Multitrack song loading - keep tracks in alphabetical order?

Tcuk1

Hi, when loading a multitrack song is it possible to load the files alphabetically so that each track has the same instrument part on it? E.g. track 1 = track name - Bass, track 2 = track name - drums. Could these tracks then always be sent to the same bus/have the same mute groups assigned etc.?

Damir

Tcuk1 Hi, when loading a multitrack song is it possible to load the files alphabetically so that each track has the same instrument part on it? E.g. track 1 = track name - Bass, track 2 = track name - drums. Could these tracks then always be sent to the same bus/have the same mute groups assigned etc.?

I suggested this a while back .
Alphabetically is a possibility as long you always name your track the same as it will place them in the same order , but gives you no option to rearrange the order like assignable buttons option which is great.
If it could do that then it would not matter how ST4 loads the stems you can rearrange them afterwards and the mixer layout follows and the track numbering and group assignments always remain the same.
You are basically using the shifting process to assign the tracks which are fixed if you have 8 tracks and the eight track is allways the same you need to have blank tracks to make sure the eight track always stays there .
This in the daw means you always export 8 tracks no matter if any aren’t used , this way everything is always the same for every song just some tracks have no data .
Otherwise you will need to tweak every track to assign the correct bus , means more work and not always will the same tracks be in the same spot.

Tcuk1

… or be able to shuffle tracks into alphabetical order once they have been loaded?

Tcuk1

I always name my tracks with the song name and then the track instrument. As the song name is always the same the only element that’s different is the instrument part of the name e.g. Hold my hand - Bass, Hold my hand - Drums etc. These could be alphabetised and would then always end up in the same track order song by song. I will sometimes have an empty place holder track so I get what you’re saying but the ability to organise alphabetically and assign buses accordingly would save me loads of time as I currently have to manually rearrange my tracks to keep a consistent order.

Damir

Tcuk1 I get what you’re saying but the ability to organise alphabetically and assign buses accordingly would save me loads of time as I currently have to manually rearrange my tracks to keep a consistent order.

These little things are the reason I have not yet converted to multitracks , TIME is very important , I wasted a lot of time through the years on things that were even bigger time wasters.
No more.
My time now is way too valuable.

peter

Currently you can order your tracks manually. This order is stored per song.

Tcuk1

peter Thanks Peter - are there plans to add an alphabetical sort facility and the ability to batch route tracks to particular buses?

peter

Do you really want to sort tracks alphabetically? I like to start with Drums on the left, then Bass, then Gtr and so on. That's not even close to alphabetically.

Tcuk1

peter I was thinking if tracks always loaded in the same order (eg alphabetically) you could then potentially create a ‘batch assign buses routine’ so that tracks get sent to the same bus e.g. drums bus, bass bus etc.saving a lot of set up time?

Damir

peter Do you really want to sort tracks alphabetically? I like to start with Drums on the left, then Bass, then Gtr and so on. That's not even close to alphabetically.

But that’s looking at it from a visual perspective , we should be talking about the consistency of TRACKS that get assigned automatically to a track and ~~bus~~ that always remain the same.
You could create an assignment order just like in assignable buttons where you can shift the order to your liking, but the importing of stems needs an order that’s consistent as well so we can create a naming pattern that is going to give us a consistent stem placement and bus assignment.
This creates a much faster work flow.
I have put is suggestions even in ST3 days which make a lot of sense but might not be technically possible due to Apple.
Perhaps it’s possible now.

AnthonyB

Tcuk1 this topic was discussed quite a few times during the beta.

The challenge is, everyone wants their way, and there are many ways.

I still think the way to approach this to solve for everyone, but unfortunately also adds complexity that will likely confuse many users (and thus create as many issues as it solves) is a rules based import logic where you can define rules for import ordering and track naming that is based on the audio file names. Ideally a bunch of pre-defined rules should exist cover most common scenarios, but these rules can then be duplicated and edited so cover the small variations for individual taste. For the technically minded, basically a Regex type engine but attempting to hide the complexity as much as possible for most.

Damir

Tcuk1 I get your drift, better to have some order and put up with it and work with it then no order.
There have to be some sort of rules when importing multitracks that are fixed and understood.