Vertical rulers or marker tails?

[Starship Krupa]

As a veteran of other DAW's and video NLE's, I'm used to being able to align clips and other events to either the tails of markers (in programs where the markers are designed with tails that go all the way to the bottom of the track window) or to resettable vertical rulers.

So far, I haven't been able to find either of these features in Cakewalk's documentation. The Now Time indicator and the Aim Assist Line are nice things, but have a couple of problems each, the first of which is that there's only one each of them, the second that they move, the Now Time indicator is used for other things (such as keeping track of the Now Time), and the Aim Assist Line's job is to flit to the nearest snap point and hover there like Tinkerbell as far as I can tell. Which is handy, but I find that there are other things that can distract the Aim Assist Line.

Is there such a feature that with Cakewalk's richness and depth of features I have somehow missed?

If, as I fear, not, how do the rest of you folks go about doing things like aligning the start edges of 4 clips that are buried in the 3rd Take Lanes in Tracks 20-23 with the finish edge of a clip in Track 5 and then two days later punching in a MIDI keyboard part at the same start point that will be recorded on Track 30? And then go in and automate a filter res open and close that peaks exactly at our aforementioned point of interest?

With vertical rulers/marker tails, it's easy. You plop down a nice vertical line that comes in a choice of colors, then you line everything up to it.

Without them, I am finding it to be like trying to thread a needle blindfolded. While on a sailboat in a gale. With a recently-unleashed kraken trying to steal the thread and needle.

[Canopus]

I don’t know if I fully understand your problem, but are you trying to align clips to markers? I don’t know about any fixed visual vertical cue extending from a marker down to the bottom of the pane, but if you click both the Snap To and the Snap to Landmark Event buttons, you will effectively be able to snap to markers. For this to work, you must first also make sure that Markers are selected as valid landmarks (most easily done by right-clicking the Snap button in the control bar).

[Starship Krupa]

4 minutes ago, Canopus said:

are you trying to align clips to markers?

Yes, but not just clips, all sorts of things. Automation nodes, future edits, punch points, etc.

All of them become so deliciously....alignable when there's a line I can stick there to align them to. If I were to create a motivational office poster about it, it would say "You Can't Say 'Alignment' Without 'A Line.'' Or something.

10 minutes ago, Canopus said:

I don’t know about any fixed visual vertical cue extending from a marker down to the bottom of the pane,

Perhaps Cakewalk lacks such a feature. Gosh I hope not. Feature request time if it doesn't.

14 minutes ago, Canopus said:

if you click both the Snap To and the Snap to Landmark Event buttons, you will effectively be able to snap to markers. For this to work, you must first also make sure that Markers are selected as valid landmarks

This is what I had been trying during the aforementioned krakensturm. Between the time I posted and you answered, I figured out that it works much better if I have the Snap Intensity cranked all the way up to the far end of Extreme. It gave Aim Assist some biceps.

The Ref. Guide (aka "revised standard version") refers to an "option called magnetic snap" (sic) that has strength settings low, medium, high, and off. Maybe it was like this in SONAR? In Cakewalk, this corresponds to Snap Intensity and has a variable setting from Light to Extreme. I couldn't find an "off," but Extreme seems to be the closest equivalent. Seems odd that "Extreme" is the new "Off."

That dadgum Aim Assist line, though, some prankster put this rectangular readout on the thing right on top of the information I'm most interested in, which is what measure and musical subdivision my cursor is at. The readout apparently can't be suppressed, nor can its type size be increased to something my eyes can make out, and it insists on reading out whatever the Transport meter is set to all the way out to the last digit, so I can know exactly what "tick" my cursor is located near (were I able to read it of course). Since the Aim Assist wiggly blob sits right on top of the Time Ruler, it renders both of them useless, and I've always had to go by either the big display on the Transport module or the smaller one above the Track headers.

I never knew there was a unit of musical subdivision known as a "tick" until I started using Cakewalk. To me, that's what you check roadies for before you let 'em on the bus (hey!).

[treesha]

Im not on the program now to be more specific, but i think you can get some vertical grid lines by going into view i think then vertical gridlines which can be in front of or behind clips. I dont remember if they are adjustable or not. 

[Starship Krupa]

5 hours ago, treesha said:

i think you can get some vertical grid lines by going into view i think then vertical gridlines which can be in front of or behind clips

Indeed you can. That's the Grid, and yes, without it, there would be no hope at all. It's static, like an overlay of graph paper.

What I'm talking about is a single (or multiple) vertical line that the user can place along the timeline to mark a place where they want to line up multiple events. And it would be persistent, yet deletable or movable, for each project. Almost exactly like the Markers in Cakewalk, but with a line that extends all the way down the Track space so that the user can just pop over to it and drag things up to it, put automation nodes on it, etc.

Here's a cap of what I mean in another program. I have grid snap off because the event is not on the grid, I placed the marker by listening to the song and hitting a key. But since I have this nice line, I can set an automation node right smack where I want it. Or I could drag a clip with a musical cue right up to it or whatever.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Starship Krupa
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[sjoens]

Cakewalk lacks what you want. Extended markers like Mixcraft has would be great. And color changeable too!

Edited April 30, 2019 by sjoens

[Grem]

I'd be happy with just the ability to have different colored markers. 

 

Having never had what SK is talking about, and having made do with what we have, I am ok if we never get it. 

 

But man, it would be nice!!!

[Starship Krupa]

How about that, eh? Different colored markers would make those verses and choruses and all easier to see at a glance.

And really, if you've not used markers with tails or rulers in an NLE, they really do come in handy.

I will prepare a feature request, cross my fingers, and make do with the tools I have available in Cakewalk.