Zynewave.
thockinHey gang,
I just tried Podium for the very first time, and I wanted to share my thoughts. Hopefully, you can answer my concerns and swing me all the way over.
First off, I’m coming from FL Studio, where I know basically every feature, and have been using it for years. I’m finding myself frustrated with FL Studio more and more, and am shopping for an alternative.
Podium is nice. The GUI is pretty good (usability could be *greatly* improved with a few simple tweaks). The textured background images are kind of ugly, I wonder if I can change those?
Podium is weird, but I think I am getting the hang of it. Still unclear on mappings and all the extra stuff that the wizard does.
The hierarchical engine is great. It is exactly correct. That is how things should work, I think (or at least as much as I have played with it, I like). But how do I add a series of insert effects to my mixer slots? What I mean is: I put an EQ on almost *every* track. Many tracks get a lot of effects. Sometimes as many as 8 or more effects. Do I really need to wrap a track in 8 layers of group, just to add 8 effects? That’s crazy. In FL, it is trivial to add a series of effects to a track.
Editing is a nightmare. FL has the most usable piano-roll I have ever played with. Every audio app should take a lesson from FL on that.
I tried to import all my plugins and it hung. I have no idea why or where, but it hung.
Adding a new plugin *really* needs to be easier.
A simple sampler plugin would make a HUGE difference in immediate usability.
I hate the start/stop buttons where they are – please let me move that window around. Also, pressing play while it is playing should pause.
Editing loop and resgion markers is a real pain. Another lesson to be had from FL.
I’ll skip the long list of nits, for now, unless anyone actually cares.
In short, I *want* to buy this. I absolutely love the hierarchical way of working. I can’t buy it, though, because I find the MIDI editing to be unusable and the effects/plugin handling to be ridiculous. FL is way way ahead in terms of usability and functions, but it is hindered by a cocky developer and clumsy pattern based operation.
What I *do* want to do is hack on this project 🙂 I would really like to see Podium get to where FL is in ease of use. It’s a better core product, I think, with less dumb limitations.
That’s my honest opinion 🙂 I’m going to keep an eye on Podium, but it’s Not There Yet, for me.
super_crunchy@thockin wrote:
Hey gang,
I just tried Podium for the very first time, and I wanted to share my thoughts. Hopefully, you can answer my concerns and swing me all the way over.
First off, I’m coming from FL Studio, where I know basically every feature, and have been using it for years. I’m finding myself frustrated with FL Studio more and more, and am shopping for an alternative.
Podium is nice. The GUI is pretty good (usability could be *greatly* improved with a few simple tweaks). The textured background images are kind of ugly, I wonder if I can change those?.
You can change background images, see here
http://www.zynewave.com/guide/guide10_project.htm#properties
@thockin wrote:
Podium is weird, but I think I am getting the hang of it. Still unclear on mappings and all the extra stuff that the wizard does.
The hierarchical engine is great. It is exactly correct. That is how things should work, I think (or at least as much as I have played with it, I like). But how do I add a series of insert effects to my mixer slots? What I mean is: I put an EQ on almost *every* track. Many tracks get a lot of effects. Sometimes as many as 8 or more effects. Do I really need to wrap a track in 8 layers of group, just to add 8 effects? That’s crazy. In FL, it is trivial to add a series of effects to a track.
At the moment you have to have that many layers in a group unfortunately – but implementing multiple inserts per track is on “to do” list I believe
@thockin wrote:
Editing is a nightmare. FL has the most usable piano-roll I have ever played with. Every audio app should take a lesson from FL on that.
To me it’s not that bad… I find it really easy to use and quite functional. Perhaps if you learnt the editor shortcuts you wouldn’t find it such a nightmare? Or what could be better about the key editor?
@thockin wrote:
I tried to import all my plugins and it hung. I have no idea why or where, but it hung..
Same thing happens to me, though you should probably be blaming dodgy plugins and not Podium – I’ve blamed Podium before only to dins out it’s dodgy plugins 😳 Try importing plugins separately.
