ConquistadorConquistadorConquistador@AngelicLight wrote:
Hi, there,
I just followed a KVR link to this site and I am wondering if those users who switched from other DAW’s would please share their reasoning?
Hi,
Well for me I just got frustrated with the envelope issues with Sonar.
While Cakewak without a doubt have made many efforts to keep them working 100% (6.2 seems ok) it has been an on and off problem since Sonar 3. I appreciate Sonar may be many times more complex than Podium but automation is far too important to not work every time.
Even though Cakewalk are a very responsive company (especially considering the large number of products they offer) Frits is even more responsive and frankly can pretty much guarantee a fix for even the smallest of bugs in Podium.
If Frits can reproduce it he will fix it. There are no “known issues” in Podium. WYSIWYG.
Simple and 100% reliable. That is a very big deal. Saves time and money. I spent money looking at other options I could have saved if Sonar was more reliable at the time. There were other issues as well.
Cakewalk remain one of my favourite developers but I just cannot rely on Sonar alone for my work. I currently use it for things that cannot be done in Podium. Plugs like V-Vocal have no equivalent option in Podium and it would probably be unfair and unrealistic of me to expect such a plug in from Frits as he does not have Cakewalks resources.
As powerful as Sonar is, it is not the easiest host to get into or use. When it all comes together it is really great…. 8) But so many times if you cannot hear something or you are about to do something that will cause problems Sonar gives you little or no indication that what you are trying to do will not work. 😕
Podium at least will show a yellow or red icon that quickly lets you know somethings wrong. I think with a feature packed host like Sonar, those sort of indicators are a must. Too much is assumed of a user in Sonar IMO. The new Cakewalk vids are great but more can be done internally within Sonar to make the whole experience much easier.
There are many things I still need Sonar for, but right now Podium lets me work without a thought for bugs of any kind which is extremely rare with audio and midi hosts.
I still have Tracktion2 and may upgrade it to 3 for collaborative work.
Any thoughts on productivity, workflow, and others as to why you like Podium?
Podiums Project Start page is the easiest of any host I have used (Cubase, Sonar, ACID, Tracktion, EXT to name a few) so getting started is really easy IMO. Most of the action in Podium for me takes place in the Track panels. Preset browsing is the simplest I have come across. Very transparent. Some aspects of the Inspector area in Podium are very advanced (more than any host I have used) yet easy to get into and be productive.
Have a look at this…
http://www.zynewave.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6741&highlight=group+panels#6741
You may also want to have a good think about certain features you really like in Tracktion or Cubase and find out if Podium has them or can provide something similar. Just guessing. That may not even be a deciding factor for you. In any case I am sure Frits is happy to answer your questions. 😉
Conquistador@Zynewave wrote:
I have now implemented extended support for mouse wheel. Using the wheel over the timeline region will zoom in/out. Using the wheel over sliders will scroll the slider. This means you can scroll the horizontal timeline slider without having to hold the shift key. The wheel also works over the zoom sliders in the editors. Coming up in release 1.82.
Great, thanks! 
ConquistadorVista compatibility as well. I forgot to add that. Podium does work on Vista but…I have found that it always takes a long time to exit and some times freezes up completely when trying to exit.
ConquistadorMy suggestions for headliners for V2… 😉
1. Notation, even on a basic level. Not every host has this.
2. At least two more zplugs. I would have said the zGrid “Siegried” discussed here (for new Podium users)
…but I got the impression that was not necessarily going to be a V2 feature. I think Podium could certainly use that much sooner rather than later IMO. A great idea for a plug. Probably still top of my FR list.
My suggestions for zPlugs in V2
a. zCompressor
b. zSampler
I don’t think a few new plugs alone would be enough for V.2 as new zplugs have appeared recently. So I would also add something like the FR’s below…
3. Enhanced Meters and Mixing options
4. Pod Cell arranger
I think the last two are almost significant enough to warrant an upgrade, especially if you put all four of the suggestions made in this post together.
