solo from sequence editor

[waxman]

Can we solo from the SE window?

[Shooshie]

Can we solo from the SE window?

Yes, but it's not as elegant as with some of the windows. In SOLO mode, you click on the play-enable buttons to solo them. Think of SOLO in this case as more of an A/B button, where you set up your play-enablers for Tracks (A) and for Tracks (B), using the SOLO button to toggle between them.

MIDI is much more accessible in the MIDI Edit Window, where you can use the track selector to solo visible tracks if the "MIDI Solo & Patch Thru" preferences are set to "Solo Front-most Window." (last check-box on that preference panel.)

Audio, of course, is best soloed with the Mixing Board, but you already know that. You can still use the Sequence Editor for soloing if you think of it more as an A/B setup.

(The following is for people who haven't been using DP for very long, and who may not know this) When soloing, set up your essential Aux tracks such that the boxes are checked for Solo Exempt. This means that no matter how the solo button is toggled for that track, the aux tracks so designated will still perform in SOLO mode, delivering the audio that needs to pass through them. This makes it possible to work easily with the actual audio tracks soloing what you need without having to worry that the appropriate aux tracks are also soloed to enable them to play.

For example, maybe you'd like to solo one track. OPTION-CLICK the SOLO button on that track (or the Play Enable button when in SOLO mode) and you'll see all the other tracks muted except for the one you option-clicked. Or, solo all BUT the track you click by COMMAND-CLICKING the button. Normally, these operations would silence or solo the Aux tracks, too, but if you have SOLO Exempt selected, they will still play, regardless of their solo status. Of course, you can still turn them off with the Play Enable buttons, but only when you're not in SOLO mode.

(Muting tracks in the Mixing Board works regardless of solo mode)

It may seem complicated and arbitrary that SOLO works the way it does in DP. I can't tell you whether I find it logical because I watched it evolve, or if in fact it is illogical, but I don't have any trouble with it except when trying to explain it to someone else. I think the key is the A/B toggle analogy, which is in effect everywhere but the Mixing Board, where the buttons work pretty much like those on a real mixer. The other exception is in the MIDI Edit Window, where the "Solo Frontmost Window" has evolved to include all visible tracks if you set your MIDI Solo preferences for it.

The logic there stems from the days when every MIDI track opened in its own window. If you clicked on an open MIDI window in SOLO mode, chances are you wanted it soloed, thus the preference setting. When they gave us the option to combine all MIDI windows into a single window, color coded, that preference's functionality was modified to include all visible tracks in the edit window. Whatever tracks you can see will be soloed. Capiche?

Shooshie

[waxman]

I need it for audio and in SE not that often. I had tried all the magic keys on the individual tracks in SE and nothing worked. There are just times when I am fixing and have a bunch of tracks open in the SE window and it takes up all the real estate so I can't see the Raven or DP mixer. I'll hear something that sounds off and have no idea where it's coming from.

I get it so the preset A/B with the solo mode is the only answer. That is what I needed to know. I figured the great Oracle would know if such a state existed in the universe... Thanks Shooshie...

[reedster]

Does the keyboard shortcut for Track Solo (Ctrl Shift A + track #) not do the job ?

[Shooshie]

Does the keyboard shortcut for Track Solo (Ctrl Shift A + track #) not do the job ?

It does, but setting up the solo tracks is a matter of going in and clicking all those play-enable buttons. Not a problem when you collapse the tracks in the Sequence Editor down to one line each, but when they are at normal usable vertical sizes, that's a lot of scrolling for an orchestral template. So, the SE is not the easiest window for soloing.

It would be a lot easier if the SE window had a preference like the MIDI Edit Window, such that anything visible is soloed. Then the Track Selector would also act as a solo selector.

That would even make the new Search field worthy of the name. You could search for "strings," and anything with "strings" in the name would suddenly be soloed. Oh man, the gears are turning now. I'd like to send this stuff to MOTU.

