I beg you! Please flesh out show device slots in the mixer

[Vosakiz]

I recently found that there is a way to show the Plugins used on the channel in a nice overview on top of the mixer.

https://resoundsound.com/ableton-live-s ... on-tracks/
(works in live 11 too)


I know that this feature was never fully implemented, but even now it's so useful to quickly copy devices to other channels with strg and get a nice overview of plugins used on the channels. If you could just open the plugins from there, it would be so awesome, and I'm sure that the Ableton design team could come up with a nice solution for effect racks.

I also never ever use the session view, even though I have push2, so that's a lot of wasted space for my workflow that could be used better.

I know this is not what the Ableton developers had in mind, but so many people use the DAW not in the "intended" kind of way that I wish for a more open approach from Ableton. Comping is already a big step in the right direction because it was requested by so many users and the devs actually listened and thought of a nice working solution without breaking the spirit of Ableton.


This simple feature is in bigwig, cubase, logic, protools, but all these daw's slow down my workflow (and fun) so i really just want to use Ableton.

This is a feature that would make Abletons workflow actually even faster!

[dolomick]

Agreed this is needed!

[andesiro]

1+

[jonljacobi]

I find it odd (and a bit of a tease) that they started it, then just kind of let it rot away. It's extremely handy as a quick overview of the devices you have on the tracks and to get to them quickly without scrolling. Without this view, you basically have to keep it all in memory. +++1

[Angstrom]

I find it odd (and a bit of a tease) that they started it, then just kind of let it rot away. It's extremely handy as a quick overview of the devices you have on the tracks and to get to them quickly without scrolling. Without this view, you basically have to keep it all in memory. +++1

It was developed before they invented Racks.
Racks have multiple parallel chains in a tree structure which cannot be represented by a 1d list. So, unless they find a way of representing trees in a list it will never happen.

What they should actually do is flesh out the hierarchy rack view, which nobody knows about. The hierarchy view is a hoverable display of all the devices in a track, channel, rack, chain, etc. in a hierarchical tree. When clicking on an item the user goes to that device.
Its been in Live since about version 3 and nobody knows about it.

More info, top post here. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=183667

[baseinstinct]

The latter. good to know, thanks.

Side note, it actually addresses finding a way to address multilayer structures - as in case of per-track: with indents as one of the ways.
Technical obstacles - I would not believe them with IT developers and musicians of such a strong organisation as ableton.

It might be some yet-unresolved concept issues related to future features.

Or they are planning to replace it with modular drag and drop map with inputs and outputs, midi and audio cables changing shade when sending signal etc in Live 12

[Tarekith]

It was a quick feature demo way back in Live 4 and hasn’t been touched since. While they can always change their minds, I have been told in the past there are no plans for implementing this. Sorry.

[svennirusl]

Racks have multiple parallel chains in a tree structure which cannot be represented by a 1d list. So, unless they find a way of representing trees in a list it will never happen.

I think you'd have to amend the design language slightly, but it can certainly be done.

Off the top of my head:
You would draw a box around a rack, with the rack name at the top.
You'd create a signifier in the box drawing for a chain, say break the outline in the middle and put two strokes through, or something.
then you'd just stack them on top of each other.
A rack within a rack is a box inside a box. So one line which is a device with two racks around it would be: || Device name ||
This'd get ugly the more groups in groups you'd have. But honestly, for a hidden feature I'm sure that's not the biggest worry.
Alternatively, box lines would just fade out when a nested group appears. Third alternative is line color alteration, with outline getting darker the deeper the nesting. Simulating a color overlay.

It's doable.

But it's really far outside the typical Ableton workflow. You're copying a design not meant for nested groups.

But since the feature is already there... why not? If they find the time. But as has been mentioned, this is really getting into other DAWs' design philosophies, so I'd expect this is low on the priorities list.

But it's probably not too hard to design, and implementing a click-link, go-to-device function can't be that difficult either.

[jonljacobi]

I find it odd (and a bit of a tease) that they started it, then just kind of let it rot away. It's extremely handy as a quick overview of the devices you have on the tracks and to get to them quickly without scrolling. Without this view, you basically have to keep it all in memory. +++1

It was developed before they invented Racks.
Racks have multiple parallel chains in a tree structure which cannot be represented by a 1d list. So, unless they find a way of representing trees in a list it will never happen.

What they should actually do is flesh out the hierarchy rack view, which nobody knows about. The hierarchy view is a hoverable display of all the devices in a track, channel, rack, chain, etc. in a hierarchical tree. When clicking on an item the user goes to that device.
Its been in Live since about version 3 and nobody knows about it.

More info, top post here. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=183667

I appreciate the feedback, but you're talking about a level of detail and complexity that's not really necessary for the device slots. I don't need to see everything in a rack, only that the rack is there and on what tracks. I'm talking about a root-level overview of what's used in each track and the project as a whole. If you want to drill down in more detail or see what's in a rack, double-click on the slot, then use detail view.

In other words, I'd like to see what tracks are sporting an EQ, which are using what instrument, etc. at a glance. In a real studio, you'd have all the sends, inserts, etc. labeled so you know what's using what. If you need to know the settings of the device, or chains, you head over to the racks or patch bays and check.

The feature you link to is handy, but again, it's per track and does nothing to illustrate what resources the project as a whole is employing.

Finishing this feature which is largely already programmed would be of great help in letting users wrap their heads around, and quickly navigating/cleaning up and just generally handling the mixing chore.

I guess if you don't do a lot of mixing, you might not see the advantage, but believe me, if you do a lot of mixing, it would make your life a whole lot easier.

[jonljacobi]

BTW, didn't they remove this option and ability altogether? It wasn't working properly last time I tried it anyway. Very glitchy. Doesn't seem to appear now even with the -ShowDeviceSlots in options.txt.

[jonljacobi]

They're still there, but fix the damn things. They don't draw properly all the time. Handy as all get out though. I'm glad I turned them back on.

I could've sworn I saw a changes list where slots were removed. Maybe it was for 11.2.

Never "ass"ume. ;-(

[Tarekith]

People are welcome to use the things they find in the options.txt file, but remember they are unsupported options.

[jonljacobi]

Yes, that's the problem. Support it. It's infinitely handy for some users, including me!!!

[baseinstinct]

[deleted]

[jonljacobi]

The device slots are also by far the easiest way to track down what track is using that "missing" plug-in that happens when you import an older file, or one created on a different system