Share your favorite DP tip!

[amplidood]

Seriously y'all, everyone just go to the Commands window and read down the ENTIRE thing at least ONCE....you'll be SHOCKED what goodies you'll find in there.

[Tritonemusic]

..

[Tritonemusic]

Originally posted by amplidood:
Seriously y'all, everyone just go to the Commands window and read down the ENTIRE thing at least ONCE....you'll be SHOCKED what goodies you'll find in there.

I may have said this already but the great thing about the Commands window is that you can change the key commands to just about anything you want. You're not stuck with what you see.

Amplidood, I would add that a lot of people could open the Manual once in a while and would be equally as shocked by how complex DP really is.

[qo]

If you click in the very bottom left corner of the Tracks Overview while holding down Cmd+Shift+Option+L, Life is created. It's only single celled currently but I hear more complex forms are in the works for future releases.

[blue]

Originally posted by 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

You can also move tracks to the top or bottom of the list by using "home" and "end" instead of "page up" and "page down." That gives you a little more flexibility when moving stuff around.

[burger]

Lot of great tips.

I've been copying and pasting like crazy the last couple of nights. Here's the only tip I've got to offer, it's pretty simple but it has worked for me. If you're having any performance problems (freezing mostly) try turning off your date and time in the toolbar. I know this is one of those optimization tips everyone knows about but I never took it seriously until recently and it's definitely helped the performance of my D.P. 4.52 on my G5.

thanks again for the tips!!

b.

<small>[ July 06, 2005, 10:13 PM: Message edited by: buns ]</small>

[qo]

Output destination for Audible Mode

To change the destination for Audible Mode (e.g. audio that you scrub, or select in the Sequence Editor window), open Studio->Audio Bundles, click the Output tab and drag the output bundle to the top of the list that you wish Audible Mode to be heard through. This is useful for e.g. changing the Audible Mode destination to your headphones so that your clients don't hear a lot of crap when your editing audio...

[Henry Robinett]

Originally posted by blue:
You can also move tracks to the top or bottom of the list by using "home" and "end" instead of "page up" and "page down." That gives you a little more flexibility when moving stuff around.

Forgive me but what is "Home" and "End"?

FWIW I use multiple takes all the time. I use it for recording multiple instruments or drums set to a sequence also for mixing with different configurations of takes.

Great tips! I'm learning me some stuff.

[Tonio]

Originally posted by qo:
If you click in the very bottom left corner of the Tracks Overview while holding down Cmd+Shift+Option+L, Life is created. It's only single celled currently but I hear more complex forms are in the works for future releases.

HUH? slid an extra brewski in eh?

[FM]

OMFG!!

you guys rule!!

we should condense this thread and print a book.

thanks!

FM

FM has put a hole in the housing bubble.

[amplidood]

Hey Henry, Selby here,

Home and End are those two keys next to Page Up and Page Down.

How's it Sac town?

[blue]

Originally posted by FM:
OMFG!!

you guys rule!!

we should condense this thread and print a book.

The funny thing is, most if not all of these tips have been there right under our noses (in the commands window) all this time!

[Shooshie]

Originally posted by FM:
OMFG!!

you guys rule!!

we should condense this thread and print a book.

thanks!

FM

FM has put a hole in the housing bubble.

If nobody objects to my editing, I'm planning to post these tips here in a few days in a different form. Here is an example of what I've been doing. You'll see that I've rewritten most of them to make them either more complete or more concise, depending on what is needed. I'm crediting the original tipsters in each case, but sorting them by categories. I've done about half this thread so far, and will continue as time permits.

Sample (not the final order or format):

It started with a post by Sylver: in the Digital Performer forum at Unicornation
Topic: Share your favorite DP tip! Or, things you wish someone had told you about without having to learn the hard way. [/i]

The result is a thread that is still snaking through the forum, as I compile this condensed version from the original. Here, I'm going to try to group the tips a little better, for easier reference, and I'm going to mention the name of the tipster only in italics at the end of each tip. It's important that people get recognized for their work, but the most important thing here is that the tips are easy to find and easy to use.

