archive track feature (possibly an easy way) :) would pay up for it!

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on August 26, 2010 12:39:03

It just occurred to me that you guys might be able to create a true "archive tracks" system by having an additional window for archived tracks and some related actions, I can see it possibly working like this..

You choose the track(s) to archive, hit the action and then what happens behind the scene in the rpp file is those tracks and items are cut from that section and the pasted in your sws archived tracks section at the bottom of the rpp. The names (and possibly the track's notes) are then listed in the archived tracks window (in similar way to track list) and from there can be recalled when needed.

This allows you to store tracks that have been superseded/bounced within the rpp but without needing a secondary archive project. :)

I'm willing to pay if it was possible, what do you think? Anyone else up for contributing? :)

It's a big fr on the forum.. could be a good thing! ;) will post on main site to drum up interest.

Original issue: http://code.google.com/p/sws-extension/issues/detail?id=177

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on September 04, 2010 15:22:28

Hi guys, think this FR might have slipped under the radar, what do you think to it? I would pay a reasonable sum for this one too :) aka more than usual.

having the ability to "archive" tracks by taking advantage of the access to the project file, could be really cool. With it's own window for easy recall.

I'm not sure if cockos will do this for reaper 4 though so maybe there's a reason you might not be very keen to do this one. :)

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on September 04, 2010 15:58:42

I don't know about this one - biggest issue being that if I did an archived tracks function, Reaper wouldn't know about the media. Then, if someone runs clean project directory you lose your files without warning. :( What's wrong with just hiding the tracks? (That's what I do) And the archive project is quite easy too with SWS project file linking.

Owner: swstim

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on September 04, 2010 16:08:55

You have a very good point there tim :) media could get "dissed" big time :(

My problem with hiding tracks is it's hard to have a "show all tracks" action that ignores the "archived"/hidden ones. I have done it but it's cumbersome on big projects and it uses reaconsole to search for tracks with certain names and re-hide them after show all tracks (hence my other FR for a way to delete things like suffixs from tracks) :)

Guess will use the sws project way which is great but wanted to keep it all self contained.

No biggy! ;)

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on September 04, 2010 17:37:16

Ah yes, so maybe issue 63 would be the way to go?

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on September 04, 2010 17:59:19

Issue 63 would be fantastic!

I was sure christmas was a few more months away but now I'm not so sure!! ;) lol

[Jeff0S]

From mabia...@gmail.com on September 05, 2010 14:20:29

I think some things must be kept under consideration for this great feature:

1) Muting/hiding tracks is not enough because one could have "do not process muted tracks" disabled - I have, because enabling it causes bad problems when muting/unmuting tracks with high latency plugins; and, one could like to have the track displayed even though completely inactive.

2) Effects on archived tracks should be offlined, so that they free resources and CPU

3) Items on tracks have to be completely locked, so that there's no danger of unintentionally changing them

In short, an archived track should have all of its config stored, but shouldn't take resources not be able to be altered in any way other than unarchiving it.

My two cents...

• Mario

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on September 05, 2010 15:31:29

Yeah Mario, I agree with all your points, and the OP has the right idea - just take the track's data and archive it away.

Bottom line however is I'm extremely hesitant to implement a feature that would make it a little too easy for someone to inadvertently delete their media files.

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on September 05, 2010 18:13:54

Unless you can somehow get access to (or get cockos to implement) a way to allow your section to be scanned when using the delete unused window. ;)

maybe that's going too far and cockos will probably get around to it at somepoint..

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on September 11, 2010 20:02:03

OK I talked with Justin and I believe I have a way to do this cleanly!

Status: Accepted

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on September 12, 2010 04:38:03

Whoa :) seriously cool! :)

So it might end up being a window similar to say the track list where you see these archived tracks appear and maybe their track notes too? (Although notes might be tricky I imagine).

Do you think it will be able to manage folders and sub folders and routing? (Just playing "devil's advocate" here) ;)

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on June 14, 2011 03:21:05

Tim, just had a thought about this feature being in the track list and not as a new part of the resources window.

Unless you can add a option to "hide/show archived tracks" I can see these hidden tracks as making the track list confusing.

Also, a lot of people are probably using the new reaper 4 track list only so if you do decide to put it in the sws tracklist as well as an option to hide archived tracks from being listed it would be amazing to have one more option to "show only archived tracks) so we can use it for just bringing back archived tracks.

The other reason for putting it as a new window in the resources panel is that it would make drag and drop to arrange page a bit easier perhaps :)

Anyway, it's up to you, will just be happy to have a way to truly archive tracks away for later use without having to create a "archive project" alongside my main one. :)

[Jeff0S]

From swstim on June 14, 2011 06:52:19

Ok, well, I don't know enough about the resources view to say if it would make sense there. Jeffos, what do you think?

I keep thinking about gotchas, though:

• Do you save the track's position? What about folder depth? When you restore, what if the folder is gone, or tracks are rearranged? I think it needs to be at least smart enough that if you archive and then immediately unarchive your project looks unchanged. Also, if you archive, then delete some tracks at the beginning of the project, and unarchive, the track goes back to where it was in the order.
• Track send/receive management: When archiving tracks, you need to store separately all the sends/receives so immediate unarchive works.
• Ensuring media is still marked as "used" so it's not deleted on a project clean, and is copied when you check the box in the save as dialog. From Justin:

You can register files that are used for a project so that reaper knows about them, and will copy them if you save as w/ media copy. Call the Register() function with "file_in_project_ex" (or "-file_in_project_ex" to remove) and pass it: void p[2] = { (void )filename, (void *)projectptr }; // Register("file_in_project_ex",p);

Cc: jeffos...@gmail.com

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on June 14, 2011 07:05:12

Good points Tim..

