How to manage simultaneous stacked clips on one track?

[trevortds]

Some examples are here:

How do you manage mutiple clips on the same track at the same time, when one can be behind the other and can't be clicked? I first ran into this problem with Autotune plugins, that need simultaneous audio and midi input, then again with running multiple step clips into a sampler to get polyrhythms.

Am I interacting with waveform wrong here? Is there a better way to accomplish these things? Or is there some interface element for simultaneous clip management that I'm missing?

[pough]

Right-click a clip and select "bring obscured clips to front" but it's a bit finicky. I find it's a good idea to name each clip distinctly. I also find I need to select a clip by its top bar or the stack order changes back.

It isn't always obvious which clip is in the front. I would recommend separating the clips onto different tracks and sending the output of the 2nd track to the 1st track (or vice versa).

[pough]

NOTE: if MIDI clips are tall enough to be editable you need to right-click on the top bar to get the correct drop-down.

NOTE 2: there seems to be a bug where obscured clips aren't 100% brought to the top. The clip name displays and the top bar can be used but clicking on the middle of the clip will bring back the previous clip.

[cjayconrod]

I was gonna answer this on Reddit after I confirmed the wording, but pough already mentioned the right-click option. Another thing I do is make sure clips never overlap completely, like a Venn diagram. It makes it easier to know which clip you're clicking on.

[trevortds]

Thanks! I hadn't noticed the "bring clip to front", and as @cjayconrod mentioned, there is also a reddit thread where someone mentioned routing sound through a submix to avoid this situation in the first place, which is what I was really looking for I guess, how to avoid stacking clips on one track in the first place.

[spoontechnique]

You can also use a folder clip for this purpose. Folder clips are aesthetic, and besides offering a VCA control over their contents, won't alter routings.

[Watchful]

Just to jump in here, but stacking clips should be--I believe--a very temporary solution:

1. Comp tracks
2. Merging clips together
3. Placeholder or experiment

Et cetera...basically, move them onto their own track or use folders or submixes to share resources.

[fromwithin]

It's better to create a second track, move your second clip into it and set its track output to be the original track. This will have the same effect as having two clips on the same track.