Track Lanes Discussion

[Coachz]

Trying to do this please.

[mschnell]

why ?
(In this forum Feature requests are not allowed, anyway )

[JRTaylorMusic]

I made a post in the FR forum about this, but I'm curious if anyone else would use this.

My ideal workflow is a combination of OG Reaper Takes and Fixed Media Item Lanes.

• Show/play only one lane
• New recording splits existing items and adds takes (into currently shown lane)
• Empty lanes are added manually (and recording always takes place in currently selected lane(s)

[mossan]

Originally Posted by JRTaylorMusic

I made a post in the FR forum about this, but I'm curious if anyone else would use this.

My ideal workflow is a combination of OG Reaper Takes and Fixed Media Item Lanes.

• Show/play only one lane
• New recording splits existing items and adds takes (into currently shown lane)
• Empty lanes are added manually (and recording always takes place in currently selected lane(s)

I made a request earlier.
My case I want use like an old digital Multi-Track Recorder virtual track.

[cool]

Guys, help me figure it out. How to turn off Track Lanes? Yes, just turn it off to return the track state to what it was before activation?

The problem is that after activating and disabling Track Lanes, I lose the ability to crossfade (at least between two layered items) and a round icon remains on the track. How to remove it?

Animated GIF:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11X3...ew?usp=sharing

In the workflow it looked like this: I simply turned on Track Lanes, quickly took the opportunity to split the layered items and change the length of one, and then turned off Track Lanes because I no longer needed it. But his presence continues, which breaks my workflow a little.

[schwa]

Originally Posted by cool

Guys, help me figure it out. How to turn off Track Lanes? Yes, just turn it off to return the track state to what it was before activation?

To get back to where you want to be you will need to turn track lanes on, move all the items to the top lane, then turn track lanes off. We can add an action that will do this, for the next release.

[edit] the action already exists Select all items on the track and run "Track lanes: Move items to top lane".

[cool]

Originally Posted by schwa

To get back to where you want to be you will need to turn track lanes on, move all the items to the top lane, then turn track lanes off. We can add an action that will do this, for the next release.

[edit] the action already exists Select all items on the track and run "Track lanes: Move items to top lane".

It works, I checked. Thanks for the quick response!

[schwa]

There is a minor bug when doing this that will be fixed in the next release: the hidden lane indicator is not cleared.

[cool]

Originally Posted by schwa

There is a minor bug when doing this that will be fixed in the next release: the hidden lane indicator is not cleared.

Cool! Thank you!

[Ben Zero]

Originally Posted by Ben Zero

With 'Preferences > Appearance > Highlight edit cursor over last selected track' enabled:

It would be really useful and consistent (with the general UI if not with the current preference labelling) if the 'caret' cursor was shown on the last clicked track lane, so you knew where pasting would take place. It currently "highlights" the whole track, including all lanes, which seems to be missing a trick!

Thanks for implementing this guys! (I think in the latest dev release).

Really neat and elegant - great job.

Ben

[bolgwrad]

Is there a setting to defeat this behaviour? I know I can dbl-click on a crossfade arm, or use 'trim behind item', but I don't want it in the first place, and I don't want the fade to persist. Auto-CF set 'off', btw.

[schwa]

Originally Posted by bolgwrad

Is there a setting to defeat this behaviour? I know I can dbl-click on a crossfade arm, or use 'trim behind item', but I don't want it in the first place, and I don't want the fade to persist. Auto-CF set 'off', btw.

Ah, that's a bug, it should respect the autocrossfade toolbar button.

[splitting_ears]

Is it expected that empty lanes are not saved in track templates? Or have I missed an option somewhere?

[fazmakesmusic]

Originally Posted by JRTaylorMusic

I made a post in the FR forum about this, but I'm curious if anyone else would use this.

My ideal workflow is a combination of OG Reaper Takes and Fixed Media Item Lanes.

• Show/play only one lane
• New recording splits existing items and adds takes (into currently shown lane)
• Empty lanes are added manually (and recording always takes place in currently selected lane(s)

I agree.

I’m still trying to the learn the fixed lanes workflow; I love the concept but I always go in expecting them to function as tracks within/behind tracks and get confused by the current behaviour.

With your requests above and having actions regarding items treating lanes as separate tracks we’d have a really powerful system with fixed lanes.

[J Riley Hill]

I'm using the workflow of recording with "comping" on and only the comp lane visible. Mostly I'm using keyboard shortcuts with a handful of the provided actions. For the most part it works like a dream!!

