Select the Whole Track

What’s the party line for selecting the whole track? You can’t click just above MUTE any more. It doesn’t exist in 2.2.0. Double click the track waves? They’re not blue any more, either.

Koz

I generally click here, but I’m not sure what a good way to describe that is.
It’s not a big target, but it is always visible, even if the track is collapsed.
firsttrack000.png
Also note that double clicking on the waveform selects the “audio clip”. If there is just one audio clip in the track, then that’s the same as selecting the track, but not if the track contains multiple audio clips.

Or you can double-click in the track’s waveform.

WC

but not if the track contains multiple audio clips.

It’s worse than that. If you Shift-Click inside the waves, it forms a segmented selection. You don’t get “this wave and that wave.”

Yes, I wouldn’t have any trouble writing a paragraph on that. “You see that little blank spot on the bottom of the track INFO panel just to the right …”

Koz

What is a “segmented selection”?

Might his be an actual program change/update?

Double click the Circle? Double click the Dot? There isn’t a lot of room for graphic craziness.

Target. A two-element target symbol.
targetSample.jpg
I can do this in Illustrator. Photoshop is a stretch.

I guess the good news is it’s only a graphic change. The action is already desirable.

Koz

Wave double click > Shift other wave double click will do this:
Screen Shot 2017-11-20 at 12.07.37.png
Koz

Double click the zebra stripes.
zebraStripe.jpg
Koz

Less than you think - that space is already used when Sync-Lock is enabled. But when Sync-Lock is enabled you can say “Click on the clock in the track info box”.

Is this a hypothetical problem, or do you think that we really need another way to select the entire contents of a track?

How about a double-click on the track name - or an additional entry in the TCP dropdown menu for “Select Track” :question:

Or both even …

Peter.

BTW - that little target os no worse really than the small box target I have at the bottom right of my Windows screen to minimize all windows and show the desktop :nerd:

Peter.

do you think that we really need another way to select the entire contents of a track?

Another way? Other than what? I don’t know of a good reliable way to select a whole track. That’s the point of this post.

I just pointed someone to ‘Audiobook Mastering’ which has the wrong information. No, you can’t click just above MUTE.

Drop-Down on the left > Select All.

That could work. That doesn’t vanish under some graphic conditions. Jury’s out on what happens if you Shift- did that in order to get multiple tracks.

Making the little zebra pad may be the least odd of the options.

Koz

  1. Click on any part of the track info panel that isn’t a control (yes there’s at least one small bit even when the track is collapsed, to the right of the collapse/expand button - loads of space if the track is expanded vertically.

  2. If there is only one track in the project: Ctrl + A

  3. If there is only one audio clip in the track, double click on it

  4. Click in the track then shift+J then Shift+K
    (also, up / down cursor keys may be used to select the track if focus is already on a track)

  5. If you don’t mind also selecting a bit of whitespace, click on a track, then Home key, then End key.

  6. If zoomed out far enough to see the entire track, click and drag.

  7. If the track is not collapsed, click between the pan slider and the collapse/expand button (where it says the sample rate)

What we don’t have is an easy to describe one click way that works in every situation.

I think that would have to specify “Select All of Track”, to distinguish it from “Ctrl + A”

It’s a context menu, so the commands should apply (only) to the context - the track to which the menu belongs. No “novel convenience” tricks thanks - they always end in tears.

What we don’t have is an easy to describe one click way that works in every situation.

Ding!

I’m not attracted to writing “soft-shoe shuffle” instructions: “Select the whole track [somehow].”

Can I hide that behind a different tool or process that has the same effect? I don’t remember needing to select everything when I apply Noise Reduction. It seems to know.

Koz

Maybe I’m working too hard. The fist step is custom equalizer. Does that reliably select everything in the track unless someone stops it?

Koz

Koz,

did you like either of these two ideas?

Peter

I’m not keen on the double-click on track name idea - it sounds to me like it could turn out to be one of those “unique” (non-standard) conveniences that turns round and bites us later.

An additional entry in the TCP dropdown menu would be ok.

My preferred solution would be an option in a track’s right click context menu, Right click on the waveform to get a context menu with useful (and common) options like:

Select track
Select Clip
Cut
Copy
Paste
Delete

Having said that, even in the worst case scenario of a collapsed track, the available click target is never smaller that a standard [X} close window button.

Perhaps an image in the manual showing where the click target is would be helpful. Koz could then link to the manual when he writes:
“Select the whole track by clicking on a safe region of the track control panel.”

Note that the “safe click region” is also required for dragging tracks up/down. I support the idea of making it visually more distinctive, though probably not with zebra-stripes.