thcilnnahoj's Forum Page

@Zynewave wrote:

Questions about terms & formatting:
– Should we use **Input** and **Source** selector or input and source selector? I see you also used “plugin selector” in the getting started chapter…?

Hmm, I would say without ** **, but I’ll leave it up to you. I used “plugin selector” because I thought that would make sense.

I’m not sure because the conventions page says ‘named’ UI elements should be in bold type. The selectors do have a name written dimmed on them, but it’s not the same as for toolbar menu buttons, so I don’t know if it qualifies. I’ll keep it as is just so they stand out more.

About track templates (I don’t use any, so this is a first):
– Why do track templates show up in effect track template menus, and effect chains show up in track template menus? If that’s a known limitation, I hereby request improvement! 🙂

I’m not sure I understand you completely. All track templates are managed in one list. Podium does not know whether a track template contains effect tracks or source tracks before it loads the template. If the template contains only an effect track, you can still use it to create a new source track. If a template contains a full source track with effects, you can still load just the effect chain from the template.[/quote]
Well, I just think that I probably would never need to load an effect chain from ‘normal’ track templates (I’d use them to save instrument and input setups), and likewise wouldn’t create a new track from an effect track template… It seems strange to me that they’re all the same, but maybe it’s just me.

@Zynewave wrote:

Don’t think I haven’t been tormented by this also 😛

OK, good to know the designer in you is still alive and well. 🙂 Also, great work on the new video!

@kyran wrote:

While we’re on the subject of drag handles: would it be possible to apply the action to all selected items instead of the one you’re just dragging?
So if I select 4 items and then use the resize drag handle on the last one to gate it, they all gate by the same amount (or have their volume adjusted or are stretched, depending on the drag handle)

You can see this sort of behaviour in lots of ableton live and logic videos and I like it (I instinctively try to do it this way all the time)

Yeah, applying any sort of action/command to everything that’s selected is probably the single-most standard computer behavior, I’d say. Since the note editor got updated for this, I hope it’s only a matter of time before the arrangement editor and tracks follow suit! It’s even on my top 5 list! 😛

@LiquidProj3ct wrote:

Another handle? Imagine an audio event with four handles in each side, too much I think. Why don’t you fusion handles? I mean, you can join in only one dot timestretch&resize handle and using a key shortcut to alternate between them, usually before click ALT for timestretch.

I agree with this… The current behavior of Alt-clicking anywhere on events to resize them is very nice as well, but it wouldn’t have to be sacrificed if only Alt-clicking on resize handles was used for time-stretching. You need to see the handles anyway in order to time-stretch, as opposed to resizing.

… as I can see while I’m learning Sony Vegas HD 9 demo, because Camtasia demo expired already (I won’t do more videos with it :P)

I think I can recommend the new Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 (lots of confusing product names…). Most importantly, max track count was increased, and it should cost the same or even less than 9. I finally got around to ordering it too – should be in the mail by now.

Continuing from the e-mail (don’t know if you’ve read the post above already!?):

With the conclusion you’ve reached, does that mean auto-extending sequences on import is the best you can do, as many MIDI files don’t seem to have an end point set after all, or will Podium use this end point if it is set? As for the sequence names, I hope you noticed that at least the AD MIDI file actually has a name defined in some or the other data field. I’ll look forward to 2.35 to test it!

Edit: Or maybe the sequences could at least be extended up to the next beat. If you drop a MIDI file while using smaller snap values like 1/16 snap, it just doesn’t work for me. 😕

About the guide, I can’t promise to get anything done over the weekend, but I think I’d like to tackle either the big Track Inspector or Mixing chapters next. Are you still on the new Editor Menus chapter?

A keepsake from the old tracks chapter:

In fact, as far as routing is concerned, a track in Podium is similar to a piece of track in a railroad model. Imagine a train station to the left and a train yard to right. Most of the track pieces that enter the train yard on the right side are simple and straight but some of them look like forks and allow two or more tracks to combine into one. The ‘trains’ in Podium carry audio, MIDI or parameter automation signals. The ‘train station’ in Podium is small and only has one platform and all the tracks are eventually combined into one single track: the Master Output track.

That train station analogy is so cute you just want to hug it! 😳

My good deed for today: http://www.zynewave.com/wiki/doku.php?id=guide:tracks 😉

Please review it… a few things are marked with “fixme”, and the dialog screenshots need to be updated as well.
The hierarchy section could be much better, but I can’t think of anything to add at the moment. I’ll think about adding additional screenshots tomorrow.

