Pasted notes overwriting existing notes

[jkoseattle]

If I copy notes within PRV from one track, then paste them to another track, still in PRV, existing notes on the target track are REPLACED with the pasted notes, rather than blended in. So I went to Preferences to Editing > What to do with existing material: And "Blend Old and New" is selected (like it has been for years, btw, I've never done anything else). For good measure I checked a different option, hit Apply, then selected "Blend..." again, hit Apply and closed Preferences. Same behavior. This makes me EXCEEDINGLY NERVOUS. 

So I tried pasting the notes onto the same target track in different places in the project, and sometimes it erased existing material and sometimes it didn't. After experimenting a while I finally went to Track View and took all the takes in that area of the piece and Bounced to Clip. This seemed to fix the problem. But I don't understand why.

I seldom bother with clips, and am constantly applying trimming and bouncing to clip, mostly just to simplify track view. Now I'm worried I'm going to inadvertently erase something because of some misunderstood behavior going on. Can anyone elucidate here?

[Promidi]

I pretty much work the same way with MIDI in the PRV.  I copy (sometimes cut) and paste a lot.  Sometimes between tracks. My clips are single huge clips in each track.  I also have “Blend Old with New” in Preferences - Editing....

In the 30 years of working this way, I have never seen the behaviour you just described.

Are you using the latest version of Cakewalk by Banflab?

[Nigel Mackay]

Try re-installing. Could be a glitch.

[msmcleod]

Are you sure they're actually being replaced?  MIDI clips appear overlapped in the clips view rather than merged as a comp clip like audio.

The best way to verify is to open the event view and see if the old events are still there or not.
 

[sjoens]

You can also expand Take Lanes.  Any pasted notes should be on their own lane.

Try doing it in a different project to verify it's reproducible, but close and reopen CbB 1st.

Edited August 30, 2023 by sjoens

[jkoseattle]

Yes, it turns out it was about Take Lanes. Things were pasting on top of an existing take. As soon as I highlight a take with empty room for the paste, it will accept it and not erase anything. I still don't know what's causing this, but at least I see what's going on. Ideas?

[David Baay]

Copy/Cut-Paste is lane aware. A copy from one track will go to the corresponding lane of the target track by default unless you specify otherwise by showing lanes and focusing a different lane. If the corresponding lane doesn't exist in the target track. I think it should create a new lane, but I haven't verified that, and I have occasionally seen unexpected results with lane awareness, and CbB will sometimes stack clips in layers in the same lane which it shouldn't generally do.

I generally do all inter-track copy-pasting in the track view - with lanes open if necessary -  and by drag and drop if there's any question about where things or going to go.

Edited August 31, 2023 by David Baay

[John Vere]

Me too and I abandoned take lanes a long time ago for these sort of reasons. I have never even considered it for midi? 

All midi data is now in  simple instrument tracks. There’s the odd time I will still use a midi track for a different octave part, like piano or synths,  just in case I might want to send it to a different instrument. 
I handle all copy paste operations in track view for both audio and midi. It’s just a faster workflow for me. 
PVR is we’re I draw and edit.  

[jkoseattle]

So are take lanes something I can disable somewhere? I will but I didn't know I could.

[sjoens]

No.  No Take Lane means no data.  Any data entering the track creates a Take Lane.  You don't have to "use" them but they have to exist.

Since previous takes can get buried under recent takes in the main track, expanding Take Lanes is useful in seeing what & where they all are.

Bounce to clips when all clips are selected combines all take lane clips to one lane.