I saw the video of the new comping features in Splat and I'm wondering if I can start using comping. When comping vocals, I've always done this manually, not by using the comping feature and take lanes in Splat.
 
After recording a bunch of individual vocal tracks, I first pick one vocal track as what I think is likely the best one and clone that track and rename it comp vocal.  I typically listen to one phrase at a time - several performances, and then pick out the best line and copy and paste that into my comp vocal track.
 
 I then use V-Vocal to tune it and I "bounce it to track" to basically make the tuning permanent. V-Vocal has been unstable in the past and this has been the usual workaround to avoid crashes. Maybe V-Vocal is not causing instability anymore. If so, someone let me know that I don't need to do this anymore.
 
 This step of bouncing to track is why I don't think I can use Splat comping, because if I bounce to track, I think it will permanently alter that take and not leave an untuned copy like in my method.
 
I know comping has a feature of consolidating the comp track into one new track and that would be fine if I did the tuning after I did all the comping. But I prefer to work on the tuning as soon as I pick out the vocal, when it's fresh on my mind what needs to be done and also sometimes the tuning doesn't work right and I may decide to use a different track.
 
Also if I did start using comping. Can I take 5 vocal performances and convert them to track lanes in 1 track? So please anyone that’s really into comping vocals using these new features, give me your thoughts.

My workflow is similar. Here's what I do, in Sonar 2015 - it works well for me:

• Create audio track for vocal takes (comping is on)
• I open the Take Lanes on the Vocal Take track, and using comping to build up about 4 or 5 takes, looping around each verse, chorus, whatever.
• I splice the takes into whatever resolution I need - usually four segments per verse (depends on the material).
• I use the comping/auditioning feature on playback to select the best segment from each take.
• I create a couple of new audio tracks, call them Vocal A and Vocal B.
• I drag-copy the best and second-best segments/clips from the Vocal Take track into Vox A and Vox B.
• Having done that for the entire project, I collapse the Vocal Take track and mute it.
• I use V-Vocal to tweak the Vox A and Vox B clips, as necessary, using "Render" to overwrite each clip with the V-Vocal edits. (If something goes wrong, I have the full Vocal Take track , muted to go back to).
• When I'm done and happy with the results, I delete the Vocal Take track. (For me, it is better to re-record than it is to go back and mess around with the takes I rejected the first time.)

So, to summarize:

• Yes, I use Comping and Take lanes.
• Yes, I render-in-place clip-by-clip, using V-Vocal. I've never had any trouble with using V-Vocal this way.

 
I don't think I'd want to go back to the X2 (?) way of doing things, at this point...
I hope that helps.
 

I'm glad you mentioned drag-copy. I've never even tried that before. The way I just did it was to first select then hold shift and control wile dragging. Is that how you did it? That's actually better than the way I was copying, which was select, copy, move to new track and paste. Your way is much better - thanks.
 
So when you create 2 new audio tracks A + B, do you mean these are 2 actual audio tracks or do you mean take lanes in the 1 audio track with take lanes? If that's what you mean, it seems to be pretty much what I'm already doing. When I was in Command Center a video about the new comping came up and it seems to me that there wasn't any copy and pasting. You just selected the spots you liked and they ended up in the topmost clip.
What I was hoping is that if I used V-Vocal on the topmost clip and used bounce to track that it leaves the original take lane clip unaltered.

The way I've worked with comping vocals in the past is:

• Get a bunch of takes (in one track, separate lanes or previously layers) until I'm confident that every word in the section we're working on has been sung well at least once
• Slip-edit or mute/isolate clips to create the composite I want (new comping tool probably makes that easier when working within take lanes)
• Bounce that composite down to a new 'final' track. Usually this means (a) collapse take lanes (b) drag a selection around all the clips (c) ctrl-shift-drag the clips into another audio track (d) choose 'Bounce to Clips'.
• Apply Melodyne - or previously V-Vocal - to taste.

The first 2 steps I do with the vocalist present, the last 2 I do myself later. I can usually archive the original tracks with the raw takes and just work on the edited ones.
 
I never use the Comping record mode; by silencing previous material on the track it makes it awkward to use when recording section by section, especially if you set it rolling early to give the singer some lead-in.
 
