Moving tracks in Track folders

[doodles]

I'm new to track folders, but am slightly confused. (what's new...)

Let's say i have 10 MIDI tracks in track Folder A (say drums), and 10 MIDI tracks in track folder B (strings).

Folder A is open on the track view window, so I can see all 10 tracks and the MIDI in them.
Folder B is closed, so I can't see the various MIDI data in it.

If I select all, then shift it by 10 bars, it only drags the data in the Track Folder thats opened (A). Which is a total pain in the neck.

Does this mean that I have to have all the track folders open the entire time, if I want to do anything with the MIDI in it?

Am i even making sense?!!!

[grouse]

As far as I know, only what you can see gets moved, which I actually like because I often have folders of temporarily unused tracks and I don't want them involved when I move stuff around. There might be a preference for this, I'm not sure.
I think the options are greater if it's set up this way and it's only a click to fully open the folder.

[waxman]

If you don't select it you can't affect it...

There may be some kind of global select command in the key commands. Shooshie is the king of key commands.

[ggm1960]

As far as I know, only what you can see gets moved, which I actually like because I often have folders of temporarily unused tracks and I don't want them involved when I move stuff around.

I'd agree and think that's part of the point of using folders.

[doodles]

grouse wrote:
As far as I know, only what you can see gets moved, which I actually like because I often have folders of temporarily unused tracks and I don't want them involved when I move stuff around.


I'd agree and think that's part of the point of using folders.

Hmmm. Maybe I'm using them wrong, but I thought the point of them was so I can see everything on my screen. i've got an orchestral film template which has about 150/200 tracks in it. When I've finished drum programming, say, I like to close this track group and open up the strings group, so I can actually see what I'm working on, without having to scroll through 5 million tracks! When I've finished this, I might make an edit, say delete 2 bars at the front to try out the q earlier. If this means I need to keep all the track folders open the entire time, then what's the point of having track folders?

Not a rhetorical question, genuinely wondering what the point of them is, then?

[Shooshie]

grouse wrote:
As far as I know, only what you can see gets moved, which I actually like because I often have folders of temporarily unused tracks and I don't want them involved when I move stuff around.


I'd agree and think that's part of the point of using folders.

Hmmm. Maybe I'm using them wrong, but I thought the point of them was so I can see everything on my screen. i've got an orchestral film template which has about 150/200 tracks in it. When I've finished drum programming, say, I like to close this track group and open up the strings group, so I can actually see what I'm working on, without having to scroll through 5 million tracks! When I've finished this, I might make an edit, say delete 2 bars at the front to try out the q earlier. If this means I need to keep all the track folders open the entire time, then what's the point of having track folders?

Not a rhetorical question, genuinely wondering what the point of them is, then?

There's a lot you can do with track folders that does not involve Select All. But for working on all tracks, you must indeed be able to see them. Consider the opposite problem: someone says I was making changes to some tracks and, come to find out, it applied those changes to tracks that were hidden in folders where I couldn't see them. I thought the point of track folders was to be able to get rid of tracks you didn't need to work on anymore without worrying about changing them once they were hidden!

It's going to be a problem for someone either way. MOTU had to make a choice, and I think it was almost the right choice. The right choice would have been to put a preference in there: a check box beside "Edits do not affect tracks in closed Track Folders." But barring that option, it's best to assume that you're not working on tracks you can't see. So, to apply your changes to all tracks, you must open all folders. It's not that hard.

Here are the keyboard shortcuts:

COMMAND-CLICK - Opens/Closes all folders downstream in the hierarchy of the folder on which you click (all folders within that folder)
OPTION-CLICK - Opens/Closes all folders on the same hierarchical level (but not the folders inside them)
COMMAND-OPTION-CLICK - Opens/Closes all folders on the same hierarchical level AND the folders they contain.

And while we're at it, when moving tracks there are also keyboard commands. Check the Commands Window (Shift-L) for them, under the "Tracks" heading.

Shooshie

[fst]

Tracks Window Mini-Menu -> 'Edit Tracks in Closed Folders'

[Tim]

Also, 'Select All In Range' (Opt-Cmd-Clk) will make the selection in closed folders (handy if not using the 'Edit Tracks in Closed Folders' option).

[zed]

I'm with you, doodles. I am grateful for the file organization that can be done with track folders, but not so impressed with DP's intelligence when it comes to handling material in closed folders.

The right choice would have been to put a preference in there: a check box beside "Edits do not affect tracks in closed Track Folders."

Yes. That's what I want to see, with an additional checkbox preference which says: "Edits affect all takes". Going back to previous takes after having rearranged a piece of music is not possible since alternate takes remain as they were. Both the takes of a track AND the tracks in a folder should have have the ability to be affected by any edits to their topmost representative.

Also... DP could just be a bit smarter in this regards. When you select a whole section and copy or cut it from your sequence, you cannot paste it to another part of your sequence if some of the track folders are closed. DP shouldn't force you to open all your track folders in order to complete that task... it should either automatically paste the material in closed folders into those closed folders OR just paste the tracks in the open folders and maybe provide a message which says "Tracks which were in closed folders were not pasted to the new location".

Tracks Window Mini-Menu -> 'Edit Tracks in Closed Folders'

Unfortunately, I haven't noticed any changes in behavior when that option is checked. I do have it checked. Perhaps this is fixed in DP7 with Snow Leopard?