Zynewave's Forum Page
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ZynewaveKeymaster@LiquidProj3ct wrote:
RMB modifier: (only after dragging started) Lock X/Y movement
Not possible. Right-mouse click (while holding down left mouse button) is used to abort (undo) any kind of drag action in the entire Podium UI. It’s probably the one shortcut I use the most.
I reserved for that task ESC key. Now that you have an hypotetic right system to select events, a simple right click to delete them and the old friend undo, I thought it wouldn’t be a critical shortcut because you wouldn’t do mistakes, except the rare case you select another events. If you think isn’t enough and you do tons of mistakes choosing the event/sample drag (hint: get a new mouse!! 😛 ) I can think in another alternatives.
I can not emphasize enough how important the right-click drag cancel shortcut is to me. I use it constantly, and often when I don’t have my hand on the keyboard, so the ESC key is not an option for me. Often I do a temporary drag operation with the intent of aborting it (to return to the UI state before the drag started), such as: Zooming out on the timeline to get a overview. Zooming in to check the details of crossfades or rapid short note sequences. Dragging faders to hear how a track affects the mix. Dragging up the editor panel, mixer, velocity region, and practically any other resizable panel, in order to temporarily get a more detailed look at events, meters, EQ curves, and the list goes on and on. I also use right-click to quickly abort unintentional drag operations such as when you hit the wrong event or drag handle etc. It’s a lot quicker to right-click than to use the undo command.
… Letters, as single stroke modifiers, can do the job of Cancel since is the only single stroke modifier. And other weird modifiers as MMBaD (Middle Mouse Button after drag), Casp Lock aD [this key is weird due to its toggle nature but can be use as a modifier] or AltGr aD (too far to be usable).
So I can think in these alternatives using another key:
1. Esc Key, as I suggested in the original map
2. Z/A/X key doing the job of cancelSo, you are holding Ctrl down, and then press A or Z or X to cancel? 😉 (hint: select all, undo, cut).
It’s also not good to rely too much on middle mouse button. I think most of the mouse models on the market have middle click on the wheel, and it’s easy to accidentally move the wheel when clicking. And then there are laptop users, where the trackpad does not have a middle button.
ZynewaveKeymaster@confusador wrote:
hi zynewave. thanks for the quick response. if i understand the difference correctly, i would like to bounce record in realtime. i have the option to enable recording of vst plugin midi output checked, but i can’t figure out how to select jamstix midi output as the record source for the top group track “drums” – it should also be monitoring all it’s child tracks of course – but it’s doing that currently. the parent group track is the only jamstix MIDI track in the sense that it’s the only track where i want to print the midi output of jamstix (at least until it eventually gets replaced by the final drum submix). i can always freeze a midi arrangement in js though, so what is more important to me right now is figuring out how to get the child tracks to record the audio they’re receiving from js four stereo outs.
Unfortunately setting up realtime-bounce recording is a bit cumbersome at the moment. You need to manually draw in the sound event for the recording, on a track that is hidden by default. I have an item on my todo list concerning this, and I really should deal with this soon 😳 . Is it not possible to render offline with JamStix?
also, i have a question about the way it presents the multi-out incarnation of jamstix as a separate instance on each child track. this is a little disconcerting as i’m used to the parent or folder track containing the vsti, and the child tracks just getting receives from it, whereas in podium it seems the vsti is not represented at all on the top group track where all it’s output is routed in the mixer, but is instead shown on each individual child track receiving it’s inputs. i think i can adjust to this presentation, but i would like to confirm that this is simply the graphical presentation of a single multi-out instance of jamstix? there are not actually four instances of js running simultaneously right?
You have multiple mappings, but they all relate to the same instance of the plugin, indicated by the “#1” in the mapping name. This gives you the flexibility to set up tracks only with the outputs and MIDI channels that you actually need to use. If you want to use additional plugin instances, you use the “new instance” right-click command in the device list, which will give you an identical set of mappings with “#2”, “#3” etc. in the name.
