Newby,dove in, question#1 of xxx (automation related)

[DennisC]

Ok,
So, I have had SSLite for a coupe of months. Read and read. Tutorials. Finished project on old platform and yesterday took a day off work to get my SS rig going.

Platform: Dell laptop (for starters): P4 2.8?, 2Gig of Ram, 80 gig internal, external Seagate 150GB, and RME Fireface 800.

First 2 hours. Unpack all parts. Discover need for 6pin to 4pin 1394 cable. Staples has it.

Next 2 hours - Format Seagate into two partitions 120GB and 30GB. Install Fireface with Totalmix s/w.

Next 6 hours - record some really short sample tracks. Pretty confused about how to monitor etc. between the routing in SS and the options in TotalMix. But I am getting there on that.

QUESTION: I had a guitar track and three vocals. I wanted to play with the compression on one vocal. So, I marked a 10 second area and hit the playloop. I wanted to mess with the compression settings while it looped. But I kept having the automation record my compression settings while I moved them and then mess with me on the next loop. I saw Bob do this on the demos. Did Bob have automation turned off while doing that? Suggestions?

Thanks,
Dennis

[Bob L]

You may want to leave the Automation mode OFF normally... while you record, edit and set the basic mix.

In my demonstration, automation was always OFF until I wanted to specifically write control changes into a certain spot on the timeline.

All controls you adjust with Automation OFF will become your start settings for that channel... like adjusting a physical console knob... it stays there until you change it.

Automation is used to have the controls change along the timeline to different settings as the song plays on.

With Automation ON, every control you touch gets written in at the current cursor point... you can write changes live during playback, or simply place the cursor, make a change, place the cursor again, make another change.

There are many more automation power features... my suggestion would be to first become familiar with the basics of the interface and routing and virtual console before jumping into automation. :)

But, no matter what... always have fun with it.

Bob L

[DennisC]

Thanks Bob. That makes sense. I am glad I wasn't missing something more fundamental. I will look to have automation default to off.

Thanks,
Dennis

[DennisC]

Bob,
I didn't catch it fully the first time I read your answer. But as I thought about it and watched the videos again I realized something.

Your answer sounds like you think I "turned on" automation on purpose. I did not. I was messing with the compressor settings and noticed the settings going back and forth on me and finally I figured out that automation was being written. I went to the automation pull down menu and turned it off which put a big red "X" on the automation icon.

As I watched you videos I noticed no big red X and that you had to click on the icon for automation to turn it on. Is there another way to turn it on? Could I have accidentally turned it on without knowing with some keystroke?

Thanks,
Dennis

[UpTilDawn]

Possibly, you hit the "A" key on your keyboard thinking that you were doing a Ctrl/A or something???........ "A" turns automation on and off.