Moving Channels in D-Show

One of the nice things about a digital mixer is that moving a channel around on the board is very easy compared to the analog world.  As I mentioned previously, there's just one little gotcha:

Something happened that's not quite right, though. Look where AaronTwo ended up: it's at Channel 40. I don't know if this was intentional on the part of the programmers, or if it's a bug--but when you move a channel to a higher channel number, it copies to a spot one lower than where you wanted it. (It's a side-effect of the likely algorithm they used: insert a copy, remove the original, shift everything left to fill.)

Let's start with a quick example of the problem for those that didn't do the walkthroughs.  Then I'll give a rough overview of the algorithm they use and finish with a recipe for moving channels without frustrating yourself.

The Problem - Example

Start up D-Show.  If you're working with something you want to keep, make sure to save it.  We're going to play a bit.

Name the first eight channels "Drum x", where "x" is the channel number.  You'll have "Drum 1", "Drum 2", and so on.

Now name channels 9-16 "Vocal x", like before.  You'll have"Vocal 9" through "Vocal 16".

And just for kicks, name channel 17 "Channel 17".

Now, you've decided that for some reason, you'd like to have the drums to the left of the vocals.  You want to keep the vocals at 9-16 (maybe you eventually plan to add something at 1-8, or maybe you've decided that 9-16 are where vocals belong).  On the Inputs page, click on the text "1-8" below the channel faders.  Channels 1-8 should be selected.  Now right-click on the fader strip for channel 17.

In a minute, you're going to click "Move Selected Strips Here".  What do you expect to have happen?  There are three typical expectations:

1. The Eeyore expectation:  the software will crash, causing my computer to catch fire, and my collection of handmade Cabbage Patch doll clothing will be destroyed, and then I'll be sad.
2. The most common expectation:  the drum channels will be moved to channel 17-24, and "Channel 17" will now be at channel 25.
3. The expectation something odd will happen:  perhaps the drum channels get moved to somewhere besides channel 17.

So what do you expect?  No, really.  You can't go on until you've told yourself what you expect to have happen.

Got it?  Okay, let's find out.

Click "Move Selected Strips Here".  In a flash, the drum channels are moved to...channels 9-16?  Vocals are at 1-8, and "Channel 17" is still at 17?  What gives?

The Algorithm

Since you probably don't read pseudocode (and probably wouldn't know the semantics for any data structure I'd choose to explain this), I'll give you a more physical explanation.  If you have a deck of cards handy, you can follow along at home.

Drums 1-8 are now A-8 of Diamonds, because they both start with "D".  Vocals 1-8 are now A-8 of Clubs (because Clubs don't look like Diamonds).  Grab the face cards and use them to be higher channels.

Put your cards in order, face-up (or down, but it'll make reading them from the top of the table harder), with "Drum 1" (the ace of Diamonds) on the bottom, "Drum 2" on top of it, and so on.

Now I'll tell you I want to move "Drum 1" through "Drum 8" (A-8 of Diamonds, on the bottom of the pile) to just before "Channel 17" (the first face card).  I'll even slide a sheet of paper under "Channel 17" to mark the place.  (If you're following along at home, grab a sheet of paper, and slide it between the 8 of Clubs ("Vocal 8") and the first face card ("Channel 17")).

What do you do?  Well, first you find the channels I want to move.  Look, they're on the bottom of the pile.  Let's pull them out and set them aside.  We don't want them to get lost.  Now pick up the cards on top of the sheet of paper.

You'll have three groups of cards.  A-8 of Diamonds (Drums), the cards we're moving, are set aside.  The face cards ("Channel 17" and up) are on top of the sheet of paper, and if you're following instructions very carefully, you'll be holding them.  Finally, A-8 of Clubs are on the table where the pile was originally.

You're ready to put everything back together.  Pick up the A-8 of Diamonds (the channels you're moving) and put them on top of the original pile (the Clubs).  Now take the rest of the cards off the sheet of paper, and put them on top of the pile.  And now look at the order:  A-8 of Clubs, A-8 of Diamonds, and face cards.  Vocals 1-8, Drums 1-8, "Channel 17" and up.

Oh.

The shorter version of the algorithm goes like this:

1. Mark the channel before which you will insert the selected channels
2. Pull the selected channels out of the pile
3. Put the selected channels back in the pile before the channel/card you marked in Step 1

Recipe for Success

There are two directions you might move a channel or set of channels.  You can probably figure it out yourself:

1. Left (from a higher channel number to a lower channel number)
2. Right (from a lower channel to a higher channel number)

If you're moving to the left, you won't have much of a problem.  You'll say to yourself "I'd like to put Vocals 1-8 to the left of Drums 1-8".  Your expectation is that Drums 1-8 would be pushed right to accommodate Vocals 1-8.  And you'd be correct.  (You're so smart!)

If you're moving to the right, you'll see the problem above.  So, assuming you want to move channels to the right, but you don't want to change channel assignments (for the channels "in between" like the vocal channels in the example--you'd expect higher channels to get pushed right to accommodate the channels you're moving/inserting), here's a recipe to follow:

1. Select the channel(s) you want to move
2. Right-click on the selected channel fader(s)
3. Click "Insert Blank Strips at Selection"
4. Everything shifted to the right, but don't panic, we're not done yet.
5. Find the place you'd like to move your channels to (hint:  if you identified the channel number before inserting blank strips, the new channel number is (Old Channel Number + Count of Selected Strips) = New Channel Number.  That is, if you wanted to insert before channel 17, and had 8 strips selected, you'll look at 17 + 8 = 25)
6. Right-click on the fader strip of the channel you want to move your selected channel(s) to
7. Click "Move Selected Strips Here"
8. You've successfully moved the channels to where you want them.  Do a happy dance.  
9. (If you want to later, you can move other channels in to replace the blank strips, but that depends on what you're doing.)

Bonus Tips

If you're moving a channel to the right because you don't need it (it's "extra" or "spare" or whatever you call it), you should make sure it's not going to accidentally mess anything up.  After moving the channel, right-click on its fader.  Select "Reset [channel name] (Ch ##)".  Now you're sure it's not patched anywhere.  Mute it and pull its fader down, and don't worry about that channel any more.

For most of these activities, make sure you're in Config mode (look at the bottom right of the screen; double-click if it says "SHOW" to change modes).  Some options aren't available in Show mode.

Of course, don't change modes if you're doing a show.  Some of the things that get locked out in Show mode can interrupt audio.  And you probably don't want that, after all your hard work to set things up so nicely!