Any ideas?
If you ask… 😉
A few examples and my comments :
Tracktion :
– no handle for the volume, separate knob in the inspector at the bottom of the screen
– the wave representation doesn’t follow the fades
+ the handles are always visible > direct setting of the fades
+ selection of the curves within presets in the inspector
Nuendo :
+ the handles are only visible when the object is selected but the fades and the volume can be set when the mouse over the edges or the line
+ the wave representation follows the fades AND the volume
+ the volume can be dragged with a positive dB value
– there is no vertical bar or greying for showing the start / end of the fades
– selection of the curves in a popup window when double clicking a fade
Samplitude :
– the handles are only visible when the object is selected but the fades (only) can be set on mouse over the edges
+ the wave representation follows the fades AND the volume
+ the volume can be dragged with a positive dB value
– there is no vertical bar or greying for showing the start / end of the fades
– selection of the curves in a popup window when double clicking a fade
Reaper :
+ no handle > direct setting of the fades and volume when the mouse is over the edges or the lines
+ the wave representation follows the fades AND the volume
+ vertical bar for showing the start / end of the fades and drag them
+ the volume can be dragged with a positive dB value
– no other curves at this time
Vegas :
+ no handle > direct setting of the fades and volume when the mouse is over the edges or the lines = intuitive, easy, clean…
+ the wave representation follows the fades AND the volume
– the volume cannot be dragged with a positive dB value
+ vertical bar for showing the start / end of the fades and drag them
+ greying of the fade zone always visible
+ selection of the curves within Presets when right clicking a fade
What seems to be important :
– the top volume line and the fades MUST be linked
– the waveform MUST follow both the fades and the volume values
– a visual indication of the fades when the event is not selected is very useful (the Vegas solution is perfect for me), but I understand that it could be a problem if it eats some CPU (which is not the case in Vegas) !
– what I like with ne “no handle” solution (Reaper, Vegas), is that you don’t need to click precisely on the little squares to change the fades or to resize the event, you can drag the vertical lines or the event edges. It is something extremely irritating in Nuendo…
But of course, you can have both the handles and also allow to drag the lines.
Concerning your experiments :
Next step is finding a method for displaying and dragging gain and pan for the event
I don’t know any DAW that allows dragging something for the event pan. But it can be set in Tracktion and Samplitude as a property of the objects.
The gain/pan values should be written as text either overlaid onto the event or below the event.
Showing the volume and pan values on the event is a good idea. Samplitude and others add this kind of info just after the event name.
I am not fond of showing dials on the event : the values could be change when sliding the mouse vertically ?
This works identically for the select and pencil tools.
And all the other tools too I suppose ?
Dragging the fade-in handle up/down could be used in some way, but I would prefer the fade-in/out boxes are always aligned to the top of the event.
If you mean while dragging the volume handle, please : NOOOOOOO !
