Thank you Steve, this is of course helpful, but it definitely doesn’t come close to the workflow of the ripple edit mode that has been described and requested.
With the Cubase macro approach you have suggested, for example, it requires a key to be pressed EACH TIME to make the selection (obviously), which isn’t a problem if what you need to do is very simple and occasional. However, as soon as you need to do something more complex or repetitive across many little clips close together spread out over many tracks, the need to hit the key for the macro EACH TIME you change selections becomes very frustrating and slows down the workflow considerably.
For example, when editing a complex multi-track dialog project with hundreds of little clips close together (which is common for a heavy dialog session with several speakers/voice actors), where you need to adjust a tiny bit on one clip, then a tiny bit on another, then on another, then on another, etc… while ALL the following clips in the timeline ripple their positions automatically, the Cubase macro approach would be VERY tedious indeed. EVERY time you wanted to tweak a different clip (and have all the following clips ripple), you would need to hit the key command again. Which would therefore be THREE clicks or keystrokes: 1 click (select the clip to adjust) + 2 press key for macro (to run the macro and select all following clips) + 3 then click and drag.
Contrast that to the ripple MODE as requested here and once you turn the ripple MODE on, all you have to do is ONE click and it works like butter: 1 click and drag – and that’s it! Everything else automatically follows perfectly, smooth as can be.
The workflow with a ripple MODE is lightning fast when you’re doing tons of tiny little edits on any track/clip in the project, and so the Cubase macro approach you’ve kindly suggested is only really useful if you don’t have to do anything complex or repetitive.
For anything complex, the macro approach is not only very slow but ALSO more prone to human error since there are more clicks/keystrokes in between each desired action, leaving more room for mistakes to happen. From my own experience, I’ve dealt with such issues, and one misplaced click when you’re going fast and it has blown up projects for me before. A “ripple MODE” is FAR more safe.
Additionally, in Reaper (and I hate to even mention the name of the DAW here since it evokes certain negative emotions from some people here), there is a second ripple MODE that focuses just one ONE track at a time, which is another nice tool.
Hope that all makes sense.
Personally, I’ve just accepted that Steinberg hasn’t added this feature. I’ve asked for it for years and years, and I gave up on it. Maybe this thread will spark interest again. When I have to do a complex dialog editing project nowadays, I jump over to Reaper, work there for a while, export stems, then come back to Cubase (or whatever other DAW I need to use for that project). I do sincerely hope that the Steinberg developers are listening though, because if Cubase were to implement a true Ripple Editing MODE, it would be highly appreciated by many, many people, especially people who produce complex multi-track podcasts with several speakers and voice talent and also audiobooks, etc. It would be a great tool for sound designers and music producers too, who want free-form manipulation of complex layered multi-track elements.