Using this workflow, I'm noticing, a little quirk with these two actions that makes them a bit hard to use:
Fixed lane comp area: Move comp area down for selected items. 42708
Fixed lane comp area: Move comp area up for selected items. 4270

I can select different items with comping on and if I trigger those actions from a keyboard shortcut it will toggle through the available items under that area. Even creating a new comp area if needed. (which is great!) But if there starts to be lanes that don't have any content in them in that space it will cycle in "nothing" into the comp area and the shortcut will no longer work. This makes sense (as their is no item being selected anymore)but it results in the actions feeling like you get "stuck" at times.

I notice that currently when you click on the arrows for "change fixed lane comp area" with the mouse it ignores any empty lanes. If it's possible for the aforementioned actions to have the same behaviour (of not switching in space from empty lanes) it would make them more reliable/useful for a mouseless workflow!!

[schwa]

Originally Posted by J Riley Hill

If it's possible for the aforementioned actions to have the same behaviour (of not switching in space from empty lanes)

Yes, that makes sense, we can change the behavior of those actions to only switch to source lanes that contain media.

[J Riley Hill]

Awesome!

[bolgwrad]

If I use the 'rename lane under mouse' action ID 42472 (assigned to alt+left click here, but happens with any modifier), the action doesn't exit until I click again on the desired lane header button - so that the entered new name follows the mouse up and down the track lanes. Wondering if this is intended.

[ferropop]

Hope this is the best place to post this:



Razoring everything in Fixed Lanes Layering tracks is currently super frustrating. Because RE selects per-lane (and not per-track) and it's not possible to collapse FL Layering tracks, Microscopic precision is required to ensure everything is selected, no more no less. At 4k this is a constant battle.

Been really pushing for a collapsed state for multi-lane-playing FL tracks like the above, I hope this demonstrates one of the many use-cases beyond simple aesthetics.


proposal : a collapsed view where there's a visual indicator of the contents of the underlying items, but Razor Edits operate on ALL lanes. Could be as simple as showing the waveform preview (like Folders do).


edit: I don't think new mouse modifier actions for "draw Razor Edit on ALL Lanes for track under mouse" is the solution because it's adding yet another set of modifiers for a special case.

[JRTaylorMusic]

Originally Posted by ferropop

edit: I don't think new mouse modifier actions for "draw Razor Edit on ALL Lanes for track under mouse" is the solution because it's adding yet another set of modifiers for a special case.

Why wouldn’t setting this as your default mouse modifier solve the problem?

[mschnell]

I also am afraid of too many modifiers.

BTW.: is there a decent "standard" way of selecting (be that RE or traditional right-drag) for scrolling while selecting ?

[ferropop]

Originally Posted by JRTaylorMusic

Why wouldn’t setting this as your default mouse modifier solve the problem?

First it doesn't exist yet.

Second, the intent can be automatically captured by the lane being collapsed/uncollapsed. If things are collapsed, you probably want to capture everything. If things are uncollapsed you probably want the granularity of selecting individual lanes.

[ovnis]

Originally Posted by ferropop

Hope this is the best place to post this:



Razoring everything in Fixed Lanes Layering tracks is currently super frustrating. Because RE selects per-lane (and not per-track) and it's not possible to collapse FL Layering tracks, Microscopic precision is required to ensure everything is selected, no more no less. At 4k this is a constant battle.

Been really pushing for a collapsed state for multi-lane-playing FL tracks like the above, I hope this demonstrates one of the many use-cases beyond simple aesthetics.


proposal : a collapsed view where there's a visual indicator of the contents of the underlying items, but Razor Edits operate on ALL lanes. Could be as simple as showing the waveform preview (like Folders do).


edit: I don't think new mouse modifier actions for "draw Razor Edit on ALL Lanes for track under mouse" is the solution because it's adding yet another set of modifiers for a special case.

Maybe that?

Fixed Lanes Layering tracks are little --> razor can't select all the lanes inside the fixed track.
Fixed Lanes Layering tracks are medium or big --> razor can select all the lanes inside the fixed track.

[ferropop]

Originally Posted by ovnis

Maybe that?

Fixed Lanes Layering tracks are little --> razor can't select all the lanes inside the fixed track.
Fixed Lanes Layering tracks are medium or big --> razor can select all the lanes inside the fixed track.

This is what I'm proposing.

[JRTaylorMusic]

Gotcha! In that case I think it’s a great idea, ferropop!

[deeb]

Originally Posted by JRTaylorMusic

Gotcha! In that case I think it’s a great idea, ferropop!

I am not sure has I am not trying on the computer. My feeling tells me to be careful about that. Maybe it could be an option. Maybe same option for RE select invisible envelopes lanes could work for that. But I don’t want to switch to big lanes in order to select individual lanes.

