FR- mute clips and lock tracksize

[Lunch Money]

@Lunch Money: Loved the toolbox audio clip idea. I only wished filters could be gragged on midi clips.

As a lazy man myself, it struck me as a good idea.

[MADatGOD]

Well, I can imagine numerous situations, but just to give a simple example: "Hey, I wonder if this part would sound cool with just drums and vocals for a bar or two". I have a tendancy to try everything.

Besides, I'd rather not have a bunch of extra filters all over the place if I can avoid it. Muting clips seems like a pretty standard feature and I'm sure it will make it in eventually, but I've done fine without it so far and it's really no huge deal. But it is, IMO, the cleanest, simplest way to accomplish... well... muting clips, and it would be nice to have.

[Lunch Money]

It's already there, is my point. But not for MIDI.

The way I described is no more complicated than any other way.

In the real world example you give, I would solo those 2 tracks. And if a song demanded that there be silence there, I would simply remove those measures non-destructively with a slip edit.

I wouldn't say no to the feature, but even better than a right-click option would be an "M" right on the clip. Can't get any quicker than one click.

However, (again, MIDI clip issue aside) the way I described is a 2-click method. It's really splitting hairs and simply a different perspective to want it implemented differently.

A lot of feature requests I see are to implement functions that take literally seconds to accomplish using a different method. Literally. It's not that your point hasn't been taken. For what it's worth, your way probably IS a bit better! I won't disagree with that. On the other hand, there are ways to optimize my Windows boot time from 10 seconds to a blistering 8 seconds, and I don't do those either.

I just feel that people lose sight of reality sometimes in the rush of making their point. OK, I see your point. But surely you're not muting batches of clips every other minute, changing your mind every other minute and muting different batches of clips, and then seconds later muting other batches of clips. The reality is that you are probably muting and unmuting one or two clips at a time; otherwise the solo buttons are probably a better option for you.

In the context of real situations, I really think that the few seconds saved with a different implementation aren't worth the emphasis that's being placed on the feature request. The end result does not match the urgency of the request (not that everyone's saying it's urgent, but at least one person implied it. )

Now,

Since the point was brought up inadvertently--

Draggable filters to MIDI clips. Now THERE is a feature request worth feeling urgently about.

[Lunch Money]

PS,

Lockable track sizes and also track folders/groups/whatever you wanna call them, would be awesome.

[Mr. Tingle]

lunch - thats all very well (I use it myself) but its a pain because you can't quickly *see* which clips are muted (unless you've remebered to change clip colour).

Picture a larege project where the clips are small, it's darn near impossible to see what filters are on clips, let alone select them accurately.

Both mute clips and lockable track size are exellent ideas for those of us that have larger projects.

[Mr. Tingle]

Also, these two ideas are something I personally would find most useful (perhaps above all the new T2 additions bar loop audio recording) and are potentially the easiest to program (Come on Jules you know you want to!)

[Lunch Money]

Fair enough point about the visual reference.

That's just enough to convince me that it'd be a good feature. I'm sold.

However, I do think it should be pretty low on the list of priorities, and I guess in my own personal vision of the world (which I agree, is NOT shared by everyone, thankfully!!!) muting clips isn't really a very much-needed feature because composition and arrangement would take care of it.

BUT, not everyone composes linearly, and I need to remember that.

[Mr. Tingle]

agreed mute clips are a lower priority than lock track size.

[haydxn]

yes, it's certainly not a priority, but i definitely think it should be present to actually mute the clips. you can already adjust the volume and pan on them WITHOUT dragging a vol/pan filter on, and it's a logical thing to have mute on them. lunch's approach works fine and great, but still it's definitely a simple thing that is worthy of putting on the list,whether it's a priority or not.

as long as you've not already made an adjustment to the clip's volume, you can always just turn the clip's built in volume all the way down. my problem with that approach tho is that almost always my clips have had those settings tweaked, so i'd have to remember what it was to turn it back up again

so yeah, use LM's workaround for now if you need to mute a clip. heck, keep a spare track with no clips and just a muted vol/pan filter so you have a nice big one to drag from but this one's going on the list seeing as it's a nice simple one

[haydxn]

(or you could always delete it to hear it without a clip and then click 'undo' ) or, come to think of it, select all the clips you want to 'mute' and just CUT them. paste them back from the clipboard! these are the warrior's workarounds.

[IIRs]

I'm just going to throw in a couple of suggestions here regarding trying out different arrangments:

1. Tracktion has very comprehensive undo facilities: try deleting the clips in question, in the knowledge that <CNTRL>+Z will bring them back if you don't like the result.

2. An extension of 1: If you hit <CNTRL>+S before deleting the clips, then "save as" afterwards, its easy to build up a few alternate edits which you can compare later with fresher ears..

3. If you are at an early enough stage to have used no automation yet, copy all clips in your edit, and paste them in a few times further down Tracktion's timeline. (use markers to identify the start points.) You can now create several different versions of the piece, and switch between them with a single key-press.

<edit> haydxn beat me to the first one!

[MADatGOD]

I just feel that people lose sight of reality sometimes in the rush of making their point. OK, I see your point. But surely you're not muting batches of clips every other minute, changing your mind every other minute and muting different batches of clips, and then seconds later muting other batches of clips. The reality is that you are probably muting and unmuting one or two clips at a time; otherwise the solo buttons are probably a better option for you.

In the context of real situations, I really think that the few seconds saved with a different implementation aren't worth the emphasis that's being placed on the feature request. The end result does not match the urgency of the request (not that everyone's saying it's urgent, but at least one person implied it. )

You're absolutely right. But here's the thing: The debate is sort of an end unto itself. The actual feature is relatively insignificant. But, judging by the effort you've put into the debate, I obviously don't need to tell you that

The "delete/undo" method is how I usually go about it. My "most wanted" features would be grouping of clips and the ability to play back at half speed and reverse. Any work arounds for that? (ones that don't involve rendering/stretching/moving/destructively editing clips)

[haydxn]

half speed playing a clip is already WAY WAY WAY easier than any other program i've used in my life. what's wrong with stretching it? it's non destructive. reverse is admittedly a multi-click process. it'd be great to have a reverse 'macro' or even a non-destructive reverse.

[MADatGOD]

You must be using some method I'm not aware of yet, so a "for dummies" walkthrough would be appreciated. To me, going through and stretching a bunch of clips, altering tempos and rearranging clips so they don't all overlap and make a huge mess is a teensy bit more troublesome than selecting a "play at half speed" option in transport controls. Then again, maybe such a function is only available in a pure audio editor?

[Mr. Tingle]

don't you just alt-drag the top right arrow on a clip?