I often want to turn solo on and off while working in ARA2 (Melodyne, Spectralalyers, etc)
But because of the zone focus, solo’ing the channel is not possible.
I’m not sure how this would work, If this is software side for ARA developers, or host side…
Because there are contentions, for example solo(s) in Spectralayers solos a layer. Perhaps it would be up to the user to deconflict these shortcut keys, or perhaps Steinberg adds a ‘Solo ARA Editor’ dedicated key commands.
If you’re working with ARA in the lower zone, you can solo the channel in the upper zone. If not, you could always move back from full screen to the lower zone, do the solo, then move back to full screen for the ARA editor.
If you’ve got a dual monitor system, you can also keep your MixConsole on a second monitor and use that to solo/unsolo without having to use the project window at all for that.
Of course, these aren’t as convenient as if the ARA editor window had its own solo button (actually, I’m thinking some specific ARA plugins may have a capability, but I wouldn’t swear to it – I do have a dual monitor system, and the MixConsole is always up on my second monitor; in the context of ARA, I use that more for the Listen button than the Solo button, though I use both, and I also often mute various other channels when working with ARA in case context makes that helpful), but they do at least provide the possibility of soloing the channel in the absence of a dedicated button within the ARA editor like that in the Key Editor. (Side note: In the context of using the solo button in the Key Editor, I’ve found some situations where that doesn’t actually solo only the involved channel. From memory, Omnivocal has been involved in at least some of those issues, and Superior Drummer has been involved in others. Not sure what the specifics are at the moment, other than that those specific channels sometimes keep playing even when soloing another instrument track in the Key Editor.)
Yeah the suggestion is more based on not having to go back and forth between Zones, as in the course of editing something, I’m constantly checking/referencing between solo and full material for one example, to see if the problem I’m fixing is even the problem that I heard… Or when using Melodyne, to go from solo to hear the details of the edit, to full material to hear it in reference to everything else.
The Audio Editor for example, does have solo and it doesn’t even change the projects solo state. That’s what I want, just for ARA.
When it comes to Spectralayers which I use often, I would change Layer Solo to something else.