Zen features requests

[Big Tick]

In view of the above, might it be better if uploading didn't cause private patches to be deleted and then replaced by the public ones (which lose any local tags that have been attached to them)

The thing is, they should not lose the local tags. When the replacement occurs all tags associated to the old, private preset are moved to the new one, so I don't know how this could have happened.

Alternatively a 'select all patches' option for the browser window would make assigning tags to a whole batch quicker.

You can select multiple patches in the browser using ctrl-click / shift-click. When multiple patches are selected, any tagging action applies to the selection.

'Tick

[hakey]

You can select multiple patches in the browser using ctrl-click / shift-click. When multiple patches are selected, any tagging action applies to the selection.

Yes, but, unless I'm missing something, in order to select multiple patches you still have to control/click on each patch one by one?

The thing is, they should not lose the local tags.

Okay, perhaps I was mistaken, or somehow messed it up myself. I'll see if it happens next time I upload.

[Big Tick]

Yes, but, unless I'm missing something, in order to select multiple patches you still have to control/click on each patch one by one?

You can select them all by clicking the first one and shift-clicking the last one.

[hakey]

You can select them all by clicking the first one and shift-clicking the last one.

That'll do!

[hakey]

So, would you be amenable to changing the Category and Timbre tagging to a fully user customizable system?

If it's already a done deal, or you feel that having fixed global tags is the way to go, of course that's your decision.

All I can say, as one user I'm beginning to find the inflexibility of the fixed tags is somewhat limiting the utility and more generally spoiling the user experience for me. A few things are beginning to irritate me somewhat - the permanently visible and mostly irrelevant sub-level categories, 'Guitar' and 'Piano' as a top-level categories, but no top-level for Plucked instruments or Keyboards, Poly Synths. Of course these are all purely subjective niggles, but they are ones which a fully user customizable system would negate.

[Big Tick]

So, would you be amenable to changing the Category and Timbre tagging to a fully user customizable system?

That's a bit early to say, but I too find fixed tags too rigid - I think every user's expected tags list is based on his own memory bank, built by experience, which is why it is so hard to find a fixed categorization that suits everyone. So the idea of each user being able to customize the tags he wants to see, well, this sounds very appealing.

[hakey]

That's a bit early to say,

Yes, of course. I'm glad to hear that it's a matter that's still open for discussion.

[trueparadox]

I want to thank Big Tick for Zen and RhinoCM! RhinoCM has quickly become one of my go-to synths, and I am seriously thinking of upgrading to the full version. And the decision of upgrading is strongly supported by the decision from Big Tick of creating RhinoCM! By giving away an instrument which is as fully featured as RhinoCM for free, and not make a crippleware joke of a cut down version, is commendable! And Zen, i installed it recently, and it seems amazing! And its free? Wow!

I dont have any feature requests... So sue me!

[hakey]

As I've added user tags to the Categories and Timbre lists it's now impossible to see the whole list and, as they may be scattered throughout the list, all of the tags that are associated with a given patch. Tags that have been activated to filter results may also be in the hidden part of the list, which has had me scratching my head a couple of times trying to work out why I can't see the patch I'm looking for.

It would improve usability if there were some way to, at a single glance, see all tags associated with a particular patch, as well as any 'active' tags.

I should add that I've imported and uploaded a full bank of my patches and had a good play around with Zen now, and the odd niggle aside, I can really see the potential in this.

[pwal]

skinning would be easier/more flexible if you used PNGs allowing for transparency, but i've no idea what impact that might have on the code

[Big Tick]

It would improve usability if there were some way to, at a single glance, see all tags associated with a particular patch, as well as any 'active' tags.

But... you can... See this:



In this example I have filtered with the tags "organ" and "rhino". This returned 36 presets, and I selected the "FM Farfisa" one. Zen then highlights the other tags associated with this preset, namely, "Daniel Maurer" and "Bread'n Butter1".

Maybe what you mean is, you can't see the tags if they are outside of the visible part of the scrolling tags list ?

skinning would be easier/more flexible if you used PNGs allowing for transparency, but i've no idea what impact that might have on the code

Probably very little impact. Actually, what I initially wanted was to make it fully vector-based, so that skinning wouldn't have required any bitmaps at all. It worked, but unfortunately, vector-based rounded rectangles don't look as good as the bitmap ones, even with antialiasing - so I went back with bitmap-based skin.

'Tick

[hakey]

Maybe what you mean is, you can't see the tags if they are outside of the visible part of the scrolling tags list ?

Yes, that's what I'm talking about - tags not being visible without scrolling. My Category and Timbre lists are bigger than their respective windows - in order to see all tags that might be associated with a patch I have to scroll. Things can get confusing where patches are being filtered by one or more active tags and where one or more of those tags is not visible without scrolling.

Most of my patches have quite a few tags associated - not just one each from category and timbre as in your example above. Some have a couple of tags under Category and three or more under Timbre. My Timbre list now includes 24 tags - twice the size of the window!

[Kriminal]

anychance of an idiot proof step by step guide to getting this working...the quickstart is not helping at all

Have you tried the videos ?

no, i dont want to watch videos, i can read very well thank you

its not a product i want or need, but i felt like contributing in some way, but as it is, thats impossible

its a poorly tested producet that was released too soon.

bug reports (from many, many users) have been met with negative response, and its unlikely this product will grow beyond the small clique it has at the moment until real testing by serious users has taken place

[pwal]

skinning would be easier/more flexible if you used PNGs allowing for transparency, but i've no idea what impact that might have on the code

Probably very little impact. Actually, what I initially wanted was to make it fully vector-based, so that skinning wouldn't have required any bitmaps at all. It worked, but unfortunately, vector-based rounded rectangles don't look as good as the bitmap ones, even with antialiasing - so I went back with bitmap-based skin.
'Tick

it's just at the moment, your using the colour values to block out areas over the background means, for example, no gradients - with transparency a lot more would be possible straight away, so it would be great if it would support PNG
i like that it's bitmap based, as it makes it a lot easier to re-skin, vectors always need more time to get into

[Big Tick]

its a poorly tested producet that was released too soon.

It's been beta-tested for almost 3 months. Maybe it should have been called a public beta, then.

bug reports (from many, many users) have been met with negative response,

Have I ever dismissed any bug report that's been sent to me ?