Problem with mute tool exclusive solo and multi-selection in SONAR Platinum 2017.01

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rickpaul
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2017/02/11 20:20:10 (permalink)

Problem with mute tool exclusive solo and multi-selection in SONAR Platinum 2017.01

Here's the scenario: I've just recorded a bunch of takes of a lead vocal part, then cut them up into phrase-sized clips for comping.  I've selected all the phrases in one of the take lanes and turned on the Mute tool.  I now want to apply the exclusive solo (at the clip level) to all the clips in that one lane (to use as the starting point for auditioning since I'm thinking it is probably the best take overall).  However, when I ctrl-click on the header of one of the clips in the selection, only that clip gets exclusive soloed.  If I ctrl-drag over the clips instead, the exclusive solo works in time range mode instead of full clip mode.
 
I'm 99.9% certain that I used to be able to just ctrl-click on the header of one of the clips in the selection and have it exclusive solo all the selected clips, but, if there is a way to do this now, I'm not finding it.
 
I know different people comp in different ways, but this way has always been extremely efficient for me because I tend to do a lot of auditioning of a fair number of takes (especially on new songs) when comping, because I can loop a section and just ctrl-click on the header of any given clip in a take to hear that phrase in context.  I don't have to carefully drag over time ranges or mute and unmute take lanes (keeping in mind that different phrases may be in use from different lanes at any given point in the song.  Once I've got a section of a song done, I drag all the unmuted clips in that section up to a new take lane (or possibly a different track or both -- sometimes I'm doing vocal doubles using this technique in parallel with comping a part), then I move on to the next section of the song, usually starting from the end and moving forward.
 
This is my first time doing any comping since the 2017.01 update, and I don't think I did any in 2016.12, either.  Not sure about the updates just before that one.  Is this a new bug, new "feature", or ...?  I am working around this by ctrl-clicking on each individual clip but that is also pretty painful due to the number of clips involved, and we're just talking a lead vocal here -- when I get to doing background vocals, things multiply quickly.

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Rick Paul
Web: http://www.rickpaulmusic.com/
====================================
System:  ASUS X99-Deluxe, i7-5820K, 16 GB RAM, Win10Pro x64,  MOTU 828x, SONAR Platinum
#1

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    Anderton
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    Re: Problem with mute tool exclusive solo and multi-selection in SONAR Platinum 2017.01 2017/02/11 21:16:13 (permalink)
    I think it's well worth spending the time to go through the Speed Comping tutorial, as that does exclusive solo inherently. I also enable Dim Solo so I can hear tracks in context but of course, you don't need to do that.
     
    I must admit that comping made my head explode when I first tried it in X3 because it wasn't like any comping I had used. It was only after going through the tutorial that the proverbial light bulb went on over my head, and I understood how it was meant to be used. 

    The first 3 books in "The Musician's Guide to Home Recording" series are available from Hal Leonard and http://www.reverb.com. Listen to my music on http://www.YouTube.com/thecraiganderton, and visit http://www.craiganderton.com. Thanks!
    #2
    rickpaul
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    Re: Problem with mute tool exclusive solo and multi-selection in SONAR Platinum 2017.01 2017/02/11 21:33:09 (permalink)
    Thanks.  I'm pretty sure I saw that way back in X3 days, but that process isn't efficient enough for my way of doing things, especially when I'm working on both the main take and the double at the same time, which is almost always the case when working on background vocals, and often enough the case when working on a lead.  I like the "assembly line" approach of cutting the entire track up logically first, then being able to just get the flow going for auditioning.  I sometimes use the selected take solo that the video shows, but much more frequently I am wanting to play the phrase I'm comping at the moment in context, specifically with what is coming afterward, to make sure the flow feels right (and like one take, even though it's coming from multiple takes).
     
    In any case, comping styles aside, it still seems like a bug to me that the application of the exclusive solo mode of the mute tool (and perhaps other modes, but that is the one I mostly use in this context) isn't working on a multi-selection.  I am 99.9% sure it worked last time I did comping of this sort (3 singles ago, as the most recent two were remixes only), but I don't recall which version of SONAR Platinum I was on at the time, nor when in between then and now the issue might have crept in.  (Unfortunately, due to day job, my time spent in SONAR these days is mostly limited to trying to crank out what I can in a few hours in the evenings and on weekends, and what that is depends on the needs of the latest project.  This is my first soup-to-nuts recording since last summer.)

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    Rick Paul
    Web: http://www.rickpaulmusic.com/
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    System:  ASUS X99-Deluxe, i7-5820K, 16 GB RAM, Win10Pro x64,  MOTU 828x, SONAR Platinum
    #3
    rickpaul
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    Re: Problem with mute tool exclusive solo and multi-selection in SONAR Platinum 2017.01 2017/02/11 22:14:38 (permalink)
    BTW, when I talk about efficiency here, the big thing is that it is far quicker for me to click at split points than it is to drag over phrases to try to get the same basic split points.  I select all takes (in take lanes), then start from the end of the tracks, going forward, and find the best split points I can (which may not be the same for all takes, so I'm trying to get something that is close enough for the reviewing process -- I can adjust the overlaps later once I figure out which phrases I want from each take), then click with the Split tool where I want the split, scroll earlier, and repeat the process until I'm at the beginning of the song.  With the way selections work, the earlier parts of the split stay select, so there is no more selection to need to do after selecting all takes (a simple click then shift click).  This is very efficient for cutting up the clip into phrase-sized takes, then the comping flow can begin.

    ====================================
    Rick Paul
    Web: http://www.rickpaulmusic.com/
    ====================================
    System:  ASUS X99-Deluxe, i7-5820K, 16 GB RAM, Win10Pro x64,  MOTU 828x, SONAR Platinum
    #4
    rickpaul
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    Re: Problem with mute tool exclusive solo and multi-selection in SONAR Platinum 2017.01 2017/02/12 19:23:23 (permalink)
    Another add-on that might be related.  Once I've got things comped, with the final clips in one take lane, I select the clips for an entire section of a song (e.g. the first verse), then right-click and pick bounce to clip.  Most of it ends up in one clip as it should, but the clip at the beginning of the selection is not part of it, and still retains the "Record <x>" name instead of being renamed to match the track like happens with the rest of the selected area (which is now all in one big clip).  I've tried this both at the track level, with the takes lanes (only one now) closed and on the take lane.  Same result.  It definitely seems there is some issue with operations on multi-selections, though this issue would seem to behave a fair bit differently from the mute tool issue since it does at least include most of the selected clips.
     
    EDIT: Just looked at this more closely.  It is bouncing the whole selection to a clip, but it's also keeping the first clip there, and it looks like it is going on a second take lane (at least when I bounce it from the closed main track).  So there is at least a simple workaround of deleting the extra clip.
     
    Hmm, just tried a second one, and it's not having the same behavior.  Maybe there was something specially about the first set of clips in the song?  Or maybe there was something "funky" about the particular track.  Weird.
    post edited by rickpaul - 2017/02/13 01:00:16

    ====================================
    Rick Paul
    Web: http://www.rickpaulmusic.com/
    ====================================
    System:  ASUS X99-Deluxe, i7-5820K, 16 GB RAM, Win10Pro x64,  MOTU 828x, SONAR Platinum
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