Is it possible to duplicate a track, but not have all the recorded regions from the original track be copied over?
Yes, you can create a new track version.
That is a possibility, but I’m mainly focused on making minor tweaks to an existing instrument.
For instance, I may have a violin track, with the mid and surround mics loaded in the VST. Let’s say I want a violin track with the close mics loaded. It would be nice to be able to simply duplicate the first violin track so that everything (effects, color, other features) remain consistent and immediately are present for the new track. Yet at the same time, it wouldn’t copy all the old track data, and need for me to scroll through the project and delete all the duplicated regions.
You could say it’s kind of like making a track preset specifically for the project.
^ I actually do the above, only those tracks are regionless. I may have a track called [VIOLINS I], which has my preferred color, VST (no instrument loaded yet), and effects (like reverb and panning) already available. I just duplicate the track and start creating specific articulations for the violin. Kind of like expression maps, but more accesible and better on the CPU load.
Make a macro: Duplicate track > select all on track > delete
This should duplicate your track, select all events on the new track, and delete the events = empty track w/ same settings.
Easy enough, if that’s what you’re after 
That worked for me - thanks!
I always wondered if there was a quick way of removing the remaining automation? Quicker that ‘showing used automation on selected tracks’, selecting all the automation tracks, pressing Shift-delete?
Mike.