FR theme: Sequencer Workflow & Controls

[pysj]

Btw.. I scetched something similar for Renoise some time ago:

Picture.

In the lower left part of this picture you see a normal pr with a moving playposition line, and at the lower right you have a heavily zoomed in pr that is centered (well in this case its not in the center, as you can adjust this yourself, but the play cursor is stuck. It's the background that is moving.)
To make this efficient in eXT I would also love to be able set play position much easier then it is now. I just hate to go all the way up to the small position line on top of windows (yes it relly is small on higher resolutions).
An option to be able to set poition by leftclicking anywhere would be my best way of doing things. And then have play options like:
Play from current play position
Play from last start position
Play from last stop position

I understand very well that not everybody would like any of this,
but a few more options would not hurt?
When we are talking about workflow, there really can't be enough options IMO.
There is always something you can lear to do faster then before.
And it is always a matter of taste.

[.jon]

Play from current play position
Play from last start position
Play from last stop position

I like these ideas, the current options could really be expanded:

Code: Select all

0 : stop playing/recording
1 : jump to the start of the loop
2 : jump to the end of the loop
3 : jump to the start of the song
/ : toggle loop mode
End : jump to the end of the song
Home : jump to the start of the song
Enter : play/stop
Spacebar : play/stop
Shift+Enter : loop & play selection

I also agree that the position bar is a bit too small, even on lower resolutions.

[elfan]

-shortcut to toggle qwerty keyboard into midi input device (or at least better key than insert for adding notes in step mode; something on the left hand)
-move screen when using arrows to move to next clip (show the part of the arranegement with the clip that is active)
-use insert key to toggle an insert mode on (pushes back info after inserted notes/samples)
-use qwerty keyboard to add samples from audio pool list to clips/arrangement
-click or press keystroke on clip/sample and then input midi note (or toggled qwerty midi fuction) to transpose a clip or sample (use qwerty to transpose clips and samples)
-shortcut to open clip from arrangement
-shortcut to link the piano roll/editor to active clip
-shortcut to move focus to (next) part of xt (pianoroll, arrangement, mixer, browser, vst, etc)
-qwerty for navigating/editing mixers
stuff like that.. other people have had some good requests along these lines too.

Yeah, this is an interesting discussion. It's nice to see that it resurfaces once and a while. I would like to add the following (for the 100:th time or so since the first time this discussion appeared ):

- 1. Navigation shortcut keys. The possibility to move the playback cursor from the qwerty, so that you can quickly jump around in the track and play back at arbitrary positions without having to use the mouse. I think that it is possible to scroll using qwerty today, but if I'm wrong that would also make for a good addition.

- 2a. Note auditioning regardless of record cursor. Today you have to be in step recording mode to have note auditioning when using the qwerty. There is no reason for that. You should be able to get audial feedback even when you're just moving notes around (transposing and selecting them).

- 2b. Note auditioning on note transposition on an arbitrary number of notes regardless of the record cursor.

- 3c. Note auditioning on note selection on an arbitrary number of notes regardless of the record cursor.

Here is what I think of the above:

When selecting or transposing a number of notes using the mouse they get auditioned. This does not happen when using the qwerty. I want to be able to move the note selection around - using the cursor keys - and listen to the notes as they are being selected. That way you do not have to constantly play back and rewind the part of a track you are working on (move playback cursor into position using mouse, press play, rewind back, start over *sigh*). Instead you could just traverse the note selection of each note in the part you're working on in order listen to it. You can play back the notes at any speed and in any direction you like, just by moving the selection. This way is definitely superior in terms of flexibility and speed.

Also, since the note auditioning is connected to the record cursor there is no way of auditioning multiple notes when you're just arranging a song (outside step recording mode). If I want to transpose a chord or a sequence of notes and wish to get audial feedback while working, I cannot do that without using the mouse. Not good!

I know nothing of the eXT internals but this does not feel like something that's very hard to implement and it does a great deal to the workflow (at least to me).

//Tomas

[.jon]

Great addition, Thomas

+1 to all of it

[elfan]

An integrated qwerty to MIDI would be nice, yes. I use Tracktiokeys which can be toggled by a key shortcut.

I tried this as well and it felt good at the beginning. The problem is that you constantly have to turn on and off TrackionKeys since it captures both note input as well as eXT-specific shortkeys. In my case every second keystroke was to toggle on/off TracktionKeys, which I feel is kind of a hassle. I asked the author of TracktionKeys if it would be possible to make TracktionKeys capture only the alphanumeric keys (so that it would capture only the note input instead of shortkeys and such) or at least be able to specify which keys TracktionKeys should capture and what it should disregard but I got no reply and forgot about it.

Maybe I'm just too lazy, but I think it would be a good idea to integrate TracktionKeys-like functionality in eXT since it would most likely make for a better workflow since eXT knows which keys are relevant for note input and should be captured.

//Tomas

[.jon]

I've asked him the same thing but got no reply.

Native solution would be great, besides the constant toggling I get also lots of hanging notes with Tracktionkeys (changing octaves mostly)

[iU]

Native solution would be great, besides the constant toggling I get also lots of hanging notes with Tracktionkeys (changing octaves mostly)

At least I don't remember having such a problem (hanging notes)with midi key hook,if it is of any interest to you...

[soma]

What a great disscussion.
Thomas- you are spot on in auditioning requests.
pysj- I liked the way you are thinking about editors connected to arrangement (kind of the abstract idea I got from your stickies comment). In general I think you are on to something with having most windows be context sensitive to others but allowing the user to create a private space for important windows like a fixed view for extra editor.
You should read this thread and post some of your ideas over there.
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 47#2105147

[iU]

Old thread that could be of interest as popup midi editor is coming next friday. There are some features in there that xt2 would beneficiate from...

and this one comes to mind... :

· When zooming in the sequencer window, you always end up having the location of song position marker in the centre of the window. I hope it would work the same way in the piano roll window. Actually it doesn't.

[soma]

Thanks! I was looking for this and the one I linked too

[elfan]

Yeah, I too sure hope that the requests in this thread will be addressed by the new beta (or some of the upcoming ones) .

//Tomas

[jimmo]

- option to convert recorded cc's to bezier curves

[DarkStar]

Delete comp from Sequencer window
Anyways, the other issue arose from me mistakenly spawning like 5 Synths when I didn't realize you can't use the above feature (since it doesn't exist yet). There's no way to delete a comp from within the Sequencer window. A simple right-click context menu option would do just fine. I should haven't to switch to the Comp window and then find the comp I need to get rid of and then switch back to the Sequencer just to fix an error if I get froggy with my drag & drops...

[fandango]

I'm currently missing lassoo selection within Envelope clips. In XT2, when you drag from left to right, you select ALL nodes in that range.

It used to be possible to drag a rectangular area allowing you select only nodes between certain values without selecting the rest.

[fandango]

- option to convert recorded cc's to bezier curves

+1! (or alternatively, record directly into CC envelopes)