Auto Crossfade By Default????

[R Smith]

Here’s one I’ve been meaning to ask about for a long time…

In General Settings/Editing Tab/Drag and Drop options, the check box for “auto crossfade by default – control key for drag-and-drop” seems to affect more features than simply auto xfade vs drag-and-drop. Mainly, it changes the ability to drag clips vertically in the project. With the box checked, I have to hold control to drag clips vertically. With it unchecked I don’t. Similarly, when “Lock Horizontal Drag” is enabled, the control key has to be held (or not) to drag vertically locked in time, depending on the state of the “auto-xfade” check box.

Here’s an example of how this drives me crazy on a daily basis (in a mastering application):

I have an assembled album project (one stereo pair of tracks). All songs are sequenced and spaced with various crossfades from song to song. At a later time, our client requests EQ changes to a few songs on the album, but wants to retain all the sequencing elements from the initial mastering. My process is to drag the revised song clips to tracks 3and4 in the project and line them up visually with the original tracks (on track 1-2). I also recreate any fade ins-outs in the new clips to match the old ones. If the old clips don’t overlap their adjacent clips, I simply delete the old version, and drag the new version (locked vertically) from track 3-4 up to track 1-2. My problem comes in when I want to replace a clip that overlaps one of its adjacent clips. With “auto-xfade by default” ON (which should work, since I want the vertically dragged clip to overlap the other clip), I have to hold “control” to drag vertically – therefore I’m back to drag-and-drop mode. In this case, the clip moves up and all crossfade information is lost, with the clips being simply being cut at the boundary of the moved clip. With “auto-xfade by default” OFF, the same thing happens, because now I don’t need to hold control to drag vertically, so I’m still in drag-n-drop and the crossfade still gets chopped.

I know this was a long-winded explanation, but maybe someone knows an easy way around this. My current work-around takes about six extra steps.

Thanks,
Ryan

[Graemme]

Hi Ryan,

Your explanation wasn't long-winded at all...

I am driven mad by this on a daily basis as well.


You are quite right that it's not only drag and drop functions that are affected by this setting - It should really be called something like "Invert Crossfade Editing Paradigm" because it affects many things, including 'Snap' functions as well. I keep the box 'checked' because I like to overlap clips without having to use a modifier key.

At the last AES show in NYC, I showed the Merging folks exactly what you are talking about -there is no way to do it currently, but the V-Cube editor can do this , so someday...

As far as a workaround for your scenario is concerned, try this:

With your replacement audio for, let's say track 3, mounted in the Media window, hold down the CTRL key and drag the file from the Media Window overtop of the old track 3 clip in the EDL. This will replace the audio in that clip with the new version and leave all fades intact.

Then, you'll probably need to trim the position of the audio inside the clip, so hold down the CTRL and SHIFT keys while dragging the waveform inside the clip. This will shift the audio 'underneath' the clip boundaries.

Experiment with 'Auto-Ripple' on/off so you get a feel for how that modifies the CTRL-SHIFT drag functions.

Hope this helps a little...

Best,

Graemme

Here’s one I’ve been meaning to ask about for a long time…

In General Settings/Editing Tab/Drag and Drop options, the check box for “auto crossfade by default – control key for drag-and-drop” seems to affect more features than simply auto xfade vs drag-and-drop. Mainly, it changes the ability to drag clips vertically in the project. With the box checked, I have to hold control to drag clips vertically. With it unchecked I don’t. Similarly, when “Lock Horizontal Drag” is enabled, the control key has to be held (or not) to drag vertically locked in time, depending on the state of the “auto-xfade” check box.

Here’s an example of how this drives me crazy on a daily basis (in a mastering application):

I have an assembled album project (one stereo pair of tracks). All songs are sequenced and spaced with various crossfades from song to song. At a later time, our client requests EQ changes to a few songs on the album, but wants to retain all the sequencing elements from the initial mastering. My process is to drag the revised song clips to tracks 3and4 in the project and line them up visually with the original tracks (on track 1-2). I also recreate any fade ins-outs in the new clips to match the old ones. If the old clips don’t overlap their adjacent clips, I simply delete the old version, and drag the new version (locked vertically) from track 3-4 up to track 1-2. My problem comes in when I want to replace a clip that overlaps one of its adjacent clips. With “auto-xfade by default” ON (which should work, since I want the vertically dragged clip to overlap the other clip), I have to hold “control” to drag vertically – therefore I’m back to drag-and-drop mode. In this case, the clip moves up and all crossfade information is lost, with the clips being simply being cut at the boundary of the moved clip. With “auto-xfade by default” OFF, the same thing happens, because now I don’t need to hold control to drag vertically, so I’m still in drag-n-drop and the crossfade still gets chopped.

I know this was a long-winded explanation, but maybe someone knows an easy way around this. My current work-around takes about six extra steps.

Thanks,
Ryan

[R Smith]

Graemme, thanks for your quick reply. Glad to know that it wasn't just something I was missing all along. Hopefully the effects of that preference will split into several options in the future.

Ryan

[mfilter]

It seems to affect the behavior of "auto-ripple" as well....

I can only get auto-ripple to work right if "auto crossfade by default" is selected or if I press the control key while dragging. Otherwise as soon as I move a clip all clips to the right ripple to the original position of the clip I just moved.

Michael