acousmodThanks for these explainations Frits, it is good to understand what is your long term view.
All of this sounds very good.
If the old browser pages are confusing, then I may decide to remove those as well and let the start page be fixed on startup.
I don’t know what will be the new page, but as I use a lot of arrangements in a Project, I liked the possibility to arrange them visually in the Browser…
acousmodWell, this new window looks nice indeed.
But I am not convinced that adding yet another window will make things simpler…
– we now have a Browser window, a New project window that looks like a “real” screen but that is in fact a sort of “full screen pop up window”
– this New Project screen can also be displayed at start instead of the Browser, but does not allow to do what is possible to do with it
– some screens are available as tabs, others not
– regular screens have menu buttons but this new pseudo screen has not
– to start a project there is this new screen but also the Wizard which is not a visible option in this screen
– the New project screen shows the Recent projects but there is no such option in File menu where we find it in all other softwares
– this screen appears when we click on a new kind button in the top right which represent another new manner to show / hide a screen, but is not an option in the View menu of the Browser
etc.
What seems for me the most important is that all of this is not very coherent and will certainly add even more confusion.
I hope that I am wrong !
For me, the informations are fragmented in different views with different logics :
– menu option with regular popup windows (Setup) with tabs
– tabs in main window (arrangement, plugins, mapping)
– full screen dialog and options (this new one)
– special floating windows (Wizard, List)
– docked windows (List) which can share some functions with others but not completely (Browser window and browser in List)
If we add to this the numbers of steps that are most of the time necessary to do simple things, like listening a project after loading it (and I don’t speak of all these keyboard modifier keys !), Podium is a very simple and powerful app that is very confusing to use !
As a user and a teacher, I have to deal with a lot of different apps, and the problem with Podium is not its hierarchic engine, neither the mappings (theses are not obvious things but what they bring is worth the little effort to use them), it is that it doesn’t have a clear and unique interface concept for its configuration.
Sorry to say that.
If you look at Tracktion, there is two tabbed screens at start, one that is something like the Browser window, and another one that is a Settings window.
When you launch an arrangement, the two other tabs stay visible and you can simply switch from one to another at any time.
The Settings window has four “buttons” which rassemble all what is needed to set : the devices, the plugins, the shortcuts and the preferences.
All is here and can be seen at one glance.
A more classical way, but always clear for the user, is the Preferences Window in Reaper (or others), where you can set all things including the engine, the look and the custom choices which are very large.
There is no need to search “where can be this option”, all is available in one place.
I don’t say of course that these examples must be models for Podium, but it uses a mixing of different techniques and logics (menus, sub menus, tabs, screens, windows, popups), with at the same time duplicated options and correlated settings in different windows, that makes it confusing, even after two years of use…
I understand that the New Project screen is something made to help in this, but I think that providing more ways to do the same things can perhaps do the contrary than providing a unique, good, way.
The necessity of a “Wizard” reveals that there is a problem in the access to all the settings.
This reaction apart, I continue to think that the most important for Podium is actually to complete and improve its features because it becomes to be very late compared to its nearest price concurrents (Reaper, EnergyXT, Tracktion…).
Sorry for this long and clumsy post, which perhaps looks negative, but is made by a Podium’s lover ans Frits’ admirer… 😉
Regards
acousmodI understand of course.
I am not really anxious, just a little impatient since now two years !
It is really pleasant to work with a so pretty DAW, but I confess that the features that allow me to compose and that optimize the work are more appreciated for me…
However that may be, people will see now that Podium is ready for Vista 😉
acousmodHum, sure it will be nice.
And when will we see fades and levels on audio clips ?
Sorry…. 😕
acousmodThere is some interesting tests about resampling here : http://src.infinitewave.ca/
acousmodI apparently need to fine-tune this memory buffer system.
Yes, thanks !
acousmodI’m sorry to say that if disk streaming improvements are effective, working with 1.64 like with 1.63 has becoming very hard for me.
As I have previously described, after several minutes of playback and editing Podium becomes to be far less responsive and Windows too.
Making a window coming in the first plan or moving a plugin Gui can take several seconds to process and if it is done while Podium is playing it can result to red spikes in the file indicator and big drop outs.
It takes more time to start or stop and to power off, and when I quit Podium my screen needs several seconds to refresh.
I don’t use MIDI or small looped audio files, and the wave files are often around 500 Mb / 1 Gb.
With only a few little files or at start it is not really noticeable, but after it makes working rather impossible.
I have re-install the 1.62 and it runs perfectly smooth with the same projects, I notice no slowdown and I can move or edit what I want while playing without the interface becoming stuttering.
I have tried with another computer and a few files and I get a similar difference between the 1.62 and the 1.64.
Perhaps is there something with the poor graphic cards ?
It seems also that when Podium redraws the graphics for the files it takes much more processing when goin,g from 1.62 to 1.63/64 than the contrary, but perhaps is this only an impression.
Since the system cache grows a lot during playback, I have changed the priority in the Windows properties, but I have not noticed any difference.
I know that I have not a great computer, but versions prior to 1.63 has never show such a behavior for me.
acousmodNo, you will need to select the scalpel tool. When using select and pencil tools Ctrl+Click will toggle select and Alt+Click will start a resize action.
That’s what I thought, but what has make me doubt is
Alt+Click to create phantom copies
and
The scalpel default behaviour when clicking with no keys pressed would then still be phantom copies.
?
Aaaahhh, the day when we won’t need anymore to press alt to resize an event 😆
acousmodHow about Ctrl+Click to create unique copies, and Alt+Click to create phantom copies?
This means without having to select the scalpel ?
Yes, it is good for me.
I would prefer adding ‘select all curve events’, ‘select all sound events’, ‘select all note sequence events’ in the edit menu of the arrangement editor. Then you only need to ‘select all curve events’, and then use the edit menu to ‘clone’ them all in one go. Good enough?
If you prefer, yes.
Thanks !
acousmodYou can start a lasso selection by shift+clicking.
Thanks, I had missed this.
acousmodI confirm that with 1.63 the playing of projects have problems for me : big drop outs after some minutes and the interface of Podium and Windows becomes very slow to refresh (several seconds to open a window).
I had to re-install this version to be able to bounce some files larger than 2 Gb, but I unistall it and re-install the 1.62 : the playing is normal (usual short drop outs from time to time) and no more slow refresh.
Waiting for 1.64 🙂
acousmodDoes the file helps to find a solution ?
acousmodThis is a project with two arrangements :
http://mediasonie.free.fr/temp/test_envelopes.pod
“Wrong fade” shows a curve but you hear the previous editing (a constant fade out).
I don’t know how to reproduce it, it happends from time to time after editing.
The curve can be moved and edited, the new points are “mixed” with old invisible ones.
The only solution that I’ve found is to erase the event and draw another one.
“Shift” can be reproduced each time : when I merge two enveloppes events the new curve is “time stretched”.
It happends when the arrangement is set to Linear. When Musical the point curves are not shifted.
The test project has been made with 1.60 and I shows the same behaviour in 1.62.
For me, the problems have always been present.
acousmodFor example Alt + A…
I use it all the time now !
acousmodIt would be good for me.
And when there will be a custom keys setting, we could exchange the space bar and the numpad (also for laptops).
Or perhaps also an option in the Preferences ?