A filter box has been added to the request. This was originally posted in another issue tracker feature request, but at the suggestion of Mercado_Negro moved here.


The illustrations.
The big one, with inline track name indicators for patch points more than twenty slots away from the origin.


A larger Routing Matrix with diagonal target track text:


The larger Routing Matrix with text descriptions and colour on both ends. Suggested for when the other descriptions are no longer visible in larger projects.




The problem :

The routing matrix gets unwieldy very quickly.

A solution:

A filter box as we have it in the FX browser, for tracks in the routing matrix. It does not simply show us which tracks contain ALL terms we enter, such as "vox bus" will only display tracks with both the terms "vox" and "bus" in their tack names for the current View:Filter Track Visiblity dialog popup.

It needs to display the tracks that contain either the term "vox" and "bus" in this example.

Possible development:

Use this filter box in other areas of Reaper, such as the TCP and MCP.

1. Column and row to the patch point are highlighted in the colour of the tracks. Users need only scan the edges of the matrix to find out what they're patching.
   
2. Track names connected to the patch point are highlighted with a larger and bold font. Users need only scan the edges of the matrix to find out what they're patching.
   
3. Patch point highlighted with two to four pixel black border around its area.
   
4. Vertical divider lines are dark for easier scanning by the user across the matrix.
   
5. Horizontal divider lines are bright for easier scanning by the user across the matrix.
   
6. Tracks feature a colour rectangle at the edge of the matrix, indicating custom track colours, adding another quick visual cue to where the user is in the matrix. It has been suggested using group colours instead. A good option ? They could live in a similar strip to the left or up of the track name text.
   
7. Folder parents and last child are indicated with the classic folder icons in front of the source tracks
   
8. Source track numbers are right-aligned in their own column, names are left-aligned in theirs. This dramatically improves scanning efficiency for users, due to reduced clutter from the track numbers.
   
9. Other patch points connected to the source or target tracks are inverted for quick indication of their existence. Scanning by user is reduced.
   
   
10. Keyboard Modifiers - Hold CTRL to restrict mouse cursor movement to current row or column
    
11. Create a series of patch points by click and dragging, restricted to same column or row of where the first patch point was done.
    
12. Organizing your tracks - Moving tracks by drag and dropping on their names in the left column.
    
13. Indenting track names if they are part of a folder(not shown in the mockups).

The primary goal was to achieve a more efficient way to spot what patch points are being created, removed or simply accessed.

The current tooltip is not optimal in that it combines track numbers and name of both source and target track in to one line, which thus often changes dramatically in composition and is therefore very hard for users to scan quickly. Most users would often resort to painstakingly trace the row or column of the patch point instead.

If the position of the tooltip could remain within the same grid that the patch points have, and have static positions for the track numbers and names, much like the track descriptions in the matrix itself, then readability and thus use of the tooltip would improve dramatically.