Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
Perhaps post record it could detect if there was a gap between...

The automatic method you're describing would be useful, although it sounds much more complicated to implement.  The standard old "rebuild" function, even with the occasional annoyance of layers going out of order, really was useful.
 
I think the real problem with this is that even having multiple clips in one lane makes less sense now, because the automation has been moved to the track lane level, but clip effects are still on the clip level.  This makes a kind of cognitive dissonance when trying to automate clip effects, for example, because the automation dropdown menu on the lane appears to apply to clips which don't have the effect, right?  Or is it no longer possible to have clip effects on only one clip in a lane?

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
I can see the requirement but I don't think a command to rebuild is the right approach in this case though.
Though in your case it looks neat and obvious, there would be a ton of special cases. e.g what if the takes overlapped slightly? ie you might have done takes where there was a lead in to the section. In that case there wouldn't be a clean space as is obvious in your example. 
Perhaps post record it could detect if there was a gap between the new take and prior takes and then decide whether to "pack" the new take on an existing take lane or not. If there was a gap perhaps it could insert on the same lane. However this might not always be the desired behavior.
Take management is a complicated set of tools/workflows and needs to be carefully designed to cover many corner cases.

Yes - it can get complicated, and you would have to use a strict rule not to allow any overlaps at all when re-building.  If clips overlap, it simply would be cause for an additional lane.  However, that's how the old rebuild algorithms of a previous version worked (if I remember correctly).  I'd go with those old rules.  

brian brock

But it may be the only reason to use something with "Comp" in it's name!

 
 
I don't understand - did they change the name of Take Lanes to Comp Lanes?  Why would you consider yourself constrained to use a tool only for its intended purpose?  Doesn't anyone remember MacGyver anymore?
 
At any rate, there are a lot of useful and interesting creative things that can be done with these tools, and this feature which was taken out of this tool was helpful for doing some of those interesting things.

Comping is the phrase being used, not takes.  Tomatoes Tomatos I know - but lanes are not the same thing at all!  😁
Brian

Yes I can see that's kind of a pain, but I think if you do a few extra "house-keeping" steps after each set of takes while you've already got the mouse in hand to move the loop range, it won't seem so bad: 
 

• Press [R]
• Record 7 or 8 takes through the verse, each time getting better as I got familiar with my performance.
• Press [SPACE] to stop.
• Delete last partial take lane.
• Swipe through the last full take with the Comp tool to "heal" the splits created by the partial take.
• Lasso the takes and drag them down to the first 8 take lanes.
• Right-click the Comp and choose Remove Empty Take Lanes (ripe for key binding).
• Adjust the loop points to the next verse.
• Repeat process above for all 8 or so "verses".

 

Brundle, that makes a lot of sense. I will have to try the "swipe to heal" technique, I didn't know about that.
Also, the trick of lassoing clips and moving them around in a set will save some time too.
 
It really feels that it is just a matter of finding the right workflow. X3 is great!
 
Thanks Noel for your considered response. Being a programmer myself, I can understand what you're saying about the details and edge cases.
 

stickman393
Brundle, that makes a lot of sense. I will have to try the "swipe to heal" technique, I didn't know about that.
Also, the trick of lassoing clips and moving them around in a set will save some time too.
 
It really feels that it is just a matter of finding the right workflow. X3 is great!
 
Thanks Noel for your considered response. Being a programmer myself, I can understand what you're saying about the details and edge cases.
 

As I think I mentioned elsewhere, the first time I used the new comping features my head exploded. After a while I figured out how it worked and now my head has been put back together.
 
My first X3 column for Sound on Sound is about comping. It basically describes ONE workflow (the one that works best for me, probably not surprisingly!) and goes over how to make the most out of it.  

A simple right click option to move clip to lane x would go a long way assumine it moved the clip and kept the start time.
 
In the event of overlap you would need to manage cross fades etc.
 
In the op example there was no overlap of the takes however in another persons work flow there may be.
 
My approach is to sing the song start to finish unless I really foul up and stop the recording.
so the current solution would work better for me at least most the time.
 
You could of course manually select the layer you want to record your next take into since nothing overlaps but that would slow things down as you would not be able to use the loop mode.

I personally like to record some material at "sections".
For example let's say that I record from bar 1 to 20, then I stop.
When I am ready, I start the recording from bar 21, but I need to start the playback/record from at least at bar 20 (or 19)....
This causes X3 to do a new lane each time, and .... at the end of the song i get a lot of lanes.... (not so useful).
In the past, with the "rebuild lanes" function it was not a problem, .... but now .... it's for sure a bit complicated.
Anyway I found a "partial" workaround:
1st recording: you get the 1st lane OK.
2nd recording: you get the 2nd lane OK (which overlap a bit with 1st lane).
3rd recording: you are getting a 3rd lane....
Now, as soon as I finish record this, I move the clip to the 1st lane.
I can go on in this way and I will end with a total of 3 lanes (the third one will be always the one that Sonar uses for recording, and I need to always move the last clip in the first or second lane...
 
For now .... I will try in this way ....
 
Giorgio

Ok I played with it a bit and given the OP work flow the best I can come up with it to record in comping mode the first verse. Then move on the the chorus record several takes. Then lasso the clips and drag them down as a group the the bottom to match the lanes in the first verse.
Then delete the empty lanes and continue on the next part and repeat the process.
 
you can also wait till you are done recording and move the clips to the bottom lanes for each section at a time and remove the empty lanes.
 
If you zoom out before moving the clips it should be easy to move them down but have then snap in proper alignment.
 
I tried several combination of record mode and create new lanes on overlap on and off and setting the punch points with mute previous takes enabled but I could not get x3 to record the next section in T1 lane no matter what I tried.