Can you excempt tracks from quick grouping?

The only way I can think of (other than the method you described) would be to temporarily hide them in the Track Manager. It might be a little faster/less finicky than having to Deselect each aux track... especially on very large projects.
 
The other, much faster/simpler, way would be to put all your Aux tracks/Track busses into a folder. Then (I think) you could just Ctrl Deselect the folder. That of course would mean your Aux tracks/Busses are no longer next to the tracks feeding them... which would be similar to the bus pane anyway so defeats the entire reason you seem to be using them.
 
Cheers.

chuckebaby
this is a perfect example of utilizing your screensets.
use them, love them, they will love you back :-)

Do screensets obey Track Manager instructions? Or do you mean setting up a screenset where all the Aux Tracks are bundled together that could be switched to make this type of selection easier?
 
I don't use Screensets (even though I should) so I'm curious.
 
Clever stuff, Chuck.

My problem with Screensets is mostly because I am constantly resizing/readjusting/opening and closing things/etc in such finicky and specific ways setting up specific Screensets for specific tasks is a little impractical. I've tried to work them into my workflow in the past but anything I set up is never what I need... so I then I'll set up another one... but then never need it again... and so on.
 
It's just the way I work. I'm too all over the place to really make proper use of them.
 
There are certain times though if I'm doing a really repetitive task that uses the same views over and over again I should/could make the effort but it happens so rarely (and even then I'm always tweedling with stuff) I just muscle through things manually.
 
I think if I did more MIDI work than I do now it would be more handy.

Switching screensets is practically instantaneous on all my systems - it's been like this since, I think, X3e - maybe even earlier

Bristol_Jonesey
 
I like the Beepster's idea of having Tracks & Auxes in their own folders, provided you can live with the visual disparity of not having them "next to each other"

I keep having this nagging feeling in the back of my head about some "Track Selection Group" feature I've seen mentioned in some documentation or tuts somewhere (which is exactly what Sausy is asking about) but I'm pretty sure it's one of those things I dreamed (yes I actually have nocturnal dreams about working with Sonar... lol) or maybe I'm thinking of something I've seen about one of the other DAWs.
 
This does however seem like it's perfectly ripe for a feature request for EXACTLY the reason OP is talking about... which is selection management now that we have Aux Tracks. They just did that fancy code work in regards to Solo'ing to work around Aux Tracks (thank you Bakers) so maybe this would be something else to consider and make Aux Tracks even more useful.
 
I can also think of a pile of other uses of having Track Selection Groups. I would however like some kind of overide of the groups or maybe a reverse setup where a group is created but ONLY activated with a modifier key pressed.
 
Something like...
 
Group Tracks 2, 5, 6, 8 are "Grouped" for selection.
 
Two options for Selection of the group.
 
1) Normal = No modifier needed to select all tracks in group. Select one and they are all selected.
 
2) Advanced = The grouped tracks will NOT select all at once without a modifier key press or maybe (because most shortcuts are already bound and this would allow MULTIPLE track selection groups) it would require a right click context menu which would allow the user to "Activate" a group of tracks for selection (which have been predefined). Then all tracks in the group are selected and the normal tasks one would do with a selection group can be accomplished. Relase the modifier (or right click and deselect the selection group) to release the group from selection.
 
And maybe add a "Reject" style selection which would work for what Sausy is up to. So he could group his Aux Tracks then somehow an option (maybe from a context menu) allows him to Select All Tracks Outside of Group (X).
 
Something like that.
 
I just brainfarted that out but it'd be VERY cool. And for me if I could write envelopes that way or arm things to accept envelopes... eh, I won't go into that.
 
Likely a bugger to code though and I'm probably being crazy.
 
I do however remember when I was first learning about Sonar being bafflegabbed about grouping. I kept trying to link/group tracks and had no idea why it wasn't working.
 
Meh... I'll shut up now. lol

Having a permanent quick group was an option I explored, but having to CTRL + click each time I wanted to move a seperate fader thereafter was a bit annoying. I recently got the Audio Legends CLA course file for Sonar and he has it setup without using the Buss pane.. He just has the track view in console view. This is a minor issue and not a big deal but it would be nice for my workflow. Thanks for all the suggested workarounds.