@thockin wrote:
Adding a new plugin *really* needs to be easier…
In the main project window (not the arrangement window) choose “File… Import…” and find the *.dll of the plugin you want to import. Import it. Now go into your arrangement and look at the mappings on the left (click the Mapping tab if you have to) and drag it onto the track area. See these pages
http://www.zynewave.com/userfiles/ScamArtist/part1/page3.htm
http://www.zynewave.com/userfiles/ScamArtist/part2/page3.htm
@thockin wrote:
A simple sampler plugin would make a HUGE difference in immediate usability….
There are many free samplers around which are free to download. Why build another one?
@thockin wrote:
I hate the start/stop buttons where they are – please let me move that window around. Also, pressing play while it is playing should pause.
Good suggestion. 🙂
@thockin wrote:
Editing loop and resgion markers is a real pain. Another lesson to be had from FL.
I’ll skip the long list of nits, for now, unless anyone actually cares.
In short, I *want* to buy this. I absolutely love the hierarchical way of working. I can’t buy it, though, because I find the MIDI editing to be unusable and the effects/plugin handling to be ridiculous. FL is way way ahead in terms of usability and functions, but it is hindered by a cocky developer and clumsy pattern based operation.
What I *do* want to do is hack on this project 🙂 I would really like to see Podium get to where FL is in ease of use. It’s a better core product, I think, with less dumb limitations.
That’s my honest opinion 🙂 I’m going to keep an eye on Podium, but it’s Not There Yet, for me.
Cool, keep checking back 😀 Podium will get there one day for you, I’m sure. Have you ever thought of using Fruity as a VST inside Podium, so you still have your favourite piano roll? Not sure how well it syncs though
thockin@super_crunchy wrote:
At the moment you have to have that many layers in a group unfortunately – but implementing multiple inserts per track is on “to do” list I believe
Good to know!
@super_crunchy wrote:
@thockin wrote:
Editing is a nightmare. FL has the most usable piano-roll I have ever played with. Every audio app should take a lesson from FL on that.
To me it’s not that bad… I find it really easy to use and quite functional. Perhaps if you learnt the editor shortcuts you wouldn’t find it such a nightmare? Or what could be better about the key editor?
First off, left click to place a note, right click to remove it. Double click gives you note properties.
When you place a new note, it’s properties should be exactly the same as the last note you touched. This doesn’t sound useful, but it is very key to what makes FL so fluid in this area.
Almost all the “tools” need to be obvious shortcuts. Ctrl+Drag is select. Ctrl+click adds/removes notes from the currently selected set. Etc. Switching between the most common tools is archaic.
@super_crunchy wrote:
@thockin wrote:
I tried to import all my plugins and it hung. I have no idea why or where, but it hung..
Same thing happens to me, though you should probably be blaming dodgy plugins and not Podium – I’ve blamed Podium before only to dins out it’s dodgy plugins 😳 Try importing plugins separately.
I’m *sure* it’s dodgy plugins. But FL doesn’t crash, why does Podium? If it’s going to crash, why not tell me which plugin it’s probing before it probes, so I can see which DLL crashed it? In fact, why not spawn a seperate process that probes, so when it crashes, you *know* and can recover.
@super_crunchy wrote:
There are many free samplers around which are free to download. Why build another one?
Because if it is bundled, then all the demos can use it and show off how awesome Podium is. Look at the FL demo tunes – they are generally *really* good.
Of all the current crop of “new” sequencers, only three really interest me: Podium, Energy XT, and Tracktion. Energy XT is super flexible, but doesn’t have the intuitiveness that Podium does. Tracktion has some cool tricks and some good polish, but fails in a lot of the same ways Podium does – human interface. I hope Podium can grow into something that is the best of EXT, FL, and T. 🙂
Nice work, Frits. Can I help? 🙂
ZynewaveHi thockin,
Thanks for your feedback.
I hate the start/stop buttons where they are – please let me move that window around. Also, pressing play while it is playing should pause.
You can shuffle the toolbars and the elements in them around. Take a look at the setup/sequence profiles page in the guide.
When you place a new note, it’s properties should be exactly the same as the last note you touched.
Sounds like a good idea.
Ctrl+click adds/removes notes from the currently selected set
Podium uses shift+click to toggle selection of elements in all the editors.
Nice work, Frits. Can I help?
Sure you can 🙂