[Carl Kolchak]

I really don't understand why Avid haven't yet refined "playlists view" mode, in order to make it practical.

The current implemetation is a great starting point, and all they really need to do is one of two things - though I think if the did both, everyone's workflow would be accomodated :

1. Whenever there is a "hole" / or "holes" in the main playlist, audio from the next playlist is heard. If there are holes in that playlist, audio from the subsequent playlist is heard through those holes, and so on (here's a crude diagram *) :

Main Playlist iii-------iiiiiiii ------------iiiiiiiii -----------
Sub Playlist 1 -------------------iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii -------
Sub Playlist 2 ---------------------------------------

The advantage of this first option is that it is very practical and robust. The disadvantage is that it could become a bit of a juggling act triming the holes in the various layers on the fly - though no more so than any other type of rough editing, bearing in mind that you are going to go in an clean up the edits.


2. With "Link Edit & Timeline Selection" switched off, you should be able to play a Timeline selection on your main playlist, but any edit selection on a subsequent playlist should be heard, having priority over the material on the main playlist. This allows you to rapidly make selections on the fly, and use Command Focus mode to navigate precisely between playlists, with the priority audio coming from whichever playlist is highlighted / selected at any given moment (here's another crude diagram **).

Main Playlist (timeline selection) ------[----------------------]---------
Sub Playlist 1 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii---------------------------------------
Sub Playlist 2 (edit selection) iiiiii----------------{-----}---------------


The advantage of this second option is that it is faster and more fexible on the fly. The disadvantage is that you can obviously only make one edit selection at a time.


In either case, any material "promoted" to the main playlist would have to be automatically cut by Pro Tools, rather than just copied (though perhaps if it were seperated, and made inactive, that would be the best of both worlds).

Kenny, you're a Moderator... run this up the flagpole, and see what Avid can do about it.

Cheers!







* not the sexy kind

** again, not the sexy kind (sorry)