Preview Automation (All Tracks)

Suppose you have a project that already contains automations. Now you want to add a new section at the end of the project and make changes to the mix there.

This creates a problem: When a track is in Read mode, you cannot change an already automated parameter because it is controlled by the automation curve. However, if a writing automation mode (Touch, Latch or Overwrite) is active, when you adjust a parameter such as the volume, for example, the value is written to the curve. But this also creates a gradual transition between the last old curve point and the new value and the existing curve is changed, because this parameter value should actually remain constant until the end of the old section. Furthermore, if you change parameters that have not been automated so far, new curves will be created, which means these parameters will receive the new value also in the previous section of the project and thus be changed.

In such a case, you can use Automation preview in a writing automation mode to temporarily override the linking of the track parameters to the curves in order to cleanly separate the two parts with automations. To do this, proceed as follows:

  1. Activate a writing automation mode (Touch, Latch, Overwrite)

  2. Enable the Preview automation option via the Automation menu or the PREVIEW button in the Automation panel.

  3. Start playback. You can now change all settings and effect parameters in the tracks without anything being recorded. If parameters are already automated, their automation curves are not changed. However, if you change a parameter that was not previously automated, a new automation curve is created. A point is created on this curve at the time position at which the change took place, which retains the old value from the previous section.

  4. Stop playback, the play cursor jumps back to the beginning of the new section.

  5. Then select Set parameter value(s) > Jump to current value in the automation menu or use the button in the Automation Panel.

  6. This ensures that a subsequent recording of automation data does not affect any parameters in the previous section.

  7. You can now deactivate the option Preview automation and continue working with the automation modes as normal.