Currently when you save a session, the zoom level is also saved. Which is, when you re-open your session you have the viewport just the way you set last time, but the same zoom level applies to every single snapshot on the same session, which is not convenient.
Is it possible to make Ardour saving the current zoom level of the snapshot?
TL:DR
I usually record live band in one single session, possibly pausing the recording in between songs. This gives me a long session with separate songs. When it comes to mixing, I first make a rough mix that can sound decent, then I create a snapshot for every song, stripping off all the material not belonging to the song, bring all the regions at the beginning and start working on the specific mix in the individual songs. Now, say you’re working on a short song and you zoom-to-fit just before saving, switching to a different snapshot (or better, to the main recording snapshot) the zoom level stays the same, and you can only view a part of the freshly loaded snapshot and you have to zoom out to see it all.
I’m not sure I got you right. What I mean, is that every snapshot can be considered a session within a session, thus it makes sense to have its own zoom level…
My point is that sessions do not have a zoom level. The GUI does.
If you load session A, set the zoom, quit, restart, load session B, you get the zoom level you set previously, because it belongs to the GUI, not to session A.
I see… Ok, so my first assumption is not true, which makes my request absolutely pointless! Perhaps reloading often the same sessions, made me think the zoom level was saved along… I beg you pardon for this.
Well the (horizontal) zoom level and playhead position only make sense depending on what’s on the canvas (session / snapshot), it’s not so much affecting the GUI in itself if you think about it, it seems to me the separation of concerns is questionable in thiis case. What about the track’s height then ? It’s saved with the session too, isn’t it ?
The GUI has a zoom level (for fonts & widgets), and the session has a time axis zoom level adjusted to best represent what it contains, the latter is not a general setting per say, it’s one of the million little things we constantly play with when working on a session (and that we’d expect finding back in place when reopening a session).
Your points are not unreasonable but as with so many of the good ideas that show up on our forums, it is not currently on my (or our) radar. We’re constantly busy with other things, and don’t have time (in general) to switch focus to non-trivial changes, even if they are good ones.
Also, I don’t entirely agree with the assessment. The “right” zoom level varies over time (much more than track height). It can also reflect working style, which maps across sessions.
Just to be sure, I tested again and horizontal zoom IS saved with sessions (please don’t change that), it’s just not saved with snapshots (that’s what the OP tried to point out I believe, and I found that surprising too in a similar workflow as the one described).