Questions about terms & formatting:
– Should we use **Input** and **Source** selector or input and source selector? I see you also used “plugin selector” in the getting started chapter…?
– I wasn’t sure if you actually use the term “group panel” anymore, so I didn’t use it either in the tracks chapter.

About track templates (I don’t use any, so this is a first):
– Why do track templates show up in effect track template menus, and effect chains show up in track template menus? If that’s a known limitation, I hereby request improvement! 🙂
– Personally, I would also swap the positions of the Replace Effect Chain and Insert Effect Chain commands on the templates menu.

Hmm, if it works without “guide:” then I guess it will be fine. I always add it because it was like this in the first link I copied the syntax from, so it’s how I’ve learned to do it. 😆

@Zynewave wrote:

When dropping a MIDI file or a sequence object onto a track, the end of the new sequence event will be snapped up to the next grid line.

That’s nice, but I don’t think it’s the perfect cure yet… This works fine in other sequencers. Isn’t there some kind of pattern length or something specified in a MIDI file? :-k

Pressing the Insert key in the arrangement and note editor now supports duplicating a multiple event selection. If snap is enabled, the start of the duplicated events will be snapped up to the next grid line. Pressing Shift+Insert will override snap. Pressing Ctrl+Insert will snap to next bar.

Realtime bounce recording mode now automatically creates the sound events for the recording.

Realtime bounce recording is no longer limited to the length of the arrangement, but will continue to record until stop is pressed.

Wha– 😯
These are all awesome!

My only two complaints are that the real-time bounced waveform displays gaps (which are thankfully not present in the actual audio file) until you scroll or zoom, and there’s something weird going on with bouncing, pre- & post-fader stuff:

– Set a track’s level to -6 dB and render an offline bounce. Rendering ignores the level setting but not the pan setting (I don’t know why, but it’s always been like this, I think). So far, so good.
– Now delete the bounce track, then enable real-time bouncing, record a bit, and play it back – same as before.
– Delete the bounce track again, add an effect that doesn’t change anything on its own (like zPEQ), and offline bounce again – works fine.
– Get rid of the effect/bounce track, add the effect again, and do a real-time bounce. The recording level is half of what it should be. Switch to bounce playback, and it is again half as loud!

Unfortunately, I can’t do extensive testing right now… maybe I’ll have time later on, if Sherlock Nielsen doesn’t catch the villain first!

Also, the pivotal chapter of the guide (colors) is ready for review.

Thanks – glad I can help out a little.

@Zynewave wrote:

I’ve added the following text about multiple take selection, which wasn’t included in the old chapter either: […]

That’s a neat feature I didn’t even know about! Now, if you could only resize multiple events… O:)

I see you removed the “bounce recording” section that was in the old page. Was that just too out of date, redundant, or do you have other plans for that text?

I don’t know where in the guide bouncing is described at the moment, and I couldn’t tell whether the old bounce recording section dealt with real-time or offline bouncing.
Since I think bouncing is a whole new matter by itself, I’d suggest to create an entirely new chapter for it. Of course it’s your call if you think real-time bounce recording is better fit for the recording chapter, and maybe offline bouncing should be described elsewhere.

@Zynewave wrote:

@Zynewave wrote:

@thcilnnahoj wrote:

I found some time to give reformatting (just hope I didn’t mess it up) the preferences chapter a try. Lots of stuff left that I couldn’t explain very well, or not at all. 🙁

I see you placed “fixme” next to a few items that already have a description. Is that because you think the text is not clear enough?

❓

I assumed you were going to look over the whole page anyway, but I put FIXME’s where I wanted to draw your attention. So yes, they’re also in places where I think some more information (which I couldn’t give) might be beneficial.
For example ‘Release drivers when Podium does not have focus’ – I don’t know what it actually does. Reading the description, I never had a problem with running another audio program at the same time, even without using this option…

A question about inspector panels: Popup help calls them just ‘Device panel’ and ‘Input panel’, but it’s ‘Device mapping panel’ in the guide – are you going to update the chapter names or should we link to them as they’re called now? In the recording chapter, I have a link to “guide:inspector#input_panel”, which doesn’t actually go anywhere at the moment.

The inspector chapter looks like a ton of work… I think I’ll check the colors chapter first, that should be easy enough! 😉