kingtubby.
The TelenatorHey Frits, Hey Everybody,
If any of these features already exist, tucked away somewhere and I just can’t find them, and, yes, I checked the Guide as well on them and found nothing, then do forgive. But I’ve been using Podium steadily for a while now and I see these several fixes as much more than a wish list; I see them as critical to any DAW claiming professional status. Okay, so here goes:
1.) On-board DITHERING. Most others have it now. Heck, even open-source Audacity has it! I’d like to see a good one on Podium. One less thing to worry about. Please construct it with an auto setting for the inexperienced or those who don’t wish to fool around with it, but please also have it with some parameter choices for the fussy folks, like myself;
2.) ON-SCREEN MIDI KEYBOARD. I mentioned this in another thread but certainly worth restating here. For those of us who aren’t primarily keyboardists and can’t or won’t go out and buy a bunch of junk and cords to run the MIDI on Podium. Almost all others have it now, and this is no frill — it’s a much-needed tool;
3.) PLUGINS OFF WHEN NO SOUND. Is it just me, or did I see one of my hog plugins eating 25% CPU while doing nothing the other day? Is there a Pref. option I somehow overlooked? Yes, all the “smart” DAWs DON’T allow their VSTs to consume CPU overhead when sound is not passing through;
4.) METRONOME PRE-COUNT. I just couldn’t believe it wasn’t there on the Metronome Prefs. page! So, you mean if I want a click or bleep to count me off I’m gonna have to listen to that annoying sound through the entire track? Oh no, that won’t do at all;
5.) ONE-CLICK FULL IMPORT of FILES. I merely mean here that I shouldn’t have to go through a bunch of clicking around and whatnot to get a real WAV copy from elsewhere on my PC and bring it right into my Project File or folder.
6.) Overall improvements to MIDI, namely full MIDI PLUGINS SUPPORT. There is really no reason in this day and age that our MIDI tracks shouldn’t have all the flexibility of the audio tracks. I’m using MIDI more and more all the time. I have some kick-butt plugins and the thought of limitations here will eventually cause me to spend most of my time with REAPER; however I would greatly prefer to do at least 90% of my work at Podium.
Okay, well, there you have it. I just saw all this intense work go into Mackie-related stuff — none of which I use nor probably ever will. The changes I’ve listed here each require a lot less programming work (save No.6, depending on how far you go). Note that none of these are the frivolous or unusual features. In fact, I think I have seen all of them requested repeatedly here before, except perhaps Nos. 3 & 4.
So, can we take a great Workstation and bring it into 2012? I strongly suspect that with these modernizations, and maybe one or two more mid-2012, you will see musicians and engineers flocking to Zynewave in droves. I’m not kidding one bit about this.
From all I’ve read here and all around the Net, it is this lack of a few vital features that has caused many to shy away from Podium and head for places such as REAPERville.
I conclude by saying that I like my REAPER just fine and have it just a humming along at this point. But, again, I’d much rather stay with Podium and not end up forced to go elsewhere. Considering all the (useless for me, personally) work that when into all this Mackie “stuff,” so users can run Podium from their couch via cell phone, I really think it is only fair that our attention be turned to other basic and perhaps more important features as I’ve listed above.
I’m very interested in hearing some responses to my humble requests. . . . and Thanks!
MelodyManI give a big +1 for the count-in. Really annoying it isn’t there. And i would like to gain attention for the following topic i made a year ago:
http://www.zynewave.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2508&highlight=punch
ZynewaveThanks for your suggestions Telenator. Yes, too much time was spent on the Mackie implementation, but this was a feature that had been requested numerous times in the past. I’m glad to finally have it crossed out on my todo list. As for the nearest future, I’m currently doing some experiments with the Podium file management, which would apply to your no.5 feature.
The TelenatorThanks for your response, Frits. I certainly have no illusions regarding what the Mackie update required. Also, I do understand how some folks have already invested in some of that gear, perhaps bringing it with them to Podium, and I know how some get about support for their cherished gadgets. I sure am hopeful you can work in some or all of the requests I posted. Let me say again, none of these is anything that many other systems don’t employ already. No “Pocket Fisherman” or special food processors requested. A couple of them will be “make or break” situations down the road. Meanwhile, I might as well stick with 3.02 until a further release is offered. Thanks.
kim_otcj1.) On-board DITHERING.
I see that as a mastering thing. If I had to do mastering that really mattered (i.e. not just stuff to post on the internet), I’d be taking the output from Podium and sending it off to a proper mastering engineer.
2.) ON-SCREEN MIDI KEYBOARD.
It would be handy. Although the “keys” on the piano-roll editor are already playable with the mouse.
3.) PLUGINS OFF WHEN NO SOUND.
There’s an option in the preferences to turn off the plugins when you have a track muted.
I manage my CPU usage in Podium by using group tracks. For example, I usually have a drums group, a guitars group, a synths group, a vocals group, and an aux bus group. When the CPU load starts to creep up (which is almost always with my drums), I’ll bounce to the group track. That automatically mutes the tracks in the group and switches off all the plugins — neat.
4.) METRONOME PRE-COUNT.
Agreed. That would be handy.
5.) ONE-CLICK FULL IMPORT of FILES.
Yep. Although, I’ll probably end up doing it the hard way most of the time. If I’m using samples on a track, I’m generally previewing them before I’ve even loaded Podium, and I’ll copy them directly into my project folder.
I record tracks in huge numbers (averaging about 70 a year), and I’ve got my own little system going for how I like to keep things organized.
6.) Overall improvements to MIDI, namely full MIDI PLUGINS SUPPORT.
Yeah, I guess so.
I’ve used a plugin that outputs midi exactly once — an algorithmic music generator thingy, on a project where I was going out of my way to experiment with different plugins and recording techniques. On the whole, though, I much prefer to do all my own work. That’s one of my little foibles. So I’ll probably never need more out of midi than what Podium does now. But then, it’s not all about me, is it. 🙂
The TelenatorKim, thanks so much for your itemized comments and response. This is exactly what’s needed.
The dithering is is needed by anyone doing bit conversion in rendering. I discovered my son’s Ableton Live 8 has it and even Audacity includes it; however, I haven’t tried that one to see if it is a full-parameter setup. As for myself, I have two plugins that handle it. I would only use a mastering house if I had a record contract, but those days are long gone and I’m completely Indie now. I do all my own work, something that began end of last year. Dithering onboard is extremely handy for any rendered tracks into 16 bit.
cboyer1951I do understand the need for this… however…
I just begin the music at bar 3, and that gives me a 2 bar pre-count.
Couldn’t this be that easy to implement, and no programming?
Just the operator doing it themselves?
Not trying to be smart, however I have used this method for years,
and would hate the programmer to waste time on things like this while better spent on other more complex issues.
I wish you well
kingtubby@cboyer1951 wrote:
I just begin the music at bar 3, and that gives me a 2 bar pre-count.
That’s exactly what I do. It’s not a problem really.