jonljacobi wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2019 5:50 am
How about if they’re linked by default, but editing any non-original breaks the link? Completely transparent.
Unless I'm missing something, I don't think that would work well because then you would have to visually scan the entire project looking for the "origina"l clip (which would probably have a small indicator on it to make it stand out from the "non-original" clips).
IMO the paste-replace solution is probably the most flexible and easiest to implement, and the one who's least likely to annoy users who prefers the traditional non-alias workflow.
I've used FL for many years and it never occurred to me that there could be something better than its implementation of alias clips... until I read Allured's reply. To be honest, alias clips by default in FL is a PITA to work with, because every time you need to remember to "make unique" a clip before you edit it, otherwise the whole project is affected. Of course, alias clips by default is better than no alias clips at all, so having to "make unique" all the time is something I was willing to tolerate. But if Ableton implements something like paste-replace, I'm pretty much sold.
In electronic music genres there are elements that repeat throughout the track, with evolving variation imparted using track-based (as opposed to clip-based) automation. There is also what I call "unexpected variation" or "surprises" which is basically anything that's unique. I have this theory that no two points in a track should be equal. FL makes this theory harder to put into practice because it by default encourages the reuse of existing clips. Ableton Live, on the other, makes repetition easy to begin with (you can duplicate items)
but it makes repeating items extremely difficult to manage once inserted because it doesn't provide any tools to select and replace similar items. These are tools that, by the way, most basic text editors provide (search & replace).
People from an engineering/programming background are more likely to see the value in what's being requested here; the rest will probably think this is pointless—the same people whose idea of a version control solution is a folder on their desktop named "New sh*t (2)".