Editing question

[river]

Is it possible to copy a portion of a clip and drop into another portion of the track without it causing the track to split at the point of pasting or inserting? Also, is it possible to have only the top layer be audible? A client wants to paste a measure or so of drum tracks over a section where the timing is off, and all cut,copy or paste options I've been able to find always result in the track splitting.
On a related note, I was able to "set as default" an outside editor (Acoustica 3.2) to edit a clip. I am able to paste over existing audio there, but I can't get playback on it while T2 is open. I patched a couple of outputs from my RME Multiface to some insert points on my console and reset the output of Acoustica to these RME outs for a succesful workaround, but I'm able to use the default primary outs in Sonar as well as Acoustica simultaneously with no problems. Beno, any thoughts on this quirk? TIA to all responses.

[P.T.]

I'm not sure what you mean by the track splitting. If you cut then the clip will certainly split.

All editing in Tracktion is non-destructive.

Everything you cut will still contain the entire clip.
Cut a portion out of the middle of an audio clip. Paste that small potion somewhere else. Grab the handle on one end of the pasted clop and drag it out. There is the rest of the clip.

You could copy the entire clip, shrink it down to the portion you want and overlay the bad part. You can mute the bad part with the slider in the bottom panel that appears when you click on the clip.

If you render the clip after sliding the ends to eliminate the parts you don't want, you will end up with just the part you do want.

Alternately, you can cut the part you want to use out
of the clip and past it where you want.
Now the clip is split with a gap where you removed a portion.
You could delete the remaining portion that is to the right and then grab the handle on the right side of the remaining portion and drag it out to the right and
you will have a whole, unbroken, unsplit track (clip).

[larsfarm]

Is it possible to copy a portion of a clip and drop into another portion of the track without it causing the track to split at the point of pasting or inserting? Also, is it possible to have only the top layer be audible? A client wants to paste a measure or so of drum tracks over a section where the timing is off, and all cut,copy or paste options I've been able to find always result in the track splitting.

A clip just refers to the audio. The audio is elsewhere outside of Tracktion and outside of the project. A clip when cut in two becomes two clips that both refer to the same audio. Both clips have access to the full audio length. They just have different start/stop pointers. Start/stop can then be changed/dragged to make the two clips identical.

So, you can take a portion out of a clip and paste it over the original clip. Unfortunately then you get two sounds when played. So, you must make a hole in the bottom clip to mute the replaced portion. Split the clip and remove the unwanted portion. Leave a short overlap for crossfades in both ends to make a seamless splice.

This sort of editing is something I do now and then. It could definitely be more streamlined in Tracktion, but it is possible to do.

[river]

The tactic I've tried to use is to place loop markers around the desired region, then copy the marked region and drop it into a new track for dragging to its new location, or insert it at cursor point,which causes the clip where Im moving the copied item to, to split. As for having to create a hole where the copied item is going to, sure would be nice to have a feature (like in Sonar) where you have the option to "combine new with old" or "replace old with new", so only the top layer is audible. Thanks for your insights.