[ferropop]

Originally Posted by deeb

I am not sure has I am not trying on the computer. My feeling tells me to be careful about that. Maybe it could be an option. Maybe same option for RE select invisible envelopes lanes could work for that. But I don’t want to switch to big lanes in order to select individual lanes.

For sure needs some careful consideration deeb. But you see the issue above right? If you create a layered sound that now acts as one "unit", we need a way to treat it as a unit instead of selecting individual 5-pixel lanes. To me it seems reasonable that if a FL track is collapsed the intention is that the stuff in it is to be treated as a unit.

Again though, I don't think "big lanes" and "little lanes" are enough - I'm proposing an actual collapsed state as the best way to handle this. But any version of the above is better than what we have.


edit : Schwa has suggested "just take the track out of fixed lanes" but this just feels like a hack because we end up with a mess of overlapping items and no indicator that "this is actually a FL track that is taken out of FL mode for aesthetics".



...it works, it just feels like a bad idea in lieu of an actual solution

[ferropop]

Like, I guess a script could be written that checks if there's multiple lanes playing and if so prepend the track name with [FL] to indicate it's actually a FL track, and then take the track out of FL to "collapse" it. And the opposite - if a track has [FL] in the name the action would put it back into FL mode.

But sheesh haha.

[Wayland]

Hi there!
Really fond of Fixed Lines and almost get used to work with audio. (Multitrack record/comping too)

But Midi in Fixed lines brings some questions to the table

1) when comping midi To Comp Lane all selected parts that gets into C1 are automaticly pooled with source midi in Lanes

And i cant find any options to disable such behavior. In my most common workflow i want Lanes to be stock of my media, and Comp Lane - is my working table to move, edit, stretch, delete and so on. Almost like audio. I need to experiment - but be sure i have original takes in stock. Pooled MIDI ruins whole idea. If i edit, move or delete some MIDI notes - they are gone forever, and original performance and timing of musician is lost.
Manually disabling POOL after every New comp select is very complex and uncontrolled.
I hope some checkbox for POOLing midi when comping Fixed Lanes would be a dealmaker.
From my perspective i cant find any obvious reason to Pool edit oroginal MIDI takes. But if it needs in some cases - i still think UNPOOLED comping should be default (as thats how audio comping works at first place) and POOLing should be an option

2) Exporting MIDI track with FL - gives the summing result of all lanes, even inactive. So each note is multiplied by Lanes quantity (if performacne is same)

I try export MIDI selected items and only select visible Midi items from active C1
That works, but i found it confusing.

If i have only one lane active in my project. Thats my selected take or final comping lane - i see only it, i hear only it working in Project, thats my final desicion. I suppose EXPORTING should include only Active Lanes.

If i use several active lanes for separate Midi parts or smth like that - thats super logical to export midi including all active notes

And if i use FL as a stock of performance takes, and i use Comping or Select one best take - im pretty sure exporting this track to Midi should export only notes of my choise - not all the takes.

In each case i feel like exporting MIDI as a RESULT of my work - to send it to another producer or musician - should include only active notes

Update. Loading such Exported MIDI back in Reaper
a) looks super correct in TCP view
b) opens with all the extra notes from other takes i suppose.

I cant even understand if this extra notes are held in other midi channels or whats happens here. May be you could explain a bit.

At the end of the day if i mute some midi notes or midi items - they dont play in project and dont exist in export midi file. With same approach Nonactive (aka muted) lanes maybe should not exist in MIDI export


On screenshot there is result of my MIDI drums Fixed Lines record, comping and MIDI export. I send it to musicians, and they totally lost with dozens of extra notes (MIDI editor view on the right)

[Wayland]

Here is a small test of exporting midi (selected tracks only checkbox in MIDI export)

One screenshot is test orange track and green MIDI fixed lanes with only active item in C1 (and three unactive parts in lanes 1,3,4)

Second screen shot - is how result MIDI imports back to Reaper.
We could see all four parts are active in second track.

[mattn]

The autopunch recording (using pre-roll) in lanes starts at the beginning of the time selection, but does not stop at the end of it.

Even though the correct time selection is auto-comped to the comping lane, I would prefer to not see the part of the recording that is after the time selection. (of course it's good to have it if you need it)

The reason is that when I proceed to the next part of the song, due to the overlap of items, more lanes than necessary are created. Had the visible part of the autopunch recording been restricted to the time selection, the next part of the song could be recorded seemlessly after the end of the time selection without creating new lanes.

It also looks a bit messy in my opinion.

Or is there a reason for this behaviour?
Thanks so much!

[ferropop]

Originally Posted by mattn

The autopunch recording (using pre-roll) in lanes starts at the beginning of the time selection, but does not stop at the end of it.

