Remove auto-add audio tracks

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Currently, Premiere Pro adds audio tracks to a sequence whenever a file with more audio tracks than the sequence contains is opened in the Source Monitor. So, say I have a sequence with four audio tracks. If I open a clip in the Source Monitor that has 8, four more tracks are automatically added to the Sequence. This is behavior is fine for the auto-generation of NEW sequences, but frustrating in that it modifies an existing sequence with no user input whatsoever. The functionality for adding tracks, as well as source patching and track targeting, works fine, and this behavior is more of a bug than a feature.

[Button_Monkey]

Please make it user choice. I never want PP to auto create tracks

[ShlemGrumson]

Nobody who is a serious editor would EVER want this on by default. A warning would make it worse from a workflow perspective. Make it an option that’s off by default.

[10Eighteen Media]

I vote with the others who have suggested give us an off on option for this feature

[Jarle_Leirpoll]

I am quite surprised by the comments from Adobe employees here. It's like they have not heard the massive criticism from users that's been going on for years. I think Scott and Ben explain the problem clearly, and it should not be difficult for anyone to understand.

As for the question from Bruce: No, we don't want a warning. We want an option.

No need to remove the oh-so-often-requested feature. Just give us a way to turn it off, and still be able to grab audio from source channel 16 if you only have 8 tracks in the edit sequence.

This is not rocket science. It should be very easy to understand what people want, and why.

[thirdeyeamsterdam]

Absolutely for making this an option. My workaround is to disable all but the first 2 tracks on 8 track source files - not ideal either, but better than this irritating unwanted behaviour.

[tomatosoup75]

Copying over my suggested new approach from the Facebook group
*********
A couple of ideas I have. A preference in the wrench menu - "Automatically add extra tracks on insert"

Or just don't add the new tracks unless the user clicks the + button [already mentioned here on User Voice]

Best way, IMO. If you have media in the source monitor with more tracks than the sequence can hold: Along with the + button, display the extra source targets *disabled*. This way tells me there are additional tracks, I can leave them off, turn them all on, turn on selectively, reorder, or dig into the media to investigate what's on those tracks.

And if the dialog box to remove empty A/V tracks could be accompanied by a single press shortcut key that would be fantastic 😀

*******************

Showing disabled targets method - Lets say the working sequence has 8 tracks and my source has 32. I want to insert track 21 from the source. I would highlight only source target 21 and drag it up to track 6 and this would not insert a new track. However if I don't move the source target and leave it in position 21, a new track 9 would be created to accommodate the track. It should NOT create empty tracks 9-20 just so target 21 ends up on 21.

Other editors who work with multichannel source media may prefer that Premiere does create those extra empty tracks and we should have to be deliberate about instructing where the new clip goes. So feel free to comment on that.

Regarding the popular feature request to auto add tracks - It's useful, sometimes. More often it's annoying. One click on the + button when I actually need it is no big deal. But deleting extra tracks multiple times (with the delete empty tracks requiring a tickbox each time), multiple times a day, IS a big deal.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

[Trevor_Asq]

The short answer to this, like many of the outstanding feature requests, is to copy how Avid does it.

They have an option to auto create source tracks.

They show all source tracks, regardless of number of timeline tracks.

They allow those source tracks to be patched to timeline tracks.

They have an option to 'autopatch' selected source tracks to selected timeline tracks (rather than having to do it manually).

Their track shortcuts (A1-A99) are the same for source + timeline, affecting what has focus.

Be like Avid:trade_mark:

[WHMB TV40]

I hate this behavior, especially since once PP auto adds the tracks it doesn't "auto" show them on the timeline, so many times you don't even realize it's added the tracks unless you see the tiny "+" sign on your timeline. We record on BM Hyperdecks which have 16 tracks of audio, 14 of which are usually empty, so if you forget to modify the audio in the bin you end up messing up your entire timeline organization when this happens and then have to clean all that up.

[george@katz]

I cant imagine why this was considered a popular feature. No other NLE does this and its this "Click heavy environment" which made me move to Davicni resolve for faster work flows. In my workflow I will get a piece with maybe 8-10 channels but only need the stereo mix on A1 A2. I've already set up my sequence for 4 audio channels. I don't need PPro to bring in all the audio tracks. After dragging my source media to my timeline I now have to highlight, delete the tracks and then right clock to delete unused tracks to clean up my timeline. Its one of many workflows that demonstrate that PPro is not built for speed or efficiency. I don't want a warning or adding another "click" to work. Just stop this from happening. If i want a sequence with 10 tracks i will create a sequence with 10 audio tracks.....again no other NLE does this.

[Trevor_Asq]

@VARGEO Avid does this - it is often useful - but, crucially, it's an *option*. (Plus avid allows you to patch from any source track to any timeline track, plus has 'autopatch')

[Jeff Drake]

The + thingy is warning enough. A pop-up asking me what to do is a waste of time. Please make automatically creating timeline tracks to match the number of source tracks an OPTION. The only time in 10 years I've wanted to automatically add tracks is when creating a new sequence, and even then, I usually setup timeline tracks exactly the way I want them at the start of a project and I don't want Pr overriding my choices.

