried searching the forum and GitHub using different keywords (BPM, beat, musical grid, tempo, etc.) but couldn’t find an existing suggestion for this, so apologies if I missed something.
I’d like to check interest in a possible feature: an optional musical grid snap mode for the timeline.
Instead of snapping only to time/frames, the user could set:
BPM
time signature
grid resolution (bars / beats / subdivisions)
And then clips would snap to musical positions (bars/beats), similar to DAWs.
This would be purely deterministic:
no beat detection
no audio analysis
just math based on project time
Use case: music-driven editing (short-form, music videos, trailers, AMVs, etc), where people currently place markers and align cuts manually.
From a scope point of view, this seems limited to:
a new snap mode
musical time conversion (frames ↔ beats)
optionally a new ruler display
Before going deeper, I wanted to ask: would this be useful to others, and does it fit Shotcut’s direction?
Note: I am not only suggesting it and expecting other people to implement it, if there is a need I would be more than happy to implement it.
I think it would be a good idea. It would definitely help me in my videos so it’s easier to know when to transition. I do all of it manually at the moment.
It will be appreciated as a contribution. As for the UI, please do not try to add it to the timeline toolbar. I will likely ask it to be changed if you do. Consider adding it to the Timeline menu button or Settings > Timeline.
I’m a musician and make some music videos. I never missed this function. I prefer to read the clip while patting on time and press the spacebar where I feel it has to be cut. Sometimes it’s on the beat, sometimes it’s not. It’s rather a question of feeling. By analogy with in a DAW, it like the difference btween doing a fade by drawing a curve with the mouse or moving a controller’s fader while the music plays.
I also tend to find edits that are always cut to the beat a bit systematic, mechanical and predictable.
Just because I don’t feel the need for this feature right now doesn’t mean it’s invalid. It also may make Shotcut attractive to musicians and producers and gain more users.
I also think this feature would be very useful. I miss it too. I believe that this feature will appear someday, or at least be included in the roadmap.
I do this as well, but I hit the “m” key to place a marker. That way, I can listen to the whole song and stay in the flow without restarting all the time. And the markers work as snap points when aligning clips later.
I once requested this but my Suggestion was not detailed. Yeah, that’s a great feature and it will make music video editing a little bit faster and easy.