Share your favorite DP tip!

[musicarteca]

If you are editing and want the playback to always start from the editing point instead of where the cursor is (a la Pro Tools). Enable Link Selection to Memory and Memory Play in the Selection Tab on the main transport, and then click inside the soundbite that you want to edit with the letter "i" deppressed. Playback will start from that edit point.

[Splinter]

Does anyone remember how to change "takes" on multiple tracks simultaneously or move multiple tracks at the same time?

[musicarteca]

Composite Takes:

I comp takes very often and I find the following procedure to be very efficient and a fast way to work with, it favors working with several takes on one track instead of the usual "several takes expanded on several tracks" method.

1- On the sequence editor display only the track(s) that you want to comp.

2- Create a new empty take and name it Comp.

3- Divide the song with markers, and click on the first marker to select a region from that marker to the next, or select the region manually on the time ruler.

4- With the same region selected listen to every take. Use control-space bar to audition the selected region on each take and control-option up/down arrow to navigate through takes. Once you found the best one, copy it and paste it at the comp take.

5- Click the next marker and repeat the procedure for the next selected range.

6- Move the edges of the adjacent soundbites to fine tune the edit, and cross-fade at will. Soundbite's time integrity to the sequence is always maintained, so there is no need to move soundbites. (just their edges).

7- If you select a region that is OK, except for only one note, you can select that note from an different take (always in the time ruler), copy it and paste at the comp take.

8- Repeat untly the end of the song.

I very much favor this procedure because:
1- It is very quick once you get use to it.
2- You let your ears be the guide instead of your eyes. Isn't it the way it is supposed to be?
3- It is the way to go if you want to comp several tracks at the same time, for example a multitrack drum set, or a complete band playing to a click track.

[Shooshie]

I'm pretty sure you can't move multiple tracks at one time. [edit: thankfully, I was wrong. You can! Read on down the page.] Changing takes? I doubt you can do it for multiple tracks, simultaneously, but I've been surprised before. Still, I've looked and tried everything, and I'm empty handed. I don't think it can be done. And it's something MOTU should make possible. [edit: again, I was wrong!]

While searching to see if there was a work-around for take files in the Mixing Board window (I couldn't remember if you could do takes from the mixer, in which case you could have saved mixes with different takes. But no, you can't) I found something else that's kind of interesting:

Create a Meter Bridge
In the Mixing Board mini-menu, hold down the option key and select "Level Meter." Your mixing board controls will all go away, leaving only the meters, forming a "Meter Bridge" to leave open while you're working in the Sequence Editor or Tracks Window. It's not something I can't live without, but it's kind of cool.

Shooshie

<small>[ July 06, 2005, 09:43 PM: Message edited by: Shooshie ]</small>

[musicarteca]

Originally posted by Splinter:
Does anyone remember how to change "takes" on multiple tracks simultaneously or move multiple tracks at the same time?

To switch takes on several tracks at a time, simply group the tracks and select "switch take" on the group menu.

By moving several tracks at a time do you mean time shift several tracks at a time? (to do this use the shift command on the edit menu). Or do you mean edit several tracks at the same time? Once again group them.

[qo]

That meter bridge thingie is tres cool Shooshie! As for changing multiple takes at once, I'm not sure this is even desirable is it? What are the chances that one would want the same take in each track (or that all tracks have an equal number of takes)? It's more likely you'll want take 2 from track 1, take 4 from track 2, take 87,456 (that's Donald Fagen's track) from track 3, right?

[musicarteca]

Originally posted by qo:
What are the chances that one would want the same take in each track (or that all tracks have an equal number of takes)?

Recording several instruments at the same time

[Shooshie]

Originally posted by musicarteca:

Originally posted by Splinter:
Does anyone remember how to change "takes" on multiple tracks simultaneously or move multiple tracks at the same time?

To switch takes on several tracks at a time, simply group the tracks and select "switch take" on the group menu.

By moving several tracks at a time do you mean time shift several tracks at a time? (to do this use the shift command on the edit menu). Or do you mean edit several tracks at the same time? Once again group them.

I'm looking, but I don't see it. Where is the Group Menu that has a "Switch Takes" option? Believe me, I'm hoping it's there, and that I've just been too dense to see it.

