We have Offset Mode for editing things like Volume offset from the standard mode. This is a great way to bring down a whole mix that has crept up in volume, but has a lot of Volume automation work done on it.
However, Offset mode may easily invoke confusion from Project to Project, and Offset Mode also puts the entire project in that mode, not just a single channel strip. It can also frighten the mess out of an engineer who sees all zeroed out faders. I've done that a few times. It's heart-attack risky!
Feature Request: Ctrl+Option+Drag on any fader, which, not only adjusts the fader loudness at the Now Time, but
also adjusts the whole Volume Automation envelope of the track by the same amount. No need for Offset Mode for this task! You can select a group of faders and adjust them individually with Ctrl+Click/Hold/Drag, but adding the Option key allows this to adjust any Volume envelopes that exist in any of the selected tracks/busses.
Ctrl+Option+Drag on any pan to adjust not only the pan at the Now-time, but also any pan envelope that exists.
During this adjustment, if any part of the envelope goes to clip or 0, then the fader or pan knob stops moving, even if there is more space for it to 'apparently' move.
Usefulness?When mixing using Volume Automation envelopes, once these are set, changing them is a bit more work. Not only does the fader become pretty useless when tweaking, the only way to adjust the envelope is to zoom in to the track or Lane, Select the entire envelope, then drag it up or down. That's not so terrible of an action, but if you use Volume Automation routinely, this can be a daunting task to bring them all up or down quickly.
Sometimes mixes tend to get louder and louder over time, because it's much easier to bring
up something than bring everything else down. This volume-creep is a bad habit, yes, but trying to uniformly bring down all Volume Automation envelopes at once is virtually impossible without even subtly changing the mix. But if you could bring everything down with just a few clicks (highlight all tracks, then Ctrl+Option+Drag down a fader, if all other faders and Volume Automation envelopes follow, you've done something VERY powerful and fast!
What else do I want? Here's another potential function in relation to Volume-creep. What if there was a menu option that gave you:
Zero-Clip Mix?
Select this option, Sonar reviews your mix, and voila! Your whole mix with Faders, Busses, (with or without Volume Automation) are all brought down uniformly to eliminate any overs. Like eliminating DC Offset.