What is the logic behind the solo behavior?

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mcmasters
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2014/02/24 17:10:24 (permalink)

What is the logic behind the solo behavior?

I am very familiar with consoles and normal solo structure.
I completely understand the exclusive, dim and solo override modes.
 
My questions: is
  1. Why don't the mute indicators engage for the un-soloed tracks/buses? Muting channel strips with no indication that it has been muted is very odd.
  2. Why are buses automatically excluded from soloing channels? I understand in most cases this is desirable and make it easier for novices but suppose I don't want that feature. Solo override would serve as the same thing. Only the user would be able to choose what is overridden.
  3. Why are the bus solos independent from the channels? I guess it is cool to solo a verb and hear all the channels feeding it.
  4. Why not just make solo override NOT clear-able with the solo clear function? like a solo-safe - I figure if I choose override it should stay overridden until I choose otherwise.
 
Anyway it is much more difficult to discern the logic of the solo function not seeing any mute buttons engage.

Cheers,
McMasters
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    Sanderxpander
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    Re: What is the logic behind the solo behavior? 2014/02/24 17:39:21 (permalink)
    1. When you solo a channel on a real console, the mute buttons don't magically engage either. Muting and soloing are two distinct processes. There is a solo indicator at the top to indicate tracks are being solod.
    2. I'm not sure what you mean here. I'm pretty sure all buses that are being fed by the channel I'm soloing are sounding for me. I agree that an option setting would be nice.
    3. You said it.
    4. I'm confused, the solo clear is there specifically to clear solo overrides... If you don't want it to do that, don't use it.
    #2
    icontakt
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    Re: What is the logic behind the solo behavior? 2014/02/24 18:10:53 (permalink)
    I submitted a feature request for #4 recently. The global Solo button in the Console Bar's Mix module shouldn't unsolo solo override (track folder's Solo button shouldn't either, but I forgot to include it in the FR).

    Tak T.
     
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    #3
    mcmasters
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    Re: What is the logic behind the solo behavior? 2014/02/25 04:35:49 (permalink)
    Sanderxpander
    1. When you solo a channel on a real console, the mute buttons don't magically engage either. Muting and soloing are two distinct processes. There is a solo indicator at the top to indicate tracks are being solod.
    2. I'm not sure what you mean here. I'm pretty sure all buses that are being fed by the channel I'm soloing are sounding for me. I agree that an option setting would be nice.
    3. You said it.
    4. I'm confused, the solo clear is there specifically to clear solo overrides... If you don't want it to do that, don't use it.

    1. I kinda remember the solo function does in fact invoke a mute state on un-soloed channels. I know another popular DAW that does. The indicator is only only there if the control bar is visible. It just seems counter intuitive to solo a channel and the software mutes other tracks all sneaky like. (I am muting a bunch of channels except for x, y and z because they are in some other group that you forgot about and I will give you no visual indication....;-)
    2. I just think it is odd to have the buses not mute by default. I think a solo should be just that, absolutely soloed unless specified otherwise. After all it is called a solo not twin or triple.
    3. Yea it is kind of weird to solo a bus... i.e. some multi-use verb and hear a plethora of tracks feeding it as if I  soloed everything in the feed...??? that is just plain spooky. I remember clients accidentally leaning into a bus solo and it would kill everything that was post fader on the console and scare everyone in the room because it essentially muted the entire console.
    4. If the solo clear was designed to clear overrides, then what is the purpose of the solo override? If I tell the console or software DO NOT mute this channel no matter what, a solo will have no effect.... blah, blah, blah... then why would one button clear that override. If it is going to be that temporary then I might as well not use the override and try to remember which channels I would like overridden. Am I missing the use or purpose for such a temporary feature.
     

    Cheers,
    McMasters
    #4
    Sanderxpander
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    Re: What is the logic behind the solo behavior? 2014/02/25 17:22:32 (permalink)
    1. For me it seems entirely logical to not show mute indicators. After, I didn't mute specific channels, I soloed one or more. I like that soloing doesn't disturb my previously made mutes. The visual indication is simply that the solo light/button on the not soloed track is not lit.
    2. I can see your point here, but more often than not I prefer to have my reverb sound, or have my master bus fx applied to the channel I'm soloing. An option would be nice.
    3. What's your problem here? If you don't like using it, don't, right? Is this behavior in your way somehow that I don't understand? I rather like it. I use it to solo a drum subgroup with one click, or to check if a general room reverb has a natural sounding mix of all channels on it.
    4. I'm probably misunderstanding you here. If I solo first one, then two, then five channels, it saves me a bunch of clicks to click the "clear solo" button afterwards. It works the same with the clear mute button, right? I suppose I don't understand what else the button would do. Isn't it called "clear solo"? Maybe I'm not understanding your use of solo override - could be a language thing. Are you saying you select some option for a channel to always play regardless of what happens using the solo buttons on other channels? If so, I would agree that at least an option (maybe like shift-click?) would be useful to retain or cancel such an extra setting.
    #5
    RobMc
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    Re: What is the logic behind the solo behavior? 2014/02/27 11:01:08 (permalink)
    I do find it annoying alright.
     
    If I solo a bus, I expect to only hear the channels routed to that bus.
     
    If I solo a channel, I expect only to hear that channel.
     
    But when solo'n a channel, I also hear effects setup on another bus, that the channel I'm listening to isn't even routed to, nor has a send set up for.
     
    So as a result, I have to solo the bus my channel is routed to, then solo the channel, in order to avoid hearing any other buses.
    post edited by RobMc - 2014/02/27 11:17:37
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