Tips that I've added here that do not appear in the original forum thread are credited to [Editor]. That would be myself: Shooshie.
So, here goes:

Category 1: MIXING

Automation when Mixing
Turn off the automation prefs under the setup window called 'effects parameter' before every mix and/or turn off the automation "write" button. When you are mixing in a DAW, it can be too easy to automate nearly everything. EQ's, mutes, pans, volumes, sends and everything else are subsequently automated if the write buttons are left on accidently when you are previewing any settings during playback. If you are panning or muting tracks just to hear how things sound, you can leave behind a trail of automation that can be ridiculously hard to clean up later. So, turn off the red automation record (write) button on all tracks, and only turn on the ones you actually want to write to. Be sure to set up your automation prefs so that you don't record automation you don't want.
_________________________
Timeline
Gary Brandt
Producer-Engineer
www.earthislandrecords.com

----------------------------

Category 1: MIXING
Automation
Snapshot Automation finishes out track settings
Snapshots can set effects settings automation to the desired position all the way to the end of a track. Look up Snapshot, Automation in index of manual. Current at time of this writing (July, 2005), page 703.
________________
TheHopiWay

----------------------------

Category 1: MIXING
Snapshot Automation for copying effects settings to another location
Page 706 in manual. Follow instructions carefully and you can copy effects settings from one place to another by
1) position playback wiper where you want to copy automation settings,
2) globally disable automation
3) move to new location
4) globally enable automation
5) Be Careful: DO NOT MOVE wiper or budge Transport Counter at this point
6) take automation snapshot
7) snapshot will copy settings as they were in the original location, and apply them at the point where you took the snapshot (new location)
______
[Editor]

----------------------------

Category 1: MIXING
Category 2: Playback
Category 3: Setup
Category 4: Editing

Grouping Tracks
Changing attributes such as Color
Categories: Mixing, Recording, Playback, Editing, Setup
Works: all windows with multiple tracks

Temporary Grouping of All Visible Tracks
Double tap "w" for a group. Tap once to un-group. This works in Tracks, Sequence, Mix, and other windows. It works for all visible tracks. If you want to change the magnification of the audio soundbites in the Sequence Window, this grouping will affect all tracks with the action you perform on a single track. Play enable, record enable, volume sliders, pan pots, mutes, etc., all will be grouped by tapping "w w", and any action will affect all tracks until ungrouped with a single tap on "w". Warning: it also works on color. Changing one track's color will change ALL tracks to the same color when grouped with the "w w". That's not undoable.

This does not work on sends, input/output assignments, takes, and voice assignments. Experiment to be certain.
________________
Kind Of Loud

----------------------------

Changing Colors of Selected Tracks
Select any tracks you want (Shift-Click). Hold down the letter "t" while picking a color. All of the tracks you selected will change to that color.
________
666

----------------------------

Temporary Group from Selection
Works: in any track with multiple tracks or track controls

Holding "T", or hitting it twice makes a temporary group of the selected tracks (not just for colors, but mix/edit too). Hit T once to cancel the temp group. Similar to "w w" but operates only on selected tracks.
_______________
Tim

----------------------------

[Shooshie]

Originally posted by blue:

Originally posted by FM:
OMFG!!

you guys rule!!

we should condense this thread and print a book.

The funny thing is, most if not all of these tips have been there right under our noses (in the commands window) all this time!

Yes, and in the manual, and in this forum. But it's a changing target, and I don't always feel like rereading the entire manual (or even the entire Commands Window) every time a new version of DP comes out. Believe me, I've read both many times! Furthermore, at least half of the suggestions are things I once used and forgot. I'm amazed at how easy it is to forget good tricks if you don't use them every day.

So, I think it's an excellent resource, and that's why I'm compiling it into a more accessible form.

Shooshie

[chrispick]

Originally posted by Shooshie:
So, I think it's an excellent resource, and that's why I'm compiling it into a more accessible form.

And it's appreciated, man.

Will you put together a Unicornation "sticky" like featured on other bulletin boards? You know, a sort of permanent "post-it" thread that can be referenced and appended at all times.

Oh, after posting this, I see you've put together a single post. That's cool, to be sure, but it will get pushed to the bottom of the thread as more posts arrive. A "sticky" will stay at the top of the category, so it's always easy to spot and access.

<small>[ July 07, 2005, 01:45 PM: Message edited by: heavypick ]</small>