James' "Marker Enter" trick.

[Shooshie]

You could always just create them by dragging them out of the marker well in the tracks overview.

I'm actually surprised to learn that not everyone knows how to do it this way!!

I don't know how I knew to do it--maybe it is something that worked back in StudioVision days--but I have always created my markers in DP by dragging the icon in the Tracks Overview. That's just another reason why I have the Tracks Overview open and available at all times.

Could be the meds… I remember the icon, so surely I've used it at some point, but the bigger point is that it never "stuck." I just never developed the habit of using it. I use the "Add Marker and Enter Name" command from the Commands Window, which I mapped to the command for Add Marker (and took the command away from that one). I add it while the song is playing, try to type in the name before it gets to the next one (but I can always edit it later), then repeat in 8 to 12 bars. It gets the marker very close. Later, I just enter zeroes on the beats/ticks to "quantize" the marker. (or various other ways of doing that)

I've used a number of methods over the years. I can't always even remember the things that were habit 15 years ago. But I'm pretty sure I haven't used the Marker Well thing at least not more than trying it out after reading about it in a post. Probably not even THAT! Hey, there are all kinds of little things that I have missed or forgotten. They come around again later.

Shooshie

[dave pine]

i use tranzport to throw down markers and search them.

[bongo_x]

I don't use the Tracks window much, but I'm pretty sure that dragging markers will snap to whatever you have the grid set to in the Seq window if the grid is on.

bb

[James Steele]

You know... I just had a chance to actually check this out a bit more and was able to jump back more than one marker in DP 7.12 during playback. You have to be fast with repeating the key commands though.

I think though that MOTU might want to allow more "slop" with the speed with which one must repeat the commands. Control Surface apps like AC-7 Pro, due to the wireless connection and presumed latency just can't repeat the commands quickly enough to jump back more than one marker. Also, I wonder if some of the problem may be that people with slower Macs might not be able to invoke the key command quickly enough either.... that DP can't poll as often for they keypress as it can on a faster computer? Maybe the more dense and complex your project, it gets more difficult to invoke as well?

[zed]

Also, I wonder if some of the problem may be that people with slower Macs might not be able to invoke the key command quickly enough either.... that DP can't poll as often for they keypress as it can on a faster computer? Maybe the more dense and complex your project, it gets more difficult to invoke as well?

I want to say that I think it is both those things. But then I'm not sure, because there have been times when I have had little trouble doing it (even on my G5) in some projects.

But just now, to test it before posting here, I tried it in on my fast Intel Mac on an EMPTY DP project, and it was almost refusing to do it. I had to press the key command 5 times in very quick succession for it to work. No audio or MIDI.

I had an instance of Kontakt and SampleTank loaded, however. So I decided to disable them so that the project would really have NOTHING going on... and it became almost impossible to get the command to go back to a previous counter while the sequence was playing... it was seemingly even more difficult than before.

So I am not sure whether the computer speed or project bulkiness really has anything to do with it.

[cloudsplitter]

I may be missing something but I always just drag markers into position from the marker well and then whe I want to go to them I just click them once in the marker well pane....I can't think of a faster way to do it than that...it's just one click...also, you can just click the marker in the timeline and the playhead will jump to it

[James Steele]

I may be missing something but I always just drag markers into position from the marker well and then whe I want to go to them I just click them once in the marker well pane....I can't think of a faster way to do it than that...it's just one click...also, you can just click the marker in the timeline and the playhead will jump to it

Well the Markers Well we already knew about. As for as clicking in the Markers Window that's true. Some of us (me included) are mouse/trackball averse and would rather do things with the keyboard when possible.

[TnMike]

I use the "add and name marker" option in real time, but they don't snap to grid. It word be great if they did!


G5 2.7 GHZ, DP 7.24, MOTU 2408, Ivory, SD2, B4ll, UAD-1, Melodyne, Ramza DA-7,

[FMiguelez]

Very cool James. When I think of markers, Ive always wished that there was a "snap to grid" style quantization feature available when we create markers since for 99.99% of the time, my markers are on the bar with the beat being 1 and the tick being 0.

I think markers can be quantized, just like tempo changes.

Like verse 1 being on 11:1:0. Also, just recently I thought it would be nice if there was an additional marker list for keeping track of fixes and edits, so the song marker list doesn't get cluttered with things like "fix drums here, etc"

I am so with you there!
I wish we could color-code markers, and I wish we had several types of markers (comment markers, film scoring markers, song form markers, etc.).
Even for Film Scoring markers, I wish we could easily distinguish them for crucial hits and reference hits. With certain themes the ones that are marked to be found in the Markers window used to show green, but this is not so in my favorite theme (Plasma).
I wish we also had marker takes.

I will try your trick, James. I mostly navigate them with the Next/Previous markers commands, but this will give me more options

[Rick Cornish]

Good trick, James. Customizing key commands is a powerful feature I probably don't use enough. Not sure if I can give up my enter key—but I may be able to find another key to use.

Cheers!

[frankf]

Hint: You can see and edit marker numbers in the Markers window. Instead of having to remember marker numbers, I like to change the marker names to include the marker number at the beginning so I can see it on the timeline. For example I'll change my Markers from:

Intro
Verse 1
Chorus 1

to...

1. Intro
2. Verse 1
3. Chorus 1

That way I can just look at the timeline and see what the marker number is, and to jump to "Verse 1" it's as easy as "Enter"-"2"-"Enter" on the numeric keypad. Easy.

I've tried the "go to marker number" command before and I get stuck on this last part when I have to insert a marker between 2 others. I have to rename all the subsequent markers. This may not come up if you're writing in song form, but with film cues it is too much interference with my workflow for me. And I'm a big fan of keystrokes! I keep the Markers window open and click on the one to which I want to locate. I always wanted to see a drop down of marker names and or numbers with names when invoking the "go to marker" command. There IS a drop down Marker Menu in the Control Panel but must be invoked with a click. After it appears, you can arrow down or type the first letter(s) of a marker name to select, then Enter to locate.


Frank Ferrucci

[James Steele]

Right. I posted this years ago, and I typically only work on songs.

[mikehalloran]

I will remember this next time I'm doing something that needs markers.

Thanks!