mettelus
I did figure out that if you hold the CTRL key while clicking with the COMP cursor, it will "toggle" the comp state of the clip you are clicking on... this will allow you to toggle clips in/out of the track "mix," albeit more surgical in nature.

Thanks for trying, but that only seems to mute the clip...
 
Keni
 

Play with that a bit Keni, I had 4 takes sliced up and could start adding clips back in. The first CTRL-click (if they are all sound on sound) will comp it, so the others need to be added back... (it is a toggle feature, so depending on state will mute/unmute to the opposite state, with a few "first-click" nuances in there).
 
OMG... I just did it with the other file that I recorded in comp mode, and the first CTRL-click I did RESET all comp points for that track (all takes reset to SoS with full clip length). This feature seems to only work if NO clips are selected in a comped track. A CTRL-click with the comp cursor will "reset" all comp points (use cautiously). To prevent this, simply comp click on a clip already comped first.
 
Be SURE to save a file before playing with this... I am sure you will want to back out of learning this feature.

Blades
Does the new way accommodate this workflow/layout?

In short, yes. The differences between layers and lanes are mostly about how they are displayed, and the fact that the Comp tool is now the default Smart tool in the track view (though only in the bottom half of a clip). It seems to me that possibly the one thing the Bakers could do to reduce the frustration of users who want to layer sounds in take lanes instead of comping them is to allow disabling/substituting the Comp tool. It sounds like there's a lot of accidental comp muting/splitting going on that's causing headaches.
 
For those who are having trouble with that, you can "heal" the comp slits in all lanes by swiping through the whole clip in one lane - you may need to zoom out the timeline to make this easy to do if it's a long take, because you need to start outside the clip to prevent creating more splits. Also, you'll want to get used to using the hotkey K to unmute accidentally muted clips.

Keni
What about when you need to have unequal splits? Say a note hangs over differently on one track than another... Currently it's a pain to fix...

 
What's frustrating to me is you keep thinking things can't be done when they can in fact be done. Use the scissors tool instead of the comping tool - alt-click on the Take and you can split it wherever you want. If you have notes hanging over on one track that aren't on another, you're going to have to do custom splits no matter what.
 
You can also move the split point laterally between two individual adjacent clips and nothing else if you want.
 

Comping wants to force many things to happen to happen to all Lanes even if I only want to change one... Slipping the start pouint for example will move the start of the clip on all Lanes instead of the single one I'm trying to adjust...

 
It doesn't have to. Just select only the clips you want to affect. I have no problem slip editing individual clips. I think you haven't worked enough with the new tools to understand that they are not necessarily forcing you to work in particular ways, they default to working in particular ways but you still have a lot of flexibility in how you can use them.
 

How about the sometimes handy tool of simply clicking on the lane and play auto-starts there... Have you tried to get it to play from before the first note? I continually find myself clicking to select the clip I want to hear then I must stop the auto playback and re-locate the the start of playback...

 
I'm not quite sure I understand the problem but unless you're comping, don't use auto-playback and just place the now time where you want to start playing.
 

Suffice it to say that we all work differently and I'm a bit displeased that Cakewalk has taken it upon themselves to change tools that worked for many... with something that doesn't work for many...

 
It's an area of the program that has changed, and once you learn what those changes are, you will find that on balance the changes allow for far more flexibility than was possible with layers. So far the things you've mentioned can be done, and easily. It's like the person who was disappointed because layers let him play back multiple tracks simultaneously through an individual FX bin and bus and he didn't want to have to give that up with the new Take Lane paradigm. But you can do that with the new Take Lanes.
 
I think the real issue is that it's annoying to have a workflow all figured out, and then have to modify it to accommodate something that's changed. The question then becomes whether the time lost learning the new workflow will be compensated for by offering a smoother user experience that will save time overall and make for more efficient operation in the future. In my Sound on Sound column on comping with X3, I mentioned the initial difficulty I had figuring out the new Take Lane paradigm. I really had a hard time wrapping my head around it at first. But I read all the online documentation and spent a couple days experimenting with different scenarios. After those two days were done, I would NEVER want to go back to how it was before.

mettelus
Play with that a bit Keni, I had 4 takes sliced up and could start adding clips back in. The first CTRL-click (if they are all sound on sound) will comp it, so the others need to be added back... (it is a toggle feature, so depending on state will mute/unmute to the opposite state, with a few "first-click" nuances in there).
 
OMG... I just did it with the other file that I recorded in comp mode, and the first CTRL-click I did RESET all comp points for that track (all takes reset to SoS with full clip length). This feature seems to only work if NO clips are selected in a comped track. A CTRL-click with the comp cursor will "reset" all comp points (use cautiously). To prevent this, simply comp click on a clip already comped first.
 
Be SURE to save a file before playing with this... I am sure you will want to back out of learning this feature.

If you believe this to be a big problem (or a bug in any way) is it possible to report this to the bakers and leave the issue number here?
https://www.cakewalk.com/support/contact/problemreport.aspx
Thanks...
 

I'm going on memory here, but I'm 95% sure I've run into the kind of scenarios you describe while working with X3, and my answers are based on what I recall from working with the Take Lanes in post-comping situations.
 

