You probably remember that the main reason why i didnt release the UI back then was severe problems with the animations.
Well, i have decided to go in again and change a few things so everything works in an acceptable manner and all the work doesnt go to waste. Details as follows. Screenshots and Download at bottom.
(Note: You should at least read the part about the PCF section because it is important for you to know how this works now.)
Changes and Other Stuff
Since the main reason for not releasing it back then was the choppy animations, i have decided to limit everything to just one row of small StepLEDs. Ive also decided to place them way down at the bottom so they arent too visually prominent in case ADM is used in a host where the animation is really bad, but still visible enough so we arent flying totally blind with regards to the currently triggered step. (Ive tried that too but it sucks when you cant see anything.) IMO this was the best compromise, and is in any case way more bearable than when the stepbuttons themselves were flashing.
While i was at it, i also took the opportunity to give the whole thing a good makeover. Since the basic layout and everything was already done i could focus 100% on the detailwork, which was kinda nice for a change. Here are the most important changes:
- Ditched the Classic/Modern concepts. There is only 1 variant now, (TR-X), which is basically a hybrid of elements found on the 606, 707, 808 and 909. However, i still made different ones for CM and Full because CM doesnt have everything that Full has. (All unneeded items were taken off the UI and only the labels that are actually needed are there.) Aside from that, the most notable difference between the two is that the CM version has a different slot-order. It now follows the layout of the 606, (which is the only emulation that CM has), with the slots that only play samples 'tacked on' to the right. The Full version layout still follows the original layout. The advantage of limiting everything to 1 basic variant is that we only need 1 set of images (containing 2 different main-backgrounds) for both versions.
- Slot/StepButton Matrix-Arrangement. For better symmetry (and to have enough equally-sized slots for all instruments and the extra stuff) ive decided to arrange everything in a matrix. In order to do so, it was necessary to widen the UI by circa one-and-a-half slots. (76 pixels.) Each stepbutton is now precisely at the center of a slot, and thus all LEDs in each of the 16 columns align perfectly as well. UI width went from 1000px to 1076px, height is still 760px. Because of the wider aspect ratio i find it generally better looking too.
- Brandnew Stepbuttons. The old ones (Classic Variant) were taken from a photo, (only one actually, which was then duplicated), and it was probably very obvious too. I didnt really dislike it, but it kept bugging me that the shadow on it was all wrong (going diagonal) so ive decided to make my own from scratch so i can have full control over perspective and shadow direction. The result was surprisingly good; compared with the old photo-based one it is practically just as photorealistic, only much sharper and cleaner and with the highlights and shadows exactly where i want them to be. (I say 'surprisingly' because stuff like that is not exactly my forte.) With this, every last pixel on the UI is now self-made.
- Brandnew Knobs. I have lost count how many knobs ive made only to ditch them again because i either didnt find them good enough or unfitting for this UI. To give you an idea: At this time the knobs folder for this UI contains circa 200 knobfiles, and that is after having deleted a whole bunch of others over the months. Anyway, the triangular shape i finally came up with worked for me, so i decided to use them. The reason why im mentioning this is that they are not exactly Roland style, (let alone 909), but i realize that.
- Optimized images for smaller package size. No compromises have been made with regards to image quality, (images are PNG but have BMP quality), however, everything in an image that wasnt needed because it is already present on the background (like the OFF states of buttons, etc.) was made transparent in order to save space. Right now the entire UI is 436KB in size, (484KB on disk),including the 2 different backgrounds and the 2 .skn files for CM and Full version. This should be small enough for the UI to fit even on the fullest of harddrives.
- The instrument-trigger LEDs have been disabled via GUI.ini (which will be provided) since they do practically nothing in newer versions anyway. (They only flash like once every leapyear, so might as well be disabled.) Theoretically they could be used in CM 1.2.2.1, (where they work fine), but even there they are only useful as long as the BPM arent too high. So the only 'official' animations in this UI are now the above mentioned StepLEDs.
