Making MuLab More Obvious & Easy
- KVRist
- 409 posts since 26 Jul, 2010 from Germany
At the moment the "Show preset info" dialog is a modal window. I'm frequently using this feature, but for larger texts it would be fine to continue the work on a song while look-up. Any chance to change this?
JR
JR
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- KVRAF
- 2938 posts since 18 Jul, 2005
I find MuLab interrupts you with confirmation/notification dialogs quite a bit compared to most other apps. The ones covering the gaps in the undo system are a bit annoying too (although necessary until undo/redo is implemented for everything).mutools wrote:Indeed this auto-hide alert makes sure that you know that the session has been properly saved, which is important info. We have discussed this earlier on this forum and most users agreed it was a good thing to have this little auto-hide alert.Crackbaby wrote:When saving for instance, there's a popup saying "Save session OK". When this popup shows, you can't click anything else so there's a slight delay in your work process.
With stuff that's just conveying information (like save confirmations), couldn't you take the status bar approach that a lot of software uses? Not a high priority of course!
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- KVRAF
- 2973 posts since 10 Sep, 2003 from Karlskoga, Stockholm, Sweden
I have "enter" bound to "scroll right" on my mouse.. else i'd go nutsier As i mentioned before, i find that dialog you don't have to click, but it won't let you click anything until it's gone, to be stopping workflow. A statusbar idea would solve that too.
Err.. as i read the last part of your post again, i see that was what you wrote about
Err.. as i read the last part of your post again, i see that was what you wrote about
- KVRist
- 409 posts since 26 Jul, 2010 from Germany
(bump)Reincke wrote:At the moment the "Show preset info" dialog is a modal window. I'm frequently using this feature, but for larger texts it would be fine to continue the work on a song while look-up. Any chance to change this?
JR
- KVRian
- 575 posts since 11 Jul, 2006 from Fayetteville, GA
I've long been out of the MU.LAB loop, as I stopped at v2.6 (even through the v3 era), and have switched my main DAW completely. (too pricey for me)
Also, I've not even tried v4, so be aware of my ignorance there as well.
I've little notion of how v5 is envisioned as well...
Having said all that....
Seeing this thread's title and intent I figured I'd take on the issue in a slightly different way rather than "I want this" or "It needs this" or "Change this to that".
I thought of all the DAWs I use and play around with and what made each of them (or each or any of their steps quick and easy) and putting it all together what I saw as 'very quick and easy for both a newbie and regular user went something like this (I realize a lot of the following is already the case):
Launch program.
'Empty' state.
Double-click to load new track (and corresponding new rack in MU.LAB's case).
Click a single selector to direct the track to be audio or midi.
Double-click in track to load a (default) one bar midi or audio clip.
Double-click clip to open piano roll.
Single, left click to 'paint' notes. Right click to delete notes.
Single click on rack to choose VST from list.
Preset selection an integral part of the MU.LAB 'skinning/window' of the VST.
Copy and paste simply a matter of 'dragging' the clip from the edge (as in REAPER, and if I recall correctly, Orion). Perhaps right-click dragging creates independently editable clips. Whereas a single right click on the middle of the clip deletes just as deleting a note (as mentioned above).
No dialog boxes or 'are-you-sure's. Totally unnecessary. That's what 'undo' is for.
Loops is 'automatic' for however many bars/measures are on screen, unless changed with a simple slide on the timeline. That is, loop is always 'on' or on by default.
(loading a multi-out vst grants a dialog asking whether to load as a single or multi-out with as much behind-the-scenes as possible)
I'll assume I'm in the minority, but the more I can do with one hand/mouse only, the better and faster.
Nothing profound here I know, but it's what came to mind more or less immediately.
Also, I've not even tried v4, so be aware of my ignorance there as well.
I've little notion of how v5 is envisioned as well...
Having said all that....
Seeing this thread's title and intent I figured I'd take on the issue in a slightly different way rather than "I want this" or "It needs this" or "Change this to that".
I thought of all the DAWs I use and play around with and what made each of them (or each or any of their steps quick and easy) and putting it all together what I saw as 'very quick and easy for both a newbie and regular user went something like this (I realize a lot of the following is already the case):
Launch program.
'Empty' state.
Double-click to load new track (and corresponding new rack in MU.LAB's case).
Click a single selector to direct the track to be audio or midi.
Double-click in track to load a (default) one bar midi or audio clip.
Double-click clip to open piano roll.
Single, left click to 'paint' notes. Right click to delete notes.
Single click on rack to choose VST from list.
Preset selection an integral part of the MU.LAB 'skinning/window' of the VST.
Copy and paste simply a matter of 'dragging' the clip from the edge (as in REAPER, and if I recall correctly, Orion). Perhaps right-click dragging creates independently editable clips. Whereas a single right click on the middle of the clip deletes just as deleting a note (as mentioned above).
No dialog boxes or 'are-you-sure's. Totally unnecessary. That's what 'undo' is for.
Loops is 'automatic' for however many bars/measures are on screen, unless changed with a simple slide on the timeline. That is, loop is always 'on' or on by default.
(loading a multi-out vst grants a dialog asking whether to load as a single or multi-out with as much behind-the-scenes as possible)
I'll assume I'm in the minority, but the more I can do with one hand/mouse only, the better and faster.
Nothing profound here I know, but it's what came to mind more or less immediately.
"The last man on earth doesn't miss anyone at all." - Haujobb, Faith In Chaos
- KVRian
- 575 posts since 11 Jul, 2006 from Fayetteville, GA
Also, I've never seen any use at all for the 'session/composition' thing either. I always pretty much ignored that it existed.
