I've always wondered why the "current track" focus doesn't change when you lasso select just the clip(s) on (an)other track(s). This means, if you are, for example, currently on track 1 and lasso select clips on tracks 2 & 3 and then hit Alt+3 (to open the PRV and work on events in those clips only), you get all three tracks shown in the PRV.
 
Is this behavior changeable? Just want to make sure it isn't, before submitting a feature request.
 

 
Thanks

JlienX,
 
I think that this is touch related and has caused me a HUGE amount of confusion since X2.
 
I have asked for much more clarification about the behavior and an acknowledgement of why and when focus changes or doesn't change.
 
To me, I have guessed that the primary reason for it is multipoint touch.
 
Assuming that you can only have one track as the "Current Track in Focus" and that this is the track that will show up in the inspector...
- Do you change the focus rapidly when a user is using touch on 5 different faders, or just ignore the focus change?
- You can lasso clips on lots of tracks at a time... do you change the focus or not? If so, to where?
- When working with envelopes, do you change the current track in focus?
 
I think that assuming a possibly multi-threaded workflow has confused the concept of a single primary track in focus. When you only have 1 mouse pointer, then setting focus can follow a clearer path. When you are trying to make workflow smooth where you can have multiple users touching the interface at the same time, changing the track in focus can get pretty confusing.
 
Bakers, please step in here and correct me if I'm wrong.
 
It has become part of my standard workflow to doubt which track or bus is displayed in the inspector and to double check the name of it at the bottom of the inspector. Additionally, I have found the scroll wheel dangerous when you aren't sure what control has the focus and you may not be able to even see the control on the screen. Take the case that the volume fader on track 1 has the focus but you're been working with an envelope on track three with the inspector collapsed. You spin the scroll wheel down and change the volume level on track 1 but you may not even be able to see the volume fader that just moved. You were trying to scroll in the track view and had your mouse pointer hovering in the wrong spot. Instead, you just changed a parameter in focus that you can't even see!!
 
This happened a lot to me in X2. It happens VERY rarely to me now. I have become cautious and aware of the design. The scroll wheel on the mouse is something that I now use with care.

gswitz
 Additionally, I have found the scroll wheel dangerous when you aren't sure what control has the focus and you may not be able to even see the control on the screen. Take the case that the volume fader on track 1 has the focus but you're been working with an envelope on track three with the inspector collapsed. You spin the scroll wheel down and change the volume level on track 1 but you may not even be able to see the volume fader that just moved. You were trying to scroll in the track view and had your mouse pointer hovering in the wrong spot. Instead, you just changed a parameter in focus that you can't even see!!
 
This happened a lot to me in X2. It happens VERY rarely to me now. I have become cautious and aware of the design. The scroll wheel on the mouse is something that I now use with care.

Ugh... I freaking HATE that and in a way it almost makes me glad the scroll wheel on my trackball doesn't work anymore. It does the same thing with keyboard navigation too though which is why I want a scroll bar in the inspector (amongst other reasons).
 
What would be REALLY nice if there was an option in Preferences or maybe even a bindable hotkey that disables ALL parameter changes except ones performed with the mouse (or perhaps make it customizable so ONLY the method you like to use for parameter changes is enabled). It really is frustrating to have something set up juuuuust right and then having the focus hook into a parameter and screw it all up when you try to do something else.
 
I too have learned to be very cautious so it doesn't get me often but there really is no need to have that many ways to adjust things available at once. I mean those options should be there and it's good that they are but I'd really like to turn them off when I don't need them.

Hmm...I thought the programmers simply overlooked the need to automatically move the track focus when the clips on another track are selected, but now I'm not sure. I don't like to cite another daw as an example too often (because I'm happy with Sonar overall and it's my main daw), but Studio One does change the current track focus when lasso selecting (or simply click-selecting) clips on another track. I'm not at home now so I'll check the behavior again when I get back home and see how its inspector pane responds (the two daws are interestingly similar in layout).

I hope feature requests are being logged otherwise threads tend to disappear (threads are good though to refer to with your feature requests and bug issues)...
http://www.cakewalk.com/support/contact/featurerequest.aspx
 
And if there are actually bugs:
http://www.cakewalk.com/support/contact/problemreport.aspx
 

Yes, I sent in a FR for this a few days after I posted the original post. I've actually sent in nearly 20 FRs (and several bug reports) since the release of X3, so I'm hoping at least one of them will be implemented in X3d/e.

You will be lucky for it to reach X3D but here's to hoping X3E. Cheers...

I suspect that it works this way by design.  If not, then this has been overlooked for a long time, at least since version 6 and probably much earlier.
 

I've just re-checked S1 and found its behavior quite logical. When a clip in the current track is already selected, the track focus doesn't move even if you lasso select a clip on another track (because the clip in the current track is still selected -- Sonar also behaves this way, so this is good). But if you click-select the clip on another track (with the clip in the current track still selected), the focus moves and the inspector is updated too (this behavior isn't particularly helpful so I don't think it's needed in Sonar). And, this is the topic of this thread, when no clip is selected in the current track, if you lasso select a clip on another track, the focus does move (and the inspector is updated as well). When you lasso select clips on multiple tracks (other than the current track), the focus moves to the top-most track of those tracks.
 
In Sonar, the current track focus doesn't move even when you just click-select a clip on another track. I wonder what the advantage of this behavior is...

Although it can be a little confusing having Focus and Selected separate from each other there are times when you want to do stuff to the focused track when you have others selected. It's like separating parameter changes and other in focus type stuff versus editing or other changes that require the track be selected. I'd rather it stay as it is but maybe have an option to bring the last track selected in focus. That also might cause a bit of weirdness though because you can have multiple tracks selected but only one track in focus.