Refuse every multi-track selected-tracks render, both scopes; make a failed mono collapse observable

docs/TODO.md

@@ -511,39 +511,40 @@ registration and `ingestHandleSectionCommand` move into it and gain unit coverag
 `ingest.cpp`'s own `command_id`+`gaccel` registration collapses onto
 `action_registry::registerAction` where the shapes match.
 
-## A multi-track TRACK capture renders one file per track and lands one of them
+## The `&128` multi-track output shape is still DAW-unobserved, and a refusal now rests on it
 
-**Context (surfaced by Ψ-W1-T1, capture-range-exactness).** Track scope has always
-rendered through `RENDER_SETTINGS &128` ("selected tracks via master"), and the
-ranged item capture now joins it there. The SDK header (~3041) documents the
-single-file bit `&(4<<16)` for "rendering selected items or razor edits" only, so it
-does not apply to `&128`: the reading is that N selected tracks produce N files.
-`capture.cpp` sets `RENDER_PATTERN` to one literal stem and detects success by
-`std::filesystem::exists`, so N stems collapse onto one name and whichever file
-survives lands as a successful capture carrying one track's audio.
+**Context.** The multi-track TRACK capture no longer lands one track's audio under an
+`Ok`: `renderOffline` refuses every selected-tracks render covering more than one track,
+both scopes, naming the way out (`render_settings::isMultiTrackStemRender` /
+`multiTrackRefusalMessage`). What did NOT change is the evidence: the per-track-output
+reading of `&128` is still INFERRED from the SDK header documenting the single-file bit
+`&(4<<16)` for item/razor sources only. It has never been observed in a DAW.
 
-**The wart.** `renderOffline` refuses this shape for the ranged ITEM capture
-(`render_settings::isMultiTrackRangedItemRender`) because that path was newly routed
-into it. Track scope with two or more tracks selected has the same exposure and is
-deliberately untouched — changing a shipped action from "produces a file" to
-"refuses" is a behavioral-contract change, and it was out of that track's surface.
+**The wart.** The refusal is therefore as unverified as the defect it closes. If REAPER
+in fact sums a multi-track `&128` render into the single literal `RENDER_PATTERN`, the
+refusal costs a working capture — a user who selects two tracks and captures gets a
+message where a correct summed file used to land.
 
-**Intended fix.** Not proposed. Three shapes exist and the choice is a product call,
-not a mechanical one: refuse (matching the item path), render each track and land N
-bank entries (that is batch capture's meaning, not this action's), or sum the
-selected tracks into one file (needs a summing render source `&128` does not offer).
+**Intended fix.** Run the observation in `docs/verify-track-scope-multitrack.md` §3 (a
+hand-driven Render dialog, source "selected tracks via master", one literal filename, two
+tracks selected — then count the files REAPER writes). If it comes back "one summed
+file", the refusal is over-strict for the TRACK scope and should be narrowed back; the
+ITEM-scope half stays regardless, since a per-item-track render is not the sum the user
+asked for either way. If it comes back "one file per track", nothing to do and the
+inference is retired into fact.
 
-**The constraint the fix MUST handle.** The per-track-output reading of `&128` is
-INFERRED from the header's single-file wording, never observed in a DAW. Verify it
-first — including what REAPER actually writes when N stems share one literal
-`RENDER_PATTERN` — because the answer decides whether this is a defect at all.
+**The constraint the fix MUST handle.** Narrowing the refusal must keep the ITEM scope
+refusing, must keep `renderOffline` the single seam (so a recipe replay cannot diverge
+from a fresh capture), and must not re-open the collapse for any caller that reaches
+`&128` later — the predicate is keyed on the render source precisely so new callers
+inherit it.
 
-**Priority / risk.** Unknown until the DAW check above runs. If the reading is right,
-a silently-wrong capture on an ordinary two-track selection; if wrong, nothing.
+**Priority / risk.** Low and bounded either way: the current behavior refuses rather than
+lands wrong audio, so the cost of being wrong here is a refused capture, not a bad one.
 
-**Done looks like.** The `&128` multi-track output shape is DAW-confirmed, and track
-scope either produces defined correct output for a multi-track selection or refuses
-it with a message naming the reason.
+**Done looks like.** The `&128` multi-track output shape is DAW-observed and written into
+`src/shell/capture/CLAUDE.md` as fact rather than inference, and the refusal is either
+kept as-is or narrowed to the item scope with that observation cited.
 
