Track Icons

[r]Evolution wrote on 7/29/2008, 7:46 PM
I don't know if any of you have ever seen Super Duper Music Looper, but I've got a toddler that just loves to sit on my lap while I'm editing or making music so I sometimes fire it up and let her go. The interface is very similar to Acid, Vegas, etc., with one really cool exception.
- The assignable Track Icons that represent what instrument is on that track.

I know we mix our video together on the same tracks so it would be hard to define one icon that would represent video tracks (besides maybe a Film Reel or Video Tape), but it would be cool for those of us that use a Title Track or Motion BG Track or separate our VO's onto tracks or SoundTracks & Music or VEG's or Foley/Sound FX, etc.
-- This would be way awesome when I'm Mixing Music in Vegas.

I'm sorry to speak its name but... here's a shot of GarageBand which has what I'm talking about. It's so easy when I'm mixing in GarageBand to see the Icons representing what's on the track (I always separate Bass, Drums, Guitar, Vocals, BG Music, VO's, etc. onto separate tracks so I can route the tracks to busses for FX.) I can immediately tell which track has the media that doesn't come in till waaaaay down the timeline. It tells me immediately... this track is routed to a Buss probably with an FX... so don't add media here on this track or else you will get unexpected results.

I know we are able to Label our Tracks (which most other NLE's can't do) but being able to assign an icon makes for a totally quicker reference than reading. Plus, I personally think it looks pretty cool. I also know of the Sony Suggestion Box but I thought I'd post here to get some of your thoughts. Also so that those that like this feature could also request it.

Comments

[r]Evolution wrote on 8/3/2008, 3:03 PM
.
Chienworks wrote on 8/3/2008, 5:05 PM
Only thing i can think of is that Super Dooper Music Looper only has a very limited number of things that can be put on each track. You have a selection of a dozen or less instruments and you can add one vocal track. It's not difficult to come up with meaningful icons for these.

ACID has no such limitations. You can put anything you can hear/record on every track. The pro version lets you put many different things all on the same track. It's a much less definitive situation. I'm not saying it wouldn't be useful, but i would probably have very limited use. How do you tell which 32x32 pixel icon is the electric guitar playing lead, which one is the electric guitar playing rhythm, and which one is the track with an electric guitar playing lead sometimes, rhythm sometimes, and a sax playing fill when the guitar is taking a break? How many different icons do you want and how many can you have before you can't differentiate between them anymore? In these cases you'll probably end up looking at the labels anyway.
richard-courtney wrote on 8/3/2008, 6:28 PM
In the "old days" a mixing board always had white tape with hand written name
of the performer or function. Would have been handy to have a photo of
performer.

Nice idea for Vegas. Suggest it and see what happens. I would need both not
one or the other.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KUDOS - for taking the time working with your child!!!
[r]Evolution wrote on 8/6/2008, 8:00 PM
How do you tell which 32x32 pixel icon is the electric guitar playing lead, which one is the electric guitar playing rhythm, and which one is the track with an electric guitar playing lead sometimes, rhythm sometimes, and a sax playing fill when the guitar is taking a break?
- I would imagine having the same/similar icons acoustic/electric guitar(s), bass, cello, piano, etc with different 'Color Tints' or something of the such. I think after you get your workflow down to a point that you always use certain icons to represent certain instruments/events it would just come natural after a while. For me, in GarageBand, I always use the same icons for certain/similar tracks/instruments. Naturally, we wouldn't take away the ability to 'Text Label' our tracks.

How many different icons do you want and how many can you have before you can't differentiate between them anymore?
- They could differentiate them by having different colors of the same icon for multiple tracks of the same type. It works simple and easy... and helps me tremendously when I'm mixing in GarageBand.

[i]ACID has no such limitations. You can put anything you can hear/record on every track. The pro version lets you put many different things all on the same track.[i]
- Once again... my workflow is not to mix, match, and lay multiple instruments on the same track. I wouldn't do that in an analogue world nor would I do it in the digital realm. If/when need be I would Bounce or Mix Down my tracks but you can rest assured that for organization's sake... You wouldn't find Horns on my Vocal Track or Drums on my Guitar Track, etc... and I've never worked with anyone that does that. Especially when you're working with unlimited tracks.

Just because you have the ability to mix & match different instruments on the same track... doesn't mean you should. I surely wouldn't allow any of my editors or mixers to do it. This would just reek havoc on the next editor to open the project. But then again, it wouldn't matter what your workflow is if you work alone, never need to collaborate, update projects, etc.
________________

I would love to see my kid follow in my footsteps. I'm not as creative, imaginative, or accomplished as I'd like to be. If my kid decided to show her imagination and creativity doing what I do... I will gladly transfer the knowledge in my HardDrive/Brain to her in hopes that she will take it to the next level.

Chienworks wrote on 8/7/2008, 3:21 AM
Vegas has a label for each track. There's a lighter colored box right after the track number. Double-click it and it turns into a text entry box where you can type in anything you want.

It's the first thing that disappears if you make the track header area narrower, so it may not always be visible unless you drag the track header area wider.
[r]Evolution wrote on 8/7/2008, 3:56 PM
Vegas has a label for each track. There's a lighter colored box right after the track number. Double-click it and it turns into a text entry box where you can type in anything you want.
- This is also where I would suggest to have the Icon Image. We wouldn't get rid of the option for theText Entry... just Add/Replace the Icon with one that accurately depicts what's on the Track. The option could be one of those placed in the Options or Internal Options.

I think an Icon would take up less space than the present Text Entry box... and I've always felt real-estate was kind of lacking in that area of the Vegas UI.

by the way...
Have any of you looked at the UI's for GarageBand &/or Super Duper Music Looper?