[FinalAdobePro]

I have voted for this and would like to add to the other comments that actually, the feature is pretty useful, it just needs to be optional. The thing that maybe hasn't been understood given the 'needs more info tag' from the adobe admin, is that when you're trying to patch from a source sequence or clip with more tracks than the sequence, the ONLY way currently to see ALL the possible source tracks you might pick from is to add that many tracks to the timeline. That's extremely unhelpful as your frequently picking and choosing source tracks, disregarding those you don't want. The little '+' sign at the moment for when you actually DO want to add enough tracks to match the source is fine, it works as expected and is in a logical place, it just shouldn't be the case that the source tracks are initially LIMITED to how many timeline tracks there are. If you're timeline has 4 tracks and the source has 8, I want to see 8 source tracks in the patching area of the interface, and a little plus button there for if I want to auto add tracks to fit, otherwise I'll just click to enable/disable and re-route source tracks however I see fit. This then wouldn't even require a warning or any new behaviour to make it optional because it already IS, (I don't know about back in 2018, but right now it doesn't auto-add them just from loading a source), we just need the ability to actually practically use the source patching without using the feature. It's not automatic right now, but it is mandatory which amounts to the same thing because if you want track 5 of source and only have 4 program tracks then you have to add 4 more tracks you didn't want to get 8 so you can physically see track 5 to patch it where you needed and to disable all the other source tracks.

[Trevor_Asq]

How Avid does it...

[Mel Matsuoka]

Wow, glad to see i'm not the only one who finds this behavior utterly annoying.

No, we dont want a "warning". We want there to be a *choice* to have this as the default behavior or not.

I think it's more than abundantly clear that actual "editors" despise this allegedly "popular" feature. You don't have to remove it, if for whatever inscrutable reason Adobe truly believes that this is a good feature. But please give editors the choice to turn it off!

[Dragos Stefan]

This seems to be the template reply from Adobe on UserVoice. Just like they do on the thread about the idiotic user experience with Export and Import in recent versions: they have some mysterious "feedback" from some mysterious "sources", that goes completely against what 90% of their users are saying, here or elsewhere.

[Woodrow Peel]

20 years on Avid and now year 5 on Premiere. The automatic audio track add feature is an enormous waste of time. The editor should be able to make this decision. There are too many premiere functions like this that defy the editor's control. I've given up on ever editing quickly again. I'd like to be able to color label each audio and video track, independent of the source color label. For example, it would let me quickly know if I'm on a b-roll video track, or an SOT or a music track or a sound effect track. I'd like to be able to have the option of more choices with the on screen button editor. I'd like to disable the drag edit in point feature. I like Premiere's ease of use with graphics, but basic editing frustrations are inefficient compared to Avid.

[DanielM42]

PLEASE PLEASE, just make it so we can turn it off.

[Bruce Bullis]

Automatically adding tracks to accommodate inserted clips was a popular feature request, and is unlikely to be removed

Would you prefer a warning?

[ScottSimmons]

Now that the UserVoice has been moved here this "feature" request is getting some new attention from editors. I'll add again that this discussion goes back years and years. Very often we hear Adobe say they are looking at it but it never gets fixed. It's gone on so long that I wrote a detailed blog post about it to help explain to the Adobe engineers why this seemingly little thing is a huge headache for editors working in the application day in and day out. It is called My single most hated feature in Adobe Premiere Pro.

I would still love to hear where @Bruce Bullis  got the data that this was a "popular feature request." I don't think he is talking about the same thing, hence another reason I wrote that blog post. There are few "features" in an NLE that can cause so much extra work as this one single thing that will automatically add audio tracks to your existing timeline when you don't need or want them.

[Mel Matsuoka]

Gonna pile on here, and report that almost ALL of our editors have independently complained to me about this allegedly "popular" feature, and asked me if there's an option to disable it.

Based on the number of complaints about this issue--both public and private--it strains credulity the more people were asking for this than not.

But giving Adobe the benefit of the doubt that this was in fact the case, it's abundantly clear that there are enough "real editors" out there who absolutely hate it (myself included, and I dont even consider myself to be a real editor), and that there should at least an option in the Preferences to disable it. 

[Bruce Bullis]

> I would still love to hear where @Bruce Bullis  got the data that this was a "popular feature request."

From multiple decades of working directly with Adobe's most demanding broadcast, film, and enterprise customers.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't provide an option to disable automatic track creation. 🙂

[Ben Holmes Editout]

This feature has become a poster-child for the apparent disconnect between broadcast/professional users and Adobe. But continuing this debate helps no one. 

There is a very simple solution to this which I suggested some point before on this thread: when it first happens ask users "do you want to auto-add tracks for this clip" with a Yes/No option and (this is the important bit) a "don't ask me again" checkbox. 

This keeps everyone happy or at any rate makes no one unhappy. 

[ScottSimmons]

Apologies @Bruce Bullis if my reply came across as flippant, but I think it can be seen from all the replies here and the private beta discussions of this that have gone back years without even a single comment that this is good behavior and this needs to change. I've worked in some very demanding Premiere environments with a lot of editors, and we've talked about this very thing and none of them like this default behavior.

Your comment about it being a popular feature request made it sound like there was a poll or user voice request for it so that is what I was curious about as to where there were specific asks for an auto creation of audio tracks from a source. It also makes it sound like many of us voicing an opinion on this feature aren't working in demanding broadcast, film and enterprise environments and that just isn't true. 

[Bruce Bullis]

No worries!

I agree that having the option to constrain/disable automatic track creation sounds like a smart affordance, that'd allow both constituencies to work how they'd prefer. [Of course, that's easy for me to say, since my PPro dev team isn't responsible for timeline behaviors... 😉 ]

[athletic_GenieB838]

The problem I have with default audio track creation is that it makes a
mess of my timeline. My work demands I edit quickly and having a giant glob
of useless tracks throws me off. I do so many 2 and 3 frame edits it’s
important to me to have an extremely clean timeline. Every track is color
coded. My source materials on my current project have 12 audio channels.
I’m only using 3 of them. I’m wasting a lot of time deleting 9 tracks every
time I make an edit. I could leave them there but they get tangled in my
lassos and locking them for an entire project just hurts my brain having to
stare at a useless chunk of timeline. It’s a useless time suck that
professional editors with time constraints should have no use for.