I think the thing to bear in mind with the comping is that the clip at the top of the take lanes is a 'virtual' clip and only exists as a view of the other clips - you can't edit it independently. I believe that you would essentially be applying V-Vocal to each of the individual edited clips that make up the comp, and a subsequent bounce-to-clip would remove your original clips. (Is there a simple way to bounce to an adjacent track? That would probably be fine.)

The clip at the top of the take lanes is a 'virtual' clip and only exists as a view of the other clips and we can't edit it independently. I wish we'd have an option with this, because I think it'd be far more flexible if we could edit it independently, leaving the original clips in tact. That would certainly solve my problem with having to use bounce to clip for V-Vocal edits.

Have you tried using Flatten comp?
 
Jerry

notscruffy2
Have you tried using Flatten comp?
 

 
What is that? Is it in Platinum?

With take lanes expanded, Right click in the top of the composite view (actual track) , menu item, 4th down Flatten Comp.
Basically bounces whatever you have set up into a new soloed complete take with with other takes muted
 
I usually make 2 or 3 from the bits and pieces.

You guys are doing this old school.
 
The new Comping workflow is...
 
1) Record multiple takes of the enitre song (or specific sections if you prefer). Doesn't have to be loop recorded but can be (I just hit R and Spacebar over and over again and Ctrl + Z on the takes I KNOW I screwed up)
 
2) With Take Lanes open on the track using the Smart Tool Click Drag across the bottom portion of ONE clip (doesn't matter which one) to create splits/segments. This splits ALL the takes at the same spots. Generally I start with swiping across sections at a time (so for vocals I might do each verse and chorus and bridge... whatever. Just so it's all split in neat chunks that make sense).
 
3) Start playback (can be looped but again I prefer to manually start playback with the Spacebar). In the first song section (let's call it Verse 1) I'll click the bottom half of each clip going vertically from top to bottom listening back to each clip/take I recorded and making notes on each in the Take Lanes "Notes" section. There is also the "Speedcomping" method that loops a section and you can use the keyboard to navigate each take but I dislike that method because it doesn't give you time to make notes and it is kind of prone to dropouts and glitches on my system.
 
4) I repeat that for each section of the song (to demarcate the notes in the lane for each section I may put numbered Markers on the timeline... like 1 2 3 4 etc then in the Take Lanes Notes section I will use those numbers to make specific notes about each take at each section of the song. So 1=Good, 2=F*ckup, 3=Maybe Alt take, etc... then I'd delete thos markers once I have my final comp done).
5) Once all my notes are done and I have a better idea of what takes and segments work and which don't then I'll cobble together a comp by again clicking on the bottom half of the clips and listening back.
 
6) Once I feel I've gotten a good overall take for the ENTIRE song cobble together I use the Comp Tool X-Fade feature (you just hover over a split and the tooltip will change... then you just move the split left and right to move it on the timeline and up and down to adjust the X-Fade). This allows you to get the absolute BEST split point and X-Fade between all your best takes (and it affects ALL the takes too so if you create another comp it's usually pretty close as well).
 
7) Optional... if I have a bunch of awesome takes/segments comped together but there are a couple momentary mistakes/flubs then I can do a second pass of swiping (in the lower half of a clip) to replace that mistake with another take's section. These swipes could literally be a split second (like a dropped syllable or note). Adjust the split points and X-Fades so the "dub/splice" is perfect and listen back.
 
8) If all is well and I like what I've done the I click on the "Composite Clip" in the "Parent Track" (this is the clip that appears in the main track). That selects ALL the clips in AL the take lanes but only the clips I've comped are audible. Right Click > Flatten Comp and then my meticulously crafted composite clip gets bounced into a new lane (and is soloed so all the other lanes are muted).
 
After that I can unsolo and mute that comp and do the process all over again to create an alternate comp that I can a/b between then choose the best OR I can create a "doubled take that I drag into a new track (but for the latter you have to make sure absolutely NO take sections are used twice or they will dump to mono when both takes play on the separate tracks at the same time).
 
So that may sound more complicated... and it is tricky to learn at first, but it is an awesome workflow once you have it down. It completely avoids all the manual dragging, fading, bouncing, muting, etc we used to have to do.
 
It's essentially exactly what the Comp mode is supposed to do... so I'm not being original at all (aside from my own personal tweaks to the method).
 
Cheers.

So what happens if you get sent tracks from a collaborator of a song that has a chorus repeated identically 3 times and you want to comp the best of these with a view of doubling or tripling them?