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Copy/Paste Destination Track mystery


Sven

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If I highlight a track and copy a section of audio and then go to paste it somewhere else in the same track I would expect Paste or Paste Special to default to my current highlighted track number.   Instead the chosen Destination Track number is a mystery to me.   For example, I highlight and copy a section of my vocal take on track #31 and then go to Paste Special and see the Destination Track is set to #45.  I've seen this many times and there seems to be no predictable pattern for it's behavior.   Why track #45?

Occasionally, I throw the dice and just Ctrl-C (copy) a section and go to where I want to copy it on the same track and do Ctrl-V (paste) and it's actually placed on the current track where I want it.  But usually it pastes to some other track (who knows which one?) and I need to go to Edit/Undo Paste and do a Copy Special where I specify the correct Destination Track to fix it.

 

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It looks like a simple programming error to me because I would think the obvious default destination track should be the one you've got highlighted.    It must be a 'feature'!   Seriously,  this behavior does slow me down a lot because I can never trust what track my Ctrl-V paste is going to end up on.   I always have to double-check before I can move on.

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bdickens, are you using the latest updates?  i believe i am.  i'm guessing others have had this same problem perhaps depending on what version they are using.

it seems rare (25% of the time?) that the destination track is the one i've selected when I see the dialog box for "paste special".  I believe the track you see there is also what Bandlab thinks it should be if you just do a ctrl-v paste.  

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The currently focused track (name field highlighted) is the default destination for pasting.  Selection and track focus are independent in Cakewalk so it's quite possible to select a clip in one track while some other track remains focused so the paste ends up going there. This is a useful feature when needed (e.g. you want to copy clips from several  other tracks to the one you're currently working on without constantly having to switch the focus back to the destination track and/or scroll up and down in a big project),  but it does mean you need to keep track (no pun intended) of where your focus is.

If you're not deliberately intending to move/copy things across tracks you'll want to start all your edits by deliberately clicking in the header of the track you intend to work on to set the focus there before you do anything else.

The PRV has 'Auto Focus' and 'Always Paste Copied Notes into Active Track' options to help with this, but so far as i know, the Track View still does not. This would might make a good feature request to facilitate some workflows.

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Hi David Baay,

 Thanks for your reply.

  By "name field highlighted" you mean the user defined name for each track number?  Like "Gtr Solo" or "Vox A"?   The reason I'm asking is that when I click on a track number to focus that user defined name (Gtr Solo) is automatically highlighted as well.   Even when I see both the track number and name highlighted my paste goes to a random track I never specified.  That is unless I do Paste Special and change the destination starting track number every time.

  If I focus on track #36 and highlight the track number/name and then copy something, I may or may not have that clip pasted to track #36 unless I specify it in Paste Special.   If I focus on track #36 and highlight the track number/name is there something else I'm supposed to do to insure that track #36 will get the paste later?   

Thanks.

 

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As long as I highlight the track and make sure the marker is where I want the paste, even a simple CTRL-V will work. But I have to make damn sure both of those are where I intended. If I copy a clip from and track and intend to copy it back to a new location on the same track, I usually don't need to highlight the track but there are times where either nothing happened or it went somewhere into the ether. And then if you hit CTRL-Z to undo the mystery paste you risk undoing a previous change somewhere.

So I pay close attention to highlighting the track and the location of the marker.

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I think I just figured out what David Baay is talking about.  In Track View you can highlight the track number which will also highlight the track name.  If you've done that then your paste should probably be where you want it in most cases.

But you can also highlight a track number and then highlight a different track number's name.  That is where the paste will indeed go.   I don't recall having to worry about this behavior previously but it could have just been ignorance is bliss.    At least now I can predictably paste to the track I intended by making sure the track name is highlighted and not just the track number.

 

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You are right. It pastes to the highlighted track name not the number. I never noticed that but I've always highlighted the number and never highlighted a name as a second step.

Oh geez, I see the dust of the manual posse on the trail behind us ...

Edited by Terry Kelley
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30 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

Paste always pastes to the active track, which is indicated by the name being highlighted. There can only be one active track.

The track number being highlighted indicates that the track is selected, and many tracks can be selected.
 

Ah, so I see why it works. If you select the track number, the name automatically highlights too (so it's now the active track.) But if you then click on a track name, it becomes the active track and the track where you clicked the number isn't active even though the number is still highlighted.  I always click on the track number which also makes it the active track so I never got burnt. I only click on the name if I plan on changing it.

Very important distinction!

Edited by Terry Kelley
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On 8/18/2021 at 5:40 PM, Sven said:

bdickens, are you using the latest updates?  i believe i am.  i'm guessing others have had this same problem perhaps depending on what version they are using.

it seems rare (25% of the time?) that the destination track is the one i've selected when I see the dialog box for "paste special".  I believe the track you see there is also what Bandlab thinks it should be if you just do a ctrl-v paste.  

Works fine here. Latest build 058. Infact you don't have to click on the track header. I click directly on the track view to where I wana paste. 

The only time i do drop the f-bomb - its when the loop is on and I do a paste. 

Edited by Will_Kaydo
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