I also take into consideration that there is probably a workflow I don't have but many other people do and the development is consistent with that. I really only use Waveform for composition concept development (because it's mode/root/key switching are the most powerful I've come across) then export to MIDI, arrange, pace, apply dynamics, and mix in FL Studio.
Additionally, I just upgraded to Waveform 11.
Forward: (Windows 10) I don't have multiple monitors or a touch screen. I find touch screens exhausting on the shoulders when having to constantly reach for buttons, and multiple monitors are nice but not my bag.
Once in my 8 day cycle I dedicate one to "Sequencing/Mixing", this means intensive programming with just a mouse and keyboard. So, I relax on a long "Chaise Chair", bang on my typing keyboard and wiggle knobs with a trackpad.
Window Management:
Not the "arranger" but the "arrangement" panel.
I just spent the last hour+ trying to figure out how to show/hide the arrangement from the "quick actions". Looking at the "Macros" API there doesn't seem to be an entry for the "arrangement" panel. The macro just says "Unknown panel identifier".
I even went as far as to try "loadViewStateWithName" and "loadViewStateAtIndex", thinking maybe I could set all the different panels as different "Layout"s and switch between them that way; "loadViewStateWithName" and "loadViewStateAtIndex" seem to do nothing.
Always in front.
Plugins always seem to be in front, I tried to look for a setting but there doesn't seem to be one; that means I have to close the plug-in window, and to reopen it, I have to sometimes go through a "Rack" window.
Clicking away seems to just close it as well, my instincts tell me to Alt+Tab but I just go to other open programs. If a plugin is left open, it's always sitting in front of Waveform.
If I opt for the "un-docking" workflow, plug-ins are always sitting in the back, even if I "Alt+Tab" to bring them into focus.
Floating but not and forgotten.
I like how we can now "un-dock" the "arrangement" panel, I don't remember that being an option in Waveform 10, but having multiple "un-docked" windows doesn't allow for "Alt+Tab" switching. If I hit "Alt+Tab" or "Ctrl+Alt+Tab" my open "panels" show as options for a second then quickly disappear with only the option of Waveform left.
Close on the left, restore and maximize.
Close on the left must be an alternate operating system thing, no big deal, just not what I'm used to.
Maximize is kind of a big issue for me and the "un-docked" windows. The windows don't even respond to OS Windows "Snapping".
Restore helps to switch between full screen and say a dual/quad layout.
MIDI Munipulation:
The new "MIDI Modifier" is great.
I can play drums on my typing keyboard in Waveform now, but not so much for recording and instruments.
With recording,
I have to make sure the "Typing Keys" input and the piano image in the properties is selected.
So it goes, click record or push "R", click "Typing Keys", click the piano image, line up my hands, remember what I was gonna rehearse, listen to the "count in" (which is already 4 of 8 beats deep), and rehearse. That was a bad performance, "ctrl+z" do it all again.
With FL Studio it goes, arm record, line up my hands, remember what I was gonna rehearse, hit "Space bar" listen to the "count in", and rehearse; that was a bad performance, "ctrl+z" then hit space. My hands barely move and it's almost instantaneous.
With instruments
it's a no brainer with only having around one octave. I moved past the drums into a bass track and right away, one octave is a big no.
What I did was open an instance of FL and route a "MIDI out" through a loop back into Waveform. With the ability to "right click" the "typing to keys" and select either "Major" or "Minor Natural (Aeolian)" for a mode, then with the "miscellaneous functions" on the move my root around, it opens up 4 octaves, ready to go in a mode and root.
This is powerful in FL Studio, but FL studio is then "stuck" in this mode and root, with no ability to diatonically transpose later chord progressions and multiple monophonic tracks have to all be manually transposed.
Versus Waveform, that does it all in a couple clicks, well, after dumping the performances into "Pattern Generator" presets.
Then it was off to quantizing and refining the recording, but the window management got in the way and the piano roll is still in the "learning curve" department.
By that time, I'm was bit played out and not feeling what I just recorded, so why not go rant about it.
THE END
But probably not
P.S.The new MIDI tools look awesome, just what I was looking for. I'm gonna go back and fight with quantization and hopefully get to try them out tonight.
