Comping in X3... Haven't Been Able to Wrap My Head Around it- Yet

I suspect I'm not getting the usefulness of the feature but I'm stuck in that old-school "sound-on-sound" world (like when you punched in with tape).  Not hearing what's been recorded already for punching-in is awkward- at least to me.  So I've been switching all my projects back to Sound-on-Sound.  I watched a uchube video on it and I can't say it wow'd me to want to use it.  Anyone totally turned on by this feature?  What am I missing? 

It's so fast and seamless! When I have a vocalist recording, I let them sing through the song several times. Then I use the techniques shown In the videos to isolate and combine the best takes in each phrase. I am not exaggerating when I say that clients have been astonished at how quickly I have combined takes to create a finished product. It is most useful when dealing with multiple complete takes. I think it is a well implemented improvement, but I don't expect that it fits everyone's work flow.

I recently did some takes of me playing a trigger finger for a hi hat part that was four measures long. I did about five takes. Then did some other work, came back and recorded five more takes again. Went to the store and came back and did five more takes.

Using the comp tool, I was able to get enough variations of hi hat patterns for the while song in a fraction of the time it use to take me.

I'm sold on it. But it did take a little effort on my part to learn the methodology.

Chuckebaby!  This is how I've been doing things:  I record, let's say, a vocal track.  We listen and the artist says 'I want to redo a particular phrase.'  I usually split the clip at the spot of the phrase and slip edit that portion out so the artist wont hear it when he's overdubbing.  I'll give them some preroll so they know where they are in the song- like a phrase before the punch point.  I instruct them to sing-along because it will be a more natural sounding punch once we hit the punch-in spot.  think of using a tape machine....  yeah, I'm old-school... but it the same process.   On all previous versions, it worked fine for me- and STILL does!  If I switch to "sound-on-sound."  Maybe I'm not using the feature as it's designed to be used- like some of you say- cut a bunch of takes WITHOUT listening to the previous.  THEN go through the various takes.  It's not exactly how I do things but I'm open to making my job more efficient. 

Thanks for the suggestions.  I'll look further into it.

I think there is a setting in preferences for punch in, to hear previous takes when punching in.
check it out.
I typically have a track recorded, go back to parts that need work and punch in on those parts while listening to previous material.
 
more often than not im a stickler.
I methodically go piece by piece making sure its right, this way I have 5 -10 versions of the same phrases.