So far I have to say that I love the new comping feature in X3.
Haven't had any issues yet, but I haven't had the time to use it so much either.

Vab
I'm not sure if this is the same thing or different, but I gave up with trying take lanes and comping when I was having previous recordings being overwritten by new ones.

I don't think that's meant to happen, or if its related to comping, but it seemed like a significant big so I went back to doing multiple takes whilst a track is playing, then just copy pasting a correct take to wherever it was needed.

This sounds like you are using Overwrite mode instead of Comping or Sound On Sound modes. Overwrite is the only mode that will replace existing takes with the new recording.
 
Right click on the Record button in the Transport module and select either Comping or Sound On Sound and you previous takes will be retained.
 
Comping mode will mute the previous take(s) as you record new takes and Sound On Sound will leave the previous take(s) audible.
 
Overwrite will do as the name implies and overwrite any existing material.
 
These different modes will also affect editing behavior.
 
Hope that helps and if this is not the issue then my apologies. If you provide more detail then maybe we can find the problem. Cheers.

Keni
Hi Gang...

I know many of you will be surprised to hear this from me, but I hope you enjoy my attitude today...

I did a session last night which gave me a first chance to use comping for drum tracks and correction punches to any instrument such as the bass or guitar (it was a trio)...

The new comping tools have made many of the tasks far easier an faster for me... Learning curve? Yeah, I guess some of that... Also my power of observation sometimes in the way... ;-). I've found that I have often had difficulty while not realizing a new edit tool's pointer change and confusing which tool I grabbed... Realizing this was happening cleaned up many issues I was having...

I believe when I'm really comfortable with these types of issues, I will enjoy this even more. Learning curve... The moving and crowding of the various tools/pointers created quite a bit of my difficulties and the way these require some workflow adjustments really kept this as a problem... I have not fully explored the toolset, but it is getting easier and more understandable...

I look forward to enjoying them more as the earth spins... ;-)

BTW... I still have many issues about lanes/layers, but some of these new tools are making up for a lot of the things I still don't like about lanes... ;-)

So a lot of kudos and apologies to the Bakers as well as to the many other users who have tolerated me and endeavoured to help me get a grasp on this....

Thanks to all!

Keni

This is the reason I think this forum is the best. People like Kini make it the wonderful place it is. 

Hi, Kenny. As you know I've taken great interest in your troubles since Lanes were first implemented in X2 and have been happy to see the the new way is helping you get back to a productive place.
 
One thing I will recommend and this is exactly what I did this afternoon is dissect the Getting Started video step by step. When I first viewed it I thought it was more of a general overview of the feature but despite its brevity it is CRAMMED with info if you stop after every tiny little blurb and absorb what is being said. I know you have watched it but it seems some questions and struggles you still have may indeed be answered within that vid. It moves very quickly and I had to write down a bunch of stuff to fully grasp it.
 
However it may not solve all your issues but I think the key is that you need to know when to open preferences, how grouped clips are sorted and above that know the keybindings, hotspots (and how to disable them when needed), navigate and promote takes (there are multiple ways), etc...
 
I was going to mention how well even the video tut was done but kind of forgot. It seems simplistic and I totally spaced on it the MANY times I had watched it previous but there are literally a couple dozen super important things covered in it. They just happen really quickly so it's easy to miss something.
 
If that is not the case then my apologies but seriously if you haven't ripped that vid apart on a second by second basis it's probably worth another look.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPi1BkBhEvE
 
And I know I've said this to you before and you get it but others may not so I'll say it again.
 
There is a serious conceptual difference with this method as opposed to the X2 and perhaps X1 way of doing things. Instead of using the mute tool to slice out unwanted bits we are using the Comping Tool (which is indicated by a cursor change using the Smart Tool) to "isolate". So basically it works in reverse. We make what we want audible instead of making what we don't want inaudible.
 
Much quicker that way.
 
Cheers!
 

Comping is hands-down my favorite X3 feature. However, I have to admit it really threw me at first. Once I pretended like I'd never seen comping before and took the Sonar approach at face value, I was blown away by how efficiently it worked. As noted elsewhere in this thread, it has slashed the time required for me to comp.

