super_crunchy's Forum Page

I agree completely – online sales are the way to go. I will always buy software online over boxed products, unless there is no online version. It’s cheaper, and you get the software as soon as you have downloaded it. GForce have just started doing online “direct download” sales which was a great move in the right direction IMO.

think outside the box! 😆

@Kaos Axiom wrote:

3 days ago I bought Energy XT for the same reason. I think that with FL STUDIO ( I have had it for a bit over a year and it is amazing too) Podium and Energy XT i have all my bases covered.

i remember a year ago, i was trying to use energyXT as my main sequencer and just wasn’t finding it easy to use. then I found Podium and haven’t looked back!

inserting energyXT inside Podium is great though, so I do all my main sequencing in podium and use energyXT if I ever needed to do some crazy shit that Podium can’t. Best of both worlds 8) Podium is much more polished overall than energyXT (and most other hosts!)

I’ll say it again Frits, you have one of the most polished host/sequencers on the market

@thockin wrote:

Hey gang,

I just tried Podium for the very first time, and I wanted to share my thoughts. Hopefully, you can answer my concerns and swing me all the way over.

First off, I’m coming from FL Studio, where I know basically every feature, and have been using it for years. I’m finding myself frustrated with FL Studio more and more, and am shopping for an alternative.

Podium is nice. The GUI is pretty good (usability could be *greatly* improved with a few simple tweaks). The textured background images are kind of ugly, I wonder if I can change those?.

You can change background images, see here
http://www.zynewave.com/guide/guide10_project.htm#properties

@thockin wrote:

Podium is weird, but I think I am getting the hang of it. Still unclear on mappings and all the extra stuff that the wizard does.

The hierarchical engine is great. It is exactly correct. That is how things should work, I think (or at least as much as I have played with it, I like). But how do I add a series of insert effects to my mixer slots? What I mean is: I put an EQ on almost *every* track. Many tracks get a lot of effects. Sometimes as many as 8 or more effects. Do I really need to wrap a track in 8 layers of group, just to add 8 effects? That’s crazy. In FL, it is trivial to add a series of effects to a track.

At the moment you have to have that many layers in a group unfortunately – but implementing multiple inserts per track is on “to do” list I believe

@thockin wrote:

Editing is a nightmare. FL has the most usable piano-roll I have ever played with. Every audio app should take a lesson from FL on that.

To me it’s not that bad… I find it really easy to use and quite functional. Perhaps if you learnt the editor shortcuts you wouldn’t find it such a nightmare? Or what could be better about the key editor?

@thockin wrote:

I tried to import all my plugins and it hung. I have no idea why or where, but it hung..

Same thing happens to me, though you should probably be blaming dodgy plugins and not Podium – I’ve blamed Podium before only to dins out it’s dodgy plugins 😳 Try importing plugins separately.

@thockin wrote:

Adding a new plugin *really* needs to be easier…

In the main project window (not the arrangement window) choose “File… Import…” and find the *.dll of the plugin you want to import. Import it. Now go into your arrangement and look at the mappings on the left (click the Mapping tab if you have to) and drag it onto the track area. See these pages

http://www.zynewave.com/userfiles/ScamArtist/part1/page3.htm
http://www.zynewave.com/userfiles/ScamArtist/part2/page3.htm

@thockin wrote:

A simple sampler plugin would make a HUGE difference in immediate usability….

There are many free samplers around which are free to download. Why build another one?

@thockin wrote:

I hate the start/stop buttons where they are – please let me move that window around. Also, pressing play while it is playing should pause.

Good suggestion. 🙂

@thockin wrote:

Editing loop and resgion markers is a real pain. Another lesson to be had from FL.

I’ll skip the long list of nits, for now, unless anyone actually cares.

In short, I *want* to buy this. I absolutely love the hierarchical way of working. I can’t buy it, though, because I find the MIDI editing to be unusable and the effects/plugin handling to be ridiculous. FL is way way ahead in terms of usability and functions, but it is hindered by a cocky developer and clumsy pattern based operation.

What I *do* want to do is hack on this project 🙂 I would really like to see Podium get to where FL is in ease of use. It’s a better core product, I think, with less dumb limitations.

That’s my honest opinion 🙂 I’m going to keep an eye on Podium, but it’s Not There Yet, for me.

Cool, keep checking back 😀 Podium will get there one day for you, I’m sure. Have you ever thought of using Fruity as a VST inside Podium, so you still have your favourite piano roll? Not sure how well it syncs though

This is the link to the whole QuickStart guide that I made

http://www.zynewave.com/userfiles/ScamArtist/

The two tracks you show there are on the same level in the heirarchy. Also, I think you can only have one Master Out, and it should be on the very top level.

This is what I do to create a Master Out setup

1) Add a new track
2) Right click on the new track, and choose “Wrap in Bounce track”
You’ve just created the Master Out track
3) Now drag the Wave/MP3 mapping onto the Master Out track (the track that you have wrapped around the first track you made)
4) Add all other new tracks to the 2nd level. This means all tracks will be wrapped in one Master Out track