[Feature Request] Show or hide track types in the mixer.

Submitted by alextone on
Forums
Qtractor

This FR is to ask for the ability to show or hide track types in the mixer. I currently have a bucketload of midi tracks in the mixer output section that i don't really need to see once i have them configured.

I'm trying to add multiple plugins in the audio outputs, and keep having to do it from the busses popup window, and no visual cue overall. (See the attached pic)

Can some sort of toggle show/hide entry be added to the popup Inputs/Outputs window for each type?

Alex.

p.s. Screenshot 2. Making progress... @bluebell, your move.

File attachments
mixer-1_1.png
mixer-2.png

Submitted by rncbc on Wed, 10 Sep 2025 - 12:54

Permalink

this is of course feasible...

but what would be the criteria to hide/show tracks in the mixer? it suffices to have an audio and/or MIDI toggles or will it something else more discriminatory ?

and how would you expose the option(s) to the user in the UI? any suggestions?

byee

ps. btw. nice screenshot, you're seriously rivaling with @bluebell in the top mixer demographic awards ;)

I would think audio and midi toggles would suffice (with the ability to add shortcuts to the actions) , but I suggest, if possible, to exclude the MASTER tracks, and have them always visible, so the user has an overview of the total sound blurting out the end of the audio chain.

As to how the user will interact, we already have a popup window for showing input and outputs (or not). Maybe simply add the new actions to that window?

Alex.

p.s. I still have quite a few more audio and midi busses to add to this developing template, so I would suggest @bluebell has some competition coming. ;)

I think a practical and simple option would be this:

☐ Inputs
☐ Outputs
_________

⌾ MIDI & Audio
⌾ MIDI
⌾ Audio

As for the audio master, it's difficult to implement, since everyone can decide to have a different master bus, placed in a different position, and with a different name.
The solution is to insert a volumeter plugin on the bus you want to monitor, and leave the plugin open.

_EDIT 1

Or this one and schedule that there should always be at least one active for Audio/MIDI.

☐ Inputs
☐ Outputs
_________

☐ MIDI
☐ Audio

_EDIT 2

My question is, what do we do with the MIDI tracks and buses that are sending audio signals?
I think they should be considered Audio, since they're part of the audio workflow...

I'm not sure if the best thing to do is to have a list with all the strips (input buses, tracks, and output buses) and be able to hide or unhide each one separately there...

_EDIT 3

There are two icons because they do different things:
The square one (the current one) doesn't actually hide anything; it opens and closes windows.
The others do.
That is, closing the input bus window doesn't mean I want to hide any bus.
If I want to hide or unhide all MIDI or audio buses, I click on MIDI or Audio. If I want to hide a specific one, I do the same.

The image applies to both Tracks and Inputs and Outputs.

File attachments
menumix-ver-ocultar.png

not quite, @G3N-es is proposing a wide and general solution which I'm afraid is not so feasible as I stated before, so sorry.

the question remains, is it for tracks or is it for busses?

nb. if only busses then it's feasible as said, in a shorter time frame; it it's both, not so much.

Works for me. Thanks Rui. (Built and tested from the develop branch, as indicated.)

p.s. Will we get a couple of toggle shortcut actions for this? (You know I was going to ask this, given my decades long obsession with keyboard shortcuts... ;) )

p.p.s. @G3N-es. I think you'll enjoy this new feature, which is elegant in its simplicity..

Submitted by windowsrefund on Fri, 12 Sep 2025 - 01:59

Permalink

This is probably very cool but I'm finding the functionality to be difficult to access. The menu seems to only be available via a right click inside the Mixer in an area that serves as the backdrop. In other words, after opening a session where my Mixer panel is fully populated (horizontally, 2 rows), I have no "empty space" available and therefore, can't right click in order to pull up the menu.

So wouldn't it make more sense to make this menu available somewhere that's always going to be accessible?

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