Conquistador's Forum Page

@Zynewave wrote:

If you are trying to add an instrument to a new track, you can drag the instrument mapping below the last track to create a new track. If you are trying to add an effect plugin to e.g. an instrument plugin track, the easiest way to do it is to drag the effect mapping onto the first ten pixels of the instrument track header (the part will be highlighted accordingly). This will wrap the instrument track in a new track with the effect plugin.

Wow! This has been under my nose all this time. 😯 This has to be the easiest way to get FX into Podium tracks, indeed even most hosts cannot import a plug and wrap it into another track by simply dragging an dropping an FX or instrument!!!

I read one of the older Podium guides from start to finish but that was before the new small arrows appeared on a wrapped track. I am guessing this little gem is not documented yet or is it?

This may be a bug but it may be a desirable bug…he he, let me explain…

1.Create two new tracks
2.Wrap the first in a track with the right click menu (use the group option) add an FX to this new group track.
3. Drag another FX to the header area of the 2nd created track and let go.

If you look at the mixer you should see track one now has a track that extends over it (contains the FX)

Track two also should have a track that extends over it in the mixer..

But…(unless I am doing something wrong here) by dragging an FX into the header area it creates a track that appears on the same level horizontally, but not above it.

While wrapping an FX with the right click menu will create a track that clearly is placed above the initial track.

Strangely both approaches produce tracks that look identical in the mixer.

Frits you must know what I mean. 😉

Dragging an FX to a track will look like this in Podium…

Group FX track > original track

Wrapping a track with the right click menu creates this…

Group FX track
> Original track.

Why is this?

I really like the Group FX track > Original track idea as you could just keep dragging and get all your tracks on the same level, but still see the direction the audio stream is heading in…

Group FX track 1 > …FX track two > …FX track three… I think this is my preferred way of seeing my FX tracks in Podium as they appear horizontally and do not even need to be hidden! Please do not change this behaviour if it is a bug! 8) Actually the arrows are pointing the other way in Podium, but this is just for this illustration. 😆

Wrapping a track with the right click menu takes longer anyway. I suppose you cannot create a bounce track without the right click menu (unless there is another way) but when adding FX, the drag drop approach is so fast. I love the way it creates the track on the same horizontal level. Yet the arrows still show the correct flow of the audio stream. Great!

Frits am I doing something wrong here? Or is it a good bug? 😆

Sorry P. Rene I did not mean to hijack your thread. 8)

If you have already created an arrangement within Podium the header part that Frits was talking about (that I can see) is a small vertical strip that will be highlighted it’s a bit thin (can this be made a bit wider Frits?) but if you drag it on the side of a track, left side, you will see this small thin vertical highlight, that will appear.

When you see this, drop the compressor (if you want that first on the track) on this highlighted area it will create another track for you. Repeat this process with the delay.

Frits is the real expert around here and will confirm or deny my advice but it works here.

I have just noticed that when dragging an FX or instrument to a track header it will create an exact duplicate of the previous track so no need to even touch the track properties that pops up when using the right click group track option. Very smart and quick. Why did I not see this before!

@Zynewave wrote:

But there are stickie note buttons on the project properties panel, and the properties panel at the bottom of the arrangements column?

Totally ignore that, I got mixed up there sorry. 😆

E is short for Edit or Editor. It may extend its purpose if I later on add some feature for opening editors for external devices. If you hover over the E button in the track inspector you get a tooltip. I deliberately avoided tooltips over the buttons in the track headers because I think it would be too annoying with popups appearing constantly when you edit the tracks.

Aha…now if you intend to extend its purpose in future that is different. My suggestion was for it’s current purpose in the track view.

Again, there is a tooltip on the B button in the track inspector.

But not in the Track view or track header, really Frits, this is not as important to me as clip fades in Podium, but I think if more tooltips can be added at some point in future it will help new users, which of course helps you.

