How to "lock" a track?
How can I "lock" a track so that collaborators cannot inadvertently modify tracks created by others. I am asking collaborators to add tracks to an existing project. I would like to prevent them from modifying the original base tracks that I've created for the project.
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Hi there. That's a tough question. Currently, it isn't possible to do that, as the studio was built as sort of shared sandbox that all collaborators can play around with. It's understandable why this function could be useful, however. We'd love to talk this over with inside our team and see how it can affect the way collaboration is run. We can't vouch for any changes, but we thank you for bringing up the idea.
For now, if there's anything else that we can help out with, just let us know and we'd be there in a jiffy :)
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YES! Please add some kind of admin lock feature! I've had it happen multiple times where a student will accidentally erase a classmates' track or a guide track! Either a teacher is the "owner" of the studio and can lock tracks, or a feature where students can clock their own tracks once they're finished, but the tracks can be unlocked by anyone after going through a short verification/"are you sure?" process or something.....
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Note to application development team:
Please consider a design goal being avoidance of accidental track override. Therefore, an effective design could simply force an "unlock"... and perhaps an "Are you sure?".
That is, there is no need for security on this... linkage to the "user" and/or "owner". Anyone can "lock"... anyone can "unlock"... an inconvenience approach forces deliberate and intentional operations.
Perceiving the design goal in this manner should greatly simplify implementation enabling product inclusion in a timely manner.
_Marvin
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Thank you, Marvin, for clarifying.
I don't think that the owner has to have the ultimate power. "Are you sure you want to change this track?" or something similar would work for me. Of course, I'm dealing with adults, albeit not very tech savvy. A middle school teacher might need more protection. I have been there. :)
Mark
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Marvin
There was a reply to a post to this thread many months ago to the effect that locking tracks was against their core ideals. Apparently, it is an attempt at radical democracy. However, when you are a director or teacher you cannot afford that kind of democracy. :)
I actually contacted support at one point with this issue in mind and they told me to submit it in this forum, but said nothing about any disciplined approach. I don't think there is anything more we can do but to make our voices heard or write our own program.
Mark
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The new 'Capture' app that Soundtrap released on 6 October has locked tracks by default - backing track and any contributor tracks cannot be overwritten (https://support.soundtrap.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360009759159-Introducing-Soundtrap-Capture-App).
This new app has lots of pluses (only one button to deal with, no fiddly settings, much more user friendly, uses your Soundtrap account). The big minus is that it's not yet fully integrated with Soundtrap Studio (which is meant to happen soon), and is currently available for iOS devices only (Android version also apparently coming soon).
I don't know why they haven't publicised this further, as it seems to deal with a lot of the issues with Soundtrap, and they make a big thing about how they've listened to their users.
I was so happy when I saw the notice, and I did start using the app -- but the catch for now is that it's only on iOS and one needs to manually download tracks from the phone app, which is slow, so I didn't roll it out for my choir - yet. I'm hanging out for the updates that have been promised.
I work with an amateur choir, and the overwriting of backing tracks or other contributors' tracks has been a problem. And we all find the settings too fiddly. I had to pay for a subscription in order to undo some of the problems of overwritten tracks. Small price to pay, I guess, for the value I have got out of it. Am hoping I can ditch the subscription, as we're just using it to record. We do our editing offline.
Once it's integrated with Soundtrap fully, recording on Capture (on phone or tablet) will be so much easier than using Soundtrap, and the moderator or owner of the project will be able to edit and download, etc. in Soundtrap Studio (far easier for those functions).
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Hi! :) Thank you for your comments! We have read them all and passed them on to the rest of the team. Regarding the questions on how user feedback is handled - we look through and collect all of the feedback and feature requests that are posted on the Community and share them with the rest of the Soundtrap team. We also keep track of the posts with the most votes and comments as well as how many times a certain feature has been suggested to get a better understanding of what is popular among members of our Community. We really appreciate that you share your thoughts with us and are constantly working to improve our product. We hope this will give a better understanding of how your feedback reaches the team :) Please let us know if there’s anything else!
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There is an option at the top of the Q&A page to sort by # of votes and # of comments. This request currently has the highest vote count (4) and the second highest comment count (21).
