Track aliases?...I don't think its possible

[vapoureyes]

Thanks for taking the time to review Alias Tracks, vapoureyes. I must say that it doesn't sound like anything that can't very quickly be accomplished in DP by duplicating a MIDI (data) Track and applying MIDI plugins, rendering MIDI FX, looping or editing.

It is important to keep in mind the point Baywater accented: In DP, VI and MIDI Tracks are not necessarily one and the same and, as such, it is a simple matter to have more than one MIDI Track address a single or multiple VIs simultaneously.

Until fairly recently, DP VI and MIDI Tracks were always separate; the VI Track would host the Virtual Instrument that was addressed by one or more separate and distinct MIDI Tracks. MOTU added the Combo VI/MIDI Track option a few iterations back, but it remains possible to have more than a single MIDI Track address a VI. (By grouping MIDI Devices, it is also possible to have any MIDI Track address multiple VI Tracks.)

So, by Duplicating a MIDI-only track, one is accomplishing essentially the same thing as the Alias Track.

When working with notation, I could see how an Alias might in some situations be preferred; when the Source Track is edited, changes would be reflected in the Alias Track. In DP this would be easy to overcome by dragging the Source MIDI data into the track (with desired MIDI Plugins enabled) being used as the source for notation.

Again, thanks for the info vapoureyes. Have a great one!

Thanks for the reply HCMarkus. There are so many things I've yet to uncover and learn about DP, so I'll follow up on the info you imparted.

Fortunately DP has a clean uncluttered interface and best of all, and probably the most significantly important feature for me are Chunks and Songs. Most other DAWs are locked into a mostly linear concept as far as arrangements are concerned. DP breaks away from that "prison" and allows the most flexibility I've seen in terms of arrangement features.

Until giving DP a try, I was seriously considering firing up my old Atari STe just so I could use the great arrange features Notator also has. I may however even try syncing them both up with SMPTE or MTC - I'll first see how things go with DP alone.

[mikehalloran]

It is important to keep in mind the point Baywater accented: In DP, VI and MIDI Tracks are not necessarily one and the same and, as such, it is a simple matter to have more than one MIDI Track address a single or multiple VIs simultaneously.

Until fairly recently, DP VI and MIDI Tracks were always separate; the VI Track would host the Virtual Instrument that was addressed by one or more separate and distinct MIDI Tracks. MOTU added the Combo VI/MIDI Track option a few iterations back, but it remains possible to have more than a single MIDI Track address a VI. (By grouping MIDI Devices, it is also possible to have any MIDI Track address multiple VI Tracks.)

So, by Duplicating a MIDI-only track, one is accomplishing essentially the same thing as the Alias Track.

I keep promising myself that I'll learn the new way but I'm so used to the method described above that I've not gotten around to it — if I ever do...

[bayswater]

I keep promising myself that I'll learn the new way but I'm so used to the method described above that I've not gotten around to it — if I ever do...

I’ve used it, but don’t really see any advantage, especially if you put the VIs in their own Chunk. Half the time I’ve had to convert them to the original format to do something. It would be a convenience for those who learned on other DAWs. Even so, the way DP does this is better than the way Logic does it.

Part of it is that I think of signal paths and hardware analogies when I set up a project, so the original format works better for that. What exactly is the signal path of a Logic VI? More confusing with multiple outs.

[HCMarkus]

Keep in mind, even when using the "new" Combo approach, one can still add a companion MIDI-only track addressing the Combo track's VI.

[James Steele]

Keep in mind, even when using the "new" Combo approach, one can still add a companion MIDI-only track addressing the Combo track's VI.

Indeed! This is what I like about the new type of Instruments track. I used to think it was necessary to be able to revert to the old type, but there's nothing AFAICT preventing one from creating the new style instrument track and treating it exactly the same as the old style.

I do like the new instrument tracks for drum VIs, etc. where I'm going to use just one MIDI track targeting that VI. It is convenient to have just one track instead of two in those cases.

[dewdman42]

I personally have never found a reason or need to use aliased regions in LogicPro for example. I'm not saying someone else might find it useful, but I think its just one approach, but not the only way to get music done, I think there are probably very very situations where that particular feature would be required.

I think DP's routing capabilities are extremely good and it's probably just a matter of routing one source MIDI track through a chain of instrument and MIDI tracks to accomplish the duplexed result. Instead of alias, it's routing you use.

I would personally like the ability for DP to have clip aliases, I would find that extremely useful myself. I'm hard pressed to think of a good use case for track aliases that couldn't just as easily be accomplished with appropriate routing.