Insert without overwriting?

[mobetternow]

I looked at the help file in print and online for this: how to insert a selected section or drag-and-drop in the timeline without overwriting what's there--just inserting a section and nudging everything else to the right.

Thought I'd done this before but can't find it now...

Thanks,

Jon

[Ian Alexander]

Add the region from the Regions View. Some quick experimenting reveals:

If the next region to the right on the timeline is too close, it will get moved to the right.

If that movement runs into another region, it will be moved the same amount, maintaining any space between them. This continues for all gaps larger than the inserted region. I think.

When the movement of regions gets to a gap large enough to accommodate the movement, the adjusting stops. Regions farther right will stay in place. I think.

In practice, this means that you may not be able to predict where the spacing will change. I think that's why I rarely do this.

[UpTilDawn]

Just re-checking now and I can say that one way for certain, if dealing with a single track, is to use a marked area to create, or select the region you want to insert. Then use Alt/left click to make it a free-floating region. Place it approximately where you want it to fall and left click on the MT in the track/channel you want it to go. You will receive a warning that everything beyond the far edge of the region will be moved to the right to compensate. Of course, this will only happen if you try to paste the region into an area of the MT whose space is smaller than the region being copied.

I can't think of any other time where an option is given to push things over, but instead, it seems to me that in all other instances (including groups of tracks at once) the warning is to Overwrite.

I hope I'm wrong about that. There have been plenty of times when I'd like to copy and paste many tracks at once as a group and have the paste be inserted onto the MT without Overwriting what's in the way.... simply moving everything to the right, while keeping everything to the right in sync, regardless of whether or not regions are butt-spliced.

My current method is to mark all content in question to be moved out of the way and then use the right-click channel label menu item to Slip Track To Cursor. This is often not an exact thing and sometimes requires more than one move, or a larger than necessary move and then a separate move to nudge everything back up to the end of the pasted region(s). But it does work handily and keeps everything in the MT in sync, including all automation (attached to regions and orphaned as well).

I've actually grown quite used to it over time. It's easy enough, also, to mark the area to be copied just to find out haw large it is, then to create the blank space needed in the Slip operation at the exact same size. Dropping the region copy in place is abreeze then and requires no further moving of the slipped regions.

What would be even slicker is to have a way to temporarily store that marked region size in memory, exactly, so that re-creating it somewhere else on the timeline is exact and not a bit of guestimate-sizing.

________

I see Ian responded with a similar method as the Alt/click one I suggested, while I was composing my epic.
They both have similar limitations in regards to moving anything down the timeline that is not butt-spliced to other regions being moved.

[Dave Labrecque]

Just re-checking now and I can say that one way for certain, if dealing with a single track, is to use a marked area to create, or select the region you want to insert. Then use Alt/left click to make it a free-floating region. Place it approximately where you want it to fall and left click on the MT in the track/channel you want it to go. You will receive a warning that everything beyond the far edge of the region will be moved to the right to compensate. Of course, this will only happen if you try to paste the region into an area of the MT whose space is smaller than the region being copied.

I can't think of any other time where an option is given to push things over, but instead, it seems to me that in all other instances (including groups of tracks at once) the warning is to Overwrite.

I hope I'm wrong about that. There have been plenty of times when I'd like to copy and paste many tracks at once as a group and have the paste be inserted onto the MT without Overwriting what's in the way.... simply moving everything to the right, while keeping everything to the right in sync, regardless of whether or not regions are butt-spliced.

My current method is to mark all content in question to be moved out of the way and then use the right-click channel label menu item to Slip Track To Cursor. This is often not an exact thing and sometimes requires more than one move, or a larger than necessary move and then a separate move to nudge everything back up to the end of the pasted region(s). But it does work handily and keeps everything in the MT in sync, including all automation (attached to regions and orphaned as well).

I've actually grown quite used to it over time. It's easy enough, also, to mark the area to be copied just to find out haw large it is, then to create the blank space needed in the Slip operation at the exact same size. Dropping the region copy in place is abreeze then and requires no further moving of the slipped regions.

