Phase

This docking window shows an animated diagram that helps you visualize the phase relationships between your tracks. The diagram consists of a series of concentric circles, each of which corresponds to a unique loop period in ticks. Loop period is the product of a track's Length and Quant. The periods are sorted so that the innermost circle corresponds to the shortest period, and the outermost circle to the longest period. An animated dot moves along each circular path, representing the phase, in other words the current position within the corresponding period. The representation is analogous to a planetary system, with the dots as planets and the circles indicating their orbits.

Multiple tracks having the same period are coalesced into a single orbit because they all share the same phase. If all of the tracks have the same period, only one orbit is shown. The diagram makes it easier to visualize convergences. When two or more planets are shown at zero degrees (noon), the corresponding periods converge. All periods converge at the start of the first beat of the first measure. Subsequent convergences may be located using Time to Repeat, the Convergences calculator, or the Next Convergence and Previous Convergence commands.

The diagram indicates track muting. A planet is drawn in red if all tracks having the corresponding length are muted. It's also possible to exclude muted tracks from the diagram, but doing so has side effects.

The diagram also indicates track selection if any. Since each orbit can represent multiple tracks, the orbit is highlighted if any of the tracks it represents is selected. It's also possible to select tracks by left-clicking within the diagram, as explained below:

To select a single orbit, left-click it. This selects only loops having the corresponding period.
To select a range of adjacent orbits, left-click the first orbit, and then left-click the last orbit while pressing the Shift key.
To toggle the selection of an orbit, left-click it while pressing the Ctrl key.
To deselect all orbits, left-click on the diagram's background, outside the outermost orbit.

If you hover the pointer over an orbit, after a short delay, a tooltip is shown containing the corresponding Length and Quant.

Exporting video

The phase visualization can be exported as a series of frames in sequentially numbered PNG files. The resulting image sequence can then be converted to a video using ffmpeg or an equivalent program. To start exporting, select Export Video from the phase bar's context menu. This command is only available while playback of the document is stopped.

The command first displays a folder dialog, prompting you to select a destination folder for the image sequence. The export typically creates many files, so it's advisable to store them in their own folder. The dialog permits you to create a new folder if needed. Press OK to continue.

The command then displays a record dialog that lets you specify the duration of the recording, the frame rate and the frame size. The duration can be specified in either hh:mm:ss time or in frames. Press OK to start exporting frames. During the export, a progress bar is displayed.

This command can potentially consume a large amount of disk space. You're responsible for ensuring that sufficient space exists. If the destination folder already contains an image sequence from a previous run of this export, you'll be warned. If you proceed anyway, the previous image sequence is overwritten.

Context menu

Item	Description
Export Video	Exports video of the animated diagram as an image sequence; see above.
Circular Orbits	If checked, the orbits are circular, otherwise the orbits are elliptical with the same aspect ratio as the window.
3D Planets	If checked, the planets are drawn in 3D instead of 2D.
Night Sky	If checked, the background is dark instead of light.
Crosshairs	If checked, the diagram includes crosshairs.
Periods	If checked, the diagram includes labels that specify each orbit's period. The periods are displayed in ticks by default, but you can optionally convert them to another unit via division; see Period Unit below. Showing labels increases overhead.
Convergences	If checked, the diagram indicates convergences slightly before and after they occur. The participating orbits are increasingly highlighted as the convergence approaches, and gradually return to normal as the convergence recedes. To specify the minimum number of orbits that must participate in a convergence, use the Convergence Size options on the Transport menu. To skip lesser convergences, increase the size. If orbits are selected, only those orbits participate in convergences.
Exclude Muted	If checked, the diagram excludes muted tracks. This potentially simplifies the diagram. An orbit is only omitted if all tracks having the corresponding length are muted. Excluding muted tracks may conflict with showing convergences, and also affects the convergence commands, as explained below.
Full Screen	Makes the Phase bar enter full screen mode, or if it's already full screen, restores it to its previous size and position. In full screen mode, the diagram is shown without borders and fills the entire monitor. To make the bar fill a secondary monitor, drag the bar onto that monitor before making it full-screen. The shortcut key to enter or exit full screen mode is Ctrl+F11. You can also exit full screen mode by pressing the Escape key. To use either key, you may need to give the Phase bar the input focus first, by left-clicking the diagram's background.
Period Unit	This command lets you convert the period labels to a unit other than ticks, via division. It's only meaningful if you include period labels on the graph, by checking the Periods option as explained above. The command displays the Period Unit dialog; enter the desired unit in ticks, and click OK. All periods are divided by the specified unit before being displayed. For example, if the timebase is 120, specifying 30 will cause periods to be displayed in sixteenth notes. To revert to displaying periods in ticks, repeat this command and set the unit to zero.

Excluding muted tracks

When many different loop lengths are used, the phase diagram can have an excessive number of orbits, making it hard to read. If a significant portion of the tracks are muted, the diagram can be simplified by excluding muted tracks. To do this, check Exclude Muted in the phase bar's context menu. Normally, if all tracks having a given length are muted, the corresponding planet is drawn in red, but when Exclude Muted is checked, that planet and its orbit are omitted from the diagram. Excluding muted tracks has the following side effects:

The convergence commands only consider unmuted tracks, and if all tracks are muted, these commands do nothing.
The convergence commands can behave unexpectedly in Song View, because in that view, which tracks are muted depends on the current song position. The nearest convergence is calculated for whichever tracks are unmuted when the command occurs. Depending on the dubs, moving to the convergence's position may mute tracks that participated in the convergence, in which case the corresponding orbits may not be highlighted, or may disappear from the phase diagram entirely.
When iterating through convergences in Song View, if you reach a position at which all tracks are muted, the iteration halts. This is particularly likely at the end of the song. To get unstuck, navigate to a position where at least one track is unmuted.