Text-based editing doesn't work for multicam audio clips

[seanmcnally98]

While I love the new text-based editing feature, multicam audio clips are not being recognized as clips that need to be transcribed.  While this support page seems to suggest it should work, the only workaround at this point is to flatten your multicam audio, which is a pain since it will break the link with your multicamera video.  Hope this can be fixed!

This bug is present on version 23.4.0 Build 56

[Buck Kahler]

I've also noticed some issues with Merged clips as sources. Highlighting what you want to add to the timeline highlights entire passages you did not intend. However, it does select what you wanted to insert into the timeline. Also, Merged clips does not allow you to rename speakers.

[Fray D.]

After much experimentation, I have a solution!

1. Generate your multi-camera source sequences.

• In the Project window, right-click on your video and audio files and select Create Multi-Camera Source Sequences...
• Right-click on the newly created multi-cam source sequence/s, and select Open in Timeline.
• Bonus tip! If your timeline is a mess, choose Simplify Sequence... under the Sequence app menu and select Close vertical gaps on video tracks. Unfortunately, this trick won't work for the audio tracks. So if their clutter bothers you,  I would suggest unlinking them from their video counterparts and then deleting them entirely. You only need the audio that the multi-cam is based off of afterall.

2. Generate the transcript for text-based editing at the source level.

• After you have opened your multi-cams in the timeline, make sure you have the Text window open. From there, click the Generate Transcript button under the Transcript tab.
• At this stage, I have found that text-based editing will only work here at the source level. If you copy and paste the multi-cam sequence into a blank sequence, you can probably move the playhead around from the Text window but you won't be able to do the more useful actions like cut, paste, and delete.

3. Generate a sequence from the multi-cams.

• Right click on the multi-cam/s in the Project window and select New Sequence from Clip.
• The new sequence/s should be able to use all the features of text based editing. I usually test this out by selecting some of the text and hitting Delete. If there's a ripple edit in the timeline, I know that text-based editing is working.
• If you need to combine multiple multi-cams into a single sequence, use one of these new sequences to paste everything into one place. For some reason, trying to copy/paste them into a blank sequence does not retain the text-based editing, but copying and pasting between them perserves it. 

Some "gotchas" to look out for:

• Make sure you have the "{ }" icon turned on in the Text/Transcript window (next to the search bar).
• Make sure you have "Follow active monitor" turned on in the Text/Transcript window (in the lower left corner).
• I'm using a Mac Studio running Sonoma 14.1.1 with Premiere version 24.0.3. Your mileage may vary with another setup.