Track background highlighted when Track is selected ?

vanhaze · 12-10-2016, 05:05 AM

Dear Reapers,

Is there some way in Theme editing, to make a Track background in Arrange view get highlighted, when i select that Track in TCP ?

Would be very handy imho.

Warm Regards.

MikComposer · 12-10-2016, 05:34 AM

Would be in did. But it is impossible. Instead we have darkened track on mute, that no one likes.

vanhaze · 12-10-2016, 05:36 AM

Thank you for your help !

Pfff. thats a Bummer 2.0; Think i gonna make it a FR then.

Indeed, i don't like the shaded Track background on Track mute also.

vseanv · 12-10-2016, 06:56 AM

Wahht I actually LOVE the track dark on mute! Love seeing what isn't playing back at a glance.

vitalker · 12-10-2016, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vseanv

Wahht I actually LOVE the track dark on mute! Love seeing what isn't playing back at a glance.

Me too, but it could be useful to have an option for swithing it off and change its "darkness".
Yep, some highlighting would be really awesome! +1

MikComposer · 12-10-2016, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vitalker

Me too, but it could be useful to have an option for swithing it off and change its "darkness".
Yep, some highlighting would be really awesome! +1

Yes, option would be good, and high lightening too. It would actually be much better if the items on muted track would dim out, similar to locked tracks. This way, it would be easy to notice which track is muted, without that distracting ugly bar obscuring the image.

vitalker · 12-10-2016, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikComposer

It would actually be much better if the items on muted track would dim out, similar to locked tracks.

What about tracks without items?

MikComposer · 12-10-2016, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vitalker

What about tracks without items?

Nothing would change. You would be able to see mute button on the track, since there are no items it is easy to track the track XD, or have option selected for muted tracks to be darkened. And yeah, actually muted track panels could be dimmed out too, like locked tracks are now, and figure out different indication for locked tracks. Maybe those would become just monochrome.

vitalker · 12-10-2016, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikComposer

And yeah, actually muted track panels could be dimmed out too, like locked tracks are now, and figure out different indication for locked tracks. Maybe those would become just monochrome.

Yep, it may be useful as well.

EpicSounds · 12-10-2016, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikComposer

Instead we have darkened track on mute, that no one likes.

you're wrong, I like it. It's very easy to see which tracks are not playing and which are not.
Some users like it, others do not. You can't speak for all of them.
Most users aren't even on the forum so you have no idea.

xpander · 12-10-2016, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikComposer

Nothing would change.

Negative, if nothing changes, everything stays the same.

If you have the track control panels visible, it's as easy to see the track controls in both states. However, you can also use different layouts, have the panels resized or hidden altogether...double click the dividing bar between TCP and Arrange area for a quick test. Now how do you tell one of the tracks is muted? And in this case "mute indication" over just the items will not be enough either. You can be working on an area where several or even all the visible tracks have no items in there.

Same the other way around, you can of course also have a view where all you see are items. So having the mute indication only on track background will not do it either.

All that together, the current way works but is sometimes too distracting, depending on people and situations. Being able to change the mute color would be a step ahead, having separate indication for the items and background maybe even better. In latter case it could well be the same for both the items and tracks to begin with, but users could change either one depending on their preferences. More there are options and things to change, the more complicated the whole will be naturally. It's easy to forget when pushing for your favorite things, but may start bothering when going through options set for other peoples preferences.

---

Sorry vanhaze, all this OT. I agree, a selected track background highlight could also be beneficial sometimes.

vanhaze · 12-10-2016, 11:49 AM

Hi Xpander,

No need to say sorry, i always appreciate any kind of comment you give in this forum, cause i see you
as a real Reaper Guru, just as Jon and Kenny. I learned so much from you guys.

To come back ontopic: Yes, i truly think if there was a Preference setting in Reaper, "highlight track background when track is selected", which you could turn on or off, would be really great, not only
for me, but for alot of people.

Also it would be a unique DAW feature, i don't know any DAW that has this option or feature.
Just my 2 cents.

xpander · 12-12-2016, 02:37 PM

Thank you for your kind words vanhaze. I'm really just one amongst many much more knowledgeable helpers around here. I'd like to forward the gratitude to all of the people here, the ones we all know as well as the ones who may be easily forgotten. Thank you.

vanhaze · 12-12-2016, 02:40 PM

Great Words Xpander, and no thanks at all.

People like you make this Community really outstanding and unique.

Warm regards.

AugerJ · 12-12-2016, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanhaze

... Also it would be a unique DAW feature, i don't know any DAW that has this option or feature.

Studio One, Samplitude... Not sure about Sonar.

MikComposer · 12-13-2016, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xpander

Negative, if nothing changes, everything stays the same.

If you have the track control panels visible, it's as easy to see the track controls in both states. However, you can also use different layouts, have the panels resized or hidden altogether...double click the dividing bar between TCP and Arrange area for a quick test. Now how do you tell one of the tracks is muted? And in this case "mute indication" over just the items will not be enough either. You can be working on an area where several or even all the visible tracks have no items in there.

Same the other way around, you can of course also have a view where all you see are items. So having the mute indication only on track background will not do it either.

All that together, the current way works but is sometimes too distracting, depending on people and situations. Being able to change the mute color would be a step ahead, having separate indication for the items and background maybe even better. In latter case it could well be the same for both the items and tracks to begin with, but users could change either one depending on their preferences. More there are options and things to change, the more complicated the whole will be naturally. It's easy to forget when pushing for your favorite things, but may start bothering when going through options set for other peoples preferences.

---

Sorry vanhaze, all this OT. I agree, a selected track background highlight could also be beneficial sometimes.

I'd be completely fine with mute not changing anything visually. Really. I'm not ok with unnecessary eye blister causing darkening of the track. I'm all for those option to be there. Atm reaper does not fully expresses it's motto to design your own workflow. In fact it exercises it in mostly least important elements.

CEART · 04-30-2021, 04:34 PM

My personal preference is: track highlighted by selecting or when mute, but I don't need highlighted when I want to apply a new color to a track, since then the color dye changes when the tracks are not highlighted. Absurd.

So the ideal would be to allow the user to choose active or deactivated. Is that possible already?

halfshavedyaks · 05-02-2021, 03:26 AM

My issue with the muted track darkening is that I can't see the waveform clearly. I often use muted tracks as a guide to where I am in a piece when tracking and for various other purposes where I need to see it clearly. Or I might need to line up audio between a muted and unmuted track.

I have resorted to unmuting and turning the fader down a lot of the time, but it's clumsy and may use more cpu in some situations.

I understand and agree that there should be a clear visual indication of muted tracks, but for me it needs to leave the waveform easy to see. It could be a colour cast or hue rotation, or a slight vignette effect on the top and bottom of the track, or it could be that the track background changes, but the items don't. Lots of possibilities!

Really the point is that the mute visual behaviour should be themable. Then all needs can be catered to.