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Detect Retakes

Find repeated lines, compare the attempts, and choose what stays in your cut.

Before you run it​

Save your project before running Detect Retakes. It needs a paid plan and a transcript. For account and key setup, see Run an AI Tool. If Detect Retakes… is unavailable in the Process menu because footage needs a transcript, run Transcribe Your Footage first.

It scans audio tracks on the timeline, not clips selected in the media bin. Put the footage you want to check on the timeline before you start.

Run Detect Retakes​

  1. Open the Process menu and click Detect Retakes….
  2. Select the audio tracks to scan. Tracks without transcribed media are unavailable. If only one track has transcribed media, Solar Sailer selects it for you.
  3. Choose an Action. Detect Only is the safest choice for a first pass.
  4. Set Sensitivity from 1 to 7. The default is 4. Lower values are more conservative. Values of 3 or higher can catch looser paraphrases, but take longer.
  5. Click Run.

For job progress and cancellation, see Run an AI Tool.

Choose what happens after detection​

The Action setting controls what Solar Sailer does with the earlier attempts:

  • Detect Only marks the groups for review without changing the timeline.
  • Delete removes the unused attempts and leaves gaps.
  • Ripple Delete deletes the unused attempts and closes the gaps.

When you haven't chosen a winner, Solar Sailer keeps the last take in a group that isn't labeled false start. Delete and Ripple Delete apply that choice as soon as detection finishes. The edit is one undo step, but you don't get to listen first. I recommend Detect Only when the recording matters or the repeats are loosely worded.

Review the takes​

Open View > Retake review. You can also right-click a retake on the transcript and choose Open in Retake review to jump to its group.

  1. Choose the media file if the project has retakes in more than one file.
  2. Open a group and listen to its takes. Solar Sailer labels cut-off attempts as false start, but you can still keep one when the label is wrong.
  3. Click the take you want to keep. Solar Sailer disables the other takes and moves to the next group. This also affects linked clips. Locked tracks stay unchanged. See Cut and Delete for how disabled clips play and export.
  4. Repeat until you've checked the groups you care about.

Your winner choices are saved with the project. They remain after you close the panel or reopen the project, and Rough Cut uses them when it handles repeated takes. Running Detect Retakes again also keeps a choice when it finds the same group and chosen take. If the group has changed, Solar Sailer drops the old choice instead of applying it to different material.

Use Reset to return one group to its last remaining take that isn't labeled false start, or Reset all to reset every changed group still treated as a retake in the selected media file. While focus is inside the panel, Ctrl+Z undoes your last pick. Each pick is also one timeline undo step.

tip

To choose a winner from the timeline, right-click its transcript pill and select Select as best take.

Let AI choose the takes​

AI auto-pick chooses takes for the media file shown in Retake review. Save the project first and add a TypeSafe API key under Edit > Preferences… > API Keys. A paid plan is required.

  1. Choose the media file in Retake review.
  2. Click AI auto-pick.
  3. Listen through the chosen takes and change any picks you disagree with.

The choices take effect as soon as the pass finishes. Other takes are disabled, including linked clips on unlocked tracks. The pass can replace your earlier winner choices. It can also mark a group as Not a retake, keeping its takes instead of choosing a winner. Groups you marked Not a retake and takes you removed from their groups stay excluded from automatic picking.

To undo the pass, keep focus inside the panel and press Ctrl+Z once before making another pick or switching media. This restores the choices from before the pass.

Correct a bad group​

Sometimes the repeated wording is real, but the grouping isn't useful for the edit. Click the X beside a group to mark it Not a retake when nothing in that group should be cut. Click the X beside one take to remove it from the group. A removed take can't become the winner and won't be deleted as an unused retake.

These corrections are saved with the project. Click the Removed label to undo one. Like winner choices, corrections survive another detection run only when Solar Sailer finds the same group again.

You can make the same corrections from the timeline. Right-click a retake transcript pill and choose Not a retake or Remove take from group. The menu changes to Restore retake group or Restore take to group after a correction.

Remove unused takes​

Choosing winners only disables the other takes. Once you're sure, click Remove unused takes and confirm the removal. Solar Sailer deletes the unused takes and closes their gaps.

This command checks every retake group in the project, not only the media file currently shown in the panel. It respects your saved winners and corrections. It won't delete a group marked Not a retake or a take removed from its group.

The removal is one timeline undo step, but it deletes clips instead of leaving them disabled. A linked deletion that reaches a locked track is blocked until you unlock that track.