Structure

You have selected the Interpretation parameter, which displays the output. Selecting Figure parameter instead should fix it.

This sometimes happens to me if I am visiting the output parameter (in the lower phrase editor) that the main track sheet also shows the output information. Seemingly you can have that with the interpretation parameter as well.

Give a try clicking the "linked chain" button in the top-right corner.

This situation is very familiar also for me. Although there are only a few selection states (structure, container, instrument, parameter, selection), keeping them in sync with user intuition while you are navigating the app is a challenge.

Would it help to keep a separate parameter selection state for the phrase editor vs. the track sheet? That is, if you activate the phrase editor at bottom, it will have its own parameter selection independent of the track sheet.

Probably difficult to tell without trying.

> Would it help to keep a separate parameter selection state for the phrase editor vs. the track sheet?

Is that not (at least partly) what this "unlink-botton" does? For me, what was difficult when I ran into this issue for the first time is finding how to enable this unlinking again (Juergen kindly helped with that).

Also, what can be confusing or annoying is that on certain actions this unlinking becomes deactivated seemingly as a side effect. I am meanwhile so used to it that I just enable it again (I don't think I ever explicity disabled it -- I tend to always keep the figure view for the main track sheet), but when running into this situation for the first time it was tricky for me.

Yes, this is an important UX question.

Most of the time Figure on the track sheet is just fine, regardless of what is selected in the phrase editor below. However, sometimes you need to see other parameters in the track sheet and that's where the Link button comes handy.

In my opinion, this link/unlink button with chain icon is positioned awkwardly and if you don't have the tool tips enabled or don't try it out, you don't know at all what it does. I would put it on the left side with the other view-select buttons (the one with the eye and the one with the arrows) and give it a heading there, like "View-Select".

For my taste, the software now relies far too much on icons, which are by no means all self-explanatory. I use the software really intensively, but I still need the tool tips. That was not the case with Synfire 1.

> I still need the tool tips

Where is the problem with that? Users more easily forget what an icon means than what some text means?

Are icons perhaps preferred with the UI design if they take less room?

Where is the problem with that? 

The problem with the tool tips is that they are flickering around all the time, which of course is annoying. 

But they are, unfortunately, indispensable. I keep forgetting what the button with the toilet paper roll icon means. Ah, overdub. Ok. Makes sense. :))

That's not toilet paper. It's adhesive tape. Overdub = tape over.