 ## A `SelectedItems` recipe replays against whatever items are selected then
 

docs/verify-track-scope-multitrack.md

@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+# DAW verification — track-scope capture over a multi-track selection
+
+What a DAW pass must establish for the multi-track track capture, and the exact numbers
+or strings to read off. Nothing below can be closed by a unit test: every item depends on
+what REAPER actually does with a render request.
+
+**Build to use.** Release, installed into `UserPlugins/`, REAPER restarted — extensions
+load at startup only. Set the docked panel's tail toggle to **None** before every cell;
+Auto adds an 8 s window and Manual a fixed one, and both would invalidate the frame-count
+readings.
+
+**Project to use.** One saved project, project sample rate pinned to 48000. Two audio
+tracks, `A` and `B`, each holding one item at least 30 s long, with *audibly different*
+content (a tone on `A`, a drum loop on `B`). One folder track `F` with `A` and `B` as its
+children, used only in §5.
+
+---
+
+## 1. The regression floor — single-track track capture is unchanged
+
+Select **track `A` only**. Make a time selection from **10.000 s to 12.000 s**. Run
+*ReaSampler: capture selected track(s)*.
+
+Read off:
+
+- A file appears in the project's bank folder, and one new card appears on the panel.
+- The card's length reads **2.000 s**; its frame count is **96000** (`round(12.0 × 48000)
+  − round(10.0 × 48000)`). The backend refuses the capture with `BoundsMismatch` if the
+  render is more than one frame off that, so a landed capture already proves the number
+  to ±1 — what you are confirming here is that it landed at all.
+- The REAPER console shows **no** `ReaSampler capture failed:` line.
+- Track `A` is still the only selected track afterwards.
+
+Repeat with a **razor area** on `A` over the same 10–12 s span and no time selection: same
+three readings.
+
+**This is the byte-identical floor.** If either cell now refuses, the change is wrong —
+the refusal must fire only above one track.
+
+## 2. The defect cell — two selected tracks now refuse
+
+Select **`A` and `B` together**. Time selection 10.000–12.000 s. Run *capture selected
+track(s)*.
+
+Read off:
+
+- The console prints exactly:
+  `ReaSampler capture failed: A track capture renders the selected tracks through the
+  master, and more than one track cannot land as a single file. Capture one track at a
+  time, or route them into a folder/bus track and capture that (a folder's own output is
+  its children summed).`
+- **No** new card on the panel, and **no** new `.wav` in the bank folder (check the folder
+  directly — a stray file with nothing indexing it would mean the refusal fired too late).
+- `A` and `B` are both still selected, both still unmuted, and neither track's fader, pan,
+  or FX-bypass state changed. The refusal returns before any guard is constructed, so
+  there should be nothing to restore — this reading is what confirms that.
+
+Repeat with a **razor area spanning both tracks** and no time selection: identical
+readings. Note that the track *selection* is what the refusal counts — a razor over two
+tracks with only `A` selected is a one-track capture and must still succeed (§1).
+
+## 3. The decisive observation — what `&128` actually writes
+
+**This is the one that retires an inference, and it is the reason `docs/TODO.md` still
+carries an entry.** The refusal in §2 rests on reading the SDK header's single-file bit
+`&(4<<16)` as applying to item/razor sources only, never to `&128` — so N selected tracks
+are believed to produce N files. That has never been observed.
+
+Drive REAPER's own Render dialog by hand, with the extension out of the loop:
+
+1. Select `A` and `B`.
+2. File → Render. **Source:** *Selected tracks (stems)* — the dialog wording for `&128`.
+   **Bounds:** *Custom time range*, 10.000 to 12.000 s.
+3. **File name:** a literal stem with **no wildcards at all** — e.g. `stemprobe`. Clear
+   `$track` / `$item` / anything else from the pattern; the extension writes exactly one
+   literal stem, so the probe must too.
+4. Render to an empty scratch folder.
+
+Read off — **the file count in that folder**:
+
+- **Two files** (however REAPER disambiguated them, or one file that visibly got
+  overwritten): the inference holds, the §2 refusal is correct, and the `docs/TODO.md`
+  entry can be closed by writing this observation into `src/shell/capture/CLAUDE.md` as
+  fact.
+- **One file containing `A` and `B` summed** (confirm by ear, or by nulling it against a
+  master render of the same range with only `A` and `B` unmuted): the inference is wrong,
+  the §2 refusal costs a working capture, and the track-scope half should be narrowed back
+  per the `docs/TODO.md` entry. The item-scope half stays either way.
+
+Also record **what REAPER named the files** — that decides whether a future correct
+multi-track capture could ever be built on this source at all.
+
+## 4. Recapture replays the same answer
+
+Take a **single-track** track capture that carries provenance (capture a range on `A`
+whose source item is itself a bank sample, so `detectParent` fires), select its card, and
+run *re-capture from source*. It must regenerate — same audio, same 96000 frames.
+
+Then construct the multi-track case: a recorded recipe whose `trackGuids` names two
+tracks. The reachable way to get one is to have captured it before this change; if no such
+entry exists in any project, record that this cell was **not exercised** rather than
+inventing one. When it is exercised, read off:
+
+- `ReaSampler re-capture failed:` followed by the **same** message text as §2.
+- The bank entry is untouched — same file, same hash, same card.
+
+## 5. The way out actually works
+
+Route `A` and `B` into folder `F`. Select **`F` only**, time selection 10.000–12.000 s,
+capture track scope.
+
+Read off: one card, 2.000 s, and the audio contains **both** `A` and `B`. This is what the
+refusal message tells the user to do, so it has to be true.
+
+## 6. Realtime still accepts a multi-track selection
+
+Select `A` and `B`. Run *ReaSampler: capture selected track(s) in realtime* over the same
+range. Read off: **one** card, and its audio contains both tracks. Realtime taps each
+source track with a send into one temp track, so it sums where the offline render cannot —
+the divergence from §2 is deliberate and this cell is what confirms it is real.
+
+## 7. Mono collapse — what is and is not reachable
+
+Capture a range on a track whose content is dead-center (a mono source panned center, or
+a duplicated-channel file). Read off:
+
+- The panel card reports **1 channel**.
+- The console shows **no** `the lossless mono collapse ... landed intact, as captured.`
+  line.
+
+**Not DAW-reachable:** the collapse's *failure* branch. It fires only if the captured file
+cannot be read, or its temporary rewrite cannot be written or renamed, inside the same
+call that just rendered the file — there is no manual way to inject that fault between the
+render and the rename. The branch is covered only at its reporting seam
+(`tests/test_wav_codec.cpp`, `testCollapseOutcomesReportDistinctly`), and its console line
+has never been seen in a running REAPER. If you ever do see it, the capture in question is
+intact and correctly measured — only the size win was lost.