I'm not in a studio with reel-to-reel tape. I'm on a computer. I can 'save as' any time and nigh infinite number of times. *shrug*
Oh, and having to edit text files for vsts and to change to a default project or whatever isn't very newbie-friendly. Not difficult of course, but...
That's why I think MU.LAB should open totally empty by default.
(Once again, please recall I haven't used v4 so I may be talking completely and totally out of my patookus. )
I'm not in a studio with reel-to-reel tape. I'm on a computer. I can 'save as' any time and nigh infinite number of times. *shrug*
Oh, and having to edit text files for vsts and to change to a default project or whatever isn't very newbie-friendly. Not difficult of course, but...
That's why I think MU.LAB should open totally empty by default.
(Once again, please recall I haven't used v4 so I may be talking completely and totally out of my patookus. )
"The last man on earth doesn't miss anyone at all." - Haujobb, Faith In Chaos
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- KVRAF
- 2973 posts since 10 Sep, 2003 from Karlskoga, Stockholm, Sweden
Maybe you should download the v4 demo .. I joined at 4.x and many of the things you write makes me scratch my head so it has probably changed since 3.x.
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 12739 posts since 24 Jun, 2008 from Europe
Thanks for your feedback MachFront!
Based on what i read i think MuLab should work pretty well for you. As soon as i got a public M5 test version, i'll let you know! (cfr the other topic)
Up to this point MuLab works as you want it. Ok, there might be some little differences in behaviour but nothing essential nor slower.MachFront wrote: Launch program.
'Empty' state.
Double-click to load new track (and corresponding new rack in MU.LAB's case).
Click a single selector to direct the track to be audio or midi.
Double-click in track to load a (default) one bar midi or audio clip.
Double-click clip to open piano roll.
Single, left click to 'paint' notes. Right click to delete notes.
Single click on rack to choose VST from list.
Preset selection an integral part of the MU.LAB 'skinning/window' of the VST.
Copy and paste simply a matter of 'dragging' the clip from the edge (as in REAPER, and if I recall correctly, Orion). Perhaps right-click dragging creates independently editable clips. Whereas a single right click on the middle of the clip deletes just as deleting a note (as mentioned above).
Agreed. And i'll further remove them as much as possible. Note however that i don't know a (music) app without some alerts. Anyway, the fewer the better, agreed.No dialog boxes or 'are-you-sure's. Totally unnecessary. That's what 'undo' is for.
That's just a user preference and you can set it up as you want (session templates).Loops is 'automatic' for however many bars/measures are on screen, unless changed with a simple slide on the timeline. That is, loop is always 'on' or on by default.
Implicitly there: Just plug it in a rack and play. If you want to have more control over the multi-outs, then you can open the deep modular editor.loading a multi-out vst grants a dialog asking whether to load as a single or multi-out with as much behind-the-scenes as possible
+1I'll assume I'm in the minority, but the more I can do with one hand/mouse only, the better and faster.
Based on what i read i think MuLab should work pretty well for you. As soon as i got a public M5 test version, i'll let you know! (cfr the other topic)
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 12739 posts since 24 Jun, 2008 from Europe
That's it! If you don't need it, don't botherMachFront wrote:Also, I've never seen any use at all for the 'session/composition' thing either. I always pretty much ignored that it existed.
That's only if you want to make some very special adjustements. In 99% of the cases all can be done via the Plug-In Manager. (MULAB menu)Oh, and having to edit text files for vsts and to change to a default project or whatever isn't very newbie-friendly. Not difficult of course, but...
That's why I think MU.LAB should open totally empty by default.
(Once again, please recall I haven't used v4 so I may be talking completely and totally out of my patookus. )
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 12739 posts since 24 Jun, 2008 from Europe
The "too many alerts" critic is something that comes back regularly. Please let me know which alerts you guys mean and lets see which ones be can avoided.
One alert has been mentioned: the auto-hide alert when saving a session. I agree that it should not popup when you save a session via the menu "Save Session", but i think it should be there when the function is triggered via a shortcut. We discussed that here on the forum some longer time ago (M2 or M3 test stage) and users agreed on that.
Which are the other 'annoying' alerts?
One alert has been mentioned: the auto-hide alert when saving a session. I agree that it should not popup when you save a session via the menu "Save Session", but i think it should be there when the function is triggered via a shortcut. We discussed that here on the forum some longer time ago (M2 or M3 test stage) and users agreed on that.
Which are the other 'annoying' alerts?
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- KVRAF
- 5055 posts since 30 May, 2006 from Hollow Earth
New Session brings up a dialog asking "New Session into..."
From the many posts it seems that very few user use additional sessions.
It could be cleaner to just use the default "This Session" and possibly use a menu command such as "Add Session" when an additional session is needed.
From the many posts it seems that very few user use additional sessions.
It could be cleaner to just use the default "This Session" and possibly use a menu command such as "Add Session" when an additional session is needed.
MuLab-Reaper of course
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- KVRAF
- 2938 posts since 18 Jul, 2005
The name part pop-up after a take is another one that I find a bit intrusive. I personally prefer to do housekeeping tasks like naming things separately from the performance aspect...
- KVRist
- 409 posts since 26 Jul, 2010 from Germany
I think every destructive and non undo-able function should be worth an alert. Maybe this behaviour could be configured via an ini file on day?mutools wrote:Which are the other 'annoying' alerts?
JR