Conquistador.
ConquistadorHi Frits,
Some feature requests….some no doubt will be more simple than others to add 😉
1.Podium clearly has a very capable surround environment but no surround panner!
I would imagine developing a panner would not take that long and would be considerably easier than implementing surround sound in the first place. Either way it would be great to have a simple panner that can support all the surround configurations that Podium offers.
2.Additional but separate colour options for Pan, Bounce and Solo. At the moment they all have to be the same colour which after heavy usage of Podium can start to be a problem for me, anyway. If you can just add two more colour options so that each of the three can have separate colours that would be great.
3.A track level numerical db indicator.Already there? Not quite. What I mean is a track indicator that shows you the current db level in real time as a number. So for instance as the Transpose feature has a numerical value next to the dial, the numerical feature could have it’s own space in a track like the gain, pan and so forth but without the dial of course.
That way any time your track is playing you would always see the numerical value of the meters which are not always that clear to read especially when not dragged halfway up the screen.
So when increasing the gain it would show -5db, -4db and so forth but in real time as a read out of the meters but for each track possibly, in both the arrange page and the mixer or at least the arrange page.
Without a doubt Podium has all the features to make professional music…however I would like to know if there are any plans at all to include a simple score editor of some sort?
Also any plans for any sort of basic video features?
I ask because surround is a post production feature although not in every case, but it clearly is used for music to picture which does incorporate scoring and video, see my point?
Podium has very capable surround but falls short of the other elements of post production.
Anyway I just wanted to see where these requests fit into your plans or not. 😉
ZynewaveHi Conquistador,
I would imagine developing a panner would not take that long and would be considerably easier than implementing surround sound in the first place.
That is probably correct, but implementing a quality surround-panner is not a trivial task either. It is not just a matter of juggling levels between the channels. To achieve spatial realism it will need to have separate delays for each channel, all depending on distance parameters etc.
Additional but separate colour options for Pan, Bounce and Solo
What are you referring to with ‘pan’ color?
A track level numerical db indicator
On the plan.
any plans at all to include a simple score editor of some sort?
That is going to take a while. Of course it would be a natural extension to Podium, so eventually I hope it will be implemented.
Also any plans for any sort of basic video features?
Yes, but my primary focus currently is music production. As long as there are basic music production features missing, I will not start to widen the feature-set, for things such as video production.
Podium has very capable surround but falls short of the other elements of post production.
I implemented the surround routing capabilities because I found it essential for the design of the Podium engine. So my intention is of course to expand on this in the future.
Thanks for your comments,
Frits
super_crunchyYou may find this plugin useful
http://www.kellyindustries.com/panhandler_vst.html
Let us know if it’s any good – I haven’t tried it myself.
It costs a fair amount of money though, but if you were serious enough about surround mixing it would be worth paying for.
super_crunchyor maybe one of Acousmod’s plugins can be used?
http://acousmodules.free.fr/index_en.htm
He’s a user of podium actually 🙂
@acousmod: can any of your plugins give Podium surround sound panning capabilities? I had a quick look at your site and it looks like that may be the case
ConquistadorThanks for the feedback guys. 🙂
Frits…it appears the panner issue is not quite as simple as first appeared to me. You have done well to even implement surround in Podium with support for so many configurations in the first place, looking at the difficulties involved and then offering such features at the current price point 😉
Thanks for the clarity on the scoring and video questions as well.
As for the pan colour? Sorry I meant Play! 😆
On the arrange page click on View > View (on drop down) >Set up > Colours… and fourth from bottom on the left (I am sure you know) is the Play, Bounce and Solo colour options.
Can each of these have their own option please? As they all have to be the same colour at the moment. And additional colour options for the faded state of all the following would be great as well
Play
Bounce
Solo
Record
Mute
By faded state I mean when for instance, you solo a group track the child or sub tracks are also solo enabled but have a faded green colour this is the faded state I am referring to.
Thanks Frits.
Super_Crunchy…
Thanks for the advice. I have seen acousmodules creations and they even feature in SOS MAG this month as well. 🙂
I have not really tried them yet but until Frits creates a surround panner with (no doubt) the same attention detail as everything else in Podium 8) I will probably have to use Acousmodules stuff, they certainly do look very useful and varied. 😉
ZynewaveCan each of these have their own option please?
I’ll put that on the plan. I’m not so sure about the faded colors though. They are calculated as a blend between the defined color and the background color of the current color scheme. If you were to define the faded color state, it will not be possible to make them appear ‘faded’ with different color schemes.
There is a ‘Surround’ example project with the Podium installer. This uses a couple of plugins (such as a surround panner) that Acousmodules has created specifically for Podium. Links should be in the project stickie note.
Frits
Conquistador@Zynewave wrote:
Can each of these have their own option please?
I’ll put that on the plan. I’m not so sure about the faded colors though. They are calculated as a blend between the defined color and the background color of the current color scheme. If you were to define the faded color state, it will not be possible to make them appear ‘faded’ with different color schemes.
There is a ‘Surround’ example project with the Podium installer. This uses a couple of plugins (such as a surround panner) that Acousmodules has created specifically for Podium. Links should be in the project stickie note.
