View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0005230ardourfeaturespublic2013-01-24 19:24
ReporterAlex Stone Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityfeatureReproducibilityN/A
Status newResolutionopen 
Summary0005230: simplifiy midi input and record arm workflow
Description1) Have active midi input follow selected track(s)

When a track is selected midi input is enabled for that track and rendered inactive for unselected tracks.

2) Record Arm follows selected tracks.

Again, when a track is selected that track is automatically record armed, and when switching tracks the record arm "follows".


Both these functions could be turned on and off by the user with 2 checkboxes in Edit>Preferences>MIDI (for example)

"Midi input follows selected track(s)"

"Record Arm follows selected track(s)"

Why?

Because at the moment it's 4 keybind actions to enter a track and leave it (Alt+I, Shift+B, Shift+B, Alt+I).

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I would contend that the majority of users would use these functions by default, and having them as checkboxes enables manual control for corner cases, and rare exceptions.

The current workflow is slow and clumsy, imho.
TagsNo tags attached.

Activities

paul

2013-01-02 23:22

administrator   ~0014412

It is hard for me to imagine that anyone wants rec-enable to follow track selection.

The first option i fully agree with.

pneuman

2013-01-20 06:59

reporter   ~0014511

Midi input following the selected track sounds good to me. It might also be good if you could (optionally) nominate a single MIDI input device (ie: the typical user's one and only keyboard) which would be auto-connected to the inputs on all new MIDI tracks

Alex Stone

2013-01-24 17:12

reporter   ~0014595

Record arm following the selected track is a common workflow component. (See muse2 in linuxland, for one example)

Use case.

Building orchestral tracks with doubled instruments takes time, and there's invariably a lot of tracks to deal with. Harmonic lines are often doubled across multiple instruments, and recording the same line in these multiple tracks would generally be done at the same time. So record the violas, and then "immediately" record the clarinets, who might be playing the same line.

Not having this feature might seem miniscule, but accumulate the number of manual record arm/disarm actions across a large session of midi tracks, and quite likely a song of greater length than 3 or 5 minutes, and it adds up.

As i wrote initially, this feature can be engaged or not with a checkbox option, so everybody wins in terms of varied workflow.

Alex Stone

2013-01-24 19:24

reporter   ~0014597

I'm going to add suggested text here for the manual should these features be implemented:

Midi input can follow selected track(s) in Ardour 3, by enabling the checkbox "Midi input follows selected track(s)", found in Edit>Preferences>MIDI.

When this is active, midi input will automatically engage for selected track(s), and disengage for unselected tracks.

Record Arm can follow selected track(s) in Ardour 3, by enabling the checkbox "Record Arm follows selected track(s)", found in Edit>Preferences>MIDI.

When this is active, Record Arm will automatically engage for selected track(s), and disengage for unselected tracks.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2012-12-27 21:44 Alex Stone New Issue
2013-01-02 23:22 paul Note Added: 0014412
2013-01-20 06:59 pneuman Note Added: 0014511
2013-01-24 17:12 Alex Stone Note Added: 0014595
2013-01-24 19:24 Alex Stone Note Added: 0014597