Tracks & Busses setup

Peder

A short video that shows what I mean 🙄

https://youtube.com/shorts/47LNwZZl79E?si=wRSdk_dejSplz2s7

peter

Peder Oh great you have a certain naming scheme where you think that the app should be able to figure out that the track should be named by something in the filename. Another user has a certain naming scheme where the track name is somewhere else. Take 4 random users and you will get at least 5 naming schemes. How should the app know which part of the naming scheme should be a track name? Just by looking at the differences between filenames? What if there are changes in different parts of the filenames? Which one is the track name then?

This request has many conceptual challenges that need to be solved before implementing anything.

MarkGuitar A simple “Next Track” and“Previous Track” button within the track details screen would save a lot of time.

That's actually a good idea.

MarkGuitar

The reality here is that @peter has created such an awesome app, many people are now able to realistically consider moving from a “bigger” laptop based playback solution such as Ableton, and use a far more convenient tablet based solution like ST4.
But that comes with challenges for the users. Whilst the desire and capability to migrate is strong, we often have large catalogs of songs (I have over 500) that will take a very long time to migrate.
I did a quick “time and motion “ exercise on my migration process. Given it takes me approx 30 minutes to setup a single with its routing etc. It will take me 15,000 minutes or 250 hours. Even if I do an 8 hour day it will take me a solid month of doing nothing else to setup my songs. And this time does not include the time taken to export all the stems out of Ableton. Another 20-30 minutes per song. So another month of solid time.

So even small improvements on workflow will make a huge real world difference.

One example. To be able to move between audio files (tracks) in the track details screen for each song would be so much quicker than coming back out to the list of tracks then selecting the next track to go back in to track details. A simple “Next Track” and“Previous Track” button within the track details screen would save a lot of time. Especially when (like me) you have many tracks per song.

Just a thought…

AnthonyB

I always thought the most universally usable way to define a set of import rules, that allowed for the widest variety of file naming conventions, was to simply define:

Variable # to Field name
the Field delimiter in the filename

So irrespective of whether your file naming convention is:

1-Drums-Born in the USA-Bruce Springsteen-110bpm-27Feb2026.wav
Drums_Born in the USA_Bruce Springsteen_KeyA_110bpm.mp3

or whatever, you could choose which variables to pull from the filename and map to a field, and which to ignore. If you want to 'automate' more field mappings, then you need to adjust your audio track filenaming to suit. But once you have a 'standard' defined, then you can expect consistent results.

So, let's work with 1-Drums-Born in the USA-Bruce Springsteen-110bpm-27Feb2026.wav

I choose hypen (-) as my delimeter
That will automatically present each part of the filename as a variable that I can map to a ST field.

1 | Drums | Born in the USA | Bruce Springsteen | 110bpm | 27Feb2026

var1 is 1 and I might map that to TrackNumber
var2 is Drums and I might map that to TrackName
var3 is Born in the USA and I might map that to SongName
var4 is Bruce Springsteen and I might map that to SongArtist
var5 is 110bpm and I might map that to SongBPM (yes, technically that variable will need to be trimmed to the numeric only component but I'm over-simplifying for the example)
var6 is 27Feb2026 which I don't need in ST so I just won't map that variable to any field and it will be ignored.

So part of this UI requirement would be a way to visualize the breaking up of the filename when you define a delimiter, followed by a way to map variables to fields. In my head I found myself going back to the Excel TXT/CSV import workflow (Ref: https://youtu.be/ebnNy5yEkvc?si=w-8wY20C83-uxFRr&t=85) as a simple starting point. The other inspiration is the way MP3 tag tools take file name components to map to MP3 ID3 fields or vice versa (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrUAqYYUO4I).

So, I'm just presenting a VERY simple concept that I think could be the starting point for how a track import workflow/UI could be built that provides a lot of flexibility, but without too much complexity. I've skipped a lot of the detail, but given this method has worked so reliably for years (decades?) in the MP3 field/filename transform space, I don't see why it couldn't work here. Is it perfect? No. But I think it could provide most of the functionality that most people want. There will always be outliers.

Of course, for more technical folks, there can still be a lot of flexibility if you want to dig deeper.
My MP3tagging tool of choice has a large documented 'tag list' which includes a lot of dynamic modifiers, etc. https://docs.mp3tag.de/format/

BillR123

This would save so much time now that track names are always generic.

AnthonyB

This topic is already discussed in detail here - https://support.stagetraxx.com/d/4445-tracks-busses-setup/24

Riff

The way Ableton (I know, I'm probably in the minority) exports, I'd rather have the last word of the file name as the track name.

Damir

Riff The way Ableton (I know, I'm probably in the minority) exports, I'd rather have the last word of the file name as the track name.

Logic also does this , Brown Eyed Girl (Drums).wav, so it would make more sense if it was only the brackated word/last word that automatically becomes the track name, saving a ship load of time.

BillR123

Damir I personally would make it the first word, but bracketed or last makes sense and maybe an option in setup.

AnthonyB

If you read my suggestion on the above linked thread, it doesn't matter where in the filename your DAW puts the 'whatever' (song title, artist, key, tempo, etc.) because, as long as you are consistent in your file naming, you simply map the components of the filename (variables) to the various fields in ST.

Once you've done the exercise once, you save that as your default import template.

peter

Merged into the existing thread.

BillR123

peter For me, I have everything musical on Bus 1 and clicks and Cues on Bus 2. And my first three tracks are consistent, but varies after that.

Damir

BillR123 I personally would make it the first word, but bracketed or last makes sense and maybe an option in setup.

I suppose it does not matter as Anthony suggests if we have a means to create our own criteria for import , then as long as we are consistent it will work for all users no matter what DAW and what export naming it uses.

AnthonyB

BillR123 I personally would make it the first word, but bracketed or last makes sense and maybe an option in setup

It. Does. Not. Matter.
You can put 20 asterisks in front of the file name if you like.
You can put the Artist after or before the Title.
You can include the song Key or not.

What I've proposed is completely flexible to ANY naming convention.
ANY way you order the words/phrases in your filename.
ANY combination of words/phrases in your filename.

As long as you are consistent with your naming convention (and technically, the delimiter, i.e. hyper, underscore, etc.), then you create a mapping template once and use it over as your default.

You have multiple projects with different needs? Then create a 2nd mapping template. Now you have one that always works for Project A and another that always works for Project B.

MusicMan81

AnthonyB hey Peter, I know this must be hard to implement, but might solve it.

What if you add a “preset” setting? So, this way you can save a track as a preset and load it in any other you like, including, we settings, routing, naming etc etc.

You can have different setting of the same tracks and apply them only to the ones you need.

I know it might be way too much work, but it can be an amazing thing to have… just like digital mixers.

Peder

Why all this fuzz about file naming ?

Peter must decide where the track name should be located in the file name and he must decide how we should name our busses to enable this automatic assignment.

At the moment track names and bus names are limited to 8 characters, to avoid owerflow in the mixer display.

I hope Peter will close this silly discussion 🙏

MusicMan81

Peder sorry man, but tbh if you don’t have anything constructive to add, just don’t… calling silly other people’s concerns is simply rude.

People here are trying to help and to add something of value to a thread you started, maybe be a little more grateful instead of just taking your approach.

Peder

MusicMan81
It is not your upload I'm talking about. It is all the complicated proposals, that dosn't help Peter one bit 🙄

peter

This is the request with the most upvotes and discussions. I will try to implement it in update 4.0.7.

Peder

peter
Super 😎👍
I'm shure, that it will be fantastic 🤗

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