The signal flow in the Podium engine follows the visual arrangement of tracks: Everything (audio, midi, parameter automation) flows from the bottom track branches, towards the topmost master root track. The output of child tracks inside a group track is mixed together and routed up through the group track. When you want to bounce a multioutput plugin, with the intent to save the CPU usage of the plugin, then you should enable the bounce mode on the group track. That will bounce the mixed output of all the multi-outs. When the group track is bounced, it will mute all child tracks, and this is what reduces the CPU usage. All tracks that have mappings for the plugin instance need to be within the bounced group to reduce the CPU. If you just bounce an individual output track inside the group, you will not reduce the CPU usage by much, as the plugin MIDI tracks are still playing.
I’ve made a note to myself, that I need to create a YouTube video showing how to set up and bounce multi-out/multitimbral plugins. It is simple enough to use once you get the hang of it, but it can be difficult to break through for newcomers that are accustomed to other DAWs.
ZynewaveKeymasterThanks for the suggestions. I assume you’d like some feedback so that you can modify the list to fit the needs of most users.
SUPR: delete selected events
Is “SUPR” the Spanish name for the delete key?
RMB modifier: (only after dragging started) Lock X/Y movement
Not possible. Right-mouse click (while holding down left mouse button) is used to abort (undo) any kind of drag action in the entire Podium UI. It’s probably the one shortcut I use the most.
ZynewaveKeymaster@John-E34 wrote:
@Zynewave wrote:
If you are working with multitimbral instruments, then you have separate MIDI channel mappings, which do not produce audio. Having faders on these tracks would be confusing.
I often work with multitimbral instruments, and always need to adjust levels…
Surely you don’t adjust the audio gain on MIDI only tracks? You would do that on the tracks that have the plugin audio output mapping assigned.
But, it seems stupid to have a mixer, that by default, has no faders (as you put it), even Reaper defaults to a standard mixer layout.
If I have to manually enable the VU, Volume, Pan etc, etc – for every track, every time I import a midi file, then I give up…
The fader/meter will be there by default if you create new tracks. You encountered the problem that converting an imported MIDI only track to an audio track will not automatically enable the fader. As I said earlier, I’ll change that for the next release.
ZynewaveKeymaster@John-E34 wrote:
If it’s a midi track, I would assign a vsti anyway, otherwise, it would do nothing…
If you are working with multitimbral instruments, then you have separate MIDI channel mappings, which do not produce audio. Having faders on these tracks would be confusing.
ZynewaveKeymasterI just tested, and it seems there is a higher than usual CPU usage when the inspector is open. I’ll look into optimizing this.
What kind of CPU do you have? A single-core?
ZynewaveKeymaster@John-E34 wrote:
Would it be possible to add an option in “preferences” to assign the default mixer configuration, or even a check box to “enable” Gain, Pan, and VU meters by default?
Can you describe the scenario where you would need that?
If a track is a MIDI track, then it would not be useful to have gain/pan/meter on the track, as these would do nothing. It’s only when you assign a sound generating source on the track, or add sound files to the track lane, that you would have a need for the mixer controls.
ZynewaveKeymasterCan you give me some more descriptions:
Is it a gain fader?
Does it happen both on the track headers as well as in the mixer?
Is it only on the UI, or is the sound slow to react as well?
Does it happen also when playback is stopped (i.e. during low cpu usage)?
ZynewaveKeymaster@LiquidProj3ct wrote:
If you want I could develop a complete shortcut map allowing this functionality, but something say me in the ear that you prefer develop it yourself 😛
You are welcome to come up with your suggestions, which the community here then can discuss. Better do that in a new topic. I ask though that you please consider consistency across the entire UI. It’s not enough to make up the perfect key/mouse behaviour for the piano-roll, if it means that the key shortcuts will conflict with behaviour in other parts of the UI. I don’t want to remember a different set of shortcuts for each editor.
ZynewaveKeymasterHi,
If you are working with MIDI files, remember to check out this MIDI file tutorial for hints:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV1Eg7zToZw
From your description, I assume that you are manually assigning instrument plugins to the MIDI tracks after you have imported the MIDI file. I just tried this, and I found that assigning the instrument doesn’t automatically enable the gain/pan on the track, as it really should. I’ll add that to the 2.30 release.
