Poll: Bring back clip labels / 'top bar' to clips in the Edit area?

[joeyluck]

I think that the split view Edit area is a step forward, but there are a few workflow trade-offs that could be fixed. One of those is that we no longer have clip labels / the 'top bar' on clips in the Edit area.

I'm guessing that they chose this design to afford users more screen real estate in the Edit area when in split view. But if you are someone who prefers to work with the Edit area in full view of the Sequencer, the workflow is a little clunky and feels disconnected

Issues:

1. We can no longer see labels of clips in the Edit area (only in arrangement view). This also means you can't see the colors of other clips in the Edit area until they are selected.
2. We can no longer move clips freely in the Edit area. There are shortcuts that can move clips incrementally (such as Cmd+arrow for moving based on snap value), but you can't click and drag to move them freely. That has to be done in the arrangement view.
3. Clip resize handles have now been moved down to the middle of clips in the Edit area. This becomes clunky as those handles can overlap with note resize handles.

Reason 13:

R13 clip resize and no label.png (76.52 KiB) Viewed 1888 times

Reason 12:

R12 clip resize and labels.png (70.38 KiB) Viewed 1888 times

Solution / Suggestion:

Bring back the top bar / clip labels in the Edit area. I feel that these only need to be tall enough to show the clip labels (they don't need to be as tall as before). This allows us to see the clip label, have a designated area to resize the clip, see other clip colors, and have something to grab to move a clip in the Edit area.

Small clip adjustment area.png (34 KiB) Viewed 1888 times

Another solution could be that these labels only appear when the Edit area is in full view of the Sequencer. But I feel like if they are only the height of the example above, then I personally wouldn't mind if they were always there. Thoughts and opinions?

[Pepin]

Yes, the current setup also makes trimming clips awkward. You can razor clips along the timeline but can't delete them except immediately after a rectangular razor operation.

IMO it should be possible to fully clean up (quantize, trim, join etc.) a recorded performance from within the Edit Area. It currently requires dividing your attention between the two views. Even using the split view, this can be disorienting because there's no way to link the zoom/scroll of the two views (related).

[PhillipOrdonez]

I'm fine the way it is now as I'm used to it from Ableton live. Wouldn't hurt to see clip labels though, so great suggestion again

[tomusurp]

I don't like how all the main note editing values are on the left now as opposed to how it was always above the content. Having it ABOVE while you're horizontally scrolling through notes is much more direct and intuitive. Another reason I will stay on R12

[joeyluck]

I don't like how all the main note editing values are on the left now as opposed to how it was always above the content. Having it ABOVE while you're horizontally scrolling through notes is much more direct and intuitive. Another reason I will stay on R12

Well one of the issues with that is not all the tools would fit. They could maybe have made an extra toolbar tier? That's how I imagined it—like Logic. If doing the split view like they chose to do, that would be even more vertical screen real estate gone.

An issue in R12 is if the window isn't wide enough, you can't access some tools and you can't scroll the toolbar, so you have to resize the window large enough to get access.

In R13 the inspector in the left column is scrollable. More tools in one place. You also have access to the tools via the context menu, so you also have that option now in R13. You can use the tools without moving the mouse away in any direction.

[tomusurp]

I don't like how all the main note editing values are on the left now as opposed to how it was always above the content. Having it ABOVE while you're horizontally scrolling through notes is much more direct and intuitive. Another reason I will stay on R12

Well one of the issues with that is not all the tools would fit. They could maybe have made an extra toolbar tier? That's how I imagined it—like Logic. If doing the split view like they chose to do, that would be even more vertical screen real estate gone.

An issue in R12 is if the window isn't wide enough, you can't access some tools and you can't scroll the toolbar, so you have to resize the window large enough to get access.

In R13 the inspector in the left column is scrollable. More tools in one place. You also have access to the tools via the context menu, so you also have that option now in R13. You can use the tools without moving the mouse away in any direction.

Well I've never had that issue I always have windows maximized. I understand they are trying to fit more stuff in a single window to cater to laptop users but I still think it's better to click into a clip and have the values above because visually you have more space which is better and easier for the eyes, so I don't like that they ripped off Logic in that regard. I'm also a laptop user when I'm away from home and to this day still click on R12 for almost every project vs Logic and FL which I'm also fluent in.

End of the day I may be nitpicking but I still stand my opinion of this structural update (going against the beautiful open structure pre-R13), as in I don't see a real point in it or workflow benefit. I'm more about upgrading necessary attributes like internal performance (which I know they did in R13) and other workflow things like adding the plugin names into FX section of the SSL like other DAW so you can click and open the plugins via the SSL as opposed to clicking edit inserts

[joeyluck]

Well one of the issues with that is not all the tools would fit. They could maybe have made an extra toolbar tier? That's how I imagined it—like Logic. If doing the split view like they chose to do, that would be even more vertical screen real estate gone.

An issue in R12 is if the window isn't wide enough, you can't access some tools and you can't scroll the toolbar, so you have to resize the window large enough to get access.

In R13 the inspector in the left column is scrollable. More tools in one place. You also have access to the tools via the context menu, so you also have that option now in R13. You can use the tools without moving the mouse away in any direction.

Well I've never had that issue I always have windows maximized. I understand they are trying to fit more stuff in a single window to cater to laptop users but I still think it's better to click into a clip and have the values above because visually you have more space which is better and easier for the eyes, so I don't like that they ripped off Logic in that regard. I'm also a laptop user when I'm away from home and to this day still click on R12 for almost every project vs Logic and FL which I'm also fluent in.

End of the day I may be nitpicking but I still stand my opinion of this structural update (going against the beautiful open structure pre-R13), as in I don't see a real point in it or workflow benefit. I'm more about upgrading necessary attributes like internal performance (which I know they did in R13) and other workflow things like adding the plugin names into FX section of the SSL like other DAW so you can click and open the plugins via the SSL as opposed to clicking edit inserts

What about Logic? I thought Logic does the horizontal toolbar. Anyways, this is off topic. Not sure the point in chiming into feature suggestion threads to say you're not using the current version. This thread is about clip labels in the edit area of R13.