Track Highlighting more visible and consistent

[Sergio Miranda 3]

Hi, 
sometimes I'm working on a track by mistake and this is very annoying. You should provide a more visible and consistent way of highlighting selected tracks.

[chuckebaby 772]

Each track can be color coded for identification purposes. this is what I have done since its inception.

[Sergio Miranda 3]

I think you didn't understood my point... when you select a track there is no information that tells you the track is selected... well, in fact there is but it is barely noticed.
See image.... the KICK track is selected but in fact it doesnt stand out from the other tracks (even if all other tracks have different colors it remaims barely noticed).

I think the whole track's color should be lighter or darker when selected or maybe change to it's inverted color....

Edited February 1, 2020 by Sergio Miranda

[User 905133 1,148]

Sometimes when I select a track I get more indicators than you show.  See below, Track 4.  Maybe someone can explain the difference between what I did and what yours shows.  I think there's a difference between a track being "active" and a track having "focus," but (1) I am not sure and (2) I don't understand a lot of the nuances of the UI.  I just move my hand, my keyboard, the mouse, etc. and they seem to know what I want.  If not, my brain says, "try something else." 

Edited February 1, 2020 by User 905133

[Sergio Miranda 3]

User 905133

that's exactly what I mean. Maybe because I'm using a theme my UI don't behave like expected. I'm gonna check it out.

[scook 4,386]

The theme is pretty old too. It looks like a theme created for SONAR not CbB. I see elements that were added after the theme was made.

 

[chuckebaby 772]

17 hours ago, Sergio Miranda said:

I think you didn't understood my point...

I dont think you understand how selection works.

17 hours ago, Sergio Miranda said:

the KICK track is selected but in fact it doesnt stand out from the other tracks

That kick track is not selected. 

Your kick track has "focus", Not "selected". There's a difference. To select the track, click on the track number or one of the tracks clips (to select that tracks clip).

Edited February 1, 2020 by chuckebaby

[chuckebaby 772]

[Sergio Miranda 3]

chuckebaby
I think you're right, I was confusing "focus" and "selected". thank you for your explanation....

[chuckebaby 772]

16 hours ago, Sergio Miranda said:

chuckebaby
I think you're right, I was confusing "focus" and "selected". thank you for your explanation....

Hey no problem. Easy mistake to be honest.

They each have their own uses but it can be confusing sometimes.

Cheers.

[Mark Morgon-Shaw 496]

2 hours ago, chuckebaby said:

Hey no problem. Easy mistake to be honest.

They each have their own uses but it can be confusing sometimes.

Cheers.

What is the differnce please, I think I only ever select tracks...what's the benefit of having one in focus and another selected ?

[chuckebaby 772]

32 minutes ago, CosmicDolphin said:

What is the differnce please, I think I only ever select tracks...what's the benefit of having one in focus and another selected ?

You can work on one track while still retaining selection of another track.

[Jim Fogle 671]

@chuckebaby, I'm confused.  Okay so you place focus on a track so you can work on the track while a second track is selected.  What can you do with the selected track?  Why would you want to have a selected track while working on the track in focus?

[chuckebaby 772]

7 hours ago, Jim Fogle said:

@chuckebaby, I'm confused.  Okay so you place focus on a track so you can work on the track while a second track is selected.  What can you do with the selected track?  Why would you want to have a selected track while working on the track in focus?

A few places this comes into play is in the Piano roll view and also Auto track zoom. I cant explain this in 2 sentences. I wish I could.

This feature was created with the inception of Sonar X2 (close to 8 years ago) so its nothing new really. But I will say this.. It is still to this day, confusing to users, so I totally understand ones frustration in understanding the two. Documentation is also not something easy to find. Unless you look up "Auto track zoom" and even then search results are limited.

Here is a pretty good comment by FBB that describes it nicely

http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/2707352

As you can see, even 8 years ago my response on that thread is pretty much the same as here :-)

 

 

[Jim Fogle 671]

@chuckebaby

Well, that 2012 thread was as clear as mud.  As far as I can tell one term selects which track is displayed in the track inspector while the other term selects which track will accept edits, right?

I did click on Karl Rose's links and discovered his pdf files are still available on DropBox!🙂

[chuckebaby 772]

7 hours ago, Jim Fogle said:

I did click on Karl Rose's links and discovered his pdf files are still available on DropBox!

After using Pro Audio and Sonar for almost 10 years, I joined the Cakewalk forums in 2011. Karl was one of the first members I interacted with.

The drop box PDF's are for his videos for SWA  You tube. An amazing 4 hour course on the in's and out's of Cakewalk.

[David Baay 853]

 

On 2/5/2020 at 7:57 PM, Jim Fogle said:

Okay so you place focus on a track so you can work on the track while a second track is selected.  What can you do with the selected track?  Why would you want to have a selected track while working on the track in focus?

After a while, the separation of selection and focus becomes so ingrained that you don't even think about all the things it makes possible. Here are a couple that I'm aware of using regularly;

- A selected track is the source for a copy/cut while the focused track is the target for a paste. Separating the two functions facilitates copy/cut/paste from one track/lane to another with keyboard shortcuts.

- Separate focus lets you inspect and modify parameters on any track/bus without losing a selection you've made on another track or multiple tracks. If focus and selection were the same thing, the track inspector could only work when a single track/bus was selected.

 

[marled 554]

2 hours ago, David Baay said:

If focus and selection were the same thing, the track inspector could only work when a single track/bus was selected.

No, that is just a matter of the implementation!

[David Baay 853]

9 hours ago, marled said:

No, that is just a matter of the implementation!

What would you have the Track Inspector show when more than one track is selected?  And what would you have the various controls do if they weren't hidden/locked?

Yes, I know that the Clip and Track tabs of the Inspector will show 'multi' when more than one clip/track is selected with different parameter values, but there's a very limited set of situations in which this is useful, and that behavior wouldn't be applicable to the main Inspector view of the track/bus widgets or the Prochannel tab. 

[sjoens 387]

On 2/9/2020 at 11:13 PM, David Baay said:

- A selected track is the source for a copy/cut while the focused track is the target for a paste. Separating the two functions facilitates copy/cut/paste from one track/lane to another with keyboard shortcuts.

Nice explanation.

Also, you can Select several tracks at once but only one track can be Focused at one time.

Select: Highlights the track number

Focus: Highlights the track name background (colored strips) & entire track (noncolored strips).

When Show strip colors is not checked, the entire track lightens up. Possible this could also be true for colored strips.

Edited for less confusion

Edited April 18 by sjoens