Topic: Preview: Compact track layout

@Zynewave wrote:

I would appreciate a little more user feedback, so please post your comments. Apart from the handful of people who have already responded, I have no idea whether the rest of the userbase thinks the new compact layout mode is a waste of time.

I haven’t spent much time with Podium for the last while but have been keeping tabs and the one thing that comes to mind, is that as Podianer has said, it seems to becoming more complex. For somebody just getting into Podium, there is a rather steep learning curve that some people just never seem to get. In fairness without having spent much (any) time with the beta I’m not sure if there adding or removing complexity.

Hi Frits
after trying the new beta:
I’m not sure if the compact view in the inspector is useful to me,the commands to move tracks are precise but I generally drag them around the main screen (and use “undo” when i drop them in the wrong place)

In the main screen I like the “set default track height”*
but I would use the”+ -“minimize function instead of hiding tracks in group , It does not take much space and still gives an idea of what is hidden.
When I am working on the “whole” project I would find an option to minimize all tracks that do not contain midi,audio or controller data, this would make the best use of the screen to me when used with* above.

thanks, Mart.[/u]

Alright, this was somewhat overwhelming for the first minutes, it looked easier in the screenshots. However, after some trial-and-error in compact mode (I hereby second the need for a few tutorials, especially for newcomers) it turned out to be astonishing! 😉

Here are the little things I noticed so far (sorry if repeating something):

1- Is the whole panel enclosing the pan dial and its numeric value in the track header click-and-drag-able? Sometimes I struggle with the little dials 😳 , I usually resort to the bigger one in the mixer/inspector…

2- When shrinking a bottom-level track, its own mapping is hidden first (Track 1 in the picture below).

Would it be better if this track’s properties would continue to be visible and instead the chain were pushed upwards? Forgive my… clumsy… explanation, well, maybe you can get the idea from this picture:

I see this is partially achieved with the new pan and level controls staying at the bottom of the track header!

3- Is it me or is impossible to view the input mapping on track headers in compact mode?

4- I for one find the new set of luminance offset options rather limiting, I liked the way it was before.

@Zynewave wrote:

The new fader looks good, but why is the horizontal line at the top of the fader button?

The horizontal line is what keeps the fader knob from falling to the bottom of the screen :wink:. It’s similar to the design in the mixer. There need to be an indication of the extent that the fader knob can move. I’ll try with a shadow frame instead.

I think what Podianer meant to ask is why the fader doesn’t move on the middle of the line, as on a real mixing board.

(Like this:

…But then I checked, and the vertical faders in Podium’s mixer look like this too – I never noticed, so it’s quite alright the way it is.)

All in all, good work! It’s certainly not a waste of time. 🙂

Actually I think the Compact Track Layout does a decent job of simplifying things but I find the list of sends/plugins redundant with the improvements that have been made to the track inspector. All I would like to see there is the pan/gain and assortment of mute/solo/bounce/e buttons.

The problem with the list in the compact track layout is that you lose visibility once you add a couple of sends/plugins. Maybe not so important but why duplicate functionality that is handled so well in the inspector. Maybe all that is needed is the meter and buttons…

Looking good though…

One thing I noticed is that if I create a new group track I cannot copy other tracks onto the group.

Darcy

Yes.
give the option to “hide tracks in group with empty lanes” and I will be even happier

mart.