- I have also worked over most of the GFX. As you can see, ive decided to go with mostly white control elements because i thought it looks kinda nice together with the darker stuff. As with all of my more recent work, a lot of extra-mile work has been put into the labeling to make it ultra-sharp and ensure that it remains that way even if you get real close to the screen. The displays have been slightly darkened and somewhat 'de-reddened' and rounded off with a glass effect to make them look sharper. Some of the LED switches were replaced with 808-style flipswitches.
- The special functions that knobs and flipswitches assume when samples are loaded into a slot are now indicated by the grey boxes above and below the controls' regular labels. Ive tried orange on grey as the 909 has it, but it looked real bad with the rather thin text, so i went with the 606-style boxes instead. The Prescale LEDs are made after the 707 (Roland, not Boeing) and respond to clicking.
- Changes to the PCF/FX Section. Since i never really liked how all of this was arranged into one generic 'FX' section, i have decided to make things a little clearer by splitting these items into the separate parts that they really are. In my opinion this gives a much better idea of what is really going on. So first of all, the PCF button was located away from the instrument slots and turned into a regular button since it doesnt actually represent a slot. (Nor is PCF for automating the filter controls only - the PCF system is for per-step automation of both instrument and DCF controls as well as Distortion and the EG controls and the triggering of the EG.) The button was appropriately placed in the row that also holds the other Edit-type buttons and has been given an additional 'Automation' marking to make it clearer that the PCF is an automation system for the entire plugin. (Well, almost the entire.) The filter section has been given its own slot and properly labeled as such (DCF), and all of its controls are now within the boundaries of its slot. The LED row at the top which contains the On/Off switches that decide whether the slots audio should go through the filter and/or distortion now has a 'DST|DCF' label (rather than FX) to make it clearer that setting these buttons to Off will only bypass the filter and/or the distortion but not disable any PCF automations programmed for the slot. The envelope generator also got its very own slot and is now clearly labeled 'EG'. Additional markings make it clear that the EG controls the DCF, and that it is itself triggered via the PCF steps. IMO the whole situation is much clearer that way - personally i find it a lot better than having all of this under just 'FX' with no further details given. In operation you only need to keep in mind that the PCF button is a 'Selector' type button rather than a On/Off type button, and that it can only be 'unselected' by clicking any of the instrument slot selectors. (AC, BD, SD, whatever.)
- Arrows on Buttons and Top LED-Rows: If an arrow points to the left, it means that the item responds to leftclick. Right means rightclick. The topmost LED-row (Mute/Solo/Routing) responds to both, hence a different arrow on each side.
Other Stuff
- In newer versions, the MIDI LED is nonfunctional. Nothing i can do. It works fine in CM 1.2.2.1
- ADM flashes the STEPLEDs shifted 1 step to the right. Even at 120 BPM you can see that when the pattern starts, the first step that flashes is Step2. It is not that obvious and noticable at higher BPM, (it may even look right at times), but the lower you set the BPM the more noticable it will get. Example: 30 BPM, 16 Step pattern, a Snare hit on Step5 and Step13. You can clearly see that the Snare will sound when the LED jumps to 6 and 14 respectively. I tried to compensate for that by shifting the LED images themselves 1 step to the left, but this didnt work out either since Step16 would then not flash when the pattern is longer than 16 steps. Needs to be fixed by dev.
- To Mike, in case you read this: The reason why the STEPLED animation looks so choppy in certain cases is because the LED image is constantly flashing on and off. (Which results in pretty much the same tearing effect that you get in games.) My recommendation would therefore be to get rid of the flashing so that the LED remains ON for the duration of the step and goes OFF when the next step goes ON. That way there could be no tearing effect and everything should automatically look smooth and clean.
Screenshots
CM Version
click for fullsize
Full Version
click for fullsize
Download from KVR
Hope youll like it.
