I have broken a song down into several clips and have squeezed and moved each back some.
Now I have a vertical gray line with a little triangular flag at the bottom pointing right in most of my clips.
Their positions seem to be random. They are not on a beat, not on a zero-crossing, and they are not selectable, nor does the smart-tool change when I hover over one.
They must be there for a purpose, but what?

Are you maybe looking at the triangle formed by the beveled corners at the boundary between the two slip-edited ends of a split clip? If not that, a screenshot might help.

jpetersen
Now I have a vertical gray line with a little triangular flag at the bottom pointing right in most of my clips.

jpetersen
They must be there for a purpose, but what?

The description you provide matches the "Snap Offset" marker.  You can verify that by selecting one of the clips, opening the clip inspector, and checking the Snap Offset value in the 5th field.  By default the offset value is "0".
 
This page explains Snap Offsets and how to manage them:  http://www.cakewalk.com/D...help=Arranging.29.html
 
-- Ron

Thanks guys. Yes, they are Snap Offset markers! Crazy!
 
Why do they appear automatically when I compress a clip?
 
I have 8 projects with single tracks containing a live-played
song. I am editing them for guide-track use for the band.
 
I create a fresh project and drag the wav file into the top
track (files are all 44k1, 16 bit, from a Yamaha W24)
 
I cut the track at a point with Alt+Click (scissor icon),
then I click the blue Snap button (1/8, smart grid off) and compress
the end of the newly-cut cliplet to the nearest beat (Ctrl+hover over edge,
edge turns yellow with the left-pointing rectangular icon), drag left to snap position.
I let go, and BINGO! A Snap Offset marker appears in the clip, at a random position.
Not always, but over 50% of the time.
 
Is this a bug? I see no setting in Preferences.
(SPlat Hopkinton)

If I select a clip with a marker, open the clip inspector as Squire suggested, and yes, there is the offset value. Different for each clip. I mark the value, press Del and the marker disappears from the clip.
 

Odd. I can't reproduce this. Does this happen with a clip you record yourself? Does the edit history show 'modify snap offset' after you compress the clip? Do you have 'Set Snap Offset to Now' bound to anything in keyboard shortcuts?

jpetersen
 
Is this a bug? I see no setting in Preferences.
(SPlat Hopkinton)

I can reproduce the behavior in Hopkinton and Sonar X3, but the presence of the Snap Offset marker is not consistently reproducible.
 
Steps for one of my tests:
1.  New project
2.  Record a silent audio clip for 8 bars
3.  Split the clip into 5 random size clips
4.  Use the timing tool and drag the right side of each clip to compress them.
Actual stretch/compression values were 67%, 67%, 78%, 75%, and 66%.
 
Only clips 2, 3 and 4 displayed a Snap Offset marker.  Clips, 2, 3, 4, and 5 all show a Snap Offset in the Clip properties.  Clip 1 has a Snap Offset of "0".
 
-- Ron

Interesting. Sounds like it only manifests with multiple splits and/or clips that have the start time slip-edited (i.e. not the first segment); I only made one split and compressed the first segment.

Did more tests.
1) New project, 120bpm, recorded 10 bars of silence.
2) Cut at various points.
3) Open clip inspector so the Snap Offset can be viewed numerically, too.
 
Results:
A) Confirmed: Does not happen to 1st clip. Even if I drag-drop it to another position.
B) A length of 2 bars seems to get the marker at first attempt.
C) Negative Snap Offsets occur, too, so no visible marker in this case.
 
I can reproduce it from Hopkinson all the way back to 8.0 (right-click, split. Then right-click, clip properties).
In 8.0 I cannot provoke negative values.
In all cases, 1 to 2 bar long clips work best, and the first clip seems immune.
PS: in 8.0 I got the last clip, 6 bars long, also to display this phenomenon.

There is a thread where someone is having difficulty with snap-to-grid. It was inconsistent snap-to-grid behavior that started me asking this question.
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Something-with-the-Snap-Module-m3285981.aspx