Author Topic: Multiple level sub-grouping  (Read 6233 times)

sapr

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In some cases, a single sub-grouping level is not enough. This occurs prominently with large scale classical music. Mahler's Symphony no. 8 is used as example (see bottom part of post).

From my experience of real world examples, 3 levels of sub-grouping should be safe. Operas consistently use 3 levels of sub-grouping, e.g. {Opera name} → Act 2 → Scene 3 → multiple tracks.

There are some notable caveats:

1. Foobar2000 already supports multiple sub-grouping level, but its implementation is no good. It always forcefully display all sub-groups as blank vertical space even when they are not defined in tags. The presentation would be much better if they were optional (hidden without taking up any space).

2. Is it true that Musicbee assumes sub-grouping is contained within a disc? I mean, really large scale works might span across 2 CDs or even more. I tried to make sub-grouping work with multiple discs, but it always inserts a line gap between discs, and I can't tell if it's really working fine as intended.

=========== Images below ============

This is my current setup:



Following is a mockup image of idealised presentation:

Last Edit: May 21, 2021, 03:51:28 PM by abelcheung

sapr

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Another use of multiple sub-grouping is for publisher who decide to break up a very long movement (say 20min+) into multiple tracks, there are quite some examples of such splitting. Here is one:



Despite using complex functions and custom tags, the result still is not comparable as if more sub-grouping were present.

The Incredible Boom Boom

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+1

In the mean time, I do this, but I have a couple situations in which another sub-level would work wonders. EDIT: I wonder if the "second" sub-level would function similarly as to a feature like chapter support within the Main Panel, where a single track with multiple chapters could be sub-divided or multiple tracks akin to your example.

Last Edit: May 22, 2021, 06:53:14 PM by The Incredible Boom Boom

Intothisworld

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Diederik

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+1

This would be a great feature! Besides being useful for some classical works, it would also be useful for some multi-disc albums or box sets.