Spot Clips improvements

[Starrsound]

Backstory: I'm trying to find a workflow that will let me quickly line up the performances on two tracks such that Performance B follows Performance A.

I've used Beat Detective to create a groove template of Performance A & then tried to conform Performance B to it. I got about 80% acceptable results. When I look at the event markers for Performance A they seem to be in the right place & when I look at the event markers for Performance B they are also in the right place.... Until I conform at which point some notes get thrown off, sometimes by as much as a 16th note.

Again, it's about 80% of the notes that don't conform properly so I devised a workflow to fix the non-conforming clips

My workflow, in spot mode, to fix this goes like this:
1. Tab to transient of Performance A that corresponds to the note in the non-conforming clip
2. Copy the current timecode. Num-*, Ctrl C
3. Select the non-conforming clip of Performance B to open the spot dialog
4. Paste the timecode from the clipboard & Hit Ok.

It could be streamlined so I tried to make some Avid control softkeys to assist.
One softkey takes care of copying the current timecode. Selecting the clip to fix can't be reliably automated so that's a manual step.
A second softkey would then open the spot dialog, paste in the copied timecode and then close the dialog.

this breaks down b/c there is no shortcut (2023.12) to open the spot dialog.

I don't know how to report the Beat Detective issue I'm seeing in a way that will lead to an effective resolution so being able to somewhat automate spotting would be an acceptable workaround.

My improvement would be to have the ability to activate the spot dialog, with or without being in spot mode, based on a keystroke. I imagine that this would only be a valid operation if a single clip was selected.

Thanks.

[its2loud]

this doesn't seem like the correct workflow for what you're trying to do. If Performance A and Performance B don't align because they were performed slightly off tempo from each other then you should quantize the performances so they match or use a time stretch tool to get them aligned. Then use Grid mode to copy/paste any selection you want to add/replace from either performance. Using Grid mode will keep the section you copy aligned to whatever value you determine.

[Top Jimmy]

I would suggest using Beat Detective to build a tempo map and then conforming the second track to the tempo map with elastic audio.

[Starrsound]

You've both hit on the unspoken issue that lead me to try this crazy workflow.

Some of the tracks I'm working with are stereo tracks & the elastic stuff leads to very odd and drastic phasing issues. They almost seem random. So it's become unusable on this particular project.

Since beat detective isn't getting it done all the way I'm looking for an efficient way to help it get from 80% to 100%. Thus my trying to spot clips