Blades
Short version: I want to be able to easily collapse a number of vocal takes that are designed to be a stack.  Let's say I have a three part harmony and I want 5 voices (mine) on each of the 3 parts.  In my method, I'd have 3 tracks with 5 layers each or possible 1 track with 15 layers.  What would I have today?  The same?

 
Yes. You could have 3 tracks each with 5 Take Lanes, or 1 track with 15 Take Lanes. 
 
 

My old way, I'd just EQ each of the three vocal parts with 1 EQ.

 
You can do that too.
 

If I wanted to automate something like panning for the whole background stack, I just did the automation on one or maybe up to three tracks

 
You can do that too. Just add automation to the track with the Take Lanes.
 

I'd send all three tracks to a bus where I could add the right verb or whatever (same in today's version, I suppose).

 
Yes, you can do that too.
 

I'd have all three tracks in a folder called backup vocals.

 
The tracks with the Take Lanes can be put into folders.
 

Neat, clean, simple, fast, efficient on CPU, etc.

 
Agreed! But now you can do really stellar comping, too.
 
Don't listen to what some people are saying about Take Lanes...try them yourself, but do be aware there's a learning curve. IMHO, it's one well worth scaling for the end results.

I will check into it myself.  I much prefer to KNOW things than to trust that they are a certain way because of the reports of others, especially when it comes to using things a little outside of the way they might have been intended :)
 
Thanks for the reassurance.  When I have a little bit of play time, I'll see what I can figure out.

I share Keni's experience and frustrations with take lanes. While i believe the issues are fundamental and would require a "fix" for takes to work efficiently for editing some types of sessions (like real drums) i still hold out the possibility that I just need to adapt my workflow.

I (and others) have requested that CW create one of their videos on drum editing and comping using take lanes to demonstrate how a revised workflow could help. Most recently I responded to a request in the Drum Month thread for ideas and heard nothing back. Not only have I not seen any demonstrated efficient workflow, I have yet to see CW weight in with a statement that they appreciate the concerns many of us raise and will work on ways to help demonstrate a better workflow. This suggests to me the recognize the limitations and don't want to say anything. I would like to be proven wrong.

neirbod
I (and others) have requested that CW create one of their videos on drum editing and comping using take lanes to demonstrate how a revised workflow could help. Most recently I responded to a request in the Drum Month thread for ideas and heard nothing back. Not only have I not seen any demonstrated efficient workflow, I have yet to see CW weight in with a statement that they appreciate the concerns many of us raise and will work on ways to help demonstrate a better workflow. This suggests to me the recognize the limitations and don't want to say anything. I would like to be proven wrong.

 
It suggests that Cakewalk has a small staff, was totally immersed in QCing X3d and getting it out the door, and was not going to drop everything to produce a custom video on how one might use comping with multi-tracked drums.
 
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, you can treat Take Lanes like layersif that's what you want (with very few differences, e.g., you can't put Take Lanes in a folder as you can already fold them into the main track anyway).
 
I've yet to see any DAW with a comping protocol that makes it easy to handle multi-tracked audio drum parts, which seems to be your overriding concern. What I've done in the past with Sonar and other DAWs is:
 
1. Create a track for each drum part, e.g., kick, snare, hat, stereo overhead, stereo room (7 tracks).
2. Put all seven tracks into record and comp "x" number of takes in each track.
3. As a reference, solo the tracks that come closest to what I want.
4. Edit the takes to choose the best bits.
5. SAVE THE PROJECT after choosing the best bits.
6. Bounce the clips together for each track and proceed with 7 tracks going forward.
 
This is pretty much how I comp with hex guitar where each output needs to go on its own track, which has the same basic issues.
 

CakeAlexS
If you believe this to be a big problem (or a bug in any way) is it possible to report this to the bakers and leave the issue number here?

Before I say anything, I do not feel this is a bug at all...

Let me step back a second to clarify. Thus far I have only used take lanes for comping really, and have not (no joke) read any documentation or watched any videos on using it. For strictly comping, it is that intuitive... just watch the cursor switch to the comping tool and it slices all takes, and you can select/adjust the takes you want.
 
As long as the cursor is not the comp cursor, you can slip-edit takes if desired (the comp cursor slices all takes at once). Clicking with the comp cursor promotes a slice to the track. Pretty simple.
 
Holding CTRL and comp-clicking takes then toggles the state of individual clips, so you can promote all (or even none) to the track. It is similar to CTRL-clicking in Windows to multi-select, so is intuitive as well. The "reset" feature I was actually trying to find, since I had a few vocal recordings that were comped and was wondering if I "could" as it were. It seems as long as no individual clip is selected that a CTRL-comp click on a comped track will reset all takes to "Sound on Sound" so that feature is there as well.
 
IMHO, I think a big chunk of "complaints" is simply watching the cursor (and realizing what it does). The comp cursor simply slices all takes, promotes a take, or can be used to toggle promotions (CTRL-comp click). As long as it is not the comp cursor, individual takes can be adjusted without affecting the others.
 
New and different, yes, but I think very much intended. It actually facilitates the "layer" effect as well once understood, so a portion is simply playing with it to understand it.