Of course these suggestions are just my opinion but usually a new upgrade is significantly different from the previous version whatever the new features wil be. 😉
Conquistador@Zynewave wrote:
Ok then, let’s discuss how this should work. What options would you want in the preferences/metronome page?
I agree with psylevation’s points…that pretty much sums up my thoughts as well…
…a count in feature that uses bars or beats would be useful. Being able to set how many bars or beats would also help.
Conquistador@Zynewave wrote:
I am aware of this problem. I’ll try to improve the playback response for the next release.
Cheers Frits!
Conquistador@Zynewave wrote:
It is sort of already calculated realtime in the beat slicing, as it is the point where the slice fade-in ends. The sync point will be indicated as a vertical bar with a handle for dragging it, similar to the drag handles of fade-in/out.
Ok…it will probably be much clearer once you release a screenshot or make it fully available once it is ready. 😉
zPitch: I like the way you can vertically resize the zPitch window. I think that is actually necessary to see the zPitch tooltips properly. The graphical slider is very smooth indeed.
Beat slicing really does seem to work very well. 🙂 Just one issue at the moment…
1. When adjusting the Transient Sensitivity and Minimum Crossfade time dials in realtime (with the Preview option ticked) Podium will skip over parts of a clip.
This happens when looping a file and then while it is looping, attempting to adjust the Transient Sensitivity and Minimum Crossfade time dials. It is an erratic type of audio drop out but if Preview is ticked, this is what will happen.
ConquistadorBeat Slicing already available? That was fast!
@Zynewave wrote:
Enabling the preview option will update the editor in realtime with changes to sensitivity and crossfade time.
Very important IMO. Realtime. That really opens the door for experimentation. 8)
Nice work on the new zPitch GUI. 😉
I’m interested in hearing your opinion of the new beat slicing feature. The next development step I’m considering is adding a “Sync point” property to sequence and sound events. The sync point would be used to align the events when quantizing and snapping to grid lines. The beat slicing will then set the sync point at the transient of the slices (i.e. right after the fade-in). This makes it possible to apply quantization properly.
The new Sync point feature…sounds like a very good step forward but I guess until you have maybe a preview ready we cannot really give much feedback but either way it still sounds like a very good next step. 🙂
Would the new Sync point feature be accessible in realtime? As beatslicing is quite a creative feature, I guess it would be great if all aspects of beatslicing remain a realtime process in Podium. 😉
Quantizing currently align the events at the start of the fade-in. After implementing sync point, the next logical step would be to implement an extended quantize dialog with customizable swing, approximation strength etc.
Sounds good to me. 8) Your progress so far is excellent. 🙂
Conquistador@flipper wrote:
HI
Thank you for the quick response – I will go try it out.
I think the more you can do with a mouse the better (that is also how my cat feels!) – keyboard commands seem suited to some people – my keyboard is not ergonomically positioned for that!
Flipper.
He he 🙂 I am not a big fan of key commands either. They can be useful but I hardly ever use them.
Conquistador@Zynewave wrote:
The individual slices are just ordinary sound events, so you can use the usual tools and commands for arranging sound events. I don’t intend to add any special editing commands for beat sliced sounds. Not at this point at least.
Thats cool. Either way it is a huge step in the right direction. 8)
ConquistadorWow! The range of your development skills is pretty amazing. The speed maybe even more so. 😯
Right-click a sound event (drum loop or whatever) and there is a new “Beat Slice…” command in the menu:
Right clicking to find an option like that is right down my street, quick, simple and easy.
Anyone find this useful?
Useful? It will be extremely useful to have built in beat slicing in Podium. 🙂
I like Haiku’s idea (if it will be necessary)…
Can you add a small attack fade in and release fade out to the beginning and end of the slices to correct clicks?
Testing the waters here as I don’t know how far you want to go with it but…might there be some way to re arrange slices as well?
It just gets better. Well done! 8)
ConquistadorCheers Frits! 😉
Conquistador