DP 8.02 reversion to DP7 behaviour for mixer track display

[philnicholl]

(I posted this first as a reply to ‪Re: What's NOT fixed in DP 8.02 [semi-resolved]‬ but I think it's a separate topic, hence this post.)

One issue that I loved about DP8 was that finally my mixer window stayed as I'd set it up when I moved between Tracks and Mixer tabs of the CW. When I've set up the tracks I want in the mixer I really DON'T want the layout to change unless I change the selected tracks in the mixer.

Finally in DP 8.0 and in DP 8.01 this was the case. But in DP 8.02 MOTU have decided to 'restore' the phenomenon whereby if you work in the tracks tab and return to the mixer tab, only the tracks that you had previously 'selected' in the tracks tab are displayed. I'm working on a 15" MacBook Pro and so don't have room on screen to pop out a window for my mixer. This is only an issue with changing between the tracks and the mixer tabs as other in tab windows - sequence for example - the sidebar track selector allows for independent selections.

Am I missing something? I hope I am. Is there a way to lock the tracks displayed in the mixer tab so that changes to the displayed tracks can only be made in that tab? I loved the way it was working in DP 8.01. Why, oh why has it been changed back? I would like to contact MOTU directly about this to suggest that at least this issue could be addressed with a preferences option but can't find a way to contact on their website. If there has been demand for a restoration of the old DP7 behaviour, a preferences option to make track selection changes in the mixer tab 'sticky' would allow those of us who loved the change to DP8 to keep what we had been waiting for.

[Gravity Jim]

Magic Dave from MOTU addressed this in another thread.

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... 2&start=30

There may be, as he says, a switchable preference in a future update.

For future reference, MOTU can be contacted in alots of ways, as it shows here: http://www.motu.com/techsupport

Also, this is an active community... You only need to post once to get a reply.

[Radiogal]

It can be selected from Preferences/Consolidate Windows/"Scroll the Mixing Board to the selection" (ON/OFF).

[Gravity Jim]

I think he's describing different behavior, RG.... it's the thing that MagicD talks about in that other thread.

[Radiogal]

Reading like a one eyed turkey..

[Gravity Jim]

Reading like a one eyed turkey..

Ha! Somebody who reads, writes and speaks several languages need never apologize. Most of us do a terrible job with just one.

[Tobor]

Thanks Magic Dave!
I, personally, because of my setup, only use the CW for a few windows, and keep others (like the tracklist and mixer) out of the CW. And I keep them in other Spaces. Unfortunately, this kills some of the functionality gained by using the CW. I'd like to be able to use that power whether in the CW or not.

+1+2! Yes, for me, it's been way too easy to have a track selected for an edit, then want to return to the mixer as I left it only to have the one track available and have to remember how I had the mixer set up before. Instant cursing!

Having to deselect the track you've been editing, and/or remember to do it, adds up to unnecessary extra clicks and interruptions in workflow. Certainly popping the mixer out is the workaround, and how I generally work now, but as Prime said that defeats the functionality of the CW. When you get into high track counts, then it becomes a space tug of war between the CW and the mixer. So I've been longing to be able to go back to the CW in a full screen mode.

I might also point out that for those who only want their selected track to show up in the mixer, isn't that what the Channel Strip is for?? You can have it in a sidebar or popped out as well.

All this is a plea to make this 'alternate functionality' an option in the next update. It's one of the only things in DP that bugs me, and that continues to trip me up on a regular basis even though I'm well aware of the behavior.

Editor's note: Sorry for double posting, but thought I'd 'vote' here in a more specific thread.

[mikehalloran]

Certainly popping the mixer out is the workaround, and how I generally work now

Since that is the way I have worked since DP 3(?), I confess to not understanding the issue before today - never thought about it.

[HCMarkus]

My mixer always resides on Monitor #2 in its own window.

[Tobor]

Thanks, guys.... I understand what you're saying. And I don't disagree with you when you think your methods are a preferable way of working.

Certainly, Mike, I enjoy working most with the mixer window popped out. It's perfect for what I need most of the time.

And HC, I don't have a second monitor, but I'm sure I could (and no doubt should) achieve something similar if I finally took the time to understand Spaces.

And if this is soon made a preference, as Magic Dave has already noted as a possibility, there will be no longer any issue with this at all.

All we're saying is that with multiple tracks in the Tracks Overview, you should be able to hit the Mixer tab in any state and have multiple tracks show up in the Mixer. That way it would be, for lack of a better word, "Consolidated"... and more useful. You shouldn't have to deselect a track you've just edited (an unnecessary key stroke) just to make sure you have your whole mixer instantly at your disposal when you hit the tab. And to view the rest of your tracks in the CW mixer, you have to click the track selector and select all those tracks again? More unnecessary keystrokes. Channel Strip works great if you just want to access the mixer settings quickly for an individual track.

I'm joining in the chorus here because it suddenly dawned on me that I might use the CW more, and more efficiently, if I reintegrated the mixer and expanded the CW to most of the screen. Sometimes I find myself jockeying for space between the mixer and TO and spending too much time resizing and clicking on windows to bring them to the front.

Not worth going on about this forever, but as long as someone brought it up, I thought it was worth squawking about loudly enough to put it on the 'to do' list. If adopted as a preference, noone would be forced to abandon their current workflow habits and preferences, yet those of us for whom this is a nuisance would be thrilled.

[philnicholl]

All this is a plea to make this 'alternate functionality' an option in the next update. It's one of the only things in DP that bugs me, and that continues to trip me up on a regular basis even though I'm well aware of the behavior.

Thanks very much for the replies and I apologise for posting twice. I've now read the other thread and am glad that MOTU are thinking of making this a preferences option. It is a little change but something that made me cheer when the behaviour was 'fixed' in DP 8.0 so to have it revert so soon was rather depressing. Tobor, I agree, it has always been one of the only things that bugged me about DP and paradoxically one of the few things I really like about ProTools.

We all work in different ways, but for those of us with limited screen space and who like to configure our mixing board and be able to return to it in the same state we left it, whatever window we may have been using, a preference option to enable this would be more than welcome.

[Timeline]

Because Dave's around, I would like to also complain that when saving a non- consolidated window setup with the controller window at the bottom, it does not leave it there on future resets to the saved setup. Instead it reverts the controller bar back to the top, exactly where I don't want it. I use DP always with it at the bottom and expect the setup to remember this. Vers 7 worked so what happened?

[delcosmos]

I am one of those guys happy about mixer following the track order, but I understand your workflow and think we really need a real option to turn this on or off.

The weird thing is that if you go back to DP8.01, the mixer window now follows the track order like DP8.02!

In my workflow, this is important because I get used to select tracks and edit those in the mixer fast, I know you can do it with the channel strip, but you can't do it with 2 tracks at the same time.

Let's say I want to copy a compressor from one guitar to another, what I do is select those two guitars in the tracks window (while my mixer is in my left consolidate window) then I quickly make that copy, otherwise, it would be a few steps that interrupts my workflow.

But I understand that is MY workflow and DP users have different ways of work, good to hear Magic D. says this could be addressed in a future version.

Best regards.

delcosmos.