Deluge won't record into a track unless it's unmuted in Song Mode, and it's infuriating
miaouxmiaoux
ScotlandBeta Tester Posts: 68
Don't know if this annoys anyone else, but it's happened to me so many times now and I've lost good takes because of it.
1) I copy a synth track, go into it and clear it to record a new part
2) I activate keyboard mode, press record, and play some ideas in. Some of them are good. Great I think! I'm recording, and I'm looking forward to listening back to them.
3) I go to listen back to them, and nothing has recorded, because the copied track was muted and I didn't notice - you can still hear the patch in the clip even if the clip is muted in Song Mode. I get annoyed, unmute the track, and do it again.
I can't think of another DAW or piece of hardware that won't allow you to record into a track when it's muted. And in keyboard mode, there's very little indication that what you're doing isn't recording. Just a total brick wall in the flow of ideas. Can this please be changed in a future update?
Comments
What firmware are you using?
3.1.1
That is expected behavior, yes.
I tend to look for the running cursor before recording.
I try to always activate a copied clip before using it, I forget it sometimes.
For your use case, do you need to hear what the first clip is playing while you are recording on the second clip?
I understand it's expected behaviour, but IMO it's a poor decision. I don't think there should be a use case where you can hear the synth, play is running and record is illuminated, but your playing doesn't record.
In my use case the first clip is also muted. I understand there's a running cursor but I don't think it's very obvious. Also, the cursor is only apparent when the transport is running, by which point you've started the take and it's too late. There's no indication, when the grid is in keyboard mode and the transport is stopped, that the track isn't ready to record.
I used to record into muted tracks on the MPC1000 all the time, it was great for live performance as you could play the melody in and record it to bring it back in later. And considering Live 10 has a 'pre-roll' feature for MIDI in case you forget to hit record, it's obviously a concern for music producers.
I hope this is changed in a future update - I can't see a downside in recording into a muted clip.
"In my use case the first clip is also muted."
"There's no indication, when the grid"
OK, I get your point. Can't say, I dont use keyboard mode often.
As a workaround, if the first clip is also muted, I can activate the second clip and just turn down the Volume parameter before recording.
In my mind the main difference to "industry standard" is the Deluge rule there can only be one active clip per instrument. Unlike MPC, Live, Cubase, etc. where I can play multiple note data clips for a single instrument at once.
There is a hacky workaround for doing this but it has some major caveats and does not help with your use case.
Workaround example is with Midi CC, works for notes too.
@amiga909 thanks! This is interesting but I’m not really looking for a workaround. I’m not bothered whether the second clip is active or not before I record. I’m more just saying that the Deluge’s record-ready status isn’t obvious enough in keyboard mode to me. I don’t want to ever be in a situation where I hit record, think I’m recording, and then discover nothing has recorded. And it’s happened enough times to be annoying. I’ll just have to keep an eye on it in future.