src/core/capture/render_settings.cpp

@@ -112,11 +112,27 @@ SourceMode sourceModeForScope(CaptureScope scope, bool itemExtentIsWindow) {
     return SourceMode::SelectedTracks;
 }
 
-bool isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(CaptureScope scope, SourceMode mode,
-                                  int sourceTrackCount) {
-    return scope == CaptureScope::Item
-        && mode  == SourceMode::SelectedTracks
-        && sourceTrackCount > 1;
+bool isMultiTrackStemRender(SourceMode mode, int sourceTrackCount) {
+    return mode == SourceMode::SelectedTracks && sourceTrackCount > 1;
+}
+
+std::string multiTrackRefusalMessage(CaptureScope scope) {
+    switch (scope) {
+        case CaptureScope::Item:
+            return "This range is narrower than the selected items, so it renders "
+                   "through their tracks -- and those items span more than one track, "
+                   "which this shape cannot land as a single file. Capture one track's "
+                   "items at a time, or make the range match the items' extent.";
+        case CaptureScope::Track:
+            return "A track capture renders the selected tracks through the master, "
+                   "and more than one track cannot land as a single file. Capture one "
+                   "track at a time, or route them into a folder/bus track and capture "
+                   "that (a folder's own output is its children summed).";
+    }
+    // Unreachable for a valid enum; a refusal with no way out is still better than a
+    // silent one, so fail closed to the scope-agnostic half of the message.
+    return "This selection spans more than one track, which cannot land as a single "
+           "file. Capture one track at a time.";
 }
 
 RangeSource inferRangeSource(bool hasRazorArea) {

src/core/capture/render_settings.h

@@ -124,19 +124,23 @@ enum class CaptureScope {
 // track ITSELF is deliberately not isolated; see src/shell/capture/CLAUDE.md.
 SourceMode sourceModeForScope(CaptureScope scope, bool itemExtentIsWindow);
 
-// True for the one render shape that cannot land as a single capture: an item-scope
-// capture re-sourced to the selected-tracks render (its window is not the item
-// extent) whose selected items span more than one track. That source is read as
-// rendering one file per selected track — the single-file bit is documented for
-// item/razor sources only (SDK header ~3041), which is the whole basis for the
-// reading and is DAW-unverified. If it holds, N tracks collapse N stems onto one
-// literal render pattern and whichever file survived would land as a successful
-// capture carrying one track's audio. The caller refuses instead.
+// True for the one render shape that cannot land as a single capture: a selected-tracks
+// render covering more than one track — a ranged item capture whose items span several
+// tracks, or any multi-track track capture. That source is read as rendering one file
+// per selected track — the single-file bit is documented for item/razor sources only
+// (SDK header ~3041), which is the whole basis for the reading and is DAW-unverified.
+// If it holds, N tracks collapse N stems onto one literal render pattern and whichever
+// file survived would land as a successful capture carrying one track's audio. The
+// caller refuses instead.
 //
-// Track scope is deliberately NOT covered here even though it renders through the
-// same source — see src/shell/capture/CLAUDE.md §Gotchas.
-bool isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(CaptureScope scope, SourceMode mode,
-                                  int sourceTrackCount);
+// Scope is deliberately NOT a parameter: the exposure comes from the render SOURCE,
+// which both scopes reach.
+bool isMultiTrackStemRender(SourceMode mode, int sourceTrackCount);
+
+// The refusal text for the shape above. Keyed on scope because only the way OUT differs:
+// an item capture can also widen its range to the items' own extent, which a track
+// capture has no analog for. Kept beside the predicate so the two read as siblings.
+std::string multiTrackRefusalMessage(CaptureScope scope);
 