Shoosh

[waxman]

Yeah that's hot Shooshie... Solo on top automatically yes... I'm using the search field often. Love it... If I have a half dozen tracks open if in SE fixing BGs or a group of guitars. I'm looking for a funky sibilance or pop/click or whatever and it's a pain when it's not easy to solo. Especially if I'm using consolidated windows. I spend so much time resizing. There has got to be a better way...

I would love to see a simple SOLO button on the SE. There is plenty of room for it... How about next to the magnifier? Or make it 5 push buttons instead of 4...

[reedster]

Oh I see - perhaps try the shortcut keys when not in Solo Mode.

[waxman]

Does the keyboard shortcut for Track Solo (Ctrl Shift A + track #) not do the job ?

By track# you mean click on the track#?

[reedster]

Not click the track - identify the number DP assigns the track.

In SE, press Control Shift S. In the dialog there's a drop down menu listing track numbers - type in the number for the track you want to solo...

Enter the same number again to toggle.

[reedster]

Does Channel Strip help at all with the way you want to solo ?

[waxman]

Thanks Reedster... that works but is too many steps. I need a button. If not one touch on the Raven mixer and one more touch solos whatever track. I prefer to edit with the magic mouse in the SE window. So if my hand is on the M-mouse I would prefer to stay with that by hitting a solo button on the particular SE window track... that would be optimum.

I'm kinda pickin' nits since two touches solos. But having the button on the SE window would keep the focus there until returning to the mix set up. I don't leave my SE window open all the time. Shift S and Apple W closes.

It seems like it's always about reclaiming visual real estate in DP. But I'll take that over being locked into some softwares engineer of how it should work like PT, Logic and the rest lock you in.

I prefer FREEDOM....

Not click the track - identify the number DP assigns the track.

In SE, press Control Shift S. In the dialog there's a drop down menu listing track numbers - type in the number for the track you want to solo...

Enter the same number again to toggle.

[cuttime]

I prefer to edit with the magic mouse in the SE window. So if my hand is on the M-mouse I would prefer to stay with that by hitting a solo button on the particular SE window track... that would be optimum.

Why not set up key command gestures with BetterTouchTool? https://www.boastr.net
Best $6 I ever spent.

[Robert Randolph]

You guys really ought to have the channel strip window docked in the side anytime you are using the sequence editor. It makes a huge difference.

[Shooshie]

Not click the track - identify the number DP assigns the track.

In SE, press Control Shift S. In the dialog there's a drop down menu listing track numbers - type in the number for the track you want to solo...

Enter the same number again to toggle.

Dayum! I learn something new about DP every day! I never knew that shortcut. Thanks for pointing it out. [edit: now that I'm looking at it, I realize I've seen it dozens of times, but never used it. Sheesh...]

You guys really ought to have the channel strip window docked in the side anytime you are using the sequence editor. It makes a huge difference.

You're right. That's about the only time I use the channel strip, and it DOES save some moves. Sorry I neglected to mention that, but we were talking about the SE, and I just forgot. Of course, the tradeoff is visible track length, but the channel strip doesn't take up that much room.

Still, I agree with waxman that a genuine solo button on the SE would be a nice addition, as well as a preference option to solo visible tracks. I think there are dozens of little things like that which I'd add to DP if I were in charge, but... I'm not. (and you have to think about feature bloat, too. But i don't think we're there yet.)

Shooshie

[bayswater]

I would love to see a simple SOLO button on the SE.

Same here. No doubt the complex solo options in DP are quite powerful for those that are likely to use them frequently. But I don't and my brains start dripping out of my ears every time I try to figure this out. Some option or preference for "Simple Solo" in all windows would be perfect. Press a solo button and the track is soloed.

Some have argued that adding a simple solo button to the SE will make an already busy track header busier still. The solution to that is to have checklist to determine what you want to see in the SE track header. There's stuff there now I could do without in a default view.