Lock pan and volume in tracks

[waxcylinder]

+1 for Lock pan and volume in tracks

Would that be a global setting (all audio tracks) or a "per track" setting?
How would it be shown in the interface? Would the controls disappear, or be greyed out, or just not move?
If the user inadvertently locked the sliders, how would they know that they had done so, and how would they know how to unlock them?

I would probably:
1) opt for per-track control
2) make the default "locked"
3) controls grayed out when locked (and obviously not move) - that is the Audacity way
4) the user would know they were locked due to the gray unmoving nature of the controls - a context-dependent roll-over tooltip could help (particularly for VI users)
5) Locking/unlocking mechanism - an icon in the TCP, a "padlock" showing locked/unlocked?

Peter.

[steve]

1) opt for per-track control
2) make the default "locked"

I don't like that.

If I have a project with 30 tracks and I want to pan each track, not only would I need to adjust the pan slider for each track (as now), I would also need to unlock the sliders (30 times) before I could do so, and just because some users are careless about where they click

4) the user would know they were locked due to the gray unmoving nature of the controls - a context-dependent roll-over tooltip could help (particularly for VI users)

Can VI users "see" tool tips?
They can't "roll-over" with a mouse if they do not have a mouse.

Many sighted users miss seeing tool tips because they don't hover over controls long enough for the tool tip to appear.

5) Locking/unlocking mechanism - an icon in the TCP, a "padlock" showing locked/unlocked?

There's not much space in the track control panel, especially when "collapsed" or made vertically small (which is usual when working on multiple tracks).

[steve]

How about two new (global) options in "Preferences > Tracks".

Enable track gain sliders: (radio buttons) Yes (default) / No
Enable track pan sliders: (radio buttons) Yes (default) / No

When disabled, the sliders are neither functional or present in the Track Control Panel.
When disabled, all tracks are played panned centre with a track gain of 0 dB.

[waxcylinder]

How about two new (global) options in "Preferences > Tracks".

Enable track gain sliders: (radio buttons) Yes (default) / No
Enable track pan sliders: (radio buttons) Yes (default) / No

When disabled, the sliders are neither functional or present in the Track Control Panel.
When disabled, all tracks are played panned centre with a track gain of 0 dB.

That simple approach would certainly work for me.

Peter

[Edgar]

When disabled, the sliders are neither functional or present in the Track Control Panel.

I would keep them present when disabled because they can be non-zero and disabled. Also, if present and disabled a keyboard shortcut can still access the dialog to affect the value.

IMHO, upon new install the current functionality of present and enabled should be kept.

I was going to look into adding a context menu to the TCP. I would have menu items for "Lock Pan"/"Unlock Pan" & "Lock Gain"/"Unlock Gain" (toggles), "Lock All Pans", "Unlock All Pans", "Lock All Gains" & "Unlock All Gains" (ghosted as necessary based on the state of the track(s)).

[steve]

In all the years that I have used Audacity, I've accidentally nudged one of those sliders, perhaps once.
I'm not convinced that we need this feature at all, but I have no objection as long as it does not inconvenience the millions of users that don't need the proposed feature.

[waxcylinder]

In all the years that I have used Audacity, I've accidentally nudged one of those sliders, perhaps once.
I'm not convinced that we need this feature at all, but I have no objection as long as it does not inconvenience the millions of users that don't need the proposed feature.

I've done it a lot more than once

perhaps I'm just clumsy ...

[Gale Andrews]

When disabled, the sliders are neither functional or present in the Track Control Panel.

I would keep them present when disabled because they can be non-zero and disabled. Also, if present and disabled a keyboard shortcut can still access the dialog to affect the value.

I agree (if we want this at all) that disabling sliders should not zero them.

I think it much more important that we do something about being able to move all sliders at the same time, to make it easier to change the mix level without changing the balance.

If we could fix bug 362 there would probably be even less need to lock the sliders.

I was going to look into adding a context menu to the TCP. I would have menu items for "Lock Pan"/"Unlock Pan" & "Lock Gain"/"Unlock Gain" (toggles), "Lock All Pans", "Unlock All Pans", "Lock All Gains" & "Unlock All Gains" (ghosted as necessary based on the state of the track(s)).

I'm not sure that is worth even one additional item for a cascade (assuming "lock" means you can't move the sliders at all). More important things could go in the TDDM that need to be per-track, possibly for spectrograms.

I think Preferences are too inaccessible (and space demands too contested) for this. If we wanted menu items to lock gain and pan I would make them apply to all tracks and put them in the Tracks menu.

Also on the assumption that VI users are less likely to nudge the sliders, I wonder if there was a widget that would allow the gain/pan knob to depress to lock it. If so, perhaps holding the knob for more than a couple of seconds would lock it, then hold for a couple of seconds to unlock. That would still be compatible with Tracks menu items or Preferences.


Gale

[Edgar]

In all the years that I have used Audacity, I've accidentally nudged one of those sliders, perhaps once.

I've done it a lot more than once

The strange thing for me, also having it happen a lot more than once – before I set up my lockout, is that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how it happens. To move the slider one must click, hold & drag – an operation which, on my trackball, requires two fingers to operate 2 controls. Perhaps it is something else moving these sliders – maybe just on Windows.

Messing around a bit with SVN HEAD I noticed a couple of interesting "features" of Audacity's sliders. With my Logitech Trackman trackball/mouse (which has a ball & scroll wheel)…
if I click and hold on either the Pan or Gain knobs then move the scroll wheel the knobs move;
if I click and hold on the Playback Speed knob and move the scroll wheel the knob DOES NOT move;
after clicking and holding on a slider knob one may move the mouse pointer a considerable distance vertically (well outside the bounds of the slider) and continue controlling the knob;
it is possible to click "near" (but not on/in – visually) a slider and have the knob jump to that relative setting (it's this "feature" that I suspect in my accidental actuation of these controls).

[Gale Andrews]

With my Logitech Trackman trackball/mouse (which has a ball & scroll wheel)…
if I click and hold on either the Pan or Gain knobs then move the scroll wheel the knobs move;
if I click and hold on the Playback Speed knob and move the scroll wheel the knob DOES NOT move

Using a cheapo mouse with just a scroll wheel, I notice that the TCP sliders move with "hold and scroll", as do sliders in Effects and Preferences, but not sliders in Transcription Toolbar or Mixer Toolbar (the sliders you see in those Toolbar dialogues after double-click also do not "hold and scroll"). Are those Toolbar sliders a different class of slider?


Gale