 // --- Range inference: razor-else-time (orthogonal to scope) -------------------
 //

src/core/capture/wav_codec.cpp

@@ -300,6 +300,16 @@ MonoCollapse collapseToMono(const std::vector<std::uint8_t>& bytes) {
     return out;
 }
 
+std::string monoCollapseSuffix(MonoCollapseOutcome outcome) {
+    switch (outcome) {
+        case MonoCollapseOutcome::Declined:  return {};
+        case MonoCollapseOutcome::Collapsed: return " (collapsed to mono)";
+        case MonoCollapseOutcome::Failed:
+            return " (mono collapse failed -- left as captured)";
+    }
+    return {};  // unreachable for a valid enum; claim nothing rather than a wrong outcome
+}
+
 std::string hashBytes(const std::uint8_t* data, std::size_t len) {
     // FNV-1a 64-bit: deterministic, no dependencies, adequate for dedup identity.
     std::uint64_t h = kFnvOffsetBasis;

src/core/capture/wav_codec.h

@@ -117,6 +117,21 @@ struct MonoCollapse {
 // including the bext/source-position consequence beyond hashing.
 MonoCollapse collapseToMono(const std::vector<std::uint8_t>& bytes);
 
+// How applying the collapse to a captured FILE ended. `Declined` is collapseToMono's own
+// "nothing to do"; `Failed` is a read that never happened or a warranted rewrite that did
+// not land. The capture is intact and correctly measured in every case — only the report
+// tells them apart, which is why the two must not share one value.
+enum class MonoCollapseOutcome {
+    Declined,
+    Collapsed,
+    Failed,
+};
+
+// The capture message's collapse suffix — empty for Declined, so a capture that had
+// nothing to collapse reads exactly as it did before the collapse existed. Shared by
+// both backends so one outcome cannot be reported two ways.
+std::string monoCollapseSuffix(MonoCollapseOutcome outcome);
+
 // --- Content identity (dedup hashes) -----------------------------------------
 
 // Deterministic FNV-1a 64-bit content hash over `len` bytes, as 16-char lowercase

src/shell/capture/CLAUDE.md

@@ -74,11 +74,17 @@ detail not covered there:
   each other (the former `ICaptureBackend` was removed) — do not reintroduce one
   without a real second polymorphic call site.
 - **The selected-tracks render (`&128`) is read as emitting one file per selected
-  track** — the single-file bit is documented for item/razor sources only (SDK header
-  ~3041), and that is the whole basis for the reading; it is DAW-unverified. If it
-  holds, then since `RENDER_PATTERN` is one literal stem and success is a file-exists
-  check, N tracks would land one track's audio as a successful capture.
-  `renderOffline` refuses that shape for the RANGED ITEM capture only
-  (`render_settings::isMultiTrackRangedItemRender`). Track scope renders through the
-  same source with the same exposure and is deliberately untouched here — filed in
-  `docs/TODO.md`.
+  track** — the single-file bit `&(4<<16)` is documented for item/razor sources only
+  (SDK header ~3041), and that is the whole basis for the reading; it is DAW-unverified.
+  If it holds, then since `RENDER_PATTERN` is one literal stem and success is a
+  file-exists check, N tracks would land one track's audio as a successful capture.
+  `renderOffline` refuses EVERY multi-track render through that source
+  (`render_settings::isMultiTrackStemRender`) — the ranged item capture and the plain
+  track capture alike, each with its own way out
+  (`render_settings::multiTrackRefusalMessage`). The refusal is keyed on the render
+  SOURCE and not on the scope, so a future caller that reaches `&128` inherits it.
+  Re-opening a multi-track track capture needs the DAW check in
+  `docs/verify-track-scope-multitrack.md` to come back the other way first.
+- **Realtime is the one capture path that accepts a multi-track selection**, and it is
+  correct to: its per-source-track sends sum in the one temp track, which is a real mix
+  rather than a stem collapse. The offline refusal above does not apply to it.

