First of all, how does spectralayers define “mono”?
The reason why I ask is because it seems like spectralayers has a completely different definition when it comes to “mono” sources or “mono” files and working with “mono” files is not as INTUITIVE as working with layer files in spectralayers.
When you select a layer and solo it and export then the file is exported as so. When you de-select a channel (because usually the audio layer automatically has both channels linked/selected) and choose to select either left or right and export then the stereo channel is still exported (even when you solo either left or right).
Why does spectralayers do this? It’s not INTUITIVE dealing with “mono” files within spectralayers. I expect that when you select a channel (just like the behavior of selecting a layer) that the right or left (depending on whichever you select) would solo and become completely “mono” when exporting, however it still behaves as a stereo file when you export. Even when you solo, the export still treats it as a stereo file.
When you de-select a channel and select only a right or left channel and apply a selection shouldnt the selection only apply to that channel? Why does the selection apply to both channels (even when you clearly have one channel selected)? Wouldn’t it be logical for channels to be treated the same way as layers (where when you select one channel only that channel is applied to when applying a selection)?
My guess regarding your first point is, that the amount and mapping of channels is defined by the basic settings for a project (Samplerate and Channels), and each time you create a new layer within that project it is automatically a layer with that amount and mapping of channels. As far as I know SpectraLayers doesn’t offer a specific option to create a new layer with a specific amount/mapping of channels, nor does it allow to change the channel settings when exporting. The only options I can think of right now, is to reformat the whole project to mono-channel and remix the channels accordingly, or to copy a selection from a selected channel (or more like an “active” channel - meaning only the desired channel is highlighted in the Channels-Panel) to a new project - not the best solutions to be fair. An additional export function like “Export Audio-Channels from Project/Layer” might be useful for this.
For the selection, yes you can see the selected area on every channel, but as long as only your desired channel(s) are selected (or “active”), any modification is only applied to these channel(s). The marked selection on non-active channels is also more transparent. This is the case for SpectraLayers 9 Pro, but I think it was also the case in previous versions.
Thats the point of me creating this thread, to make the point that this method is so counterintuitive
I wanted to point out that it is more INTUITIVE for the developers to treat channels like layers is treated (where if you solo a layer and select that layer then only the selection/process applies to that layer), that way when you add new features (for example dolby 5.1 or 7.0 surround sound) it is INTUITIVE for the audio engineer to work with.