Maybe I am so used to the implementation in Tracktion and Live, that I can see how more of the same will help in Podium. It’s not a high priority for me…really. Clip fades, Zcompressor, Zsampler and the chainer FX module (cannot remember how you described it now) are way higher priorities for me right now, probably in that order 🙂

I have brought these recent requests up as you asked for suggestions in this specific area. 🙂

When you create a new arrangement then it by default has two tracks with audio input and an instrument/MIDI input track. I think I mention it in the ‘getting started’ chapter in the guide;

..that is my point…mentioned in the getting started guide not an addtional tooltip that will be the first thing a new user will look for IMHO. Podium can be much easier to use…just trying to help you here 😉

that you should be careful with your monitoring levels when activating live audio inputs. That is why it is not turned on by default.

Fair enough. Your reasons make perfect sense but…the lack of sound was probably the no.1 reason people gave up during a now very old thread on KVR. No problem for me Frits, not anymore. Just new users. I will have to let the new user thing slide a bit, as I don’t want it to come across the wrong way. Besides I have many of my own requests that I have not even made yet! 🙂

The icon for an arrangement is a score sheet, and the icon for a sound is an oceanic wave. Or are you talking about some place where the icons are not shown?

No you have got it right. I think in the Devices column and the Map properties area where the icons are small they look very similar. They could be more distinctive.

@Zynewave wrote:

These menus are all available on the start page through the round context menu buttons. The button at the top left corner has the setup and view menus. The project menu button has the file menus. The edit menu is not relevant on the start page, as this was specific to the browser page.

I think this was a good idea. Works well.

I tried first to keep the toolbar from the browser page on the start page, but it seemed like a waste of space to me and I wanted to maximize the available height for the list panels.

I think this is fine.

Is it a problem that the start page menu buttons are round? I could try to show the standard square menu buttons instead, but I don’t think it will look good.

I prefer the round TC electronics look. Very stylish. 8)

Couldn’t this be solved by using folders? Currently the plugin import will place plugin mappings directly in the device list root. If you have your plugins sorted in folders on the disk, then these will be imported in folder objects in the project. Would you prefer plugins were put inside a ‘plugins’ folder instead of the root?

Personally I think the folder idea could work.

Some suggestions…

1. Stickie notes for the first two columns: The New project and Arrangement and sounds columns have no stickie notes. I would like to be able to include notes for those columns.

TOOLTIPS.
Podium has come along way with these. Much better than it used to be but…

2. Tooltips. (E Button)
Many areas in Podium could do with some tool tips to avoid needless head scratching.

Right now it’s diffcult to go wrong with the ease with which a new project can be created IMHO, but…I noticed that the E button still has no tooltip when the mouse cursor rolls over it. Yes, once a new project is created a message is displayed that tells a user what it does (great addition) but still I think a tooltip that will appear when a mouse cursor is over it, will also help. “Click the E button to open plug in Editors (Short cut E)” very short and simple…this text is taken from the other new message shown after a new project is made. I still think the E button should be changed to VST, FX / INST or GUI as they are more descritpive than simply E. ?!?!?

3. Track header tooltip. Arguably the biggest difference with Podium and every other host I know is the necessity to wrap a track within another if you want to use more than one FX on it. Really by now I think Podium should have some sort of Tooltip that gives new users some sort of hand holding in one of Podiums most flexible and as a result most radical areas.

Definitely for me the single most likely place to cause confusion for new users. Were back to the users reading the manual anyway first issue, but with a quick demo it will not happen 99% of the time. The tool tip could simply give one or two lines that explain how to add more than one FX to a track.

This is essential IMHO. I think Acousmod made a comparison with Tracktion in the 1.66 release thread. I agree with his use of Tracktion as an example because both are cheap (Podium costs even less) and will likely attract new users who might have little or no experience with hosts. Hand holding with tooltips I think is very important. Tracktion does this superbly. It is very difficult to get lost at any time. Ableton Live uses an info box placed at the bottom left of the session view (main page).

4. B Bounce button tool tip: This is one of Podiums most powerful features, especially when used in real time but some simple lines to explain what it does and how to use it, would help in a very big way. Placing the mouse cursor over this provides no information at the moment.

TABS (with Logical groupings)…
I think with all the space next the HELP and LIST buttons really, more can be done to make things more visible. If the suggestions below are implemented then maybe an option to remove tabs / buttons could help keep everyone happy.