src/shell/capture/capture.cpp

@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 #define REAPERAPI_WANT_Main_OnCommand
 #define REAPERAPI_WANT_Main_SaveProject
 #define REAPERAPI_WANT_Master_GetTempo
+#define REAPERAPI_WANT_ShowConsoleMsg
 #define REAPERAPI_WANT_TimeMap_GetTimeSigAtTime
 #include "reaper_plugin_functions.h"
 
@@ -228,12 +229,30 @@ CaptureName captureNameFor(const std::vector<std::string>& sourceNames,
     return composeCaptureName(in);
 }
 
-bool collapseCapturedFileToMono(const std::string& absolutePath) {
+namespace {
+
+// One console line per genuine collapse failure. The capture itself is intact and was
+// measured after this step, so the failure costs only the size win — but silence here is
+// what made a failed rewrite read exactly like a legitimately stereo capture.
+void reportCollapseFailure(const std::string& absolutePath, const char* what) {
+    ShowConsoleMsg(("ReaSampler capture: the lossless mono collapse " + std::string(what) +
+                    " -- " + absolutePath +
+                    " landed intact, as captured.\n").c_str());
+}
+
+}  // namespace
+
+MonoCollapseOutcome collapseCapturedFileToMono(const std::string& absolutePath) {
     const std::vector<std::uint8_t> bytes = util::readFileBytes(absolutePath);
-    if (bytes.empty()) return false;
+    if (bytes.empty()) {
+        // Failed, not Declined: the read that would have decided never happened, so
+        // "the channels differ" is a claim this path cannot make.
+        reportCollapseFailure(absolutePath, "could not read the captured file");
+        return MonoCollapseOutcome::Failed;
+    }
 
     const MonoCollapse collapse = collapseToMono(bytes);
-    if (!collapse.collapsed) return false;
+    if (!collapse.collapsed) return MonoCollapseOutcome::Declined;
 
     // Sibling temp + rename, NOT an in-place truncating write: this runs unconditionally
     // on the deterministic offline path (which never reopened its render for write before
@@ -245,7 +264,10 @@ bool collapseCapturedFileToMono(const std::string& absolutePath) {
     const std::string tempPath = absolutePath + ".moncollapse.tmp";
     {
         std::ofstream out(tempPath, std::ios::binary | std::ios::trunc);
-        if (!out) return false;
+        if (!out) {
+            reportCollapseFailure(absolutePath, "could not open its temporary file");
+            return MonoCollapseOutcome::Failed;
+        }
         out.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(collapse.bytes.data()),
                   static_cast<std::streamsize>(collapse.bytes.size()));
         const bool wroteOk = static_cast<bool>(out);
@@ -253,16 +275,18 @@ bool collapseCapturedFileToMono(const std::string& absolutePath) {
         if (!wroteOk) {
             std::error_code ec;
             std::filesystem::remove(tempPath, ec);
-            return false;
+            reportCollapseFailure(absolutePath, "could not write the rebuilt file");
+            return MonoCollapseOutcome::Failed;
         }
     }
     std::error_code ec;
     std::filesystem::rename(tempPath, absolutePath, ec);
     if (ec) {
         std::filesystem::remove(tempPath, ec);  // don't leave litter on a failed rename
-        return false;
+        reportCollapseFailure(absolutePath, "could not replace the captured file");
+        return MonoCollapseOutcome::Failed;
     }
-    return true;
+    return MonoCollapseOutcome::Collapsed;
 }
 
 void stampCaptureSample(Sample& s, const CaptureRequest& req,
@@ -473,11 +497,13 @@ CaptureResult OfflineRenderBackend::capture(const CaptureRequest& request) {
     // (within a tolerance, see below) the requested window's frames, so a source
     // mode that silently widened the render fails loudly here instead of landing as
     // a successful capture. Auto and Manual add frames by design and are skipped.
-    // (The file is read again by stampCaptureSample below; the duplicate read is a
-    // once-per-capture cost on an already-warm file.) A bounded/header-only read is
-    // not a clean substitute: parseWavLayout only marks the data chunk valid when
-    // the buffer holds the chunk's FULL declared body (bodyInBounds), so a truncated
-    // read would read as invalid here on every real capture, not just malformed ones.
+    // (The landed file is read three times on this path — this gate, the mono collapse,
+    // and stampCaptureSample — plus one rewrite when the collapse fires; a
+    // once-per-capture cost on an already-warm file, judged acceptable.) A
+    // bounded/header-only read is not a clean substitute: parseWavLayout only marks the
+    // data chunk valid when the buffer holds the chunk's FULL declared body
+    // (bodyInBounds), so a truncated read would read as invalid here on every real
+    // capture, not just malformed ones.
     if (request.tailMode == TailMode::None) {
         const WavLayout layout =
             parseWavLayout(util::readFileBytes(expectedPath));
@@ -525,7 +551,8 @@ CaptureResult OfflineRenderBackend::capture(const CaptureRequest& request) {
     // renderer's file rather than one this step had already rewritten. The collapse
     // preserves the frame count, so the two are order-independent in outcome — only
     // in what each is measuring.
-    const bool collapsedToMono = collapseCapturedFileToMono(expectedPath);
+    const MonoCollapseOutcome collapseOutcome =
+        collapseCapturedFileToMono(expectedPath);
 
