Keni
I don't know about anyone else but tho I didn't mention it here, I find it a PITA to have to select clips from the lower half only... I have ZERO use for the upper half action other than setting the now time... Both of these issues are painful to me and counter productive... It not only means more clicks, but more mouse movement in between and more tedious placement to select the clips...
Although I understand why they added the range selection ability, I have to agree with you. It might be occasionally useful but the number of times I select a clip far outweighs the number of times I need to select a partial clip. I think this is essential to GUI design: Not just whether something is logical from the perspective of each specific tool but
which operation gets performed most. Combine that with the fact that you could already easily select clip portions by dragging along the time ruler or by using the ALT key modifier, and it becomes doubtful that the new behaviour really is such an improvement.
Anyway, I doubt they will change the upper/lower half click behaviour of the Smart Tool. An option to make clicking anywhere on the clip select the whole clip would be brilliant of course... I certainly expect Cakewalk to make the Now Time change when clicking on the bottom half. Anything less would be a huge disappointment.
When something is as constantly used as these tools, the difference of these extra clicks and mouse moves adds up to a lot of what should be unnecessary work...
Entirely agreed. When I sent my original suggestion's list for X1 to Brandon, he asked me which suggestions I found most important. My answer was the Edit Tools because they form one of the basis of how users interact with their DAW. It is crucial that this gets the utmost attention and gets the best possible implementation. Both because it is so important for every day DAW use but also because people get used to tools. If they need changing, and I really think they do, or if there is a better implementation for certain aspects of these tools, and I am convinced there is, they are best changed A.S.A.P.
So Noel, if you are reading, here is a very good item with which Cakewalk can prove that the customer's trust in Cakewalk is warranted.
...and please... Stop telling "us" that we have to learn the new way... there is no new way... We still need to locate now time and split or select clips... the job hasn't changed, only some of the roads have been made more difficult! I want a road repair team to fix this pothole!
I hate it when people tell us to just learn "the new way" when the new way is clearly less good than the old way. I hate it nearly as much as when people give as a reason that something is done a certain way, it is because "we have always done it that way".
Any aspect of a piece of software (or anything really) should be evaluated for it's own merits. Not because it is the new or the old way of doing things.
UnderTow