What would be even slicker is to have a way to temporarily store that marked region size in memory, exactly, so that re-creating it somewhere else on the timeline is exact and not a bit of guestimate-sizing.

________

I see Ian responded with a similar method as the Alt/click one I suggested, while I was composing my epic.
They both have similar limitations in regards to moving anything down the timeline that is not butt-spliced to other regions being moved.

Geeze, guys. I guess I gave up on all that sort of guess work or fancy-pants slip-track stuff long ago. I just enter select mode, select the first region entry that needs to be moved, hit shift-end or shift-ctrl-end to select everything else that matters, and move it all over. Then place the new region entry, select it all again, and move it back. Sometimes there's a little extra selecting or de-selecting that needs to happen (if there are any 'crossover' region entries on other tracks), but that's pretty much it. It's pretty quick.

Or am I misunderstanding?

-------

EDIT: the above is for the case of adding a region entry to the top-most track in the MT. If it's to a track in the middle somewhere, you may have to additionally select region entries above the 'working' track. Dragging across the region entries or using the key-entry, then shift-end or alt-click tricks is the ticket, there.

[mobetternow]

Wow-thanks for all the info! I'll get at this soon and give a shout back.

[UpTilDawn]

Geeze, guys. I guess I gave up on all that sort of guess work or fancy-pants slip-track stuff long ago. I just enter select mode, select the first region entry that needs to be moved, hit shift-end or shift-ctrl-end to select everything else that matters, and move it all over. Then place the new region entry, select it all again, and move it back. Sometimes there's a little extra selecting or de-selecting that needs to happen (if there are any 'crossover' region entries on other tracks), but that's pretty much it. It's pretty quick.

Or am I misunderstanding?

That's essentially what I'm doing with Slip Track and marked areas, Dave.
But, be careful when you do this with Select Regions.... orphaned automation does NOT get moved in the process as it does with marked area/Slip Track.
I learned that the hard way.......
Slip track has the added benefit of allowing you to split regions midway at the front side, without having to first manually split them.

Slip track also works across all Selected tracks (blackened channel labels). I don't think Select regions does that.... IIRC.

[sebastiandybing]

I do also mostly use Select regions and its so easy
to select all regions from cursor position and out with
simple keystroke.

I always put my automations at a region start or inside
the regions, ofcause if there is automation on a output or aux
track I use slip regions.

And a selection can be saved for later recall, nice.

Sebastian

[Dave Labrecque]

That's essentially what I'm doing with Slip Track and marked areas, Dave.
But, be careful when you do this with Select Regions.... orphaned automation does NOT get moved in the process as it does with marked area/Slip Track.
I learned that the hard way.......
Slip track has the added benefit of allowing you to split regions midway at the front side, without having to first manually split them.

Slip track also works across all Selected tracks (blackened channel labels). I don't think Select regions does that.... IIRC.

Yes... orphaned automation gets ignored. I try never to write orphan automation for that reason.

>>Slip track has the added benefit of allowing you to split regions midway at the front side<<

Or... as I see it... Slip track has the drawback of splitting regions midway at the front side. LOL. For some reason that's rarely something I want; it's probably the main reason I don't use it very often. My 'slips' seem to always have a 'ragged' front edge (regions overlapping the 'slip start point'.

No, selecting regions does not appreciate selected tracks in any way.

[Dave Labrecque]

I do also mostly use Select regions and its so easy
to select all regions from cursor position and out with
simple keystroke.

I always put my automations at a region start or inside
the regions, ofcause if there is automation on a output or aux
track I use slip regions.

And a selection can be saved for later recall, nice.

Sebastian

Good point -- that's when I find slip track useful -- when needing to move automation that's always 'orphaned', as in the case of that written on output or aux tracks. Or control track entries (IIRC).

[UpTilDawn]

...And a selection can be saved for later recall, nice.

Sebastian

I like that about Select Regions. It comes in real handy when copying repeated sections of music.