.…of clicks in Podium. 🙂
Exhibit A: Selecting output selects corresponding midi mapping track
When you are using a VSTi that has multiple midi mappings and audio outputs it can be a somewhat tedious process of clicking the midi mapping to solo it then clicking on the corresponding audio output for RMX for instance just to hear the output.
One should be able to click on either the midi mapping track or corresponding audio output track and have them both selected automatically. This automatic selection of child /related tracks happens when you solo a group track for instance. So the behaviour is not new to Podium but I think it should be extended to midi and output mappings for VSTi’s with multiple outputs like Stylus RMX.
This will reduce the amount of clicks in Podium especially when managing multiple outputs.
Soloing the Output track for RMX in the image above actually muted the track below it, which has the midi mapping for it! Another good reason why I think clicking on an output or track with a corresponding mapping should auto select the corresponding track.
Exhibit B: More detail inVST or VSTi GUI headers
There are many times where you just must have more than one FX open at any time. In Podium there is no indication as to what track that particular FX may belong to by just looking at the FX or VSTi.
Bear in mind that a GUI may be dragged to the left of the screen, so one can see the arrangement playing. In this case the inspector may be obscured and the mixer pulled down out of view that is a typical example that would benefit from more detailed info on a VST/ VSTi header.
If the header for a VST or VSTi could also have the name of the track added to it, to more easily indentify which FX belongs where in a busy arrangement that would certainly help.
Other ways to reduce clicks in Podium have been mentioned before (of course) but are worth mentioning here IMO…Docking of FX GUI’s
Here you can see Crunchessor is effectively docked and out of the way. It is not blocking anything and while docked in this way I should be able to drag the header above the FX GUI (like the mixer header) and pull the docked FX down behind the Large transport and out of view as I already did in the above image with the Mixer view.
acousmod (in the “Docking…” thread) suggested adding tabs or a “docking zone” as well which I think is a very good idea as one may want to quickly switch between different FX GUIs for the same track quickly. That is just one example of course.
Another way to reduce clicks is adding Global SMR global / arrangement level SMR buttons…
…most likely next to the existing CSPL buttons in Podium would also reduce needless clicking and IMO the need for keyboard shortcuts which simply cannot provide an at a glance view of any soloed or muted tracks.
Arrangement level SMR buttons will immediately show a user if there is a track soloed ‘somewhere in an arrangement’ but also provide an easy one click solution to the problem. It can be a hassle shift clicking to see why there is no sound from other tracks…is it muted, soloed…perhaps a child track or group track is soloed..?. e.t.c surely it can be much easier.
Better meters (realtme db values on each track for instance)…Podium already has this information but why not expose it to users like Reapers Mixer? Many other hosts have a similar db value that updates as your song plays.
This will reduce the need to unhide tracks and open GUI’s to check FX track levels and bring the number of clicks down in Podium.