     // Record the request's own bounds (exact) rather than re-measuring the file.
     Sample s;
@@ -553,8 +580,7 @@ CaptureResult OfflineRenderBackend::capture(const CaptureRequest& request) {
     result.message = "Captured [" +
                      std::to_string(request.startSeconds) + "s, " +
                      std::to_string(request.endSeconds) + "s] -> " +
-                     paths.relativePath +
-                     (collapsedToMono ? " (collapsed to mono)" : "");
+                     paths.relativePath + monoCollapseSuffix(collapseOutcome);
     return result;
 }
 

src/shell/capture/capture.h

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include "core/model/bank_model.h"
 #include "core/capture/capture_name.h"     // CaptureName — label + file-stem base
 #include "core/capture/render_settings.h"  // TailMode — the three-state tail contract
+#include "core/capture/wav_codec.h"        // MonoCollapseOutcome — the collapse's report
 
 // Forward-declared, never dereferenced here — only the REAPER-facing .cpp touches these.
 class MediaTrack;
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ enum class CaptureStatus {
     UnsupportedFormat,  // requested bit depth has no known REAPER blob (Float32 only)
     RenderFailed,       // the render action ran but produced no output file
     TransportBusy,      // realtime backend: transport already playing/recording — refused
-    MultiTrackRange,    // a ranged item capture whose items span >1 track — would render N files
+    MultiTrackSelection,// a selected-tracks render over >1 track — would render N files
     BoundsMismatch,     // the rendered file's frame count is not the requested window's
 };
 
@@ -126,9 +127,10 @@ CaptureName captureNameFor(const std::vector<std::string>& sourceNames,
 // bit-identical (the pure `collapseToMono` decides). Every other file is left
 // untouched, byte for byte, so the not-collapsed path is exactly what the backend
 // produced. Must run BEFORE stampCaptureSample, which measures the landed file.
-// Returns whether the file was actually rewritten (collapsed AND the write landed) —
-// callers use it to make the collapse observable in the reported CaptureResult.
-bool collapseCapturedFileToMono(const std::string& absolutePath);
+// A Failed outcome is ALSO logged to the console here, because a successful capture's
+// CaptureResult::message is not printed by any caller — the return value alone would
+// leave a genuine I/O failure indistinguishable from a legitimately stereo capture.
+MonoCollapseOutcome collapseCapturedFileToMono(const std::string& absolutePath);
 
 // Stamps the metadata shared by both backends onto `s`: trackGuids (echoed from the
 // request) + channelCount (measured from the produced file's `fmt`; 0/unknown as the

src/shell/capture/capture_orchestrator.cpp

@@ -184,17 +184,14 @@ CaptureResult renderOffline(CaptureScope scope,
 {
     // Refused BEFORE anything is touched, so the refusal path has nothing to
     // restore. This is the seam BOTH a fresh capture and a recipe replay cross, so
-    // neither can land the multi-stem render the predicate names.
-    if (isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(scope, req.sourceMode,
-                                     static_cast<int>(sourceTracks.size())))
+    // neither can land the multi-stem render the predicate names — and both scopes
+    // reach it, so a track capture and a ranged item capture refuse alike.
+    if (isMultiTrackStemRender(req.sourceMode,
+                               static_cast<int>(sourceTracks.size())))
     {
         CaptureResult refused;
-        refused.status  = CaptureStatus::MultiTrackRange;
-        refused.message =
-            "This range is narrower than the selected items, so it renders through "
-            "their tracks -- and those items span more than one track, which this "
-            "shape cannot land as a single file. Capture one track's items at a "
-            "time, or make the range match the items' extent.";
+        refused.status  = CaptureStatus::MultiTrackSelection;
+        refused.message = multiTrackRefusalMessage(scope);
         return refused;
     }
 

src/shell/capture/capture_realtime_finalize.cpp

@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ CaptureResult finalizeRecording(ReaProject* proj, MediaTrack* temp,
 
