Hi,
Highlighting a track in the Arranger window results in the corresponding track and its associated audio output bus being highlighted in the Mixer panel. This is awesome.
However, there is an undesirable side-effect in that it makes it difficult to scroll the Mixer panel vertically. There's a "jump back to focus" effect happening which brings the Mixer panel back (in my case, to the left) so the highlighted bus is focused. Granted, this probably only happens because I tend to be a heavy user of looping. Every time the loop restarts, the highlighted bus is brought back to into focus.
Please let me know if I've described the above scenario adequately or if I should try again.
So assuming I've described the thing... I wonder what the cheapest fix might be in terms of usability? Thinking/typing aloud...
The initial "focus" behavior is completely worthwhile and shouldn't be sacrificed as it offers too much value from a navigation perspective.
Interestingly enough, the tracks shown in the Mixer panel do not share this "jump to focus" behavior. I just tested by adding a bunch of extra tracks in order to get the vertical scroll bar to appear. I can make use of that scroll bar to scroll to the right and I'm not "taken back" to the left (highlighted track) when the loop restarts. Perhaps this distinction in behavior (between tracks and buses) is enough to point out in terms of some low hanging fruit solution?
On my computer, the behavior is as desired
If a track is selected and there are hidden tracks (the scroll bar is enabled), the scroll bar moves automatically to ensure the track remains visible (it searches for the track).
The corresponding buses have the same behavior. If both audio and MIDI buses are involved, the audio bus has scrolling priority for display.
As I said, it works well.
The ideal thing is to avoid scrolling and have an overview...
The solution is to have more space.
I have a second monitor just for the mixer. To give them the maximum possible width, I arrange the tracks above and below the buses, alternating between input and output as needed. Even then it doesn't work :). Buses tend to breed like rabbits.
I devised a system with QSS for automatically folding/unfolding buses (I don't know if you remember it). But as always with QSS, although the concept was correct, and it tries to work, it just doesn't quite work.
Related:
Qt Classic and QSS don't quite work. I think this is why my theming adventure has come to an end, or is in its final stages.
Apparently, QML Quick works best with QSS, and was Qt's answer to the needs of intensive interface customization (Something that Qtractor doesn't need either).
FYI, I run my mixer full…
FYI, I run my mixer full screen on a dedicated monitor. I probably have more buses than most folk so it's not unusual for me to have to scroll. I might be focused on a given track as I tweak some midi but then this "problem" manifests itself if and when I want to, for example, check or use something (e.g. A TruePeak Monitor for example) on my final "MixDown" or even "Master" bus.... which is waaaaaayyyy over there to the right. Again, this is only an issue when I'm looping but I'm a looping madman.
re. side effect of highlighting a track...
as @G3N-es said, all seems to be working as originally intended: when you select/highlight a track, both in and out bus strips get highlighted as well, taking all of them into visibility on the respective Mixer panes ("jump-to-focus" as of your saying).
also, as been said, when you select/highlight a MIDI track with a synth plugin, the audio out bus strip gets highlight as well and takes visibility precedence over its nominal MIDI out bus, in the Mixer/Outputs bus pane.
I can't say a thing about how it's showing the behavior you report: buses taking over their visibility on their Mixer pane just because a loop is reset or recycled?... very strange behavior and in need for further evidence, will you?
thanks
It's just a matter of having…
It's just a matter of having enough buses to render a vertical scroll bar, clicking on a track, loop a few measures, and then try to scroll right in the mixer...
Once the loop "loops", the mixer will violently shift back to the left so focus is given to the originally highlighted bus.
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