Suggestion to the "Retake All Problem"

[Veit Kenner]

Hi forumsters,

in a recent thread there was a discussion on how to eliminate the danger to accidentially delete recorded material by hitting the "Retake All" button in the heat of a recording session. I was thinking about that and want to suggest the following:

The goal is not to accidentially delete recordings but also to be able to get rid of not so good takes.

I would suggest to make a two step process out of it. Mark for deletion and then when it comes to housekeeping the actual deletion.

The "Retake All" simply hides but not deletes the material and lists it in the "File" window as "marked for deletion". The new recordings go into a new file with maybe a different consecutive number (just like new regions are being numbered).

In the File window the user can do a "Cleanup" and get rid of the not wanted audio or "Recover" in case something went wrong. This is the extra safety that is gained and may take a lot of stress out of the situation for many fellow SAWers.

For those who forget to do the cleanup there could be a prompt when leaving SAWStudio indicating that there are files marked for deletion.

I am suggesting this completely not knowing what is going on under the hood from the programmer's perspective. So please forgive me if I look stupid in this regard :-)

So, what do others say?

Veit

[RobertV]

Veit;

I like your suggestion, however I can see it chewing up lots and lots of hard drive space, the way i see it, the moment you clicked "retake all" is the infamous oops! moment. Therefore if the file due to get overwritten is renamed to a temporary file name which does not change, you have one level of undo which in my mind would be perfectly adequate.

Cheers;
Robert V.

P.S. Went to see Janis Ian perform at the National Theatre St.Kilda (Melbourne), She is absolutely amazing, such an amazing stage presence, what a performer! She really touches emotions! You could hear a pin drop all night. Third time I've seen her perform life, and I'm an absolute fan!

RE.

[Veit Kenner]

however I can see it chewing up lots and lots of hard drive space, the way i see it, the moment you clicked "retake all" is the infamous oops! moment. Therefore if the file due to get overwritten is renamed to a temporary file name which does not change, you have one level of undo which in my mind would be perfectly adequate.
Hi Robert,

you're right, this is the "weak point" in the concept but with todays harddrives this can be made. Weather it's a rename of the file or creating a new one with a different number doesn't matter that much and is up to the programmer. The core of my idea is _not_ to delete in this moment and use the File window for later action.

Nice to hear about Janis Ian. I've never seen her perform and know her only from the very early recordings.

Cheers,

Veit

[Les Woollam]

This could be a way around the problem. That said, one thing I've always liked about SAW is that, unlike certain other programmes, it doesn't create huge undo files. I really think a 'disable' feature in Options is the way to go.

[Veit Kenner]

This could be a way around the problem. That said, one thing I've always liked about SAW is that, unlike certain other programmes, it doesn't create huge undo files. I really think a 'disable' feature in Options is the way to go.
Les,

I'm not sure if disabling "Retake All" will reduce the amount of diskspace wasted by unwanted recordings. As long as you don't retake at all you just collect takes and have to go through even more of them afterwards. The backup option sorts out at least the obviously unwanted without deleting them at all.

Or you have to uncheck the disable option, then hit "Retake All" and then check it again. This for sure is a way to keep you aware of what you are doing :-)

Well, we can't have safety without paying a price for it...

Best regards,

Veit

[Kahalab]

Veit, i think the idea you had in the first thread is a great idea :)

[Leadfoot]

Yes Veit, I think you got a good idea there. 'Retake all' would move the file to a temp area, from there you could either put it back where it came from, or remove it.

Tony

[Veit Kenner]

Veit, i think the idea you had in the first thread is a great idea :)
Thanks for the heads up. Let's see what others are saying.

Cheers,

Veit

[Mountain Media]

Yes Veit, I think you got a good idea there. 'Retake all' would move the file to a temp area, from there you could either put it back where it came from, or remove it.

TonyTechnically, doesn't this just become a temporary 'rename' function, of some sort - maybe, with some unique entry in Regions view you can bring back to MT or Delete?

[Leadfoot]

Technically, doesn't this just become a temporary 'rename' function, of some sort - maybe, with some unique entry in Regions view you can bring back to MT or Delete?
I don't think so, because it is not a region we're talking about, it is the actual soundfile wav data(that regions point to) that gets permanently erased when you do a retake all.

Tony

[Mountain Media]

Technically, doesn't this just become a temporary 'rename' function, of some sort - maybe, with some unique entry in Regions view you can bring back to MT or Delete?
I don't think so, because it is not a region we're talking about, it is the actual soundfile wav data(that regions point to) that gets permanently erased when you do a retake all.

TonySorry, didn't 'splain myself too well. I meant it to say that the soundfile would get renamed, and a region (with some notation that is was a retake) be entered, so you could reuse it, if wanted. Just thinking out-loud.:)

[Veit Kenner]

Sorry, didn't 'splain myself too well. I meant it to say that the soundfile would get renamed, and a region (with some notation that is was a retake) be entered, so you could reuse it, if wanted. Just thinking out-loud.:)
FWIW, my suggestion goes towards the direction to "unhook" the soundfile from the EDL's region count and just list it in the File window. But this is a minor detail. A marked region would work just as well :-)

Veit