     // Channel-domain rewrite, after the frame-domain trim so it acts on the final
     // frame set; it preserves the frame count, so the trimmed length above still holds.
-    const bool collapsedToMono = collapseCapturedFileToMono(destPath);
+    const MonoCollapseOutcome collapseOutcome = collapseCapturedFileToMono(destPath);
 
     // Pure recorded-capture -> Sample mapping (identity, bounds echo, tier).
     RecordedCapture cap;
@@ -225,8 +225,7 @@ CaptureResult finalizeRecording(ReaProject* proj, MediaTrack* temp,
                      std::to_string(request.startSeconds) + "s, " +
                      std::to_string(request.endSeconds) + "s] (recorded " +
                      std::to_string(result.sample.lengthSeconds) + "s) -> " +
-                     paths.relativePath +
-                     (collapsedToMono ? " (collapsed to mono)" : "");
+                     paths.relativePath + monoCollapseSuffix(collapseOutcome);
     return result;
 }
 

src/shell/capture/capture_realtime_shell.cpp

@@ -30,8 +30,9 @@
 // TAP: the hidden temp track receives a send FROM each selected source track
 // (CreateTrackSend(source, temp)) and records its own output (B_MAINSEND=0, so
 // it never sums back into the master — no feedback, no monitoring double).
-// Multiple selected tracks sum in the one temp track, matching how offline
-// track scope handles a multi-track selection.
+// Multiple selected tracks sum in the one temp track — a real mix, which is why
+// realtime accepts a multi-track selection where the offline track scope refuses
+// it (that render source cannot express a sum; see shell/capture/CLAUDE.md).
 //
 // Why this needs no FxBypassGuard: CreateTrackSend defaults to I_SENDMODE=0
 // (post-fader), which taps the source track after its own FX/fader/pan — its

tests/test_render_settings.cpp

@@ -243,40 +243,58 @@ static void testRangedItemScopeRendersTimeBounded() {
     CHECK(fxBypassPlanFor(CaptureScope::Item).bypassSelfFx);
 }
 
-static void testMultiTrackRangedItemRenderIsNamedForRefusal() {
-    // The one shape that cannot land: a ranged item capture (item scope re-sourced to
-    // the selected-tracks render) whose items span more than one track. That source
-    // is INFERRED to render one file per track with no single-file bit available
-    // (unverified; see src/shell/capture/CLAUDE.md §Gotchas for what that inference
-    // rests on), so N stems would collapse onto one render pattern and one track's
-    // audio would land as a successful capture.
-    CHECK(isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(CaptureScope::Item,
-                                       SourceMode::SelectedTracks, 2));
-    CHECK(isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(CaptureScope::Item,
-                                       SourceMode::SelectedTracks, 7));
+static void testMultiTrackStemRenderIsNamedForRefusal() {
+    // The one shape that cannot land: a selected-tracks render over more than one
+    // track. That source is INFERRED to render one file per track with no single-file
+    // bit available (unverified; see src/shell/capture/CLAUDE.md §Gotchas for what that
+    // inference rests on), so N stems would collapse onto one render pattern and one
+    // track's audio would land as a successful capture.
+    CHECK(isMultiTrackStemRender(SourceMode::SelectedTracks, 2));
+    CHECK(isMultiTrackStemRender(SourceMode::SelectedTracks, 7));
 
-    // One track is the whole point of the re-source — it must still render.
-    CHECK(!isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(CaptureScope::Item,
-                                        SourceMode::SelectedTracks, 1));
-    CHECK(!isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(CaptureScope::Item,
-                                        SourceMode::SelectedTracks, 0));
+    // One track is the common case for BOTH scopes — it must still render. This is the
+    // regression floor for the plain single-track track capture.
+    CHECK(!isMultiTrackStemRender(SourceMode::SelectedTracks, 1));
+    CHECK(!isMultiTrackStemRender(SourceMode::SelectedTracks, 0));
 
     // A full-extent item capture keeps the selected-items source, whose single-file
     // bit already sums a multi-track item selection into one file.
-    CHECK(!isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(CaptureScope::Item,
-                                        SourceMode::SelectedItems, 3));
+    CHECK(!isMultiTrackStemRender(SourceMode::SelectedItems, 3));
+    // Razor's single-file bit does the same; master mix is one file by definition.
+    CHECK(!isMultiTrackStemRender(SourceMode::RazorArea, 3));
+    CHECK(!isMultiTrackStemRender(SourceMode::MasterMix, 3));
+    // Realtime never reaches the offline render at all (sends sum into one temp track).
+    CHECK(!isMultiTrackStemRender(SourceMode::Realtime, 3));
 
