Subject:SF6 Navigation Problems

Posted by: aerix

Date:5/30/2002 11:11:01 AM

I've just started working on a project (CD-length mono voice recording) with SF6, the first project I've worked on since upgrading from SF4.5. I'm encountering some extremely annoying problems navigating through and editing the files I'm working with here.

One of the easiest to deal with is that rolling the mouse wheel no longer simply moves the file forward or backward -- instead, it zooms in and out. Hold down SHIFT and the mouse wheel works as before. Okay -- I can get used to that.

But I'm going nuts with how the cursor jumps around sometimes. For example, I'll be zooming in on something -- a short passage that I need to fix something in -- and suddenly the cursor is at the end of the file.

The most annoying is when I attempt to move the edges of a selection. I often need to cut out an erroneous word or stutter from the voice recording (a speech), which requires precise selection of the problematic area. No problem moving the end of the selection -- SHIFT + RIGHT ARROW moves it along for me (with the edge snapping to zero). But if I hit the HOME key to try to move the start of the selection forward at all, instead I get a new selection -- from where the old one started, to the zero-crossing I tried to move the start of the selection to.

Follow me? It's hard to describe this kind of thing in words. Anyway, I'm hoping someone else has experienced this and can tell me what to do -- other than go back to SF4.5, I mean.

Another problem, possibly related, is when I do a loop playback of a selection. I need to do this often to remove stutters and mistakes by the speaker I'm editing. In SF4.5, I could move the edges of the selection during playback without the whole selection having to scroll along the screen. In other words, I could sit looking at the beginning or ending of the selection, adjust it back and forth during playback, and hear the change. Now the screen insists on showing the whole selection, and as I move the ends of it, the screen wigs out -- like we're fighting each other.

Any insights will be appreciated greatly. Possibly there are a few settings from SF4.5 that I didn't remember to adjust to my own preference in SF6. But it seems like some things have changed that didn't have to.

Thanks.

Subject:RE: SF6 Navigation Problems

Reply by: Sonic

Date:5/30/2002 12:39:18 PM

The mouse wheel by itself has horizontal zoomed since 5.0, Ctrl+Wheel vertical zooms, Shift+Wheel scrolls, and Ctrl+Shift+Wheel moves the caret (also works with selection endpoints, by the way). Some non-MS mouse drivers try to intercept and translate wheel messages into scroll messages (which is what happened by default in 4.5 since it did not natively support the mousewheel). There may be a way to disable this "Universal scroll" behavior for specific applications in your mouse control panel if it becomes an issue.

I cannot reproduce your second problem with Home/End shortcuts, but will look into it further. You should only get the described behavior if the Shift key is still pressed when you hit Home or End. If that is not the case, in the meantime, you can use the comma key ',' to toggle between selection endpoints.

For your third problem, try unchecking Options->Scroll Playback (F6).

Regards,
J.

Subject:RE: SF6 Navigation Problems

Reply by: aerix

Date:5/30/2002 1:22:33 PM

Sonic writes: "I cannot reproduce your second problem with Home/End shortcuts, but will look into it further. You should only get the described behavior if the Shift key is still pressed when you hit Home or End. If that is not the case, in the meantime, you can use the comma key ',' to toggle between selection endpoints."

I don't have any trouble getting to the beginning or ending of the selection. The HOME and END keys work as always for that. The difficulty is in using the arrow keys to move the beginning of the selection forward or backward. The arrow keys move the end of the selection forward or backward without any problems -- just as always.

But if I try to move the beginning of the selection forward or backward (i.e.g, right or left), I get a new selection. With further experiment I've found this is only a problem when Auto Snap to Zero is selected. The select borders move around fine when Auto Snap to Zero is deselected.

However, Auto Snap to Zero is utterly crucial to my editing technique. The ability to move selection borders is all but useless if I don't have Auto Snap working too.

This sounds like a bug to me. I can't see what the advantage would be to the way this thing is working. Meanwhile, I'll have to use SF4.5 for all detailed editing. What a pain.

Thanks for your reply. If you find out anything else, please let me know.

Subject:RE: SF6 Navigation Problems

Reply by: Sonic

Date:5/30/2002 2:27:40 PM

Ah yes, I see the problem now. It is definitely a bug and we'll take care of it in the next update (6.0b). In the meantime, you aren't *entirely* relegated to using 4.5 since 6.0 will zoom greater than 1:1. If you get a good handle on the mousewheel shortcuts, you can shut off snap-to-zero and use a combination of Wheel (zoom) and Ctrl+Shift+Wheel (scroll caret) to manually pick your selection point. I find that pretty effective.

Sorry for the inconvenience.
J.

Subject:RE: SF6 Navigation Problems

Reply by: aerix

Date:5/30/2002 2:57:33 PM

J (Sonic) writes: "Ah yes, I see the problem now. It is definitely a bug and we'll take care of it in the next update (6.0b). In the meantime, you aren't *entirely* relegated to using 4.5 ..."

Thanks for looking into it. Actually, what I'm doing is working in both 4.5 and 6.0. I'm using 6.0 as my basic workspace, and then for detailed edits, I paste a rough chunk of the original file into 4.5. Maybe I'll follow up on your alternative editing strategy with my next project.

Thanks again. Any idea when 6.0b will be out? Will I receive notice, or should I just keep checking back here?

Caio.

Subject:RE: SF6 Navigation Problems

Reply by: Sonic

Date:5/30/2002 3:34:54 PM

6.0b will be available in roughly 2-3 months. You'll be notified in Sound Forge 6.0 if you haven't disabled Net Notify and are online. You'll get an email if you chose to receive them when you registered the product. Otherwise, check the website at your convenience.