I personally would be fine if say, all the information was kept when saving a folder track (which contains "send and return" routing and sub folders) but if it makes it easier I don't mind if the links to where it was (in the track order) and ancillary routing was forgotten/not saved if it made things much easier.

I think The keeping of media is the most important one and it's a shame because track templates is so close to right for archiving if it actually saved the audio within its folder system. :(

In other words, Just have the tracks be able to be recalled to say the bottom of the TCP so that you can move them back to where you want them to be would be much easier BUT not much use for people wanting a full on "freeze tracks" function.

I'm sure you guys will think of something amazing! :)

[Jeff0S]

From jeffos...@gmail.com on June 14, 2011 12:49:34

just posting some thoughts, and replies for the Resource view (note: I'm not personnaly really interested in that feature)

mbn, IF I understood the "archive track" concept correctly: yes, you got say 70% of it -today- thanks to the Resources view (see http://reaper.mj-s.com/S&M_Resources_view_comping.gif , this is something I just posted for comping, but you can get the idea/inspiration for your "archiving" workflow, almost the same options needed but the double-click option must be "import tracks").

mbn, may be you can TRY that in the meantime (?)

Yes Tim, I agree! folders & routing: that's where I see the job too (and for freeze too).

Status of the Resources view for archiving:

• folders tracks are supported today (using the native "save select tracks as templates" command, though. The "Auto-save" button would need an update: it only saves the selected tracks, no matter what even if it has children. This is something TODO generally speaking)
• however routing isn't: today, the tool isn't able to restore routings of the track being "unarchived". it would need a new kind of file to achieve that (not .RTrackTemplate because we would save routings with src/dest GUIDs in there instead of track ids => no more compatible, REAPER would crash when loading such a file as a track template). Possible solution: Resources view += "Track archives" and something like .RTrackArchive files (mostly the same code that for tr template), those slots would be saved in project files (rather than in S&M.ini). Probably some shared code here: almost the same deal for freeze)

ps: Tim, thanks for the file_in_project_ex tip, I didn't knew that!

[Jeff0S]

From jeffos...@gmail.com on June 14, 2011 13:02:04

^^ point 2: no clear, I meant: "archived tracks would be saved in RPPs in a format close to templates".

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on June 14, 2011 14:41:41

Not sure I completely follow Jeffos! ;) I can see the "save to path directory" setting now you mention it and have just tried it (excited) but I was hoping it would hide all my other templates I have in my standard reaper directory to make it clearer plus the other "bad" is that "clean directory" would still get rid of the samples BUT :) if cockos implemented actual saving of the files with a track template it would be quite effective :)

I MUCH prefer the idea of having say a group of selected tracks archived as one recallable file at the bottom of an RPP file :) but I will leave it to you guys to see if you think it's worth doing that way (or at all) ;)

For people who work with massive projects and end up doing a lot of bouncing to conserve CPU it would be a massive help :)

[Jeff0S]

From jeffos...@gmail.com on June 20, 2011 07:29:14

@mbn

Not sure I completely follow Jeffos! ;) sorry (the tech. details were for Tim...), so, in other words:

I can see the "save to path directory" [...] "save to path directory" doesn't exist, you probably meant "Set auto-save directory to current project path"!?

have just tried it (excited) but I was hoping it would hide all my other templates I have in my standard reaper directory to make it clearer that's exactly what the gif anim shows: so, say your current project is toto.RPP and that it's saved in c:\projs\toto\toto.RPP. If you used that "Set auto-save directory to current project path", all templates ("archives") will be auto-saved in c:\projs\toto\TrackTemplates (that sub-directory is automatically created if needed) and now, in the top right filter box, just type "toto", i.e. your project name.. => only ..\toto\TrackTemplates files will be displayed

[Jeff0S]

From jeffos...@gmail.com on June 20, 2011 07:29:46

I wonder, what is the difference between "archiving tracks" and "freezing tracks" ?

None, right!?

[Jeff0S]

From musicbynumbers@gmail.com on June 20, 2011 07:47:29

Thanks For the Replies Jeffos! :)

Will look into it when I get time.

As for the difference between freeze and archive, Ideally.... ;)

-Main point is that archived tracks ideally won't show up in the track manager unlike frozen tracks.

-A weaker point is at some point we should be able to see archive tracks in perhaps the resources page (like track templates but with the audio able to be stored in it's own folder) and also a way to drag and drop archived tracks to other projects if needed.

-Archived tracks should unload completely from ram (so should frozen i guess) :)

Other things may follow but I haven't got my head on at the moment, work to mark! :)

[Jeff0S]

From GeirSo...@gmail.com on June 21, 2011 04:37:50

Great work guys!

[Jeff0S]

From secret...@gmail.com on September 15, 2011 09:10:10

For me I don't see any reason to hide an archived track. When I archive a track I just want it taken off line. Its not a copy or clone of anything so there's no issue with any folders being missing when I unarchive it because its current position in the track list is what it currently is. Not what necessarily it was. I think that the track would need a state of 'archived' and that there should be filters on the track manager that observe track state.