Disable Speed-comping?

Just use the top half of a clip to avoid the "Comping" tool. This makes the Smart Tool behave more or less as it did before comping. Alternatively you can use the older, more dedicated tools in the toolbar (there are various hotkey setups that can be employed to make this faster).
 
To avoid "Comping" actions happening while recording (for example you have 2 minute clips and then record a 1 minute clip and that causes automatice splits/promotion actions) then set your Record Preferences to "Sound On Sound" (or Overwrite if you want old material to be deleted but I don't think that's what you want).
 
Comping and Lanes are here to stay though. They work rather well for me so I'd recommend learning/using them as much as possible and only default to the old mechanisms when absolutely necessary.
 
Cheers.

You can just record takes into separate tracks, split the tracks where you would if you were doing speed comping, loop the section you're evaluating, and use Exclusive Solo to figure out what's best.
 
Lately I've been alternating between punching into alternate tracks and A-Bing them to choose a "winner," but doing speed comping if there are lots of takes. The upcoming improvement in January that fixes the problem THambrecht identified should help considerably in terms of cleanup.
 
Also I mentioned this in another thread but snapping really helps when splitting for speed comping.

Anderton
You can just record takes into separate tracks, split the tracks where you would if you were doing speed comping, loop the section you're evaluating, and use Exclusive Solo to figure out what's best.
 
Lately I've been alternating between punching into alternate tracks and A-Bing them to choose a "winner," but doing speed comping if there are lots of takes. The upcoming improvement in January that fixes the problem THambrecht identified should help considerably in terms of cleanup.
 
Also I mentioned this in another thread but snapping really helps when splitting for speed comping.

My philosophy for software I use is that it "stays out of my way". I just want to work on a project, not the DAW's features.

brconflict

Anderton
You can just record takes into separate tracks, split the tracks where you would if you were doing speed comping, loop the section you're evaluating, and use Exclusive Solo to figure out what's best.
 
Lately I've been alternating between punching into alternate tracks and A-Bing them to choose a "winner," but doing speed comping if there are lots of takes. The upcoming improvement in January that fixes the problem THambrecht identified should help considerably in terms of cleanup.
 
Also I mentioned this in another thread but snapping really helps when splitting for speed comping.

My philosophy for software I use is that it "stays out of my way". I just want to work on a project, not the DAW's features.

 
My philosophy is I learn the DAW's features, and then I can choose what makes it stay out of my way  That's not being snarky, it's just that I don't always accept at face value that something has to be done the way a manufacturer wants you to do it. Also by snapping, I don't mean the music has to be cut to a click. Most of the parts I comp don't begin or end neatly on snap points, but it's not about snapping per se; if all the clips are the same length, it makes it easier to do "comping Legos."
 
FWIW January seems to make the "shards problem" go away because it prevents the now time backing up issue. That was my biggest complaint by far.
 
I went through a period of using speed comping to get used to it, then through a period of just using tracks or punching because I didn't like the "messiness" to which you refer, but now I've gotten good at comping so I use a mix of techniques depending on the job at hand. What speed comping does well, it does very well. For what it doesn't do well, you can basically turn comping off by not using it. I've also re-discovered the merits of punching for quick fixes.
 
For example don't use the comping tool to split; select all your takes by selecting the parent track, position the now time where you want a split, and type S. Do this for the length of the file (the takes will remain selected) and then you have your segments to evaluate. You can still use the shift+space bar + arrow keys to audition them rapidly, and use the Smart Tool in the upper half of the ciip. Also if you hold Ctrl, you can use the smart tool to do regular slip-editing instead of having it turn into a crossfading tool, as well as cut individual clips with Alt+smart tool. Or as Beepster points out, you can just use the dedicated tools although if you learn a couple keyboard shortcuts you probably won't have to.
 
Maybe something on "Slow Comping" would make for a good Tip of the Week. I've spent a fair amount of time coming up with variations on the comping theme, so if I write them up, others won't have to re-invent the wheel.

There's a bit of a misnomer here.  'Speed comping' as I wrote it is specific to using the cursor keys to select alternate takes and uses the 'audition' mode to get started.  In other words, select the starting take, hit shift spacebar, then move the selection around to speedily hear different takes.
 
So if you don't want to use speed comping, just don't follow those steps.
 
Sounds like your real issue is problems with editing which Craig stated we're working on improving and refining.
2017.01's update already has a fix for some of the shard issues we had previously.  Coming for 02 we'll address an issue where too many take lanes are created when all you want to do is record in a different part of the tune.
If you don't want the comp tool gestures, pick the dedicated tool you'd like to work with.  Or, just collapse the take lanes and work with the parent track.  We plan to make it more clear where the comp tool will operate on a clip soon.
 
Keith

"now I'M asking to be able to turn things off even before they are implemented"
 
haha...funny observation Beepster. I don't know how Keith and these guys do it.
Even with some rather brilliant writing ( and I do think the speed comping is brilliant even with some of its quirks), we all find ways to use it differently or slightly amended to how it was conceptualized.
 
My process has turned into some bastardized mash up of all these great tools..sometimes pure loop recording/speed comping, sometimes the old single track way and sometimes just multiple tracks in a folder, one take per track. 
That gets back to knowing how to jump around between them, which gets back to the OP. 
I may not need the take lane/speed comping method for everything, but I'm glad it's easily accessible when I do.
( And I'm pretty sure my hands will thank Keith someday for reducing all the wear & tear on my hand during comping.....it's seriously made my life easier)