Snapping notes in staff view

hi tgrant -

I just tried some things in staff and PRV and I can't replicate your problem.  it always snaps to the correct grid for me.  are you sure the snap to grid is on?  the icon in the Control Bar turns blue when it's 'ON'

also, do you have magnetic strength or snap to zero crossings on?  that's in the snap preferences (which I can't seem to open from the control bar in MC6 myself - I have to go to preferences to open it).

Beagle, Thanks for the advice. I rechecked and the snap to grid is on when this happens. I have three settings available for the snap mode in preferences : Off, low, med, and high. Changing these to a different setting doesn't seem to make any difference.
Guitarhacker,  thanks as well. If I set the resolution to 1/4 and the snap to 1/4, I'm still getting times like 1.01.012 and so on. It seems the note is placed 10-25 units away from the zero crossing. As for changing each note - I end up doing it that way but it's a pain. I was working on a piece that's in the Bach style with 1/16 note runs for several measures. Changing each note to the proper time so they sync with the other tracks will take month or so. I'm primarily a guitar player, so describing  my keyboard skills as 'less than adequate' is a kindness.
Thanks for all your help. I think it's  a glitch in the program. It seems when they upgraded the program they made some parts worse. Unless there is some setting buried somewhere that I'm missing. I'm open for any ideas!

Puzzling, for sure.
I couldn't reproduce your problem with my MC 6, either.
Are the notes off by different degrees or are they always off by the same amount?
Check out Quantizing. Something called offset. Well, here it is:
 
Quantizing
Quantizing is one of the most important editing functions in Music Creator. You use this feature to correct timing errors you make when recording from a MIDI instrument or to adjust the timing of audio clips.
Very few musicians are capable of performing in perfect time. As you play, you are likely to strike some notes slightly before or after the beat or to hold some notes slightly longer than you intended. The Quantize commands can help to correct these types of timing mistakes.
The Process > Quantize command adjusts the start time and duration of selected notes so that they line up with a fixed size grid.
Resolution
The resolution indicates the spacing of the grid. You can use any value from a whole note down to a thirty-second note triplet. You can also specify resolution in clock ticks. A rule of thumb is to select a resolution that matches the smallest note in the region you are quantizing. If you are quantizing a run of sixteenth notes, use a sixteenth note as the resolution. If you are quantizing a mix of sixteenth and eighth notes, you should still use a sixteenth note. At the default timebase of 480 PPQ, 480 clock ticks is equal to quarter-note resolution.
Offset
Normally, the resolution grid is aligned evenly with the start of measures and beats. As an option, you can shift the grid earlier or later by any desired number of clock ticks. If the resolution is a quarter note and you’ve set the offset to +3 ticks, then a note that is originally near 1:01:000 would be moved to 1:01:003—three ticks beyond the beat boundary.
Duration
As an option, Music Creator can adjust the duration of note events so that each note ends one clock tick before the start of the nearest resolution-sized note. This ensures that the notes do not overlap, which can cause problems on some synthesizers. The adjustment may lengthen the duration of some notes and shorten the duration of others.
 
 
If the offset somehow got turned on, possibly by accidentally hitting a keyboard shortcut, the notes might appear to be in the wrong place, but always by the same amount.

It happens with every project. Also, the quantize function acts unpredictably. The amount the note snaps inappropriately varies. From a few ticks to a 1/16 note at times. It seems as though the snap function is totally disabled. I've even tried different timing setting. I have two monitors, and even tried using one or the other monitor to no avail. I did e-mail tech support. We'll see how they respond. I have heard tech support is less than helpful, but we will see. Thanks for all the advice. It seems my problem is something with the system.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2299538 

In pilot's parlance.... "covering your 6" !

sometimes screenshots add nothing to help us.  most of the time, it helps tremendously because we can't see what you see.  that's why we ask for them whenever we can't figure out the problem.

reinstalling the program would do nothing to resolve this.  this isn't a case of corrupt installation - reinstalling rarely fixes anything actually - sometimes, but not very often.

on the other hand, I just read in the Sonar forum that X1 has a known bug of this very kind.  the notes do not snap to the grid like they are supposed to.  I'm not sure why it would be a problem for some people but not for others, but MC6 is a derivative of X1, so it follows that if it doesn't work for some people in X1 then it might also be a bug for some people in MC6.  honestly, you're the first person I remember having this problem and MC6 has been out for over a year.

so I apologize for saying it wasn't a bug earlier, apparently it looks like it is.  I didn't think it was because you're the first to have the problem and Herb and Greg and I apparently don't.  that would indicate a system problem normally.

Since this is a known issue with X1, I suggest you submit a problem report.
http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/ProblemReporter/

in the meantime, the work around is either moving them manually after you enter them, or using the PRV, which, to my knowledge, isn't affected by this problem.