Those dotted automation lines

[Kevin Walsh]

I've been testing the next early release (and wow, it's nice) and I found a small defect that's triggered by the unexpected presence of a segment of dotted-line automation. The developers were all over it but it got me to thinking about these things.  I've been seeing these dotted line automation envelope things for a long time and never really understood what their purpose is or how they get created. They seem to breed like bunnies.

So I spent a bit of time this morning trying to find information on automation envelopes and these mysterious dotted-line segments, but I couldn't find any real discussion about the circumstances under which they are created and what purpose they serve.  Can anybody point me to some documentation, or maybe have some insider knowledge?

Edited August 7, 2020 by Kevin Walsh

[scook]

A dotted line to the right of a node can indicate either

• it is the last node on the envelope or
• the envelop to the right is a jump

A dotted line to the left of a node indicates a jump

 

[Kevin Walsh]

Thanks for chiming in, scook, I knew you'd know something, and thank you for the link  

So the dotted line indicates that there is no automation data present along the dotted segment, and the parameter that the envelope is bound to is not changed by a dotted line, I get that. I don't see why the distinction between a solid automation line and a dotted one is important to me when I'm working on a track. Is there some intrinsic value to me in choosing to do a jump rather than say, having just inserting a vertical set of nodes on a solid automation line?

[scook]

A dotted line indicates automation IS present. The value remains the same as the node on the left side of the dotted line until the jump is made to the node on the right side.

Jumps are often used when automating between two states such as toggling between off/on.

 

[tonemangler]

6 hours ago, Kevin Walsh said:

So the dotted line indicates that there is no automation data present

I believe this is almost correct, to me the dotted line represents no automation written/input by the user.  If you automate the volume of a track by recording fader moves at the beginning of the song, then press stop, then go to the middle section and record more volume automation there will be a dotted line anywhere you didn't record. CbB will read the automation until the last node of the first recording and when it sees no user automation will hold that value until it reaches another node in your second recording.  I guess this is called a Jump, though I've  never heard that terminology.  If you split a clip that has automation on it's track and then move it, the automation envelope will display a dotted line in the gap you created (the last user automation before the split to the new user automation after the move).

 

7 hours ago, Kevin Walsh said:

I don't see why the distinction between a solid automation line and a dotted one is important to me when I'm working on a track. Is there some intrinsic value to me in choosing to do a jump rather than say, having just inserting a vertical set of nodes on a solid automation line?

You wouldn't choose to do a jump because a jump happens when there is no automation data input by the user.  I think it might be better to not reference 'jump' and simply regard the dotted lines as no user input. For example, when automating an On/Off parameter, when you record 'toggle on' a node for that action will be placed in a an automation envelope at that time, then no user automation is recorded until you click 'toggle off', at which point another node will be created. After recording, a dotted line will be present between the two nodes because there was no user input there. This is how I've always understood it. Cheers.

[Jonathan Sasor]

How a Jump in the envelope behaves is that there's no active changes to the envelope for the duration of the jump, then it immediately goes to the next node's value. this is as opposed to having either a linear or fast/slow curve. You could make the same behavior with linear curves, but you'd need to add more nodes and set everything up at right angles. It's just a different workflow option.

Your project is creating jumps when using the draw too and drawing in spaces away from the existing envelope. If you for instance double-clicked the existing envelope to make a node, then dragged that, everything would stay linear. Or you could select a section of time and use the shelf tool (dragging from the top of the clip) if you wanted a straight linear "jump"... there's a few different ways to crack a nut depending on what you're trying to do in any given circumstance.