ZynewaveKeymasterHere’s a possibly weird suggestion: How about making double-tap of the Ctrl key swap between dragging phantom or unique?
So, Ctrl+click will start a phantom copy drag. While holding down the mouse button, double-tap the Ctrl key (and keep Ctrl pressed on second tap) to change the mouse cursor from the phantom copy cursor to the unique ‘+’ cursor. It’s a bit like a secret handshake, but at least it will be known to users that read the key shortcut page in the guide.
ZynewaveKeymaster@Slomo wrote:
@Zynewave wrote:
I assume you mean holding Ctrl+Alt while dropping. Could be a solution. But then we have the same possibility for confusion, as we had with the old Alt key phantom drag behaviour, which is that you need to press Ctrl+Alt AFTER you have clicked. Otherwise you would start a zoom drag.
Yes, that’s what I ment. A unique solution/behaviour to get a Unique copy, easy to remember.
Hmm, it just doesn’t add up. If Ctrl+Alt should drag unique copies, then it won’t be possible to drag a phantom copy to another track, locked to the same timeline position. Other suggestions?
ZynewaveKeymaster@Slomo wrote:
@Zynewave wrote:
The arrangement editor is special in that there has been two copy modes (unique and phantom). If both should have their own key (Ctrl and Alt), then to follow the consistency rules, the Alt key would not be usable as drag key shortcut in the other editors.
I found this to be a unique feature in Podium. My concern is that you make a phantom copy, forget to turn it into a unique copy, do some serious editing and all of a sudden end upp with an odd number of all phantom copies.
Can Unique copy be assigned to Ctrl+Alt instead of Ctrl+U?
Not much of a snapper 😉
I assume you mean holding Ctrl+Alt while dropping. Could be a solution. But then we have the same possibility for confusion, as we had with the old Alt key phantom drag behaviour, which is that you need to press Ctrl+Alt AFTER you have clicked. Otherwise you would start a zoom drag.
Anyone else have suggestions?
ZynewaveKeymaster@LiquidProj3ct wrote:
Frits, mouse snap mode doesn’t work when you set it in “Start of grid unit under cursor”
About that option: I never liked the fact that I had to place this option in preferences. Now that we have a menu for snap options, would it not make more sense to move the option to that menu?
Instead of the current “snap to grid” option, there would be “snap to closest grid line”, and “snap to preceding grid line”. This would allow you to have the “snap to preceding…” option enabled in the piano roll and drum map, while using the “snap to closest…” option in the arrangement and curve editors.
ZynewaveKeymaster@Ortac wrote:
@Zynewave wrote:
• Dragging phantom copies in the arrangement editor is now done with the Ctrl key instead of the Alt key. The phantom copy can subsequently be converted to a unique copy with the edit menu or the Ctrl+U shortcut.
What’s the point in this? It makes things more difficult as far as I can see.
@Slomo wrote:
I agree with Ortac. I have an established workflow using Ctrl and Alt all the time. It’s easier to learn new behaviour than to change old 😉
The reason for these changes can be gathered from various posts in this topic, but to summarize:
Changes to the key shortcuts was necessary to make room for a new key shortcut for temporarily overriding snapping while dragging events. This is a shortcut that is available in most other host programs, and I’ve come to appreciate it during the development of 2.30.
There are now three drag modes that are shared among all arrangement, piano roll, drum map and curve editors: Copy, override snap and lock x/y position. For consistency, I insist that the key shortcuts used to activate these drag modes are the same across all editors. It would be stupid to have for example snap override on the Alt key in the piano-roll, and on the Shift key in the arrangement editor.
The arrangement editor is special in that there has been two copy modes (unique and phantom). If both should have their own key (Ctrl and Alt), then to follow the consistency rules, the Alt key would not be usable as drag key shortcut in the other editors.
So far in 2.30, Shift is snap override, Ctrl is copy, and Alt is lock x/y. It can actually make sense to hold all three keys down if you are dragging an event you want to copy further away on the same track without snapping.
If you think this new key shortcut behaviour is bad, then please tell me what you would prefer instead.