BTW - as the author of the original request, I still think this is a necessary feature - and I spent most of my career writing user-focused software for engineers.
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Walt,
Thank you... not sure how I missed the option to sort by "votes" and "comments".
I have not had the time to explain a related issue in a thoughtful manner... here is my "off the cuff" assertion:
Depending on your perspective, there is either a significant bug, or dramatic design flaw, that makes this whole track locking problem severe. For example, when I use Reaper with its superior Midi Editor etc. to create backing tracks (and then import them into Soundtrap)... if I mark a track for "Record" the record selection can not "move" from track to track. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Soundtrap. If you identify a track for "Record" and click on another track, and then click on a third track, the high-lighted red "Record" icon "jumps" to the third track!
I share your passion for "user-focused software" and this behavior violates a number of usability guidelines. Specifically, it is unpredictable behavior that leads to a "destructive" outcome. (For others, the term "destructive" in software design is often used to designate when data gets "trashed" in a manner that may be unrealized by the user of the software. This category of "bug" is considered the most egregious by professional software engineers.)
So, after periodically spending evenings being called by users that had NO IDEA how they possibly recorded over someone else's track... at least we now have a handle on the systemic flaw that has damaged our team efficiency.
_Marvin
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Marvin
From my perspective, this IS a well thought out explanation. I started out blaming my singers, but found, considering the sources, that this could not be the case. I'm glad that you have reinforced my suspicion that the program is "wonky." I can now report to my choir the dangers to our project and give them an explanation.
Thank you for that!
Mark
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Hi there,
I just bought the Education version and 93 subscriptions for my middle school students but am deeply disappointed to be learning about the inability to "lock" tracks. I can't tell you how much extra work is involved to have to make 2 or 3 backups of every project and then keep updating them whenever a student accidentally erases or records over the click or lead tracks. After reading about "Capture" in other posts, when will this be available for those with an Education account?
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It is an absolute must to be able to lock tracks. SoundTrap seems to allow overrecording of tracks without notice. This is a bug, and not a feature. I think a warning would be nice when you are about to record over a track, either intentionally, by accident, or by SoundTrap bug. The latter seems to indeed be a "trap" by SoundTrap. :)
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Rvaughan,
Unfortunately, I've gotten pretty efficient at recovering erased or recorded-over tracks.
Step 0 - Determine who (the "musician") recorded the track that was erased or recorded-over.
Step 1 - Go to "My Projects" page.
Step 2 - Left-click on the three dots of the applicable Project.
Step 3 - Select "Previous versions".
Step 4 - Find the last entry for the "musician".
Step 5 - Select "Open this version".
Step 6 - Left-click on the three dots of the "musician" track.
Step 7 - Select "export this track".
Step 8 - Close this "previous version" of the project.
Step 9 - Return to the most current version of the project.
Step 10 - Select on "Add New Track".
Step 11 - Select "Import file" and import the recently exported track.
Step 12 - Discard the "damaged" track as required.My guess is that this process will prove simpler then a "defensive" posture to solve the inconvenience.
_Marvin
P.S. Be sure to "vote" for this issue by selecting any "up arrow" at the top of each post. I believe we currently have eight votes to get some sort of software engineering resolution.
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At 14 votes... This bug related issue remains the #2 Soundtrap concern behind the Feature Request to address the lack of adequate time signature support. Eight months of silence has elapsed without acknowledgment of this issue as a programming bug, design flaw or an anticipated resolution date by the software engineering team. This lack of responsiveness calls into question the value of providing feedback as a mechanism for driving product improvement/enhancement.
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It has been two years and this issue has not been resolved. A new UI is scheduled released in January, 2022, does not support access to "Previous Versions" from the "Projects" page. This causes one to recover a previous version from within a particular project... which overlays the current version and makes recovery more awkward.
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I also vote for this "lock certain tracks" feature when sharing. One solution I can think of is to do a "Save As" before sharing/ collaborating, so you can keep your original tracks in an alternative project file. (Or suggest collaborators do a "Save As" on their side before altering projects.) In Pro Tools, I always do a "Save As" with the current date immediately when I open a project.
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