LADSPA gui experience

[Otolito]

Hi.
We're already in T7 and I'm still wondering when the ladspa gui will get the most basic of features, like:

Resetting parameters
Exact value input
Switches
Meters

If you have wished for this too all this time then there's no need to read and you can skip to the last paragraph, but if you still can't see the need for these features then read on:

1. Resetting parameters means setting them back to exactly zero (or possibly other default depending on plugin) with relative ease. So while you can get close by holding Ctrl, you have to do it slowly and carefully and you still might not be able to hit exactly 0 unless you're lucky. A plugin is not a hardware unit and as such you shouldn't need any effort to get a precise value.
If you were experimenting with a plugin with a lot of controls and weren't happy with the changes, the fastest way to start over would be to remove and reinsert the plugin or save the default values as a preset. In the latter case per every LADSPA plugin you use you have to make an additional "default" preset. So if you have 20 favourite plugins you have to add 20 more presets apart from the ones you might already have. And that's only if you wanted to reset all parameters. If you only need to reset some of them you'd be out of luck.
Not to mention plugins will still use some CPU unless their controls are set exactly at the defaults: Resetting plugin controls is really a big necessity.

2. Exact value input is related to the previous feature, only you get to not only get back to 0 but also any other value you want. Actually if you give us this we automatically would get the possibility of resetting values as well. All we'd have to do is type "0"

For these first two features I don't see the reason not to enable them. Every DAW user expects to be able to reset a plugin's controls. I have no idea about programming but I don't believe making parameters resettable would require a lot of coding/time, or does it? And enabling exact number input shouldn't be much harder either.

3. One of the most confusing things about the ladspa gui is that some faders seem to have no effect sometimes, or only when theiy're at certain values or within certain ranges, or only when they're all the way up or down. This is because they're actually switches and as such only admit two possible values: on or off (or more in the case of 3-way switches and others) The way the gui displays them is not appropriate as you can drag the horizontal fader smoothly. It would be better if for example the fader "snapped" to the 0 and 1 positions when you clicked on it, letting you know there are only two possible states. Or the fader could be replaced by something like a checkbox, coloured box, led, 'X' or anything you want as long as it makes it clear they're switches. For three-way switches a menu, list or something similar could be used. Or just make the horizontall fader jump to three possible positions too.

4. There's a similar case with plugin meters but it's even more confusing: there's a control that doesn't seem to have any effect on the audio no matter the value. You close the plugin window and reopen it and the value has changed but there's still no effect. What's going on? These are in fact meters and they're supposed to change live as the plugin processes audio instead of being something static the user can change the value of. Tracktion's ladspa gui only displays an update in value when you close and reopen the plugin and most strangely it let's you change the value of it which logically has no effect. If the LADSPA gui isn't capable of showing changing meters then why show them in the first place? If they can't be hidden at least label them as meters and don't make it possible for the user to change their values as it's meaningless and adds a lot to the confusion.

I think the latter two features can be more involved and require some work/time but I really would like to know what the Tracktion devs think, especially about the first two which are almost universal advantages of not any daw but the digital domain in general, despite Tracktion still lacking them. I'd rather hear "we just don't want/need/care to add any of that" than continue to see Tracktion updates without changes on the ladspa gui apart from colours.
Thanks so much if you read this.