Saving Markers Within Templates?

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:45 pm

I am organizing a few templates that I would like contain markers that indicate parts within song arrangements. Is there anyone who has found a way to save a collection or markers ie Pop Dance Song, Extended Dance Mix Song, Radio Hip-Hop Song etc.

Is there a way to save a collection of markers in anyways?

Thanks in Advanced!

~Shane

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 6:54 pm

OK... so I am completely baffled why I cannot save markers within a template but I can save things like mixer settings, bus groups, specific fx patches and more but for some reason markers just don't get saved unless it's a project file?

I mean, does this make any sense to anyone? Maybe I am missing something here? I tried to make a clippings window and drag the markers onto it and that doesn't seem to work either.

Maybe my best bet is to make a TXT document with all the markers for all the arrangements and store that in the clippings window? Open that at the beginning of projects? Hmmm... Thinking out loud here...

martian · Post by **martian** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:14 pm

suppose you could always make a project - open that each time you want to make a new one and save copy as....

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:20 pm

martian wrote:suppose you could always make a project - open that each time you want to make a new one and save copy as....

Yes, you are right. It just "feels" so wrong to do it this way though. I guess I just prefer a more convenient and logical space to save my marker collections.

I wonder if anyone else found the need to save marker collections and recall marker collections for other projects? If so, I would love to hear how you made this as painless and efficient as possible.

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:25 pm

Hmmm... Maybe add the markers then GRAB the marker list. Save this image file to the clippings window? That works. Who knows. lol

Does anyone know if any other application has this feature to SAVE MARKER COLLECTIONS?

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:17 pm

Me again

Does anyone know if DP5 saves marker collections within templates or clippings?

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 1:34 am

guess no one really uses markers in this way huh? l oh well

philbrown · Post by **philbrown** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:20 am

The markers are contained within the Conductor track. Maybe you can get them from there to clippings? I'm really not sure, never tried it or needed to. Also not sure of your purpose - are you just trying to avoid typing "Chorus 1" and that sort of thing? Since every song is a little different it doesn't seem like a very practical approach but maybe I'm missing something. Maybe you could keep a pool of them all stacked up at the beginning of the template file, or 10 minutes out, way past normal song length and just change the times in the event list as needed???

At any rate I think markers could use a serious upgrade in DP. The feature I would use a lot would be "Markers per track". There are definitely some improvements that could be made.
good luck
Phil

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:33 am

paradeatw wrote:guess no one really uses markers in this way huh? l oh well

I gave up trying to do that long ago. It would be really great to be able to have pre-labeled markers set up in a template, but I've never figured out how to do it.

Phil

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:35 am

Markers tend to be project-specific in that every song etc. is different.

You could try parsing the audio/MIDI content of the sample project down a little at a time 'till you lose them.
If you save as you go, the file before disaster is the one you want.
It could be that you only need 1 tiny "dummy" soundbite and/or a MIDI phrase or note to do the trick.

Not quite perfection as templates go, but close.

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:35 am

philbrown wrote:Maybe you could keep a pool of them all stacked up at the beginning of the template file, or 10 minutes out, way past normal song length and just change the times in the event list as needed???

Exactly!

Phil

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:59 am

philbrown wrote:The markers are contained within the Conductor track. Maybe you can get them from there to clippings?

You know, it was a bit late last night and I thought - THE CONDUCTOR TRACK! But stupid me didn't think of going into SEQUENCE view where they can be highlighted!

SO, to confirm for anyone:

1 - Create a global clippings window called "Marker Collections" or "Song Arrangements" or whatever makes sense for you
2 - Create and name your markers as needed
3 - Go to sequence view
4 - Highlight the markers in conductor track
5 - go to Copy to Clipping Window>Cop to "Name of Clipping Window"

NICE!
This actually works better then saving them in a template because now I can access ALL my marker collections from ANY template. So, if I wish to pull down a marker collection noting an arrangement for a hardcore song or a pop song or a classical song - BAM! Drag it right into the conductor track in tracks view!

Hope this helps everyone else. This is def a useful feature I believe. I know some of you believe that all songs have slight different arrangements but this is a good way to share arrangements without sharing full DP projects for others to learn. It's also a great way for newbies to learn song structure or experienced producers to bang out quick scratch tracks without paying attention to measures.

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:34 am

paradeatw wrote:...Hope this helps everyone else....

It does indeed. Thanks for that tip.

Phil

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:58 am

philbrown wrote:The markers are contained within the Conductor track. Maybe you can get them from there to clippings?

paradeatw wrote:SO, to confirm for anyone:

1 - Create a global clippings window called "Marker Collections" or "Song Arrangements" or whatever makes sense for you
2 - Create and name your markers as needed
3 - Go to sequence view
4 - Highlight the markers in conductor track
5 - go to Copy to Clipping Window>Cop to "Name of Clipping Window"

NICE!
This actually works better then saving them in a template because now I can access ALL my marker collections from ANY template. So, if I wish to pull down a marker collection noting an arrangement for a hardcore song or a pop song or a classical song - BAM! Drag it right into the conductor track in tracks view!

Hope this helps everyone else. This is def a useful feature I believe. I know some of you believe that all songs have slight different arrangements but this is a good way to share arrangements without sharing full DP projects for others to learn. It's also a great way for newbies to learn song structure or experienced producers to bang out quick scratch tracks without paying attention to measures.

Handy stuff; thanks paradeatw and Phil - nice team work.

I was hoping a method would be found here, as I can see the potential when you consider being able to browse multiple loadable marker sets.
You find one that approximates what you're intending to come up with (risky business, I know), and, if everything goes according to plan (fat chance, really!), you'd only need to fine-tune the position of the markers, not create and name each one.

It's a starting point, and it's gonna need tweaking.
Isn't this what happens when we use any kind of template, though?
Again, nice one, paradeatw.

Good ol' DP - always a simple method (amongst others) when we're scratching our heads wondering what new-fangled sience is required, or techniques we'd have to conjure up in order to achieve a given task.
As usual, DP has it covered.

Yay! Glad you found what you were looking for too, paradeatw.

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:39 am

monkey man wrote:I was hoping a method would be found here, as I can see the potential when you consider being able to browse multiple loadable marker sets.
You find one that approximates what you're intending to come up with (risky business, I know), and, if everything goes according to plan (fat chance, really!), you'd only need to fine-tune the position of the markers, not create and name each one.

The thing is, my primate friend, 90% of what I use DP for is audio only. I often find myself in a situation where a client is laying down the initial tracks of a song for which he/she hasn't given me a chart. I'm running blind. I need to quickly put in markers for at least intro, verse, chorus and bridge (on the fly), so that when they say, "Can I hear that section in the second verse?" I won't be fumbling trying to find it. That few seconds it takes to create and type in marker names makes a difference. When you can work efficiently without any pauses, your clients are more relaxed - resulting in a better performance. And ain't that what it's all about?

Phil