Even though the correct time selection is auto-comped to the comping lane, I would prefer to not see the part of the recording that is after the time selection. (of course it's good to have it if you need it)

The reason is that when I proceed to the next part of the song, due to the overlap of items, more lanes than necessary are created. Had the visible part of the autopunch recording been restricted to the time selection, the next part of the song could be recorded seemlessly after the end of the time selection without creating new lanes.

It also looks a bit messy in my opinion.

Or is there a reason for this behaviour?
Thanks so much!

There's an option for toggling this.

The reason for having it is because you'll have a ton of issues with creating gaps in the comp when moving the crossfade on punch-ins without this behaviour. If the items are only sized to the punch-in and you move the crossfade, it's just empty space on both sides, and the empty space is what gets moved up to the comp lane.

[bolgwrad]

Is there an option or script to make loop takes in lanes stack from the bottom up, as opposed to top down?

As in the gif, the newest item ends up in the opposite lane to the first take item. Strictly logical, but if you want to keep (or discard) earlier takes there are extra steps, of comping or lane rearrangement.



And if the items you discarded removed their self-created lanes, so much the better.

[FeedTheCat]

Originally Posted by mossan

It would be nice if "Record to Lane" was also applied when "Display/Play Lane Only" is enabled.

+1. I've seen this requested a couple of times now. Imo it would be perfect if you could toggle the "Add lanes" recording option to decide whether you want to record lanes or takes in this case.

The "record into lane" step feels very unnecessary and gimmicky, especially when using fixed item lanes as track alternatives (with classic takes).

If we had this behavior collapsed fixed lane tracks and "classic" tracks would basically merge into the same thing. No need to break old workflows to get access to the new goodies. Think it would help a lot of people with enabling fixed item lanes (collapsed) by default.

Please consider this at least as an option.

[nvk]

I could really benefit from more actions for comp areas. Right now it's hard to create custom actions or scripts that don't require mouse usage. Ideas for some useful actions below.

Fixed lane comp area: Add comp area at time selection to top track lane
Fixed lane comp area: Add comp area at time selection to top track lane containing items
Fixed lane comp area: Add comp area at time selection to bottom track lane
Fixed lane comp area: Add comp area at time selection to bottom track lane containing items
Fixed lane comp area: Add comp area at time selection to selected item track lane
Fixed lane comp area: Move comp area in current time selection down
Fixed lane comp area: Move comp area in current time selection down (no cycle to top)
Fixed lane comp area: Move comp area in current time selection up
Fixed lane comp area: Move comp area in current time selection up (no cycle to top)

[Coachz]

And also being able to delete all of the lanes under a comp without affecting the neighbors that use those lanes also.

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=286126

[Jeremy Gillam]

Is the behavior of 42505 "Track lanes: Duplicate items from playing lanes to new lanes" a bug or a feature? When I run that command from TCP or actions list, both the original lane and the new lane play. I'm not sure why you would ever want this, as it results in phase issues. Seems to me only the new, duplicated lane should play. I've made customs actions that run that command then run "42638 Track properties: Show/play only one fixed item lane" twice in a row, but it's not ideal. Or maybe I am missing something!

Also, it would be great to get separate actions for "show all lanes" and "show only one lane" rather than just a toggle. In addition to comping I'm using lanes for keeping track of previous versions of sounds and MIDI and it would make the custom actions work better.

Another thing — duplicating a lane with MIDI pools the MIDI data with the previous lane, even though pool MIDI data is turned off in prefs. Again I've made custom actions, but it seems a little not right to me.

[schwa]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Gillam

Is the behavior of 42505 "Track lanes: Duplicate items from playing lanes to new lanes" a bug or a feature? When I run that command from TCP or actions list, both the original lane and the new lane play. I'm not sure why you would ever want this, as it results in phase issues. Seems to me only the new, duplicated lane should play. I've made customs actions that run that command then run "42638 Track properties: Show/play only one fixed item lane" twice in a row, but it's not ideal. Or maybe I am missing something!

I actually can't reproduce that. When I run the action, the original lanes continue to play, and the duplicated lanes do not play. Can you verify that you are using the latest REAPER version?

[Jeremy Gillam]

Originally Posted by schwa

I actually can't reproduce that. When I run the action, the original lanes continue to play, and the duplicated lanes do not play. Can you verify that you are using the latest REAPER version?

Hi Schwa, yes, I'm on 7.09, M3 Macbook Pro MacOS 14.3 (23D56). I just tested it on a portable installation and I'm getting the same behavior. Make a new track, go to track>fixed item lanes, right click on fixed items lanes context menu and duplicate items to new lane. Result - both lanes play. It happens with an audio item and an empty MIDI item.

[schwa]

Ah I see, I think it only happens if all existing lanes are currently playing (which is always the case when there is only one lane). We can fix.