As for moving tracks, I think he means literally grabbing a group of tracks and moving them up or down in the Tracks Window. Not as in editing, but as in moving the position of the tracks in the list. You can only do one at time, as far as I know. That means grabbing the arrows on the left side of the list in the Tracks Window, then dragging the track to the location where you want it. You can do one at a time, but not multiple tracks, AFAIK.

But about that switching takes on a group... I'm waiting to see that one.

Shooshie

[musicarteca]

Originally posted by Shooshie:
But about that switching takes on a group... I'm waiting to see that one.

When you create a new group on the mixing console, a "new track group" menu appears. The last three items on the menu read:
Add or delete take
Switch take
Rename take

<small>[ July 06, 2005, 08:43 PM: Message edited by: musicarteca ]</small>

[draudio2u]

JOINING UNICORNATION

[qo]

Originally posted by musicarteca:

Originally posted by qo:
What are the chances that one would want the same take in each track (or that all tracks have an equal number of takes)?

Recording several instruments at the same time

Ah yes. OK, I'll buy that musicarteca

[amplidood]

To move mulitple tracks simultaneously

1. Select the tracks you want to move

2. Use Control-Page Up/Down to shift them all one place at a time

3, The real trick to making this quick is temporarily disabling "Lock layout to track order" in the Mixing Board mini-menu.

[Shooshie]

Originally posted by musicarteca:

Originally posted by Shooshie:
But about that switching takes on a group... I'm waiting to see that one.

When you create a new group on the mixing console, a "new track group" menu appears. The last three items on the menu read:
Add or delete take
Switch take
Rename take

Ok, I see that now. i thought you were talking about the Groups menu (and dialog) under the Project Menu. The thing is, I haven't been able to get it to work. Can you give a step-by-step method for changing a number of tracks to, say, take #2? I click the change-take option, but nothing happens. So, I thought... Maybe it changes all the takes when you change one of them. So i changed a take, but nothing happened to the other tracks. How exactly is it switching takes?

Sorry to be dense... just trying to get to the bottom of it.

Thanks,

Shooshie

NEVER MIND! I just realized that I had "Suspend Track Grouping" selected in the Project Menu. The odd thing was that I had to deselect it twice to make it stay deselected. When I finally permanently deselected it, everything worked properly, and I'm a happy guy. Thanks, Alex!

Shooshie

<small>[ July 06, 2005, 09:29 PM: Message edited by: Shooshie ]</small>

[Shooshie]

Originally posted by amplidood:
To move mulitple tracks simultaneously

1. Select the tracks you want to move

2. Use Control-Page Up/Down to shift them all one place at a time

3, The real trick to making this quick is temporarily disabling "Lock layout to track order" in the Mixing Board mini-menu.

We have a winner! I've been wanting that feature for over a dozen years. Do you happen to know how long it's been there? Works like a charm. May be a little tedious if you are going to move them by 50 tracks, or so, but it works.

Thanks, and thanks to all who are making this a very educational thread.

Shooshie

[Keith Henry]

Originally posted by Timeline:
There are many issues like this that, for some reason, MOTU doesn't seem to feel it's important to address or maybe can't figure out a way to do it without mega C++ +++code additions.

I duknow... Pro Tools has done this for 15 years now, go and stay exactly where you wish to be. It's been a long time since I was using DP 3.xx but, if I remember DP 3.xx use to take us right where we wanted to go didn't it? MOTU should look at some of Pro Tools code and give us a world we want. Now wouldn't that be sweet, the very best of DP & Pro Tools in one app!

Originally posted by amplidood:
I'll repost my tip here to help with that. In the Commands Window, go to the Navigation section. The very last command in that group is my secret DP weapon that noone ever seems to know about or use..."View Selection in Sequence Editor". Reassign the keystroke of that command to something that a human being could actually do on a regular basis. I personally use "S" for it, since I've never used the "Scrub" tool even once in my life. Now highligt a track or section of tracks in the Tracks Overview, and hit your new magic key. HAPPINESS!!!!

I'll definately be looking into your suggestion amplidood-thanks.

Cheers