Please add the ability to solo/unsolo a currently muted track (aka Super Solo)
As a lot of other users do in the final "mixing" stage of a project, I need to reference my mix against other commercially mixed/mastered tracks (to see how my mix stacks up). So I import my reference track into an empty audio track. I first have to mute my reference track (As I don't want to hear both songs mashed together and possibly damaging my monitors). So far, it sounds easy right? But here's where the current mute/solo features get cumbersome for me. When I'm ready to reference, I have to: stop play; unmute the reference track; solo the reference track; then hit play (that's 4 steps). Now to A/B back to my project, I have to: stop play; unsolo the reference track; mute the reference track; then hit play (4 more steps). That's EIGHT steps to perform and A/B reference. Keep in mind, I have to do this several times for different parts of the song (verses/bridges/choruses/etc), while making adjustments and needing to reference again. Doing this over and over is a pain and actually gets in the way of what I need to do.
Now to my feature request:
It would be great If we had the ability to "Super Solo" a currently muted track (with just one click). This would in essence unmute the current track and automatically solo it for me. Then shuting off "Super Solo" would put the track back to it's "muted" state. Maybe we could see an "SS" button show up in the track view once the user mutes a track and/or maybe we could enable/disable "Super Solo" while holding down a modifier as you click the "S" (on a muted track).
I understand that referencing your project against a reference track is a common practice. But I don't think many DAWs has implemented a real quick way to perform this type of A/B reference. There's times when I need to perform an A/B reference against a finished/mastered track. But equally important, is that I want to A/B my current mix session against an earlier "bounced" mix to see how my mix is progressing (or digressing as it sometimes turns out).
I believe more and more of us are performing our own mixing sessions and this demand will continue to grow. Therefore, I believe this feature will become standard rather than a convenience. For me, this would be a worthwhile feature to see in Sonar, and I hope others feel agree. Thanks for your time.
I claim no ownership to the term "Super Solo or SS". Use as desired :)
Serg