[LAU] Ardour mono/stereo separation -- was Re: FOSS DAW recommendations

[Robin Gareus]

On 11/17/2017 11:51 PM, David Kastrup wrote:
> David Kastrup <dak-mXXj517/zsQ at public.gmane.org> writes:
> 
>> Robin Gareus
>> <robin-+VlDMftONaMdnm+yROfE0A-XMD5yJDbdMReXY1tMh2IBg at public.gmane.org>
>> writes:
>>
>>> On 11/17/2017 07:11 PM, David Kastrup wrote:
>>>> Robert Edge
>>>> <thumbknucklerocks-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w-XMD5yJDbdMReXY1tMh2IBg at public.gmane.org>
>>>> writes:
>>>>
>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er7OeIFALN8
>>>>
>>>> Ah, so "(region name)/edit/make mono regions" does not actually edit the
>>>> region.  Nor does it make it mono.  Nor does it create mono tracks.  But
>>>> it adds two mono regions to the _region_ _list_ (which is rather
>>>> inconspicuous and somewhere else on the screen, by default not at all)
>>>> from where you can then fill newly created mono tracks.  It doesn't
>>>> bother mentioning what it does in something akin to Emacs' echo area,
>>>> though: "copied mono regions to region list" would have been a great
>>>> hint.  It doesn't have some mouse-over help on "make mono regions"
>>>> either.  You arr on your own guessing what happens.
>>>>
>>>> Sorry, but that's _way_ worse in discoverability than current-day
>>>> Emacs.  Certainly nothing you could _discover_ on a demo.  Either you
>>>> know or you don't.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Why even bother? just use the stereo panner and pan it all the way to
>>> the left or right?
>>
>> Yeah, that gave me the correct left microphone on the left.  And the
>> correct right microphone on the left.  At equal gain.
>>
>> As I said: there was not enough time to fiddle this in a strictly
>> time-constrained demo.
> 
> At any rate: we had already established that I am stupid: otherwise the
> mics would not have been crosswired.  The problem is that you need to be
> really smart to figure out from scratch how to correct this with Ardour,
> and there wasn't enough time and attention span to be really smart here.
> 
> If you need a mailing list for using an application, there is no way to
> improvise actually simple stuff under realtime constraints like in a
> talk.
> 
> I mean, fine, Ardour is great for making fun at others and
> fingerpointing and feeling superior.  And there is some appeal in that.
> But frankly, I'm too old to be using software for that reason.
> 

I had no such intention.

Also please don't take it personally, like many authoring tools Ardour
has a steep learning curve. You also would not be the first sound
engineer that wrongly connects some mics..

I was just honestly curious why you wanted to separate a stereo track
instead of using the panner or port-connections.

Many users want the other way: Combine a two mono tracks to a stereo
track for shared editing or FX (and there's likewise no simple way to do
that in the editor alone, the tracks need to be a bounced).
Track-groups are the preferred way for this for edit operations.
subgroup-busses for FX.

ciao,
robin