-    // Track scope renders through the same source and is deliberately untouched here
-    // — that per-track output predates the item re-source and is filed in docs/TODO.md.
-    CHECK(!isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(CaptureScope::Track,
-                                        SourceMode::SelectedTracks, 3));
+    // The predicate is reachable from the mappings it guards: BOTH the ranged item
+    // capture's source mode and the track scope's resolve to the one it names, while a
+    // full-extent item capture does not.
+    CHECK(isMultiTrackStemRender(sourceModeForScope(CaptureScope::Item, false), 2));
+    CHECK(isMultiTrackStemRender(sourceModeForScope(CaptureScope::Track, false), 2));
+    CHECK(isMultiTrackStemRender(sourceModeForScope(CaptureScope::Track, true), 2));
+    CHECK(!isMultiTrackStemRender(sourceModeForScope(CaptureScope::Item, true), 2));
+}
 
-    // The predicate is reachable from the mapping it guards: the ranged item capture's
-    // own source mode is the one it names.
-    CHECK(isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(CaptureScope::Item,
-                                       sourceModeForScope(CaptureScope::Item, false), 2));
-    CHECK(!isMultiTrackRangedItemRender(CaptureScope::Item,
-                                        sourceModeForScope(CaptureScope::Item, true), 2));
+static void testRefusalMessagesAreSiblingsWithDistinctExits() {
+    const std::string item  = multiTrackRefusalMessage(CaptureScope::Item);
+    const std::string track = multiTrackRefusalMessage(CaptureScope::Track);
+
+    // Both name the same reason — a shape that cannot land as one file — so a user who
+    // hits the mistake in either scope reads one story, not two.
+    CHECK(item.find("single file")  != std::string::npos);
+    CHECK(track.find("single file") != std::string::npos);
+
+    // And both name a way out. The shared one is "one track at a time"; each scope then
+    // adds the exit only it has (widen the range / capture the folder).
+    CHECK(item.find("one track's items at a time") != std::string::npos);
+    CHECK(item.find("range match the items' extent") != std::string::npos);
+    CHECK(track.find("one track at a time") != std::string::npos);
+    CHECK(track.find("folder") != std::string::npos);
+
+    // Distinct texts: the track message must not be the item message's wording about
+    // items and ranges, which would misdescribe what the user actually did.
+    CHECK(item != track);
+    CHECK(track.find("selected items") == std::string::npos);
 }
 
 // --- inferRangeSource: razor-else-time (orthogonal to scope) -----------------
@@ -376,7 +394,8 @@ int main() {
     testRazorUnionBounds();
     testScopeSourceModes();
     testRangedItemScopeRendersTimeBounded();
-    testMultiTrackRangedItemRenderIsNamedForRefusal();
+    testMultiTrackStemRenderIsNamedForRefusal();
+    testRefusalMessagesAreSiblingsWithDistinctExits();
     testRangeInference();
     testItemScopeBypassesEverythingButTake();
     testTrackScopeKeepsSelfBypassesAncestorsAndMaster();

tests/test_wav_codec.cpp

@@ -775,6 +775,24 @@ static void testCollapsePreservesQuietNaNBitPattern() {
     if (!pcm.empty()) CHECK(bitsFromFloat(pcm[0]) == kQuietNaNBits);
 }
 
+// The file-side collapse has three outcomes, and a genuine I/O failure once reported
+// identically to "the channels differ" — a stereo file landing under a plain Ok. The
+// report is where they must part: Declined stays silent (a capture with nothing to
+// collapse reads as it always did), and the other two say different things.
+static void testCollapseOutcomesReportDistinctly() {
+    const std::string declined  = monoCollapseSuffix(MonoCollapseOutcome::Declined);
+    const std::string collapsed = monoCollapseSuffix(MonoCollapseOutcome::Collapsed);
+    const std::string failed    = monoCollapseSuffix(MonoCollapseOutcome::Failed);
+
+    CHECK(declined.empty());
+    CHECK(!collapsed.empty());
+    CHECK(!failed.empty());
+    CHECK(collapsed != failed);
+    // The failure must read as a failure, not as a quieter success.
+    CHECK(failed.find("failed") != std::string::npos);
+    CHECK(collapsed.find("failed") == std::string::npos);
+}
+
 int main() {
     testParseCanonicalStereo();
     testParseMonoAndLeadingChunk();
@@ -810,6 +828,7 @@ int main() {
     testCollapseDeclinesOnUnparseableBytes();
     testCollapseChangesContentHash();
     testCollapsePreservesQuietNaNBitPattern();
+    testCollapseOutcomesReportDistinctly();
 
     if (g_fail == 0) std::printf("wav_codec: all tests passed\n");
     else             std::printf("wav_codec: %d CHECK(s) FAILED\n", g_fail);