Frits
Thanks for adding the colour options to the plan. If the faded state option is going to cause problems then don’t worry. If however you do find a way to implement it without affecting other aspects of Podium in a negative way then please do try. 😉
I will have a look at the Surround project, thanks. 😉
acousmod@acousmod: can any of your plugins give Podium surround sound panning capabilities? I had a quick look at your site and it looks like that may be the case
Of course, surround and more ! and Podium is actually the better choice to host them.
There is now a “surround” category where you will find all the plugs from 5.0 to 7.1.
The english pages will be soon updated, but you can now download the plugins in the french pages.
I haven’t yet updated the Device Definitions so you must do it manually.
Frits…it appears the panner issue is not quite as simple as first appeared to me. You have done well to even implement surround in Podium with support for so many configurations in the first place, looking at the difficulties involved and then offering such features at the current price point
For me, it is the wonderful part of Podium which opens incredible multichannel possibilities by the way that Frits has implemented the busses.
Letting it open is, for me, a better choice than having only integrated objects that have in some hosts very limited functions, and in which users have not the possibility to use something else.
That is probably correct, but implementing a quality surround-panner is not a trivial task either.
It is sure that an integrated pan surround will be more efficient than my SpatPod. It will be very nice when you will have the time to do it.
xis23@Zynewave wrote:
Can each of these have their own option please?
I’ll put that on the plan. I’m not so sure about the faded colors though. They are calculated as a blend between the defined color and the background color of the current color scheme. If you were to define the faded color state, it will not be possible to make them appear ‘faded’ with different color schemes.
Frits
How about dithering, where the colour is speckled with alternate black pixels, or striped or whatever? Also is there any chance of making the default black colour for the lines inside a bar of midi a different colour, perhaps one that automatically contrasts with whatever colour the bar itself is?
Conquistador@acousmod wrote:
For me, it is the wonderful part of Podium which opens incredible multichannel possibilities by the way that Frits has implemented the busses.
Letting it open is, for me, a better choice than having only integrated objects that have in some hosts very limited functions, and in which users have not the possibility to use something else.
Some months back I did a search on free plug ins and your surround plugs came up. I could not quite beleive the diversity and variety of your plugs.Even more amazing was the fact that they are free!
That is probably correct, but implementing a quality surround-panner is not a trivial task either.
It is sure that an integrated pan surround will be more efficient than my SpatPod. It will be very nice when you will have the time to do it.
Certainly with Frits being the developer he will always be able to provide a much tighter coded option than any third party effort. I am really looking forward to his effort in this area.
You mentioned CPU efficiency, are any of your plugs very high on CPU usage then?
Do you actually allow for your plugs to be used for commercial work?
I see Podium as an ideal alternative to Nuendo for instance for surround work (based on your comments on your website and here on the forum) if you use this product how would you compare their surround usage and features?
Thanks. 😉
Zynewave@xis23 wrote:
How about dithering, where the colour is speckled with alternate black pixels, or striped or whatever?
I have used dithered graphics in the past, but it is not working well in my opinion.
Also is there any chance of making the default black colour for the lines inside a bar of midi a different colour, perhaps one that automatically contrasts with whatever colour the bar itself is?
The color used to draw the contents of sequence events are the text color defined in the color scheme. I tried blending it half/half with the background color, and it appears a little less obtrusive. Will be available in release 1.33.
acousmodYou mentioned CPU efficiency, are any of your plugs very high on CPU usage then?
it depends on the number of channels and the usage… 5.1 plugs use less CPU than 16 channels, and static positions than continuous automation movements.
For example, I’ve used last year between 10 to 15 “SpatSurround 12” plugins (2 inputs / 12 outputs) inside Nuendo on my 1,3 GHz Centrino laptop with a 50% CPU average with automations.
Lastly, I had some problems running 3 plugins with 5 inputs / 16 outputs inside Podium when there was automation for the three plugins at the same time (same computer).
Concerning the effects or the instruments the CPU can go high with 16 channels plugs !
Do you actually allow for your plugs to be used for commercial work?
Of course, you do what you want with them (I accept donations !).
I see Podium as an ideal alternative to Nuendo for instance for surround work (based on your comments on your website and here on the forum) if you use this product how would you compare their surround usage and features?
The big benefits of Podium are the number of channel that it can support which is unique on all plateforms (12 for Nuendo / 32 for Podium) and its cost !
The hierarchical structure of Podium is also more powerfull.
But concerning the composition features, Nuendo is actually far away from Podium (their oldness and their price are not comparable !). Nuendo has a good integrated surround module which uses little CPU and can support all the plugins like Podium up to 12 channels. The “surround edition” has also some good multichannel effects plugins.
The automation and audio features on which Frits is working will reduce the differences a lot when they will be done (synchronization of the automation curves with the audio sequences, in-line editing of the automation, realtime audio fades and crossfades, MIDI out of the plugins, MIDI processing…).
Personally, I’m waiting for them to switch to Podium.
Conquistador@acousmod wrote:
The automation and audio features on which Frits is working will reduce the differences a lot when they will be done (synchronization of the automation curves with the audio sequences, in-line editing of the automation, realtime audio fades and crossfades, MIDI out of the plugins, MIDI processing…).
Personally, I’m waiting for them to switch to Podium..
Thanks for the detailed response acousmod. It is amazing that Podium is even comparable to Nuendo in *any* way, especially considering the price difference. 🙂
Those features you mentioned sound quite useful. I imagine Frits will implement them at some stage, especially if they are already on the feature request list.