5. Help Tab with logical groupings.
The current HELP button only switches tooltips on and off. This should be put to far greater use. The Podium guide should be accesible from this button.

This is the most logical place to go for the Podium guide IMHO. So the HELP button can stay as it is, but when clicked the first option could be Podium Guide the next item in the drop down menu would be Switch off tooltips, followed by Switch on tooltips, then Visit the Zynewave community and the last About Podium.

This is a far more logical arrangement of information within Podium. Surely the HELP button is the first place a new user will go to solve a problem. Maybe this is another reason why people have struggled with Podium. In any case I think this will lower the difficulty level another notch along with the other recent improvements. 😉

6. A SAVE tab next to HELP. Again with logical grouping of exisiting save options. The button would have SAVE on it with the following drop down options…Save Project, Save Project as, Save all Changes. Many applications have a save button in addition to the File > Save as option. The Save button helps to make such an very often used feature clearly visible.

7. I still think once the arrangement is created and a user is taken to the Editor / or arrange page, that this message should greet them first…

Podium’s engine can be disabled allowing you to access the arrange page as normal. This is to avoid potential problems opening very heavy CPU projects. This is not a necessity but it it provides a user with an option to work on heavy CPU projects that might exceed available CPU resources. Would you like to enable Podiums engine / activate monitoring now? (Yes /no option should be visible as well)

I still think it is not a good idea to switch it off by default for new users especially. New blank projects are highly unlikely to have any mappings so having this on by default avoids confusing a new user when there is no sound. Yes a message (thanks for that 8) ) does explain what to do just after creating a project now, but still I think the message above should be displayed once the arrange page is visible as well.

8. Icons for Arrangements and sounds. Right now there appears to be no way to differentiate between the two. A simple A for arrangemnts and S icon for sounds would really help. Also VSTFX and Instruments could have separate icons. Right now they all look the same. This is a bit strange.

@Zynewave wrote:

1.66 is released with the first stage of the project start page. I’ll continue adding some features for the next release, such as:

Menu button at the top of the devices panel with plugin scan and import, as well as some of the other options found in the project wizard.

Possibility to create new folders in both arrangements and devices list, and dragging objects around like in the list window.

Context menu on arrangements with ‘duplicate’ commands for the entire arrangement or just the track layout.

Other suggestions?

Very nice Frits! I love the logical pulsating behaviour of the buttons. It’s not just nice to look at, but also helps to guide a new user to the next logical step. Complete one step and the next button pulsates e.t.c

I am guessing that the create button will not pulsate until Podium is satisfied the user has completed the three simple steps required to get it to function properly first. A great idea.

Just checked, the create button dissapears if you deselect your audio / midi device so Podium intelligently will not even let you see the create button until you complete all the steps required. Very logical and very helpful for new and existing users IMHO.:)

Also the short message “The project device setup is now done…” This is exactly what I was talking about 🙂 thank you. 8)

I have more suggestions but will put them together later. Great work! 😀

Thanks for the answers Frits. Podium is heading in just the right direction IMHO.

I think Podianer has a point about the default theme / colour scheme, which you appear to agree with. The darker theme seems more stylish. I prefer dark blue or dark green to grey though. Either way one of the darker themes may work better as the default setting.

Did I say how much I like the new page designs? 😆 Fabuloso! 😀

@kingtubby wrote:

@Zynewave wrote:

I’ve added a ‘Drum Preset Properties’ context menu when you right-click on the drum line in the editor. Coming up in 1.66.

I think its called synchronicity 😀 (unless it wasn’t a coincidence of course?)
Looking forward to trying it out Frits…Thanks!

Mart.

Nice feature request Mart, this will be put to good use in 1.66 😉

@Zynewave wrote:

• Fix: Optimizations in 1.64 caused MIDI interface output not to work on Windows 2000 or older Windows versions.
• Fix: Profiling waveforms of imported sounds in 1.64 was not working correctly.
• Fix: Crash could occur when using the project wizard ‘create tracks’ command on a large number of mappings.

Very quick fixes! Thanks. 8)