Freeze/Unfreeze All Tracks At Once

Freeze/Unfreeze All Tracks At Once

Yes, I know it has probably been requested before but I couldn't find it so I am requesting it again!

Hi John,

This option is available if you right-click on the 'Master' track. It's one that I use often.

It would be nice if it's in the Mixer window, though.

Regards,
Noel

and the ice crystal in the Tracks buttons.
It's funny I was looking to do that the other day instead of freezing one at a time, but forgot where it was.

Attached picture BB_Ice_Crystal.jpg

This already exists, but what does NOT exist is a keyboard command to do this.

Please either assign a sensible keyboard command to toggle between freezing and unfreezing all tracks, OR EVEN BETTER please introduce a keyboard command system where we can add our own custom keyboard commands to ANY operation within BIAB.

(And here's another idea I had about faster freezing and unfreezing of all tracks:
http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=350345#Post350345)

There are other ways to do this easily:

Right-click on the Master radio button in the upper left corner. Select Freeze All Tracks.

or...

Do a Save As, Save Special, Save Song with Patches and Harmony, and check the All box, then Save. Note that this menu comes up with the keyboard shortcut Alt+F2. I use it all the time, so I put that command in my Custom Toolbar.

Neither of these depends on the Mixer configuration.

Thanks everyone for the tip that this does exist elsewhere BUT I am requesting another snowflake button right there on the mixer not hidden in one of a hundred different menus! I should have been clearer in the beginning.

Please add a snowflake button on the mixer to freeze/unfreeze all tracks at once.

Could you elaborate why you think it would help to have this on the mixer?

Originally Posted By: Matt Finley

Could you elaborate why you think it would help to have this on the mixer?

There is plenty of space to add the master snowflake in the mixer and it wouldn't be hard and it wouldn't break any other feature or cause any problems so I guess I'd ask you...why not?

Freezing/unfreezing all tracks is probably a pretty common thing and it is typical in good UI these days when you have a stack of options that can all accept the same command that you allow the user to set/unset them all at once and not have to recall which menu that feature is buried on. If you are working in the mixer it makes sense to keep your focus there while you are using it.

Why do we have an option on the mixer to mute all tracks? Same exact logic applies there! We could remove the mixer entirely and just put all the options in menu panels but obviously having the mixer improves workflow.

This is an example of what Pipeline refers to when he laments how slowly things change here compared to products like RapidComposer. In that product if someone suggests a timesaving feature that has no downside and is relatively easy to implement it will appear in a day or two in the next build!

But here, even such a simple and easy little request has to go through forum scrutiny and even then no one knows if PG is even listening until a year later when the new version comes out and whoever requested the simple feature has completely forgotten about it, found a work-around and moved on.

I have mostly lost interest in this feature request already!

Originally Posted By: JohnJohnJohn

I have mostly lost interest in this feature request already!

I haven't lost interest... I actually like the idea now that you have clarified the desire for it on the mixer.

A few posts back I referred to a wishlist request I made in spring 2016 for either a keyboard command or the ability to shift-click on the snowflake to instantly freeze or unfreeze all tracks...

But your solution to have such a button on the mixer is actually a really good one since that works well, is consistent with the Master Mute and would also solve the request that I had for a quicker and faster way to freeze and unfreeze all tracks.

Your idea is good... let's just get PGMusic to listen and implement one of these solutions for faster ways to toggle the freezing on and off please!

Here's a HotKey for Freeze All Ctrl+Shift+F Un-Freeze All Ctrl+Shift+U

Just run AutoHotKey32/64.exe put it in your Win Startup Menu to run at Startup.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z4qy3ioybodeyom/AutoHotKey-Freeze-All.zip?dl=1

Add other Hotkeys or change these to what you like that don't clash with other ones.
More here Quick Action Buttons Bar & HotKeys

Code:

; Only one instance running at a time
#SingleInstance force

; Use "AHKClassFinder.exe" to find the the Progam Window "ahk_class name.
; Use "ahk_class RealBand" for Realband 
; Use ahk_class TBandWindow for Band in a Box
; When adding hotkeys use another Macro number
; To use Symbols for more multiple keys see 
; "Hotkeys (Mouse, Joystick and Keyboard Shortcuts)" - "modifier symbols" in help



;Freeze All Tracks

~^+f::  ;this is the hotkey Ctrl+Shift+F
Macro1:
WinActivate, ahk_class TBandWindow
Sleep, 500
Send, !P  ;this sends the keys Alt+P for Play menu
Sleep, 100
Send, {Down 13}
Sleep, 100
Send, {Enter 1}
Sleep, 100
Return

;Un-Freeze All Tracks

~^+u::  ;this is the hotkey Ctrl+Shift+U
Macro2:
WinActivate, ahk_class TBandWindow
Sleep, 500
Send, !P  ;this sends the keys Alt+P for Play menu
Sleep, 100
Send, {Down 14}
Sleep, 100
Send, {Enter 1}
Sleep, 100
Return

To do it on Mac use Apple Scripts or something like Keyboard Maestro.

We need a Mac Pipeline Wizard in this forum!! You do so much for this community, Pipeline, but sadly I am often unable to take advantage of it.

There is an automation feature in Mac OSX that I could figure out how to use to make a keyboard command for freezing and unfreezing... but I'm not feeling very inclined to spend the time troubleshooting and experimenting with getting it to work. Hopefully PG Music will add such a thing regardless because this should be built into the program regardless.

The trouble with Mac is finding Free things to do these jobs.
Both Win & Mac should have customizeable shortcuts for all functions. I would not hold my breath waiting for PG to implement things, I spend most of my time here working out workarounds to do things in these app that they should just do.
But I will have a look later on the Mac after I have welded the deck on the riding mower and fixing the flat tyre......

Too easy, System Preferences > Keyboard > App Shortcuts > + > Select Band-in-a-Box.app or browse to it > Type the Name Exactly the same as in the menu > click in the bottom box and Hold down the shortcut keys.

Attached File

MacBB_Custom_Shortcuts.png (325 downloads)

Originally Posted By: Pipeline

Too easy, System Preferences > Keyboard > App Shortcuts > + > Select Band-in-a-Box.app or browse to it > Type the Name Exactly the same as in the menu > click in the bottom box and Hold down the shortcut keys.

You mean that has been right under my nose all these years?

Sheesh... I knew it was possible but didn't realize it was so easy. I think I tried it at some point years ago and couldn't get it to work for what I was trying to do, and maybe I didn't enter the menu item exactly, as you mentioned to do.

I just set up my Freeze and Un-Freeze commands and it now works like a charm. I was hoping to assign the same command to both so that it could toggle between the two states, but it didn't want to do that, so I assigned Command-F to Freezing and Option-F to Un-Freeze. I will be upgrading my OSX before the end of the year, so I will be curious to see if the new OSX will retain and remember this setting.

Thanks Pipeline!!! You are a community treasure!

Just out of curiosity, do you work on both Mac and PC?

It's great, you can't do that on the PC only with AHK.
Yes I thought it should toggle also.
I think you can use https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/ to send Command-F to then it will toggle Freeze Un-Freeze to Biab.
User/Library/Preferences/com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist
On the PC mostly.