I'm still low on the learning curve with take lanes - but can I just ask a question?

I use them for guitar solos - but these aren't really "takes" because each one is different. In other words, it's not like playing the same notes 4 times in a row and picking out the best - it's more like 4 very different lines, and you want to use parts of each. you might even want to use bar 1-4 from take 1 on bar 9-12.

As far as I can see, take lanes aren't really geared for working like this - are they? I find myself just pretty much copying parts of takes to a new track - and building the solo that way...

Am I missing something? Should I just take the time to learn take lanes better?

jbraner
I'm still low on the learning curve with take lanes - but can I just ask a question?

I use them for guitar solos - but these aren't really "takes" because each one is different. In other words, it's not like playing the same notes 4 times in a row and picking out the best - it's more like 4 very different lines, and you want to use parts of each. you might even want to use bar 1-4 from take 1 on bar 9-12.

As far as I can see, take lanes aren't really geared for working like this - are they? I find myself just pretty much copying parts of takes to a new track - and building the solo that way...

Am I missing something? Should I just take the time to learn take lanes better?

I was having a bit of a hard time figuring out stuff like this too because I tend to build up my lead parts in segments with multiple takes per segment. I was having a hard time visualizing how to use the comp method on small clips as opposed to full length clips.
 
Well it's the same as with the full length clips. Just promote the segment you want and it will take over that section in the parent track. I'm not quite sure how the auto comp/audition stuff would work but I'm assuming the arrow keys would still navigate around as normal but perhaps just jump a little further and start at the next clip.
 
As far as moving solo segments around well you'd just drag it within the lane to where you want it and use the usual comp method.
 
This does seem to be more advanced usage and I hope it works like a think it would BUT I think you could make it all behave exactly the same as shown in the vid by making a a small clip in a lane turn into a long one by only swiping that clip/lane then flattening it. The new lane the flattened version ends up in would be a full length clip just with silence surrounding the empty part.
 
That is purely guessing though because the project I currently have open doesn't have any short clips easily accessible to play with (my scratch tracks are archived and everything else was played from start to finish).
 
Edit: I just realized that may be more confusing than helpful. It should work in theory but I got very little sleep last night (fookin' neighbors) so I may not be articulating as well as I could. Start with the methods in the vid and apply them to the smaller clips. I'm assuming what you want to do will work. If you need to move a clip the Comping thingie automatically creates a split point so you can drag the clip normally and delete the neighboring clips normally as well if they are in your way. I don't know yet but maybe I'll update this as I learn more.

jbranerI use them for guitar solos - but these aren't really "takes" because each one is different. In other words, it's not like playing the same notes 4 times in a row and picking out the best - it's more like 4 very different lines, and you want to use parts of each. you might even want to use bar 1-4 from take 1 on bar 9-12.

You can do this, but you need to kind-of use take lanes as if they were hybrid layers. Cut up the takes as per normal (take lanes-normal, that is) and add at least one extra take lane. Then copy (Ctrl-C) the parts you want to move, move the current time thingie (whatever it's called) and paste them in a blank lane in the spot(s) where you want them.

jbranerAs far as I can see, take lanes aren't really geared for working like this - are they? I find myself just pretty much copying parts of takes to a new track - and building the solo that way...

You can also do it this way, but the extra lanes should do it, too.

jbranerAm I missing something? Should I just take the time to learn take lanes better?

It's not a bad idea to work through the vids as Beep says. Knowing too much about take lanes is not a disadvantage.

Well one very important thing I just learned that probably should have been covered in the vid...
 
When moving your split points you have to be on the correct side of the split otherwise you will end up cropping and removing material instead of moving the split where you want. Like if you want to move the split point to the left you have to be slightly to the right of the split then drag left and vice versa. The cursor will indicate which side you are on. I thought you could just hover over the split and drag it either way.
 
Spent about five minutes trying to figure that one out. Derp.

It's been a while since I used Logic 9's comping features (and I haven't used X at all), but does anyone know the differences between that and X3? When I got X3 and started comping I thought "huh, that's just like Logic".