Ok this idea might be totally insane, but here goes:
Often when I’m mixing, i.e. changing sliders and faders, I’ve got Ctrl held down so I can do a lot of fine tune edits. It’s not at all uncommon for me to spend a few hours on one song just doing edits of -0.03dB or less. Do I need to get a life? Probably! I’ve yet to climb the social ladder any higher due to my -0.03dB edits! Nevertheless, for those of us who are utterly consumed with mixing precision, extended use of the Ctrl function reveals the following: the current behaviour has the slider jump to wherever you have your cursor on the slider range. While this is excellent if you know where you want to instantly place the slider, in the context of fine tune editing this always isn’t helpful. If I want to nudge something up by just a little increment but not a fixed interval or known value, the Ctrl function is good but the slider jumps away from where you had it as soon as you click on the slider range. This can be annoying! For example if something is set to -18dB and you want to organically slide the volume down until it’s just right in the mix when you go to click right near the slider position it may instantly nudge off by a large unwanted factor, which at such low value can mean dramatic volume changes. No big deal, because we have the undo function, but it did get me thinking:
I propose:
When in Ctrl fine tune editing mode the slider positions are ‘sticky’ in that there is no jump to a new position, just position change dependant on mouse movement.
However, not to be a party-pooper, doesn’t all sliders have a value button right next to them? If I’m not completely misinformed I believe you can click-and-hold mouse pointer in each box and gently (as always) move the mouse up (increase) or down (decrease) at this value. Isn’t it possible to nudge sliders that way? Just sayin’ or wonderin’.
It took me a minute to understand what your suggestion really was, but now that I get it I like it. Normal click jumps to absolute position; ctrl+click/drag will only nudge relative to current slider position. I think that makes more sense than the default ctrl+click behavior.
Why if you hold Ctrl and click the fader (on the knob so it shouldn’t move) does it jump to -0.85dB at all time? Clicking on it without Ctrl it stays where it was.
Also why do these faders have a dead spot around 0dB. Can anybody adjust them to between -0.044 - +0.044dB with control held? After that they go 0.050, 0.055, 0.060 etc in 0.005 steps so why this big step either side of 0.000dB?
Not all of them Robbie. Not the main faders in the mixer. Plus adjustment with ctrl+drag is 0.005dB, with the buttons is 0.2dB, that’s 40x times more. (Going on Vol/Pan fader.)
So what amount of adjustment should the Shift+Click nudge be?
Oh I’m exaggerating! I can’t hear much change less than 0.3dB, maybe 0.1dB if it’s high up on the dB scale. Less than that forget it.
Robbie S I also use the value input box frequently, especially in sliders other than dB sliders. But when setting levels I try not to look at the numerical value for psychological reasons (I’m more likely to get a better mixing result without the visual reference, just by feel). Less likely to pick an arbitrary value that way. Feels organic. Holding Ctrl and gently moving with the mouse is perfect as is, save for the jumping non-sticky behaviour.
For the record I quite like the snap to zero behaviour, and if I recall right I was the one who suggested it.
