Track coloring

[LightStorm]

Hello everyone, my question is related to UI track coloring.

I know how to go to preferences and select "different color" for tracks however my question is this, when editing the color palate I can only change the first or the last color in each row, so when tracks are created it cycles through all different shades of each color row in the palate before moving on to another different color, I would like it to go to completely different colors not just various shades but completely different colors all together for each different track.
Any suggestions, thanks all.

[Shooshie]

The MOTU method of editing the color palette was created for convenience. To set the color, individually, for each swatch would be a time-consuming process, when something pretty near that level of control could be offered by allowing only to set the endpoints of a row of swatches, then mathematically apportion the in-between swatches to a gradient between those two endpoints. By setting the endpoints for completely different colors and hues, you can get the ones in between to jump pretty far, though it may be hard to get exactly the colors you want them to be.

Even so, there are 12 rows. That's 24 swatches you can set, for a total of 84 swatches, with no duplication necessary among them. I know a Mac can do billions and billions of colors, but 84 is quite a lot for color-coding tracks. Then there's the fact that with QuicKeys you can instantly switch between dozens and dozens of sets with only a few keyboard commands (by layering dual-triggers over the same keys), so if you're working and decide that a set of colors is just not contrasty enough for the particular circumstance, you can switch to another set instantly. I do it all the time, and even have a print-out of 16 sets of swatches on one little 4x6 card that I use for a cheat sheet to remember the keyboard commands for those particular sets. The card sits on a stand beside my monitor.

As for assigning them to tracks, you can do so by tapping on the color-swatch beside each track in the Tracks Overview Window. Or you can control-click on the track name (in its color swatch) in the Mixing Board. Many other places as well. You don't have to accept DP's assignments for each track.

Is there a reason to do away with the shadings across each row of 8 colors? Personally I find the shades to make sense. Few tracks are isolated; most are part of a group of tracks, such as strings, woodwinds, saxes, brass, guitars, vocals, and so forth. As such, the shadings make it much faster to find what you're looking for. It would take a long time to memorize 84 colors for 84 tracks. But 12 color groups for 12 groups of instruments? That is easy to remember, and you can make it your method of working from project to project. Further, when you change colorsets, the track groups are still shaded similarly within each group. It's more consistent even from colorset to colorset.

More than you asked for, I know, but the simple answer is "no," and that really doesn't tell you much, does it?

Shooshie