Automatically Re-size Clips In Montage?

A very frequent scenario:

I’ll create a montage of 20 clips. The clips are each songs I’m composing. So the length of each changes frequently.

So each time I go into the montage, I end up re-sizing each clip so the space between clips remains the same.

Is there a way that the montage can ‘see’ that clips have changed and automatically move/resize them as needed?

TIA,

—JC

I’m not quite sure if you mean you replace old clips with new different length clips, but the only functions I know of are the Clips tab: Clips > Functions > Align Selected Clips of focused track. If you select all the clips (ctrl-a), then use “place clips one after the other” 0s or 1s or 2s (or whatever), you’ll get consistent gap between all clips.

If you mean you resize the end of one clip (or insert a clip of different length) and want all clips on the right to move to fit, engage the “auto shift clips on the right” button.

If neither of those do what you want, maybe you could take a screenshot?

Cheers for this. Follow up, if I may.

1.Where -exactly- is the Clips > Functions > Align Selected Clips of focused track?

2.Where -exactly- is the “auto shift clips on the right” button" ?

I’m sure it’s =somewhere= in the PDF but frankly? If I can’t find it in 60 seconds, I swear and go elsewhere. I reached an age where I simply have zero patience with non-standard UIs. I used to LOVE WL. Now I dread firing it up.

TIA,

—JC

Clips > Functions is on the Clips tab.

The “auto shift clips on the right” button has some little squares and a right pointing arrow I think. If you mouse over it, the name should come up.

Sorry, I don’t have any way to get screenshots tonight.

Or you can use the CD Wizard (on the CD tab) each time, using the "adjust pauses before tracks - set time - " setting.

Those are good suggestions.

I would rather use a Montage because my workflow is this:

I do theatre pieces. Basically 12+ songs. The size of each song changes as the show develops.

I use the montage to apply processing to each raw piece… basically to ‘pre-master’ it so listeners can hear each piece at a similar volume and which is competitive with other stuff on their iPod. It’s great to have all the plugs custom set up for each clip.

But what makes it a PITA is that every time a clip gets re-generated (in Cubase) and the length changes, I have to delete it in WL, then re-insert it in the right place in the montage and THEN re-apply the custom plug-in processing.

But if the clip could automatically ‘re-size’ itself to the WAV file’s total length (thus pushing the subsequent clips to the right) I wouldn’t have to futz with all that.

Can this be done automatically?

TIA,

—JC

I didn’t realize there were clip plugins involved. That does complicate things.

I went on and on about this in another thread:

I need the clips to stay exactly the same, but you need the clips to expand with the soundfile. I’ve asked for an option to have it either way. As it is, clips shrink with shorter files, but don’t expand for longer files, which makes no sense at all to me. You need clips to expand and everything to the right to shift to fit it.

If you’re generally dealing with longer new files, I think the only thing you can do in 7 is temporarily save the original clip plugin chain, and then load it in the new clip. I would make a new temporary track (track 2), put the new clip on track 2, select it and ctrl-c (copy), then select the old clip on track 1, and ctrl-v (paste) with the paste option that moves everything to the right (don’t remember exactly what paste option that was, “replace with shift” or something like that).

Thanks. Yes, you understand perfectly. I take it that this behaviour is not any improved in WL8?

I -really- need this. I am using your workaround… it works, but it’s a PITA. If it were once in a blue moon, I’d be OK, but I go through that little dance EVERY DAY while composing… the time when I -least- feel like futzing with this sort of thing.

Best,

—JC



Right. The behaviour is the same in Wavelab 8 as in Wavelab 7. Hence my feature requests for the current “replace audio file” function in clips.

Crap.

Really appreciate yer taking the time to explain.

—JC